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Enjoy Capitalism
I’m proposing a $100 (current USD) bet for anyone to take. In 40 years, a supermajority of households in the United States with a television set will have a 3D high definition tv in their homes.
Obviously collection of this bet will be difficult, but I promise to pay out if I lose. It will be [...]
Stossel Reports on Gov’t Abuse of Power
As many predicted, Team Obama has decided to confront climate change with specific expenditures of tax-payer money that end up in the pockets of the politically well-connected, rather than with broad-based tax incentives.
The comments section below the video contains a gem from 4Stanzas:
So, we’re paying higher taxes and high rates of inflation in the hopes [...]
Also posted in Government Spending Tagged cronyism, green police, stossel, the seen and the unseen Leave a comment
Can Capitalism Send Us to the Stars?
I’m going to start blogging my responses to the blogs.berkeley.edu prompts. I’m predicting it will increase my posting.
Here’s my answer to the latest prompt: Can capitalism send us to the stars?
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Time Traveling Thought Experiment
Imagine for a moment that one of your ancestors from 200 years ago (1810) gets transported to the present day. Further imagine that you take her on a tour of Bill Gates’ primary residence. What do you think she will be impressed by? What consumer goods in the house will leave her awestruck?
H/T Don Boudreaux
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iPads, Blogs and Answers
By the numbers, US economic performance over the past decade has not been impressive. However, there are other indicators of progress that NBER and BLS statistics do not convey.
I don’t know how the Consumer Price Index currently accounts for changes to the quality of consumer electronics, but even if they could account for the vast [...]
Blu-ray Prices Fall
Today in the NY Times I read about the fall in Blu-ray prices and the subsequent expansion of the players into peoples’ homes:
“The main reason for the shift in thinking is right there on the stacks of Blu-ray players that Best Buy has piled at its video wall. Prices for high-quality models have dropped below [...]
Obama the Green Entrepreneur
“The Great Green Hope for lifting America’s economy is not looking so robust.
President Obama both during his campaign and in his first year in office, has promoted the promise of new jobs in cutting-edge, nonpolluting industries, and such green jobs will be a major issue at his jobs “summit” meeting Thursday.
But, increasingly, skeptics who point to [...]
Also posted in Government Spending, Knowledge problem Tagged don boudreaux, green jobs, ny times, obama, Stimulus Leave a comment
Mind the Gap
Paul Graham’s essay from way back when (2004) addresses the foundations of wealth and material prosperity. Nothing earth shattering, but a well written piece that shows why income inequality is not a priori wrong. I highly recommend reading the entire essay. Some of the major points Graham makes are:
People make wealth through creation
Wealth ≠ money
Only since [...]
City Government Bullies Local Vendor
Cupkates is a new mobile cupcake vendor that operates out of a truck in commercial zones in Berkeley and Oakland. It’s founder, Kate (no last name is given on her website), has recently been having trouble with the city of Berkeley which appears to have its policies confused. Kate is clearly hardworking and innovative–you can follow her [...]
Also posted in Regulation Tagged corruption, entrepreneurship, local government, state abuse of power 1 Comment
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