A press release from Mickey. I’ll bet he’s having a great time.
[Update a few minutes later]
Mickey has Jonah Goldberg’s endorsement, at least for the primary.
Category Archives: Economics
The Oil Spill
…doesn’t make the case for Big Government:
…the idea that because a person or thing can do some things brilliantly doesn’t mean they do everything well. Some writers can’t count past 10 without taking their shoes off; some artists are tone-deaf; some math whizzes cannot learn languages.
Franklin Roosevelt and Albert Einstein were exceptional talents, but asking them to trade occupations would not have been clever. Like Einstein and Roosevelt, markets and government do different things well.
Government is a big and blunt instrument, while markets are smaller and flexible tools. Government acts for the whole, and gives things one direction; markets react to and serve individuals, respond to a great many small discrete interests, and facilitate the pursuit of happiness by creating demands for a great many diverse and various skills.
The frustrating thing is that doing all sorts of things in which it has no business, and isn’t very good at, it’s neglecting the things that it’s supposed to be doing, and being even more incompetent at them in general.
What Is A “Bail Out”?
Can anyone explain to me what Bolden means when he says that he might have to “bail out” commercial space? Does it mean that he’ll have to keep pouring money into them until they deliver the needed product/service? What else could it mean? And if so, are the current cost-plus Ares/Orion contracts “bail outs”? At least with commercial, we have a chance of getting out of that mode. With the POR, “bail outs” (and very expensive ones — fifty billion for both Ares and Orion, though still not as big as GM/Chrysler) are the default.
“Financial Reform Is Hard”
An interview between Rick Santelli and Regulation Barbie.
French Profits
I suspect that the phrase is an oxymoron, sort of like “French victory.” Anyway, if anyone would know how economically crazy the French are, it would be Veronique.
[Wednesday afternoon update]
I’m shutting down comments on this post, because it seems to have become a spam magnet.
The Death Spiral
…of the welfare state. When something can’t continue, eventually, it doesn’t. They’re running out of other peoples’ money.
A New Space Blog
Looks like it’s been around since January, but Alan Wasser draws my attention to Colin Doughan’s Space Business Blog, where he has an interview with Alan on space property rights.
Four Ways
…that Congress caused the financial crisis. And they seem determined to continue (completely leaving Fannie and Freddie out of the new legislation).
[Update a while later]
Some thoughts on popping bubbles and the demonization of short sellers by clueless politicians.
[Update mid afternoon]
Don’t know what happened to the second link above — it was working when I put it up.
Meanwhile, Matt Welch points out that we are out of money. Or more precisely, we are out of other peoples’ money, which is, as Lady Thatcher famously pointed out the point at which socialism quits working.
Where Is My Critique?
You know, the essay I wrote at The New Atlantis last summer has been up for many months now, and I have never seen anyone critique it, with the exception of an idiotic attempt by Mark Whittington. I’ve received nothing but praise for the most part (which is why I wish more people would read it). The editor has also told me that he received no letters to the editor objecting to it. Is anyone aware of a serious, informed critical review? If there are none, I suspect that one of the reasons why is that I circulated drafts of it among a lot of smart people in the process of writing it.
The reason I ask is because I’m in the process of working up a book proposal, and I want to hone it, if there are any serious and useful issues with it, because a lot of the book will be based on it. And of course, people will be reviewing drafts of the book as well.
[Saturday morning update]
I’m not looking for suggestions for improvement (I have no plans to rewrite it or republish anywhere else). I’m looking for things that people think I actually got wrong.
One Good Result From The Oil Spill
It’s apparently, at least indirectly, killed climate legislation for this session.