Miscellany: 11/26/12

Quote of the Day
The highest reward for man's toil is 
not what he gets for it 
but what he becomes by it.
John Ruskin

The Eagles
little sister #3, Nephew #3, #4, #5 (new Eagle Scout), #2, #1,  niece (youngest)
(off platform) brother-in-law (also an Eagle Scout)

I once asked my little sister (a gift from God), whom I can still remember playing with dolls, how different it was being a real mom. She thought for a second and said, "When you're tired of playing with them, you can't put them away." A truly great family and diverse, Texas-style, i.e., 3 are or will be Aggies and one (#4, like 2 uncles and a cousin) a Longhorn. (I came close to doing both; the Air Force was planning to send me to graduate school at A&M for training in meteorology , but I was twice  passed over in the officer candidacy pool.) Oddly enough, one nephew has an MIS (my PhD discipline) degree and another plans to major in meteorology (I never had related discussions with either nephew).

Follow-Up Odds and Ends

• Miscellany: 11/25/12: Minimum Wage. There were a few points raised by the authors in the aticles I cited: for instance, most minimum-wage jobs are starter jobs and worker wages increase as their training and experience make them more productive. The vast majority of minimum-wage earners are not principal household heads. Also, what is relevant is total compensation, including benefits not formally listed, like paid holidays, vacations, the employer matches to payroll taxes, any relevant employer-paid share of benefits, etc. 

Mandated compensation increases do not help unemployed or inexperienced people in the labor force.  Say, for instance, state or federal law requires $8.50/hour, my wage for more productive workers, I am less likely to develop new workers but opt to cherry-pick more experienced or qualified (e.g., college degree) applicants. Boudreaux uses an an example what if public policy established a half million per year for economics professors. (Just FYI: I never got paid as much as $50K a year as an MIS prof in an in-denand disciple; granted the Fed has watered down the dollar since then, and my highest salary offer was in the twilight of the Clinton Administration with a consulting company whose venture capitalists shortly thereafter pulled the plug, firing the CEO days before I was laid off. I have not done better during  the anemic growth Bush and Obama Administrations, even with a decade more experience.)  Boudreaux says most people would think that he would be thrilled by his salary going up by a multiple. But he notes that his employer would have to downsize the faculty, using unfavorable criteria to afford remaining faculty.

Boudreaux does a followup post here, referencing a  Henderson text. The first example involves a trade-off between between technology and labor. Henderson points out how a producer for automated elevators pushed for a higher minimum wage, not because of empathy  for low-paid elevator operators, but high elevator operator expenses made the case for selling his products, designed to eliminate the need for operators.

Then there was Senator JFK whom worried without a robust minimum wage employers would outsource plants from the Northeast to the South where unemployed African Americans would be willing to take  lower-paying jobs.  By raising the minimum wage, JFK wasn't worried about unemployed African Americans in the South: he wanted to manipulate wages to lower the business incentive to relocate to more business-friendly states.

Early Signs of the Pricking of the College Cost Bubble?

 Peter Wood has written an interesting piece which provides a good framing of context. I'll probably expand in future posts  (Ironically the last college to talk to me (unsolicited), a nationally-advertising university, was only willing to discuss an adjunct opportunity, not a full-time role. I cannot afford to tie myself down into a limited-role, low-paying appointment; I have to consider road warrior gigs in a tough market.)

Jonathan Marks...has posted an important article,,, admonishing conservatives for their seeming eagerness to see the higher education establishment collapse under the weight of excessive costs, insupportable student loans, and graduates ill-prepared for the workforce... Marks lays out the case that "the old alliance between Buckley and Bloom is still possible today," and urges conservatives to resist temptation.  The temptation he has in mind is a too-eager embrace of that younger woman with the come-hither look: online education.

This does seem to be a moment when conservatives are giving more than usual consideration to the "creative destruction" view of American institutions.  The reelection of President Obama has sweetened the fantasy of just walking away from the mess and starting over. 

Just an initial point here: I think first of all, most universities have a top-heavy administration structure, and there are ways for smaller colleges to virtually merge. I remember my schedule at OLL was locked in because with limited numbers of majors I had to take whatever upper-division offerings were available. I could easily see opportunities to leverage faculty (e.g., recorded lectures for self-directed studies, cross-university course enrollments, etc.)

A tough job market for lawyers (which I see as a positive thing since lawyers do not add a single widget to the GDP--maybe we could do with fewer lawyers if we stopped prosecuting victimless crimes, started  streamlining convoluted tax laws, excess regulations, etc.), plummeting enrollments at the University of Vermont Law School are leading to staff reduction buyouts, likely to hit faculty soon...

Entertainment Potpourri

I normally would not touch the Nicki Minaj-Steven Tyler kerfuffle with a ten-foot pole, except for Minaj absurdly deciding to call Tyler a "racist" over his critique of the replacement judges. I'll simply point out that Tyler's comments did not reflect on former colleague/judge (African American) Randy Jackson. For some reason, Tyler feels the replacement judges are harder on new talent and suggests that the replacement judges would have passed on Bob Dylan, unlike past judge panels which would have given Dylan more of a shot. Minaj is insulted because she thought the comment was presumptuous and feels it's a putdown based on her rapper background.

I know there was an incident between Mariah Carey and Minaj; I don't know specifics. In a country where half the country voted for a Vice President they couldn't pick out of a lineup, the idea that a younger artist may not be be familiar with Dylan is not racist. And for Tyler's benefit, Bob Dylan is an amazing songwriter, but a lousy singer with a highly nasal sound--at best, an acquired taste (and I own at least a handful of Dylan albums). And I don't think Perry could have trained Dylan to be a five-octave Roy Orbison. Cohesion among judges is not necessarily a good thing. I'm disappointed that instead of hiring music producers, songwriters or critics as judges, they are settling for prima donna celebrity performers. I think the show has lost its mojo since Cowell and Abdul have left. (I am not an X Factor fan.)

One final thing: I absolutely loathe rap music (I already have a parody in mind loosely based on Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham), and if AI starts experimenting with rap, I'm done with it. It has nothing to do with being "racist": I equally dislike white rap, and I'm a big fan of Motown.

Musical Interlude: Christmas Retrospective

Charlie Brown, "Christmas Time Is Here"