Walking: Yer doin' it wrong!

At least if you are wearing shoes you are. So says Adam Sternbergh in a fun article from New York Magazine. Here's an informative excerpt:

Still, while I can accept that barefoot-walking is beneficial, it’s hard to shake off 30 years of wrapping my feet in foam. So I put this question—if bare feet are natural, why do we need shoes to “protect” the foot?—to a podiatrist at the Hospital for Special Surgery, who explained, “People who rely on the ‘caveman mentality’ are not taking into consideration that the average life span of a caveman was a heck of a lot shorter than the life span of a person today. The caveman didn’t live past age 30. Epidemiologically speaking, it’s been estimated that, by age 40, about 80 percent of the population has some muscular-skeletal foot or ankle problem. By age 50 to 55, that number can go up to 90 or 95 percent.” Ninety-five percent of us will develop foot or ankle problems? Yeesh. Those are discouraging numbers—but wait. Are we talking about 95 percent of the world population, or of North America? “Those are American figures,” he says. Which makes me think, North Americans have the most advanced shoes in the world, yet 90 percent of us still develop problems? We’ve long assumed this means we need better shoes. Maybe it means we don’t need shoes at all.

OMG!! It's the "the solution to government caused problems is more government argument " applied to footware. Well done Mr. Podiatrist and well questioned Mr. Sternbergh!

Why are professors such jerks? Megan McArdle breaks it down for us

1) The money is so low relative to the professions they might have gone into. Journalists also suffer from this bitterness. Interestingly, the more lucrative their current options are, the less bitter the professors seem to be--economists and engineers seem relatively cheerful compared to English and History professors.

2) It's so easy to tell exactly where you rank in the academic hierarchy. Well, I don't find it easy, but they all seem to. Unless you're very near the top, your ranking is reinforced every time you attend any sort of professional event. If you are near the top, you promptly switch to wondering why you're paid less than an entry level investment banking analyst.

3) It's so hard to switch jobs. Job mobility is so low that you can't salve your ego by telling yourself that your current job is merely a waystop en route to something better.

4) Academics have few alternative status hierarchies Getting tenure is an all consuming process that leaves very little time for developing other hobbies. And the job virtually definitionally does not attract the kind of people who will be happy putting their career on a back burner to family or lifestyle.

5) Academics have virtually no control over where they live They usually seem to go where the best job is, regardless of whether or not the local area suits them. In many cases, this further focuses them inward on academia, because there aren't all that many other people around who share their interests.

The full post is here.

You'll never say "google" the same way again!

It takes a little while to get going but this is fantastic. Hat tip to Marc Andreessen

What the well-dressed Okie will be wearing next winter!!

Joke Botching

Yesterday, gave a talk over at UNC-Chapel Hill.

This story appeared in the Deadly Tar Ball.

In particular, the story contains this as a final paragraph:

He wrapped up his speech by showing distrust for the presidential candidates.

"If John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were on a bridge and it collapsed, America would be saved."

I responded, in comments, like this:

The last sentence in the story is a summary of a joke, one that misses the point of the joke. What I actually said was this:

*******************************
Suppose Clinton, Obama, and McCain were on a bridge. Now, suppose the bridge collapsed into the water....

Who would be saved?

Answer: The American people.
*********************************

Not a funny joke, but it is in the context of someone asking me who I endorse, among the major candidates. The point is that I don't endorse any of them.

On the other hand, I wish them no harm. I hope that all the bridges they cross stand tall and firm, and don't collapse.

Engineers' guide to cats

Engineers' guide to cats.

"Tuna is cocaine for kitties."

Cat yodeling.

I like cardboard deconstruction.

(Nod to Alex H)

Who is More Liberal, Senator Obama or Senator Clinton?

Who is More Liberal, Senator Obama or Senator Clinton?

Answer: Yes.

(Nod to my friend Keith Poole, who is recovering from neck surgery. I think the plan is that, after the surgery, he will actually HAVE a neck. It's called an "addanecktome." I trust it went well!)

(And, seriously for a moment, congrats to Keith for his Duncan Black Prize this year, which was well-deserved for his fine paper, "Changing Minds? Not in Congress!")

John 11:35?

JERUSALEM - Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers exchanged blows at one of Christianity's holiest shrines on Orthodox Palm Sunday, and used palm fronds to pummel police who tried to break up the brawl. The fight came amid growing rivalry over religious rights at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site in Jerusalem where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected.

