But still, according a new study by my colleagues at the Legatum Institute, when it comes to delivering the best economic environment for people and families various forms of liberal capitalism still perform best.The Legatum Prosperity Index found that all the more prosperous places – not only by income, but by quality of life, environment, education and health care – almost exclusively are democratic states. “Prosperity,” the report concludes, “is found in entrepreneurial democracies that have strong social fabrics.”
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Prosperity Index Shows That Democracy Still Works Best - Joel Kotkin - New Geographer - Forbes
Prosperity Index Shows That Democracy Still Works Best - Joel Kotkin - New Geographer - Forbes
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Tony Blair Takes on the World: An Excerpt From 'A Journey' - WSJ.com
Tony Blair Takes on the World: An Excerpt From 'A Journey' - WSJ.com
"To summarize: I profoundly disagree with the statist, so-called Keynesian response to the economic crisis; I believe we should be projecting strength and determination abroad, not weakness or uncertainty; I think now is the moment for more government reform, not less; and I am convinced we have a huge opportunity for engagement with the new emerging and emerged powers in the world, particularly China, if we approach that task with confidence, not fear.
In short, we have become too apologetic, too feeble, too inhibited, too imbued with doubt and too lacking in mission. Our way of life, our values, the things that made us great, remain not simply as a testament to us as nations but as harbingers of human progress. They are not relics of a once powerful politics; they are the living spirit of the optimistic view of human history. All we need to do is to understand that they have to be reapplied to changing circumstances, not relinquished as redundant. "
"To summarize: I profoundly disagree with the statist, so-called Keynesian response to the economic crisis; I believe we should be projecting strength and determination abroad, not weakness or uncertainty; I think now is the moment for more government reform, not less; and I am convinced we have a huge opportunity for engagement with the new emerging and emerged powers in the world, particularly China, if we approach that task with confidence, not fear.
In short, we have become too apologetic, too feeble, too inhibited, too imbued with doubt and too lacking in mission. Our way of life, our values, the things that made us great, remain not simply as a testament to us as nations but as harbingers of human progress. They are not relics of a once powerful politics; they are the living spirit of the optimistic view of human history. All we need to do is to understand that they have to be reapplied to changing circumstances, not relinquished as redundant. "
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Book Review - The Price of Altruism - By Oren Harman - NYTimes.com
Book Review - The Price of Altruism - By Oren Harman - NYTimes.com
"But “The Price of Altruism” is about far more than Price himself. It covers the entire 150-year history of scientists’ researching, debating and bickering about a theoretical problem that lies at the core of behavioral biology, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology: Why is it that organisms sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others?"
Sounds like a good read both for those who have an interest in the altruism puzzle and like the histrory of ideas in general.
"But “The Price of Altruism” is about far more than Price himself. It covers the entire 150-year history of scientists’ researching, debating and bickering about a theoretical problem that lies at the core of behavioral biology, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology: Why is it that organisms sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others?"
Sounds like a good read both for those who have an interest in the altruism puzzle and like the histrory of ideas in general.
Essay - Hayek - The Back Story - NYTimes.com
Essay - Hayek - The Back Story - NYTimes.com
"As it happens, “The Road to Serfdom” — a classic attack on government planning as an inevitable step toward totalitarianism, published in 1944 and kept in print since then by the University of Chicago Press — had already begun a comeback of sorts. It sold 27,000 copies in 2009, up from about 7,000 a year before the inauguration of Barack Obama. But Beck’s endorsement catapulted the book to No. 1 at Amazon.com, bringing a temporary end to at least one tyranny, that of Stieg Larsson. Since the program was broadcast on June 8, 100,000 copies have been sold. "
It is nice to see a Hayek resurgence. But Hayek is a better and more profound writer than most who write about him. So if you are unfamiliar with Hayek's works, you are better off skipping the commentary pro and con and going directly to his "The Road to Serfdom," or even better "The Constitution of Liberty."
"As it happens, “The Road to Serfdom” — a classic attack on government planning as an inevitable step toward totalitarianism, published in 1944 and kept in print since then by the University of Chicago Press — had already begun a comeback of sorts. It sold 27,000 copies in 2009, up from about 7,000 a year before the inauguration of Barack Obama. But Beck’s endorsement catapulted the book to No. 1 at Amazon.com, bringing a temporary end to at least one tyranny, that of Stieg Larsson. Since the program was broadcast on June 8, 100,000 copies have been sold. "
It is nice to see a Hayek resurgence. But Hayek is a better and more profound writer than most who write about him. So if you are unfamiliar with Hayek's works, you are better off skipping the commentary pro and con and going directly to his "The Road to Serfdom," or even better "The Constitution of Liberty."
