Libertarians, by their nature, are happy. The reason why is because we're always right.
But this post by the Happy Libertarian hits on it a little more precisely.
We appreciate babes.
And that is the true source to all Libertarian's happiness.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Savings Rates
Been meaning to post this one for a while.
Although as (Jensen I think it was) suggested it would be interesting to see what this would be like when 401k/IRA contributions are considered savings.
Although as (Jensen I think it was) suggested it would be interesting to see what this would be like when 401k/IRA contributions are considered savings.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Skyscrapers!
Cleaning out more charts in my "Inbox" of charts.
Another interesting one from The Economist.
Amazing how in the depths of the depression we're able to create the classical beauties of skyscrapers in New York City with the arcane technology of the 20's and 30's.
Now, we have these minimalist monstronsities being thrown up because materials are cheap and to ornate the building with detail would cost too much money, thus thrusting crappy architecture on the masses. Great.
Another interesting one from The Economist.
Amazing how in the depths of the depression we're able to create the classical beauties of skyscrapers in New York City with the arcane technology of the 20's and 30's.
Now, we have these minimalist monstronsities being thrown up because materials are cheap and to ornate the building with detail would cost too much money, thus thrusting crappy architecture on the masses. Great.
Death and Taxes
Found this chart interesting. I also found it interesting that when were taxing the richests' estates the most, our economy was doing its worst in the Great Depression.
Larry Kudlow also had a nice satirical piece. Sadly for the likes of Sanjay and other sorted socialists, democrats and leftists etc., it wouldn't be a satirical piece but a common conversation.
Larry Kudlow also had a nice satirical piece. Sadly for the likes of Sanjay and other sorted socialists, democrats and leftists etc., it wouldn't be a satirical piece but a common conversation.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Norway??? No Way!
So Norway enjoys the same high standards of living that the US does.
And it kind of miffs me because not only are they socialist, but they have been working a full 25% less per year than their US counterparts. They're working a paltry 1400 hours per year whilst we slave away here in the US for almost 1900 hours, yet they STILL ENJOY THE SAME STANDARDS OF LIVING!
How is this possible?
Well I know how they do it, but I'm curious to see if any aspiring economists out there do.
I'm also half tempted to pay for an aspiring economist to come up with a chart the demonstrates what I'm thinking.
And it kind of miffs me because not only are they socialist, but they have been working a full 25% less per year than their US counterparts. They're working a paltry 1400 hours per year whilst we slave away here in the US for almost 1900 hours, yet they STILL ENJOY THE SAME STANDARDS OF LIVING!
How is this possible?
Well I know how they do it, but I'm curious to see if any aspiring economists out there do.
I'm also half tempted to pay for an aspiring economist to come up with a chart the demonstrates what I'm thinking.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Oh, So There AREN'T 72 Brown Eyed Virgins Afterall
He's dead
We rule
And I've officially started my stop watch to time how long it will be for the left to come out with their conspiracy theories that Bush TIMED this guy's death to help in the midterm elections. That he somehow was holding onto Al-Zarqawi and killed him when it was politically convenient.
Which you know they're intellectually weak enough to do.
We rule
And I've officially started my stop watch to time how long it will be for the left to come out with their conspiracy theories that Bush TIMED this guy's death to help in the midterm elections. That he somehow was holding onto Al-Zarqawi and killed him when it was politically convenient.
Which you know they're intellectually weak enough to do.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Ahhhh, Luxembourg
Quick post then off to produce more GDP.
I plan on doing a more thorough charting of Luxembourg, but I just wanted to point out how much richer they are than the US.
Now, depending on the measure you use, the US is getting some pretty fierce competition from the likes of Norway, Luxembourg and Ireland. And although most of the figures I've seen still has the US ranked #2 in the world, apparently the World Bank (via NationMaster.com) doesn't think so. Then again, this could be due to a weak dollar and I didn't really check to see if it was adjusted for PPP. Furthermore, methinks the World Bank isn't exactly packed with free-market capitalists and it might have slipped their mind to make those adjustments.
I plan on doing a more thorough charting of Luxembourg, but I just wanted to point out how much richer they are than the US.
Now, depending on the measure you use, the US is getting some pretty fierce competition from the likes of Norway, Luxembourg and Ireland. And although most of the figures I've seen still has the US ranked #2 in the world, apparently the World Bank (via NationMaster.com) doesn't think so. Then again, this could be due to a weak dollar and I didn't really check to see if it was adjusted for PPP. Furthermore, methinks the World Bank isn't exactly packed with free-market capitalists and it might have slipped their mind to make those adjustments.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The Light Saber of a Career Politician
Public pensions.