It erupted when Armenian clergy kicked out a Greek priest from their midst, pushed him to the ground and kicked him, according to witnesses.

When police intervened, some worshippers hit them with the palm fronds they were holding for the religious holiday. The Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Armenians and Greek Orthodox, follow a different calendar from Western Christians and celebrate Easter next Sunday.

Wow. As always, I am not making any of this up.

Can Correa control Ecuador's Military?

Not yet, says an article in the NY Times by Simon Romero.

PhD Economist turned firebrand President Rafael Correa began his term by trying to buy the military's support with:

"salary raises for soldiers; a 25 percent increase in the 2008 military budget, to $920 million; and lucrative highway construction contracts for companies controlled by military officials."

Yes you read that right. As it turns out the Ecuadorian military is old school:

Unlike the armed forces of most other countries in Latin America, Ecuador’s military has retained substantial economic might since a military junta transferred power to a civilian government in the 1970s. Through holding companies, the armed forces still control TAME, one of Ecuador’s largest airlines, and enterprises in the munitions, shrimp fishing, construction, clothing, flower farming and hydroelectric industries, making the military one of the country’s most powerful economic group.

Despite his efforts, the military is still too close to the US and Colombia for Correa's comfort:

Still, tensions persist over his clash with top generals, which emerged after Colombian forces raided a Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador last month. The raid against the rebel group, the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, put Ecuador and its ally Venezuela on edge with Colombia. Twenty-five people were killed, including Franklin Aisalla, an Ecuadorean operative for the group, known as the FARC.

The face-off between Ecuador and Colombia ended at a summit meeting in the Dominican Republic, but it has begun again over revelations that Ecuadorean intelligence officials had been tracking Mr. Aisalla, information that was shared not with the president, but apparently with Colombian forces and their American military advisers.

The leak became evident when video and photo images surfaced in Colombia and Ecuador showing Mr. Aisalla meeting with FARC commanders.

“I, the president of the republic, found out about these operations by reading the newspaper,” a visibly indignant Mr. Correa said last week during an interview in the capital, Quito, with foreign correspondents. “This is not something we can tolerate. He added that he planned to restructure the intelligence agencies to give him greater direct control over them.

In a rebuke of senior military officials, Mr. Correa named as defense minister his personal secretary, Javier Ponce, who was an outspoken critic of the armed forces in his previous careers as a poet and an editorial writer at some of Ecuador’s largest newspapers.

While I am not Correa's biggest fan, I am with him on this one. Civilian control of the military is a must, (as is, I might add, *not* having the military run large civilian companies). I'd rather see the craziest policies coming out of a democracy than excellent ones coming after a coup from a military junta.

The Few, The Proud, The Political Scientists!

According to Forbes' list of "Well paying rare jobs" political science is oh-tay.

Here is a summary listing the occupation, the alleged number of practitioners and their average salary. The data is "culled from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics data" and you can see them all by clicking on the "in pictures" link from the link above.

Prosthodontists 480 $158,940
Astronomers 1430 $ 95,000
Industrial Psychologists 1140 $ 89,920
Mathematicians 2840 $ 86,780
Political Scientists 3970 $ 86,370
Nuclear Reactor Operators 3750 $ 70,800
Sociologists 3440 $ 68,300
Agricultural Engineers 3050 $ 67,810
Gaming Managers 3330 $ 67,340


Here is Forbes and the BLS on what is a Political Scientist: Most of these professionals work for the federal government and earn more than $100,000 annually. The majority of course work is in Washington, D.C. The BLS says, "May study public opinion, political decision making and ideology, as well as analyze the structure and operation of governments."

Economists don't qualify as "rare" because there are over 15,000 of us according to BLS!

hat tip to BR

Bitter White Guy Performance Art

Two incidents. I was only a witness. But pretty impressive redneckery.

Incident the First:

In the Hardees across the street the "Inn at Virginia Tech," where I stayed when I gave my talk at the B-school. (I stayed at the Inn, not the Hardees). Asian kid, reading THE ECONOMIST. Aryan frat boy looking kid, sitting at same table, reading USA TODAY. It's 6:45 am. White kid: "You damned Asians! You are just exploiting us!"

Asian kid: (Stares, amazed. Me, too).

White kid: "Yeah, it says here that the fall of the U.S. dollar has caused such an increase in exports that there aren't enough containers in the U.S. They are piling up overseas."