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
'High Financier' Book Excerpt - WSJ.com
'High Financier' Book Excerpt - WSJ.com
"From the moment he hit the headlines with the first ever hostile takeover bid in 1959 until his death in 1982, Siegmund Warburg was the City's presiding genius, a brilliant exponent of high finance – haute banque, as he liked to call it – who saw with unrivalled prescience the possibilities of global financial reintegration after the calamities of the Depression and two world wars. He was the architect of that transformation of economic institutions which led the Western world back to the free market after the mid-century excesses of state control"
"From the moment he hit the headlines with the first ever hostile takeover bid in 1959 until his death in 1982, Siegmund Warburg was the City's presiding genius, a brilliant exponent of high finance – haute banque, as he liked to call it – who saw with unrivalled prescience the possibilities of global financial reintegration after the calamities of the Depression and two world wars. He was the architect of that transformation of economic institutions which led the Western world back to the free market after the mid-century excesses of state control"
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist - A Little Economic Realism - NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist - A Little Economic Realism - NYTimes.com
"Moreover, public spending seems to have odd knock-off effects. Professors Lauren Cohen, Joshua Coval and Christopher Malloy of Harvard surveyed 42 years of government spending increases in certain Congressional districts. They found that federal spending increases dampened corporate hiring and investment in those districts. You wish somebody could explain that one to you before you pass on more debt burdens to your grandchildren. "
"Moreover, public spending seems to have odd knock-off effects. Professors Lauren Cohen, Joshua Coval and Christopher Malloy of Harvard surveyed 42 years of government spending increases in certain Congressional districts. They found that federal spending increases dampened corporate hiring and investment in those districts. You wish somebody could explain that one to you before you pass on more debt burdens to your grandchildren. "
Monday, June 21, 2010
Germany Rejects Obama's Call on Growth, Stoking G-20 Conflict - Bloomberg
Germany Rejects Obama's Call on Growth, Stoking G-20 Conflict - Bloomberg
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government rebuffed U.S. calls to focus on bolstering growth over debt reduction, setting a course for conflict at the Group of 20 summit in Canada this week.
“Nobody can seriously dispute that excessive public debts, not only in Europe, are one of the main causes of this crisis,” Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters in Berlin today alongside Merkel. “That’s why they have to be reduced.”
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Arthur Brooks: Slouching Towards Athens - WSJ.com
Arthur Brooks: Slouching Towards Athens - WSJ.com: "A predictable corollary: Many Europeans also expect others to work so they can live. The International Social Survey Programme asked Americans and Europeans whether they believe 'It is the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes.' In virtually all of Western Europe more than 50% agree, and in many countries it is much higher—77% in Spain, whose redistributive economy is in shambles. Meanwhile, only 33% of Americans agree with income redistribution."
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Geithner Tells G-20 That World Can't Rely on U.S. Consumer - WSJ.com
Geithner Tells G-20 That World Can't Rely on U.S. Consumer - WSJ.com: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told his foreign counterparts in blunt terms this week that they can no longer count on the American consumer to absorb the world's exports and lift the global economy"
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Europe's Missing Foundations - International - The Atlantic
Europe's Missing Foundations - International - The Atlantic: "When did a united Europe ever capture the imagination of many of its residents? The European project was an elite-driven, top-down affair from the outset. Its leaders took the view, often explicitly, that Europe's voters did not know what was good for them and would have to be led to enlightenment. There was never any willingness to let public indifference or outright hostility moderate the pace. For the most part, voters were not consulted. When they were, and voted No in the occasional referendum on further transfer of power to Brussels, governments resolved to keep on asking until voters got it right."
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Book Review - The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy - By Richard A. Posner - NYTimes.com
Book Review - The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy - By Richard A. Posner - NYTimes.com: "In Posner’s eyes, we are living through a second depression. The root causes were a failure of monetary policy (the Fed kept its short-term interest rate too low between 2001 and 2004), a failure of regulatory oversight (the Federal Reserve and the S.E.C. were “asleep at the switch”) and a failure of intellectual rigor (economists claimed that the enlightened self-interest of bankers and shareholders would suffice to prevent such a crisis)."
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax - Yahoo! Finance
Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax - Yahoo! Finance: "About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization."
Computer Science Loses to Math in New Hiring Formula - WSJ.com
Computer Science Loses to Math in New Hiring Formula - WSJ.com: "Rather than looking for just plain-vanilla computer scientists, who typically don't have as deep a study of math and statistics, companies from Facebook Inc. to online advertising company AdMob Inc. say they need more workers with stronger backgrounds in statistics and a related field called machine learning, which involves writing algorithms that get smarter over time by looking for patterns in large data sets"
RealClearPolitics - What Am I?
RealClearPolitics - What Am I?
"David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute, took the discussion to a deeper level.
