We should never permit ourselves to do anything
that we are not willing to see our children do.
Brigham Young
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| Courtesy of the US Chamber |
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| Courtesy of FlagandBanner |
If I have a mild criticism of Professor Thomas, I would have provided more of an overview of the role of substitute goods, in this case corn syrup vs. sugar cane/beet. She explains that the average joe isn't sufficiently vested. A side comment here, notice how Thomas in passing references Reagan, who claimed to be a libertarian conservative, played a role in sugar protectionism. Thomas also cites an agricultural economist whom attempts to provide predictable bogus justifications for violating free trade/free market principles. Sowing Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt: Oh, My! (For example, there are market mechanisms (e.g., futures) for farmers to mitigate risk.) These, of course, are general sophistic arguments which can be easily modified to justify any government crony relationship. I found another op-ed published on The Hill, fear-mongering based on alleged lessons learned from 2006 EU sugar market reforms. (Just in passing: sugar is just one cost factor: for example, Hostess Brands bought a lot of sugar and other commodities but labor costs, not above world price sugar, did them in.) I noticed that the op-ed was written by the president of a management consulting company that supports the sugar and related (e.g., ethanol) industries.
KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports
I Call It 'ObamaCracy'
From UrbanDictionary
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.Plug for EconTalk
I recently updated my blog/site roll. Russ Roberts every Monday has a free hour-long podcast which has great variety including Nobel laureates and prominent economist bloggers (e.g., Scott Sumner, Ty Cowen, etc.) As a researcher big on methodology, I particularly liked the Nosek talk and the Reproducibiliy Project, and this week he had Chicago professor John Cochran whom has written a very good, readable paper: After the ACA: Freeing the market for health care. It starts out:
I’ve written a lot about how to fix health insurance, so I won’t repeat that all here/ To summarize briefly, health insurance should and can be individual, portable, life‐long, guaranteed‐renewable, transferable, competitive, and lightly regulated, mostly to ensure that companies keep their contractual promises. “Guaranteed renewable” means that your premiums do not increase and you can’t be dropped if you get sick. “Transferable” gives you the right to change insurance companies, increasing competition.
Insurance should be insurance, not a payment plan for routine expenses.
Why do we not have a system? Because law and regulation prevent it from emerging. Before ACA [ObamaCare], the elephant in the room was the tax deduction and regulatory pressure for employer‐based group plans.This distortion killed the long‐term individual market and thus directly caused the pre‐existing conditions mess. Anyone who might get a job in the future will not buy long‐term insurance. Mandated coverage, tax deductibility of regular expenses if cloaked as “insurance,” prohibition of full rating,barriers to insurance across state lines – why buy long term insurance if you might move? – and a string of other regulations did the rest.IPPON!
Was Reagan a True Pro-Liberty Conservative?
Prof. Thomas (above) mentioned how Reagan imposed anti-competitive/anti-consumer sugar quotas (raising or maintaining prices through artificial shortages). Sheldon Richmond in 1988 compiled the following list of free trade violations putting the Reagan Administration on the naughty protectionist list:
- Forced Japan to accept restraints on auto exports;
- Tightened considerably the quotas on imported sugar;
- Negotiated to increase the restrictiveness of the Multifiber Arrangement governing trade in textiles and apparel;
- Required 18 countries, including Brazil, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Finland, Australia, and the European Community, to accept "voluntary restraint agreements" that reduce their steel imports to the United States;
- Imposed a 45% duty on Japanese motorcycles for the benefit of Harley Davidson, which admitted that superior Japanese management was the cause of its problems;
- Raised tariffs on Canadian lumber and cedar shingles;
- Forced the Japanese into an agreement to control the price of computer memory chips;
- Removed third-world countries on several occasions from the duty-free import program for developing nations;
- Pressed Japan to force its automakers to buy more American-made parts;
- Demanded that Taiwan, West Germany, Japan, and Switzerland restrain their exports of machine tools;
- Accused the Japanese of dumping roller bearings on grounds that the price did not rise to cover a fall in the value of the yen;
- Accused the Japanese of dumping forklift trucks and color picture tubes;
- Extended quotas on imported clothes pins;
- Failed to ask Congress to end the ban on the export of Alaskan oil and timber cut from federal lands;
- Redefined dumping so domestic firms can more easily charge foreign competitors with unfair trade practices;
- Beefed-up the Export-Import Bank, an institution dedicated to distorting the American economy at the expense of the American people in order to artificially promote exports of eight large corporations.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Carpenters, "I Need to be in Love (Extended Mix)". A/C 14th #1; another Richard-composed original which Richard claims was Karen's favorite Carpenters song (it hits too close to home for me and ranks in my top 5). I hadn't heard this mix, which is awesome--I love how he splices the final verse for effect). In the video, isn't Karen drop dead gorgeous, great hairstyle, an angel in white?
