Quote of the Day
One sees great things from the valley,only small things from the peak.
G. K. Chesterton
Say Something, Barry....
Hillary Clinton 'Don't Know Much About History'
Hillary is referencing Sen. Seward's contest with Abraham Lincoln for the 1860 GOP nomination. But Sen. Douglas defeated Lincoln for his 1858 reelection. (Abe was a former Congressman...) After all, it's not as if Hillary Clinton graduated from a Chicago area high school...
Duh Moment of the Day: Now About Those Public Pensions...
Images of the Day
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| Via Bastiat Institute |
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| I don't want you following me before I publish my first tweet.... |
Chart of the Day
Finally, A Decent Judge in the People's Republic of California: Rolf Treu: Crony Teacher Unions Lose a Battle on Tenure
I'm so used to bad judicial decisions that I invented a mock Bad Judge of the Year award; I may have to consider this Superior Court judge as one of my Man of the Year nominees. Any familiar reader knows I've been a passionate opponent of tenure, as a former junior professor. This is not really sour grapes because I never applied for tenure (I was employed by 3 universities over 5 years, the last a visiting non-tenure track appointment; although timetables and promotion policies vary, typically a tenure-track professor goes up for tenure in his sixth year. There are in many universities a renewable 3-year contract, and for the unsuccessful tenure candidate, there is a final one-year extension to help him search for an alternative appointment. An assistant professor is often promoted to associate in conjunction with tenure. Would I have sought tenure if it had been available to me? Probably. But I've always been an overachiever, and it would have been simply a professional objective. I was never interested in organizational politics; I always set my personal objectives higher. )
Recently I quoted some statistics that showed while private-sector companies often discharged underperforming employees in the neighborhood of 3% a year, in the public sector it's a fraction of a percent. We have a public education system where it can be next to impossible to terminate a mediocre or poor tenured faculty member; during layoffs, teachers are dismissed more as a function of seniority vs. any objective performance criteria. Judge Treu ruled that these retention policies infringe on children's right to a quality public education. Of course, the unions are more interested in protecting their crony relationships with Democratic lawmakers than in self-policing operations filtering out mediocre teachers; I've reproduced copious numbers of charts showing lawmakers throwing ever more money at public education without commensurate improvements in student performance. Let's hope that the California Supreme Court confirms this ruling, breaking up the suboptimal corrupt bargain between unions and lawmakers at the expense of students left with an inferior education with little hope of competing in a tough global economy.
Facebook Corner
Lots of discussion about Cantor's historic primary upset loss yesterday. As my comments below suggest, I am somewhat ambivalent over the outcome...
And all rules are made by fools...
(Reason). No political establishment is safe!
I disagree with this. If there was a decent person in Congressional leadership, it was Cantor. He should not serve as a scapegoat for two failed Keynesian Presidents and the fiscally irresponsible Senate. He has a strong 95% ACU lifetime rating. I'm more worried about his successor, an allegedly free-market economics professor whom opposes liberalized immigration reform.
(Cato Institute). "Today, thousands of drivers of London’s iconic black cabs are taking part in a possibly illegal demonstration in response to how Transport for London (TfL), the city’s transportation agency, is treating Uber."
There is a point over a regulatory double standard, but the proper reform is to deregulate the market across the board, not to expand/perpetuate the regulatory regime.
(Cato Institute). "Once you ruin a brand, it can take a long time to restore it. And part of the solution is owning up to your own errors, not just pointing the finger."
With all due respect, some of the votes discussed in the post reflected legislation proposed by President Bush and Eric Cantor was part of the GOP leadership; it would have been politically suicidal to publicly break with the President on key votes. Sometimes in baseball you have to sacrifice your at-bat for the sake of the team; Bush is responsible for his policy deviations from a small government perspective. Cantor was no Clintonian "finger in the wind" conservative: he has a 95% ACU lifetime voting record.
(Lew Rockwell). More goats, fewer politicians! Ron Paul on why Detroit should have a free-market urban agricultural policy. Or, better yet, no policy at all. Just ag anarchy.
Just wait until Obama's BLM imposes grazing fees...