"Instead of asking, 'What should we do about people who are poor in a rich country?' The first question is, 'Why is this a rich country?' ...
"Five hundred years ago, there weren't rich countries in the world. There are rich countries now because part of the world is following basically libertarian rules: private property, free markets, individualism."
Boaz makes an important distinction between equality and absolute living standards.
"The most important way that people get out of poverty is economic growth that free markets allow. The second-most important way -- maybe it's the first -- is family. There are lots of income transfers within families. Third would be self-help and mutual-aid organizations. This was very big before the rise of the welfare state.""
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Globish: the worldwide dialect of the third millennium | Robert McCrum | Books | guardian.co.uk
Globish: the worldwide dialect of the third millennium | Robert McCrum | Books | guardian.co.uk: "So here's the sales pitch. Globish is not about the making of a 1500-word vocabulary, but about the way in which Indians, Chinese and many Africans are now turning to English as a liberating and modernising phenomenon (last year, the government of francophone Rwanda not only applied to join the British Commonwealth but also declared English to be the official language of the country)."
Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem | Washington Examiner
Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem | Washington Examiner: "Obamacare was supposed to provide unicorns and rainbows: How can it possibly be hurting companies and killing jobs? Surely there's some sort of Republican conspiracy going on here!
More like a confederacy of dunces. Waxman and his colleagues in Congress can't possibly understand the health care market well enough to fix it. But what's more striking is that Waxman's outraged reaction revealed that they don't even understand their own area of responsibility - regulation -- well enough to predict the effect of changes in legislation."
More like a confederacy of dunces. Waxman and his colleagues in Congress can't possibly understand the health care market well enough to fix it. But what's more striking is that Waxman's outraged reaction revealed that they don't even understand their own area of responsibility - regulation -- well enough to predict the effect of changes in legislation."
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
STEYN: A healthy dose of catastrophe - Washington Times
STEYN: A healthy dose of catastrophe - Washington Times: "Can we afford this? No. Even on the official numbers, we're projected to add to the existing $8 trillion in debt another $12 trillion over the next decade. What could we do? Tax those big, bad corporations a bit more? Medtronic has just announced that the new Obamacare taxes on its products could force it to lay off 1,000 workers. What do those guys do? Well, they develop products such as the recently approved pacemaker that's safe for MRI scans and the InterStim bladder-control device. So that's 1,000 fewer people who'll be working on new stuff. Well, so what? The public won't miss what it never knew it had. So again, the effect is one of disincentivization - in this case, of innovation."
Book Review: The Next Hundred Million - WSJ.com
Book Review: The Next Hundred Million - WSJ.com: "How to respond? 'Declinists have always projected America's imminent demise,' the editors of Newsweek wrote earlier this month. 'For a change, they're onto something.' Joel Kotkin would disagree. In fact, he is in a cheerful mood, in part because he has been thinking less about the present than about the near future, when the news, he says, is likely to be much brighter, at least for America."
It’s over: MPs say the special relationship with US is dead - Times Online
It’s over: MPs say the special relationship with US is dead - Times Online: "BRITAIN’S special relationship with the US — forged by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in the second world war — no longer exists, says a committee of influential MPs.
Instead, America’s relationship with Britain is no more special than with its other main allies, according to a report by the Commons foreign affairs committee published today.
The report also warns that the perception of the UK after the Iraq war as America’s “subservient poodle” has been highly damaging to Britain’s reputation and interests around the world. The MPs conclude that British prime ministers have to learn to be less deferential to US presidents and be “willing to say no” to America."
Instead, America’s relationship with Britain is no more special than with its other main allies, according to a report by the Commons foreign affairs committee published today.
The report also warns that the perception of the UK after the Iraq war as America’s “subservient poodle” has been highly damaging to Britain’s reputation and interests around the world. The MPs conclude that British prime ministers have to learn to be less deferential to US presidents and be “willing to say no” to America."
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Becker's and Dupont's Take on Healthcare
Two articles in today's WSJ by Pete Dupont and gary becker frame the underlying cultural issue confronting our nation--balancing the the Nation's dynamism and its populace's need for some basic stability. Maintaining dynamism is essential for long term growth and expansion of opportunity. But the people who live in the present value stability in their day to day life, and as the health care bill shows will sacrifice future well being for benefit now.
Welcome to Europe
By PETE DU PONT
Late Sunday night America made its largest public-policy course change since the 1930s: Congress moved 17% of our national economy from the market place to full regulation and control by the federal government. The vote in the House was close, 219-212, but our country's health care system will now be organized, operated and regulated by the federal government.Read it in the WSJ (subscription required)
'Basically an Optimist'—Still
The Nobel economist says the health-care bill will cause serious damage, but that the American people can be trusted to vote for limited government in November.
Read at WSJ (subscirption required)
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