A career politician’s dream come true.
Here’s a political issue where you’re guaranteed votes from not only old, poor people, but from anybody with a heart, and without a brain…of which there are many.
Furthermore, the true costs are deferred so far into the future that you can rely on the ignorance of young people to not look at the pension’s underlying finances.
But the biggest benefit, the pure genius of this political tool, is that by the time the sh!t hits the fan, and these behemoths have to actually be funded, you’ll be either long retired from politics or dead.
It is literally the perfect crime.
Thus, I found the following data quite interesting.
The OECD seems to have calculated a ratio that takes the present value of a country’s public pension (ie-what that country can expect to pay out in today’s value in pensions) and divided it by total earnings in the economy (net and gross).
In other words what has the government promise to pay the people as a multiple of how much the people are making.
This is key as it is the earnings, what the people are making, that will inevitably have to pay for the pensions.
The more the government promises to pay out relative to earnings, the higher the tax rate.
Of course this tax rate will not befall current day pensioners, but will be deferred to future workers as pensions are paid out over the course of retirement.
And while I’m a big fan of Luxembourg and their phenomenal economic success, my heart is still learning towards good ol’ Ireland.
A career politician’s dream come true.
Here’s a political issue where you’re guaranteed votes from not only old, poor people, but from anybody with a heart, and without a brain…of which there are many.
Furthermore, the true costs are deferred so far into the future that you can rely on the ignorance of young people to not look at the pension’s underlying finances.
But the biggest benefit, the pure genius of this political tool, is that by the time the sh!t hits the fan, and these behemoths have to actually be funded, you’ll be either long retired from politics or dead.
It is literally the perfect crime.
Thus, I found the following data quite interesting.
The OECD seems to have calculated a ratio that takes the present value of a country’s public pension (ie-what that country can expect to pay out in today’s value in pensions) and divided it by total earnings in the economy (net and gross).
In other words what has the government promise to pay the people as a multiple of how much the people are making.
This is key as it is the earnings, what the people are making, that will inevitably have to pay for the pensions.
The more the government promises to pay out relative to earnings, the higher the tax rate.
Of course this tax rate will not befall current day pensioners, but will be deferred to future workers as pensions are paid out over the course of retirement.
And while I’m a big fan of Luxembourg and their phenomenal economic success, my heart is still learning towards good ol’ Ireland.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Would It Kill the MSM to Admit the Economy is Great?
God, freaking 4.6% unemployment and all the media can do is scour the technicalities to find something wrong with the data.
So I'll do you all your journalists a favor, I'll give you a quick little lesson in economics.
The economy is at full employment. That means anybody who wants a job, pretty much has one, and those 4.6% are probably not looking hard enough, are in no particular rush to find a job (but have not given up, thus are still in the labor force), or perhaps are of a specialized skill set and the job in that industry are not as liquid in the labor market.
Anyway, here's a pretty little chart to show you where unemployment has been.
So I'll do you all your journalists a favor, I'll give you a quick little lesson in economics.
The economy is at full employment. That means anybody who wants a job, pretty much has one, and those 4.6% are probably not looking hard enough, are in no particular rush to find a job (but have not given up, thus are still in the labor force), or perhaps are of a specialized skill set and the job in that industry are not as liquid in the labor market.
Anyway, here's a pretty little chart to show you where unemployment has been.
Over-Engineered
So I remember havin AOL as my internet provider. As time went on I kept getting more and more updates sent in the mail, to the point that basically my entire hard drive was used to run all the trinkets and crap that came with AOL.
All I wanted was internet access. That's it. So I got rid of them and went with barebones Earthlink.
Seems I'm not the only one who likes simplicity in their internet service.
All I wanted was internet access. That's it. So I got rid of them and went with barebones Earthlink.
Seems I'm not the only one who likes simplicity in their internet service.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
2 Apologies in One Day!
I must be slipping.
I was reading through the archives and I will admit, I don't get around to reading all the posts. It seems an anonymous economist was kind enough to send countering data to my post that the more volatile a country's economic growth, the higher it is, whereas I contested the other way around. Since my primary concern is the truth and am always willing to be convinced otherwise as long as the data warrants it, just wanted to make sure this error has been corrected and duly noted.
Here is the study;
http://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v85y1995i5p1138-51.html
that being said it covers 90 some countries, where as my stats only covered the OECD countries (32 of them that had the data available). Also the study is 11 years old, so the relationship could have changed, but I'll just assume I am in error.