Asian kid: (Patiently, and quite sensibly) "Well, but the U.S. still has a huge trade deficit with most countries in manufactured goods. It may be true that imports are up, but the NET trade pattern is still in deficit."

White kid: (Throws USA TODAY at Asian kid) "You just hate America. You people want all those containers gone so you can bankrupt American businesses."

Asian kid: "'You people'? I'm from Richmond."

White kid: "Well, let's go to the car. I'm not going to explain to you what an idiot you are in front of all these people. And I'm sure you don't want to walk."

Incident the Second:

Philadelphia airport, about 7 pm. Two 20-ish kids walk up to the gate, two gates down from mine. I was sitting reading the paper, waiting for my flight.

One kid sees the door is closed. "Open that door! OPEN THAT DOOR!" Yelling loudly, and in quite a threatening way.

30-ish black woman behind the counter, no other airline personnel around. She tells the kid that in order to leave on time, they have to close the door five minutes before departure for checks. Plus, she had announced three times that this was the "final boarding call." (It's true, she had, I heard it).

The kid yells, "I didn't hear you. I was right here! You have to OPEN THAT DOOR RIGHT NOW! OPEN IT. I MEAN IT."

Woman: "Sir, I'll have to call security if you don't back off. I can't open the door, the flight is leaving."

Kid: "I see it! It's right there! It hasn't left. Open the door. I'm TELLING YOU, OPEN THE DOOR!"

The woman told the kid, without getting angry or raising her voice, that there two truths he was going to have to accept. First, the flight was gone and she would have to rebook him. Second, if he didn't stop yelling and threatening her, she was going to call security.

Kid: "I'm just going to stand right here and block the gate. You can't do this to me."

(Stands against the desk, arms around machine for checking boarding passes.)

Woman picks up phone, makes call in low voice.

Three minutes later, three men in uniform show up. One is about Angus's size, and is clearly in charge. One is about 5'10", and extremely solidly built. And the other....I swear he was 6'10", and 375 pounds. He looked like a human mountain, on the move. The two smaller guys get on both sides of the protesting kid, and speak to him in low tones. Kid decides to make a break for it, and turns around and runs his face smack in the giant guy's chest. Kid backs off, holding his forehead and gaping at giant.

For some reason it reminded me of the line in "Princess Bride," where the Billy Crystal character threatens to call the "goon squad." And Andre the Giant says, "I'm on the goon squad." And Crystal says, "GAH! You ARE the goon squad." This guy was a one man goon squad.



Anyway, handcuffs for the loudmouth kid. Now, I have some sympathy for the "I'm here before scheduled departure time" argument. But I also have sympathy with the woman gate agent. She bent over backwards NOT to call security. And then when security came it was justice swift and sure. I can't imagine what the kid thought would happen. That is NOT going to end well.

I think both incidents were some of the people Obama may have been talking about, idiotic bitter white guys.

Motorhome Racing

A movie for the ages.



(Nod to Anonyman)

Money Myth

Money Myth, in California, by Jay Greene

Kids say the Darndest things

Over at the Sneeze, Steven indirectly reviews the new Cloud Cult album by interviewing his 8 year old son about it. Pitchfork gives a more traditional type of review here, but the kid being interviewed is awesome!! Here's some of it:

How's the new album?

So good I can't even explain.

Well, try. What do you like about it?

Mostly the cool music. Each beginning is sorta long, 1 or 2 minutes. Actually I don't really care if the beginning is long or short. I just care that the music is great.

What's your favorite song?

Every song is my favorite song.

Well, if you could only listen to one song right now, which would it be?

The first two.

Classic. Describe Cloud Cult's music in general.

They're great. They sound like a professional rock band, IN WHICH THEY ARE!

Is there anything else you want to tell people about the album?

I'd like to tell people, once you find this in the Radio Shack, buy it. It's the best thing I've ever listened to in my whole life.

Have you ever been to Radio Shack?

No.

What do you think goes on in there?

Kinda like the iTunes store. Just a whole bunch of people buying music. But no elevator music. Mostly rock or something.

Do you have anything else you'd like to say to everybody?

If you're in a Radio Shack and you see guys dressed up for a tea party with clouds, buy that one. Because that one's "Feel Good Ghosts." It's the best. It makes me want to get up out of my seat and start par-taying. That means partying.

How do you par-tay?

How do I par-tay? I do it by, getting out of my seat and doing a little bit of this and little bit of that. Pinch of this.

A pinch of what? What are you talking about?!

You get out of your seat and dance.