(Reason). Your artisanal cheese is safe, for now.
Now about raw milk products....
(Mercatus Center at George Mason University). See Chart of the Day. Even well-intentioned policies, like raising the minimum wage, have unintended consequences. Antony Davies shows how unemployment effects of the minimum wage are most pronounced for the least educated workers: http://bit.ly/1lWLbM2
There are so many economically illiterate "progressive" trolls in this thread; one hardly knows where to begin. Let's begin with the idiotic assumption that the morally hazardous social welfare system is a "subsidy" to Walmart. Nonsense; first of all, only a tiny fraction of Walmart's work force receive minimum-wage, many minimum wage earners come from middle class or above families not in the welfare net, and a large plurality of lower-wage earners are employed by smaller businesses. In none of these cases does any employer get a subsidy for hiring welfare net workers, and in fact the morally corrupt welfare net gives workers a rationale not to upgrade their skills or work more for fear of losing welfare net eligible benefits.
Second, note during the Gilded Age we had increased wages and standard of living without government-protected crony unionists or federal labor policies. Whether or not the morally indefensible prohibition of contracts below a statutory wage floor reflect an inflation-adjusted basis is largely inconsequential; what's relevant from an economic standpoint is whether the number said troll picks out of her ass is above or below the market clearing rate. If it's below, it's unnecessary; if it's above, it creates a surplus of unemployed workers. Only a tiny percentage of workers are minimum wage workers, and only clueless economists would disregard the opportunity costs of the impact of losing income at a lower than statutory market clearing rate. Also, minimum-wage policy changes would have modest effect under conditions of long-term economic growth trend of 3% or higher. If only the trolls in this thread understood economics beyond bumper sticker talking points...
(Bastiat Institute). Interesting factoid: "According to OpenSecrets.org, Cantor outraised Brat by more than 26 to 1. In fact, according to FEC campaign finance data, the soon-to-be former majority leader spent more money at steak houses than Brat spent on his entire campaign." Eric Cantor loses GOP primary to tea party challenger Dave Brat | MSNBC http://ow.ly/xRTRR
Let's point out that the economics professor here ran AGAINST liberalized immigration, in particular backed by neocon populist Laura Ingraham, not exactly in the Ron Paul wing of the Tea Party. I would much rather have seen Boehner and Graham get taken out. Cantor was a decent conservative whom unfortunately had to deal with the likes of Reid and Barry of the Statist Jackass Party
(Reason). Who is this Ayn Rand loving, immigration reform hating, The Cato Institute referencing man who beat Eric Cantor?
Even if he's a conservative Republican, if he's elected and keeps his promise regarding the 4th amendment then he's already an upgrade from Cantor.
What do you expect if you have to reach some kind of agreement with the likes of Reid and Obama? You can't even override a veto in the House.... Cantor was no RINO; he has a 95% ACU lifetime voting record. And, unlike Brat, he is more open to liberalized immigration reform. I think the story here is that Cantor's ambition to succeed Boehner left the home ground unprotected. I would have much rather seen Boehner or Graham go down...
(This comes from a thread dealing with automation in the fast food industry in response to wage floor policy changes.)
But fewer will be able to buy them.
Cheaper burgers means you can now or in the future buy other things (and provide support jobs). Plus, as Momentum points out, robotics production and operation provide their own jobs.
(Lew Rockwell). How fun to see Eric Cantor, de facto House Republican leader, defeated by a good margin in Virginia. Cantor spent more than $5 million, his econ professor opponent a tiny amount. There is also a personal angle for me: Cantor is a Ron Paul hater, and was his most bitter opponent in the House because Ron is a man of peace. Eric, I have a job idea for you: enlist in one of the armies you love so much.
Give me a break; his opponent is an economics department chair whom won on anti-immigrant populism--and had the backing of anti-Ron Paul, anti-immigrant, neocon Laura Ingraham. Since when is the enemy of your friend your friend?
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel and IPI I think it would have been even funnier if Captain Barry had said, "Your ship has finally come in".... |
Diana Ross, "Theme From Mahogany"