I was reading through the archives and I will admit, I don't get around to reading all the posts. It seems an anonymous economist was kind enough to send countering data to my post that the more volatile a country's economic growth, the higher it is, whereas I contested the other way around. Since my primary concern is the truth and am always willing to be convinced otherwise as long as the data warrants it, just wanted to make sure this error has been corrected and duly noted.
Here is the study;
http://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v85y1995i5p1138-51.html
that being said it covers 90 some countries, where as my stats only covered the OECD countries (32 of them that had the data available). Also the study is 11 years old, so the relationship could have changed, but I'll just assume I am in error.
Trabajar, Trabajar, Trabajar
So whilst on my weekly jaunt through the OECD I happened up some updated figures for long term unemployment, ie- the percent of those unemployed that have been so for a year or more.
The reason I particularly like this stat is that it is a function of two things;
1. How lazy a people are in a particular country
2. How generous (or stingy) that country’s unemployment benefits are.
However, this time around they included two countries I hadn’t noticed before;
Mexico and Korea.
CRIPES!!!
Barely 1% of people unemployed in these countries, have been unemployed for over a year. Contrast that with 13% in the US and I’m almost half tempted to believe there are actually jobs Americans won’t work that Mexicans will.
That being said, it’s not like 13% is atrocious. Now if you want atrocious, why just take a swim across the Atlantic to our European counter parts where you can find countries like Germany, Italy, Greece and the Slovak Republic where OVER HALF THE UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SO FOR OVER A YEAR!
Alas, given the protests in France against the labor market reforms, not to mention the protests against Schroeder’s Hartz IV reforms, it seems Europe has no intention on changing.
The reason I particularly like this stat is that it is a function of two things;
1. How lazy a people are in a particular country
2. How generous (or stingy) that country’s unemployment benefits are.
However, this time around they included two countries I hadn’t noticed before;
Mexico and Korea.
CRIPES!!!
Barely 1% of people unemployed in these countries, have been unemployed for over a year. Contrast that with 13% in the US and I’m almost half tempted to believe there are actually jobs Americans won’t work that Mexicans will.
That being said, it’s not like 13% is atrocious. Now if you want atrocious, why just take a swim across the Atlantic to our European counter parts where you can find countries like Germany, Italy, Greece and the Slovak Republic where OVER HALF THE UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SO FOR OVER A YEAR!
Alas, given the protests in France against the labor market reforms, not to mention the protests against Schroeder’s Hartz IV reforms, it seems Europe has no intention on changing.
MY SINCERE APOLOGIES
So to ban Sanjay I had to turn on this "comments moderation" option on the blog.
It said it would e-mail me anytime somebody made a comment.
Got an occasional e-mail saying I had a comment.
Then I go to the "comments moderation page" and BAAMM!!!
Like 40 posts that I got no e-mail notification for.
Regardless, my apologies for this delay in posting your posts.
It said it would e-mail me anytime somebody made a comment.
Got an occasional e-mail saying I had a comment.
Then I go to the "comments moderation page" and BAAMM!!!
Like 40 posts that I got no e-mail notification for.
Regardless, my apologies for this delay in posting your posts.
Happy 20th Anniversary!
Well the Big Mac Index turned 20 this past week and for those economists, aspiring, savvy or not, it is a quick litmus test of sorts to see if currencies are overvalued or undervalued.
My favorite though is the darling child of the left, who whenst talking about standards of living cannot help but immediately mention its name, Norway.
Yeah, that's just what I want to do, pay $7.05 for a freaking Big Mac.
I apologize if the chart doesn't show up well. You can get a better image (and read the entire article) here.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Request
To quote Victor Borge;
"I usually do not do requests, unless of course I have been asked to do so."
So I got a request to post the poem I used on the radio show to introduce the Economics Lesson of the Day. Sadly it will not be accompanied by my voice which sounds like a wounded moose, but some would prefer it that way;
Come on baby if you got the nerve
Let's go down by the river and kiss by the Federal Reserve
You can show your supply and demand curves
When we talk economics.
We'll talk about China and the price of oil,
Run correlation coefficients, baby but don't sweat or toil
Commodity prices are up what the price of aluminum foil?
When we talk economics.
Ohhhhhhh, take me on a whirlwind tour of the banks
and of the mints
Aaaaaaand while we talk about the federal budget,
you can kiss me while money prints.
Give me supply, I'll give you demand
We'll create some equilibrium while hand in hand.
And let's not dance to that inflationary band!
When we talk economics!"
"I usually do not do requests, unless of course I have been asked to do so."
So I got a request to post the poem I used on the radio show to introduce the Economics Lesson of the Day. Sadly it will not be accompanied by my voice which sounds like a wounded moose, but some would prefer it that way;
Come on baby if you got the nerve
Let's go down by the river and kiss by the Federal Reserve
You can show your supply and demand curves
When we talk economics.
