How it got in the way of its science.
It’s what happens to politicized bureaucracies.
Category Archives: Economics
Shelby’s Antics
The Houston Chronicle weighs in.
I don’t think this is quite correct, though:
Under the current Commercial Crew Development program, SpaceX contracts with NASA for a flat payment. If SpaceX comes in under cost, it gets to keep the profit. If it goes over budget, SpaceX has to make up the difference. This system gives SpaceX more flexibility to operate as it sees fit.
Shelby has inserted language in a Senate appropriations bill that would instead force SpaceX to work on NASA’s old cost-plus model. This would require the private company to track every step of its development, assign a cost to those steps and charge it to NASA, plus an additional fee. This stilted payment model forces engineers to be accountants and removes disincentives for bloated budgets.
Shelby isn’t forcing the company to cost plus. He’s doing something worse (and stupid), forcing them to account for it as though it were cost plus, but on a fixed-price contract.
Libertarians Are The New Communists
If you ignore all the stuff about the Hobby Lobby ruling, this is probably the nuttiest thing you’ll read today.
[Tuesday update]
The case for libertarian populism. There are a lot of good ideas there.
[Bumped]
Birth Control, Over The Counter
Yes, the Republicans should pass a bill to allow it.
Why Government Doesn’t Work
…and how to make it better.
Climate “Consensus”
Well, partially because it’s being dishonestly rammed down our throats to promote economically harmful policies.
The Huntsville Reality-Distortion Zone
This isn’t new, but I don’t think I linked it at the time. Eric Berger reports on the people working SLS:
May turns the cost issue around.
“My question would be, how could we afford not to do this?” May asked. “Great nations explore. Great nations push their boundaries. And this country has continued to the limits of what we know and learn for a generation, and I think we’ve got to continue to explore.”
And in the larger perspective, he argues, SLS does not cost that much. NASA spends about $1.6 billion a year building it, less than 9 percent of the space agency’s total budget, he said, which is itself less than one half of one percent of the federal budget.
“I think it’s a relatively small amount of money to set the leadership for the world in space exploration,” he says.
Count the number of logical fallacies in just those four grafs.
College Costs
The denial industry.
They have to lie and deny it. It’s their only hope of keeping the bubble inflated.
More Blows For Liberty From SCOTUS
Shockingly to union supporters, a union can’t force someone taking care of her disabled son to pay union dues for the privilege.
And there’s another blow to ObamaCare’s attempt to run our lives:
The 5-4 decision is a significant victory for those challenging the constitutionality of the President Obama’s health care law. And it strengthens the argument that for-profit entities, like individuals and churches, have religious rights.
So you don’t lose your religious freedom because you make a profit.
Huh.
[Update mid afternoon]
The funniest thing on Twitter today, amidst all the illogic, hatred and hysteria, is the number of people who think that @SCOTUSblog is actually SCOTUS’s blog (and Twitter feed) and attacking them. The @SCOTUSblog folks are having a lot of fun with it.
Hillary’s Appeal Is Growing More Selective
UNLV students want her to return or reduce her speaking fee.
I would pay a dime to hear her. I hope this starts a trend.