Man I gotta start going to their RATSHACK!!!

If you're after getting the honey - then you don't go killin' all the bees

Bachelet kisses China's butt.

Chilean President and putative human rights activist Michele Bachelet visited China and said this:

"President Bachelet reiterated that Chile adheres firmly to the only one China policy, respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Popular Republic of China, recognizes that Taiwan and Tibet form part of China. The Chinese side expressed their appreciation for this Chilean position."

Why, Madame President? Well here's her explanation for the smoocheroo:

"China has a strategic dimension for the development of Chile and its people. There'll be investments, more companies and more opportunities. And it's a reality that doesn't permit any kind of second guessing."

Holy crap! You're not just supposed to come out and say it so cravenly like that are you?? Are the Chilean government's foreign policy positions simply for sale to the highest bidder? Is she subtly trying to encourage Taiwan to start a bidding war? Wow!

Hat tip to Greg Weeks.

NBA preview

The unholy grind that is the first round of the NBA playoffs starts today. At least we are lucky enough to have 3 pretty fun matchups this time.

(1) Cavs v. Wiz: Cleveland has knocked Washington out the last two years. But that hasn't stopped some Wizzers from trash talking Cleveland and LeBron (for example DeShawn Stevenson called LeBron overrated), which prompted Charles Barkley to say that "I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization,"

While it's tough to beat a team three times in a row in a 7 game series, I am going with Cavs in 6.


(2) Spurs - Suns: I can't really be very objective here. I despise Bruce Bowen's thuggish ways and think that Phoenix got robbed last year when they were the team who suffered after Horry mugged Nash. Take that and add my favorite player ever, the big Cactus, into the mix and I am totally in the tank for the Suns. It's pretty much for this eventuality that the Suns acquired Shaq, and I think it will pay off.

Suns in 6.

(3) Hornets - Mavs: This series is interesting because the Hornets are playoff untested and the Mavs have a lot of playoff experience (albeit experience losing in the clutch). The Hornets are a fun team, substantially the same roster we enjoyed watching last year here in OKC, but with more experience, and much better health. For Dallas, Mark Cuban's experiment of matching a prima donna control freak coach with a prima donna control freak point guard has not worked out too well yet.

Hornets in 7.

28-2, baby!!!!

Got to be real nice to Mrs. Angus now, 'cause the NBA owners just voted overwhemingly (28-2) to approve the relocation of the Sonics to OKC! The owners who voted now were Mark Cuban (who owns the team closest to OKC) and Paul Allen (a Pacific Northwest icon).

Speeches at LPNC Convention.....

Two snippets, one each of Bob Barr and Mike Gravel, speaking at LPNC.

The funniest sentences I've read this week

"I don't know about you, but show me a starlet without panties getting out of a car, and suddenly the world seems like a better place. Show me 'Knight Rider' drunk on the floor eating a hamburger, and I won't ask why my kid has no health insurance. Let's stop burdening people with facts."


An excerpt from Tim Robbins' keynote speech at the National Association of Broadcasters meetings.

Been Away, Haven't Seen You for a While, How've You Been?

(Sorry about the Dave Mason title; I'm in a hurry).

Was gone all this week, leaving again for DC for IHS Career Development. I'll get to see that cute Dave Schmidtz, though, so it's all worth it.

Tuesday: Gave talk at Bowling Green State U, in Ohio, at Social Philosophy. Wonderful folks. Saw Larry White, who was kind enough to comment.

Wednesday night: Back in NC, went to Winston-Salem, did four different gigs on WXII. Will try to post links soon. Strange questions from listeners, and I got in trouble for being insensitive. Makes sense, though: I AM insensitive.

Thursday: Drove to Cullowhee, and Western Carolina to give a talk and go out to lunch. Trying to establish a "Munger for Gov" organization out there. I think it worked; I have a campus rep, and a vice rep. Great kids. Drove out to Murphy. Wow.

More soon, when I get to DC. Have to give my main talk tonight. May have time to post tomorrow.

Get South Africa OUT of the Zimbabwe affair!

Here's another one the Bush administration is getting wrong. Both Shrub and Condi have called for more action by Zimbabwe's neighbors. But Zimbabwe's main neighbor, South Africa is nothing more than a Mugabe sock puppet. SA president Thabo Mbeki has consistently enabled Mugabe's tactics even saying at one point that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe.