We'll talk about China and the price of oil,
Run correlation coefficients, baby but don't sweat or toil
Commodity prices are up what the price of aluminum foil?
When we talk economics.
Ohhhhhhh, take me on a whirlwind tour of the banks
and of the mints
Aaaaaaand while we talk about the federal budget,
you can kiss me while money prints.
Give me supply, I'll give you demand
We'll create some equilibrium while hand in hand.
And let's not dance to that inflationary band!
When we talk economics!"
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Screw Economics
So I figure I just finished off a 9 month marathon of dance classes, seminars, radio shows, non-stop blogging, not to mention a day time racket/gig, and for once I'm going to post about something that isn't economics;
My trip to the Badlands in South Dakota.
I know, I know, you aspiring junior deputy economists had to go an entire extended weekend without your daily dose of economic wisdom, but you'll have to go a day more because you're going to get...
PICTURES FROM THE BADLANDS!!!!
Whether you like it or not.
Truthfully though, if you haven't made it to the Badlands in South Dakota, seriously, take the trip. As I have said before, it's like when somebody says, "Dude, this is a GREAT movie!" Or "You HAVE to read this book!" Or "She was like TOTALLY hot!"
And in your mind you're saying,
"No, it's probably isn't that great of a movie"
"No, I really don't HAVE to read that book."
"And, I don't believe she was really that TOTALLY hot."
Yeah, but really and I'm not joking you here, South Dakota is worth the trip. And I say that not just because they have no state income tax, but it really is worth the flight to Rapid City, SD.
So men, trust me when I say this;
Women are used to the flowers and the dinner crap. Just tell her to pack a back pack, some Gatorade, pack a 45 caliber to shoot any ornary buffalo, and then book a flight and just commit yourself to hiking about 30 miles in waterless terrain for 3 days. It's amazing.
One other thing I shall note about the Badlands and the Black Hills. We're getting a fair amount of representation from India, not just on this blog, but at the Badlands as well. A disproportionate representation from the subcontinent was at the Badlands, not to mention I think there were more foreigners at Mount Rushmore than there were Americans. Regardless, it kind of resulted in a warm fuzzy feeling that all these foreigners were at Mount Rushmore. Nice to see people from other countries, speaking different languages coming all the way here to see our presidents' mugs up on a mountain. And I don't mean that in the politically correct, obligatory fashion, but in the just-plain-effing-truth fashion. Was nice to see people from a different country, haul their asses all the way over here to see this piece of Americana. Almost left you to believe that there was something people still admired about America.
Anyway, here are the pictures (they're huge if you click on them).
Your enjoyment is manditory.
My trip to the Badlands in South Dakota.
I know, I know, you aspiring junior deputy economists had to go an entire extended weekend without your daily dose of economic wisdom, but you'll have to go a day more because you're going to get...
PICTURES FROM THE BADLANDS!!!!
Whether you like it or not.
Truthfully though, if you haven't made it to the Badlands in South Dakota, seriously, take the trip. As I have said before, it's like when somebody says, "Dude, this is a GREAT movie!" Or "You HAVE to read this book!" Or "She was like TOTALLY hot!"
And in your mind you're saying,
"No, it's probably isn't that great of a movie"
"No, I really don't HAVE to read that book."
"And, I don't believe she was really that TOTALLY hot."
Yeah, but really and I'm not joking you here, South Dakota is worth the trip. And I say that not just because they have no state income tax, but it really is worth the flight to Rapid City, SD.
So men, trust me when I say this;
Women are used to the flowers and the dinner crap. Just tell her to pack a back pack, some Gatorade, pack a 45 caliber to shoot any ornary buffalo, and then book a flight and just commit yourself to hiking about 30 miles in waterless terrain for 3 days. It's amazing.
One other thing I shall note about the Badlands and the Black Hills. We're getting a fair amount of representation from India, not just on this blog, but at the Badlands as well. A disproportionate representation from the subcontinent was at the Badlands, not to mention I think there were more foreigners at Mount Rushmore than there were Americans. Regardless, it kind of resulted in a warm fuzzy feeling that all these foreigners were at Mount Rushmore. Nice to see people from other countries, speaking different languages coming all the way here to see our presidents' mugs up on a mountain. And I don't mean that in the politically correct, obligatory fashion, but in the just-plain-effing-truth fashion. Was nice to see people from a different country, haul their asses all the way over here to see this piece of Americana. Almost left you to believe that there was something people still admired about America.
Anyway, here are the pictures (they're huge if you click on them).
Your enjoyment is manditory.
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