Blessed is he who carries within himself
a God,
an ideal,
and obeys it.
Louis Pasteur
A Couple of Posts Are Getting an Unusual Number of Pageviews
I don't usually comment about post pageviews until mid-month, but for some odd reason, two posts from late last month (Aug. 27 and 29) have caught fire and already rank among my top 8 posts over the past 3 years. They had typical daily pagecounts until about mid-week. Assuming the counts are legitimate and not some bug or Blogger stats anomaly, I assume that they have attracted like-minded or critical notice (as the old saw goes, any publicity is good publicity). I personally like all my posts. It's puzzling why my newer posts aren't getting better numbers; one of the first things I do after reading an impressive post by another blogger is read his latest stuff.
Guest Commenter of the Day
Is this the bipartisanship that the president promised to bring to Washington during his presidential campaign. When he vowed to end the bitter polarization that's crippled the government for the past several years (which we didn't mind by the way). It seems like the only time both parties in government work together is when they're going against the popular opinion of the American public. - Doug French (lfb today blog)I am always wary of what I consider as corrupt bargains--perhaps most prominently, "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" like Congressional earmarks. I am also scornful of what I call the "I love Mommies, babies and puppy dog acts'; if you aren't pissing off the special interests, you probably aren't doing your job effectively. French is implicitly referencing the dictum "Do no harm" (to which I add "And all 'progressive' legislation is harmful"). So when I hear the "progressives" bitch about the so-called obstructionism of the GOP, I smile. The last thing we need is yet more taxation, more usurpation of state responsibilities, more economic illiterate and/or morally hazardous policies, government malinvestment, and anti-growth regulations, quite often based on special-interest alarmist propaganda. Of course, the GOP is wary of third-rail popular entitlement reforms, even though Medicare and social security are unsustainable; they don't want to be out in front of necessary reforms, which will be unpopular; we could end up in a case like California where the GOP has been marginalized; California Dems have not dealt with the real pension crisis involving infeasible Baby Boomer cash flows. French is also worried about an unholy alliance between "progressive" interventionists and the GOP neo-cons, e.g., on Syria.
Unintended Consequences of Amateurish Foreign Policy
Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
A Point About Obama's Foreign Policy
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| Courtesy of Liberty Evolution |
Some Comments About the Latest Economy Numbers
I know that Mark Perry of Carpe Diem continues to push perky economics--GDP had a nice second-quarter bump up from 1.7 to 2.5%, unemployment (U-3) dipped to 7.3%, but mostly because of the number of discouraged workers leaving the official labor force, down to a labor participation rate of 63.2%, the lowest rate in 35 years.
I have an anecdotal experience that perfectly encapsulates the situation. Back in April, a Georgia recruiter contacted me about a perm DBA opportunity (for which I was well-qualified); nothing came of it, and I mostly forgot about it until earlier this week, when the same recruiter contacted me again. When I gently reminded her that she had previously approached me, clearly embarrassed, she apologized, explaining that the manager had been dissatisfied with the previous pool of candidates and had decided to reopen the search. Such is the arrogance of an employer's market...
As for Perry, he now becomes the first blogger bumped from my blogroll. I often disagree with other scholars, politicians, etc., including people I admire. Perry and I agree on a number of issues, particularly on libertarian themes (including energy deregulation), but the straw man that broke the camel's back was when he pushed a post today, griping, just like Obama and other Dems, at drops in government hiring in the job recovery. This one came out of left field; he's routinely talking about top-heavy university bureaucracies. There are so many things wrong with a purported libertarian griping about streamlining government hiring. There have also been other things, including his implicit endorsement of the Fed (as if price-fixing of interest rates or interventions in the bond market are consistent from a pro-liberty, free-market perspective).
I don't intend to be a wet blanket or a doom-or-gloom guy, but here are a few items apparent to most people. Corporate profit margins are weakening, most commodities have been correcting, interest rates have been edging up--which is typically bad news for stock prices and worrisome to banks with low interest rate loans on the books. Emerging market stocks in general have been down this year, and the other advanced economies, especially Japan and Europe, have been soft, meaning we won't get a big boost from exports. China's multi-year appetite for resources from Australia, South America and Africa is quite muted as they've been struggling with their own economic slowdown. Expect to see some cooling off in the hot real estate and auto markets as higher interest rates take their toll on loans and up to a third of home sales in cash to investors. Investors could phase out of the market as rates cut expected returns, dumping properties on the market.
But the idea that this economy is approaching the long-term trend of 3% simply isn't consistent with other evidence we would expect with a robust economy. We have a structural unemployment problem; I'm not saying I have a magic solution, but I think the first step is to restore free markets and eliminate barriers to hiring. It would also be a good idea, if we can't repeal ObamaCare at present, we should at least defer it until we have a full-employment economy.
Lindsey Graham: Another Nomination for Bad Elephant of the Year
From US News (HT Drudge):
"I believe that if we get Syria wrong, within six months -- and you can quote me on this," Graham said, pausing for dramatic effect. "There will be a war between Iran and Israel over their nuclear program.
But it wouldn't even end there, Graham surmised. Undoubtedly, he said ominously, the Iranians would share its nuclear technology with U.S. enemies.
"My fear is that it won't come to America on top of a missile, it'll come in the belly of a ship in the Charleston or New York harbor," he said.Nuclear fear-mongering is simply unacceptable. I think we need a new GOP senator from South Carolina next year...
A Sign of Things to Come
IBM is looking to convert retirement health plan participants to a subsidy plan for Medicare supplementation. I expect a number of other corporations to follow suit, as they seek to control health costs spiraling out of control. One thing clear to me: this seems to suggest private sector subsidies for government programs will decrease, which implies almost certainly government health-related costs will need to increase to retain providers. Yeah, how is that ObamaCare working for you now? We've been suggesting almost certainly retiree health benefits will be modified in the Detroit bankruptcy. I see a clear trend in the making...
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Steve Breen and Townhall |
Diana Ross, "Love Hangover"