Now the Mbeki government has allowed a Chinese arms shipment bound for Zimbabwe to dock at the South African port of Durban:

The South African newspaper Beeld said a copy of the ship’s cargo documentation showed it was carrying almost 3m rounds of ammunition suitable for AK-47 assault rifles. There were also reports that the shipment contained mortar bombs and rocket-propelled grenade equipment.

Police confirmed that the shipment included arms, sparking an outcry and demands from the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, for it to be impounded. The discovery comes at a sensitive time for South Africa’s government as it faces international criticism of its “quiet diplomacy” towards Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president.

Wow. It had been reported that SA would block this trans-shipment. However:

Themba Maseko, the South African government’s chief spokesman, said the authorities could not prevent the shipment reaching its destination. Mr Maseko said South Africa had to be seen to be “treading very carefully” in its relations with Zimbabwe, given its role as chief mediator between the MDC and Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.

And of course by "treading very carefully" he means "ensuring Mugabe stays in power"!

Earth to Cato and the WSJ: Read it and Weep!!

Click on pic to better read the sweet free market slogan on this genuine Starbucks gift card!!

Obama-ectomy

Larry Bartels gives Barack a clinic in "political sociology" in today's NYTimes

He summarizes the ideas behind Barack's bitter clingers thesis and then says:

This is a remarkably detailed and vivid account of the political sociology of the American electorate. What is even more remarkable is that it is wrong on virtually every count.

He goes on to create two groups of people, those with family incomes less than 60k, no college degree and live in rural areas (comprising about 18% of the population). These are Obama's bitter clingers. He also defines their opposites: incomes more than 60k, college degree, live in cities) which compose about 11% of the population. Bartels then argues that it's actually the elite group which "clings" to social issues much more strongly than the folks Barack was dissing.

Do small-town, working-class voters cast ballots on the basis of social issues? Yes, but less than other voters do. Among these voters, those who are anti-abortion were only 6 percentage points more likely than those who favor abortion rights to vote for President Bush in 2004. The corresponding difference for the rest of the electorate was 27 points, and for cosmopolitan voters it was a remarkable 58 points. Similarly, the votes cast by the cosmopolitan crowd in 2004 were much more likely to reflect voters’ positions on gun control and gay marriage.

Small-town, working-class voters were also less likely to connect religion and politics. Support for President Bush was only 5 percentage points higher among the 39 percent of small-town voters who said they attended religious services every week or almost every week than among those who seldom or never attended religious services. The corresponding difference among cosmopolitan voters (34 percent of whom said they attended religious services regularly) was 29 percentage points.

It is true that American voters attach significantly more weight to social issues than they did 20 years ago. It is also true that church attendance has become a stronger predictor of voting behavior. But both of those changes are concentrated primarily among people who are affluent and well educated, not among the working class.

Nicely done sir, kudos!

No hay monos en la costa?

Maybe not for long in Costa Rica according to the Christian Science Monitor:

In the past decade, construction of hotels, second homes, and condominiums has surged in coastal regions, taking advantage of a vacuum in planning and enforcement. The total land area that has been developed grew 600 percent in that time, according to a government report.

As a result, the biodiversity that has long lured visitors is disappearing, say scientists. Monkey and turtle populations are plummeting, and infrastructure is strained to a near breaking point.

Costa Rica's highly regarded, nonpartisan State of the Nation report aired the country's dirty laundry last November, alarming both the press and the public.

Statistics revealed that 97 percent of Costa Rica's sewage flows untreated into rivers, streams, or the ocean, and that more than 300,000 tons of garbage was left uncollected on streets in 2006. And a flurry of illegal well-drilling is running aquifers dry, ironic in a country where as much as 20 feet of rain falls annually.

Despite the chaos, less than a quarter of coastal towns have zoning plans to balance tourism development with natural resources and government services such as sewage treatment and public water supply.

Monkey populations, symbols of the rain forest and a charismatic tourist attraction, declined an estimated 50 percent in little more than a decade, according to a recent report by a team of wildlife scientists.

Even given these developments, Costa Rica is still a very cool place:

Costa Rica remains decades ahead of its neighbors. More than 26 percent of its national territory is under protected status, 80 percent of its energy is produced from renewable resources such as wind and hydropower, and the country is growing more trees than it cuts down – an anomaly in widely poor Central America.

Costa Rica's natural resources are equally impressive, with its 11,450 species of plants, 67,000 species of insects, 850 species of birds, and the highest density of plants, animals, and ecosystems of any country in the Americas.

