Today's Awards

Sly Innuendo Award: The crew responsible for the ridiculous attempted hit piece on McCain in today's NYT.

Holy Crap! Award: I agree with Talking Points Memo! I do believe that this is a first.

As Glenn Reynolds would say, "heh": The Times Upholds Its Standards, by John Hinderaker at Power Line.

I can't add much to that discussion. From the Times, this sort of thing is less surprising than lamentable, but there we go.

Market vs government power

My friends over at workinglife.org and some other corners of the web would do well to keep this (from John Stossel) in mind:

Notice that she equates government power and market power. That is absurd. "Power" in a free market means success at creating goods and services that your fellow human beings voluntarily choose to buy. Government power is force: the ability to fine and imprison people.

Read the whole thing. I don't necessarily agree with all of his conclusions (that the government is bad at something right now doesn't necessarily mean that they shouldn't do it.), but it is important to recognize that there is a cost associated with interfering with the market. Sometimes it's worth it, but a lot of times it's not.

Electoral Compass

My boy Nick did this and I thought it was cool, so I did too (if the picture's too small, click it):



I suppose this is a fair place to put me in the American political context, although with a different set of questions I could come out on the other side of the libertarian/authoritarian line. In fact I do, on the Political Compass:



One of the things that my buddies on talk radio could stand to learn is that any given election will serve up issues that may be somewhat misleading as to a candidates ideological position. Looking at a candidate's outlook more generally is probably a better indication of what they'll do than their individual positions. The fact that I agree with Ron Paul on some issues that have been discussed in this particular election does not mean that I think he'd be the best candidate.

I may develop this further in another post; I want to talk about the Republicans' choice in the 2000 Presidential primary and how it relates to this point.

In Which Sherrod Brown tries to score points from my misery

Well, OK, not my misery exactly; it turned out alright for me, but the legitimate misery of a lot of people I care about.

Most of my vast readership knows that my first job after college was at the American Standard plant in Tiffin, Ohio. It was bought along with the rest of American Standard's bath and kitchen business last year by Bain Capital, and they closed the plant on December 31st. It really sucked for a lot of my friends, to say nothing of my hometown.

To no one's surprise, a whole litany of Democratic politicians used this situation as an occasion for nativist demagoguery. The latest example is this conversation that Sherrod Brown recently had with The Nation, in which he seems to imply that Bain Capital closed the plant specifically because they enjoy throwing people out of work.

That plant closed because it was a poisonous environment to work in. Whether that's due to mismanagement or mis-unionism, I can't say. Personally I suspect both. The fact is, though, that it wasn't producing cost-effective ware or Bain Capital would not have closed it. No organization will stay in business very long if it's bleeding money, whether it's GM or American Standard or whatever, and no one, workers, financiers, or government, can take profits that aren't being produced.

Down With Math

Now here's a viewpoint I can stand behind.

I think there is a broader point to be here for business curriculums. A very large portion of the typical university business curriculum is devoted to functional skills. Almost the entire last two years is taken up with classes taught from the business college.

I'm not at all sure that this is the best way to educate someone who is headed for a business career. The narrow focus on what we can do, leaves little time to consider what we should do.

Dear Dr. Krugman:

On September 11, 2001, some terrorists flew 2 planes into the World Trade Center. They destroyed the buildings and killed 3000 Americans. That started a war, where we tried to keep terrorists from doing that sort of thing again. This required an increase in defense spending.

Apparently, you are unaware of these facts so I just wanted to remind you.

Sincerely,

Brian M. Saxton

Americans Against Fair Lending

There was a letter to the editor in today's NYT that I want to talk about. Go read it.

Some group called Americans for Fair Lending has taken a bold, inspiring stand:

A set of principles of fair lending, agreed to by Americans for Fairness in Lending, a coalition of national consumer groups, should be followed: responsibility, justice, equality, information, accountability, law and enforcement.

I know I'm impressed. They're for responsibility and information!

It's a good thing we have this thing called the market, that has strongly punished companies that violated those bold principles. It turns out that companies that did that stuff, they've already taken their beatings. People that signed contracts they didn't understand, or did understand and just ignored, yeah, it didn't work out too well for them either.

If the answer to every question you ever ask is government, you need to open up the playbook a little further.

Feel the McMentum!

When even the TownHall crew is moving toward McCain, you can feel the fat lady warming up.

So, think about where we could be: a balanced budget, the war in Iraq won, a conservative Supreme Court, border security increased, the Republican Party's reputation much improved, and McCain leaving office in 2012. Can you really tell me that sounds so bad?

Yes, indeed.