Ms. Angus and I have visited the Osa peninsula twice and had a great time on each occasion.

They could have been classics

On the real clear politics website this afternoon I saw three article titles that cried out for one word texts. Alas, it was not to be as verbal inflation rules the day. Anyway here they are along with my version of the correct full text for the article.

Is Berlusconi the Savior That Italy Needs?

NO!

Has Gay Marriage Been a Mistake for Canada?

NO!

We Are All Global Alarmists Now?

NO!

Johannesburg Bleg

A first ever KPC bleg! wow.

Mrs. Angus and I will be in Johburg for one day resting up from our flight there from OKC (via ATL) on our way to Madagascar. Any suggestions for a good hotel not too far from the airport and something to do for a half day or so in the town would be greatly appreciated. We have been to Blyde river canyon and Kruger and don't have time to really travel outside the immediate J-burg area this time around.

BTW, for the semi-adventurous traveller, I'd highly recommend South Africa as a destination.

Been down so long it looks like up to me

I just read through an interesting new NBER working paper (ungated version here), "Training Disadvantaged Youth in Latin America: Evidence from a Randomized Trial". Here is the abstract:

Youth unemployment in Latin America is exceptionally high, as much as 50% among the poor. Vocational training may be the best chance to help unemployed young people at the bottom of the income distribution. This paper evaluates the impact of a randomized training program for disadvantaged youth introduced in Colombia in 2005 on the employment and earnings of trainees. This is one of a couple of randomized training trials conducted in developing countries and, thus, offers a unique opportunity to examine the causal impact of training in a developing country context. We use originally collected data on individuals randomly offered and not offered training. We find that the program raises earnings and employment for both men and women, with larger effects on women. Women offered training earn about 18% more than those not offered training, while men offered training earn about 8% more than men not offered training. Much of the earnings increases for both men and women are related to increased employment in formal sector jobs following training. The benefits of training are greater when individuals spend more time doing on-the-job training, while hours of training in the classroom have no impact on the returns to training. Cost-benefit analysis of these results suggests that the program generates a large net gain, especially for women.


The training was 3 months in a classroom and then 3 months "on the job". While these effects seemed small and discouraging to me, they are much larger and stronger than the effects found in randomized trials done in rich countries;

These results stand in strong contrast to most of the results obtained in developed countries and, in particular, in the U.S. (see, e.g., Heckman and Krueger, 2003; Burghardt and Schochet, 2001; Heckman, LaLonde and Smith, 1999). In these countries the effects are often small, if at all positive, and it is often unclear whether from they are worth implementing from a cost-benefit perspective.

Also interesting is that the larger effect for women has also been found in evaluating non-randomized programs in developing countries.

By George, I think he's got it.

There is an interesting blog called Oil Wars that I have criticized in the past for getting things wrong about development. But now I gotta give credit, because they are getting it right on Venezuela's nationalization program (all the interesting formatting is in the original post):

"But what is important to note is what Venezuela will NOT get through any of these nationalizations; new steel mills or cement factories or new telephone systems – those already existed and simply changed hands. There won’t be any new jobs as all the jobs working for those firms already existed. There won’t be any new economic output as the goods and services produced after nationalization were already being produced before it.

In sum, the only benefit that Venezuela gets from nationalizing these companies is it now controls their profits and it only even gets that if it ensures the companies are well run and remain profitable.

Now let’s turn to an alternative use of that money. Instead of buying existing steel mills or cement factories suppose the government built new ones.

By contrast if the government built a new steel mill with the same $2 billion it would create thousands of NEW jobs, it would generate NEW economic activity, it would generate NEW tax revenue and, if the company is run well, it would even get NEW profits.

In summary, if the Venezuelan government uses its oil revenues to purchase an existing company its Venezuela’s only gain is whatever the profits of that company are. But if it instead uses those resources to build NEW industries it gets far more as much new wealth is created, economic output increases, and the standard of living of Venezuelan’s increases. This is not to even count other tangential benefits that may accrue such as increasing the skill level of your work force, obtaining new technologies, reducing the economies dependence on oil, etc.

It is more than clear that from an economic point of view it would be better not to nationalize Sidor and the other companies and instead invest the money in building up new industries. These nationalizations are therefore a misguided and a wrong policy for Venezuela to be pursuing.

The fact that the Venezuelan government is pursuing this type of policy is evidence that it is fighting the wrong battles. Yes, Venezuelan’s are generally underpaid and have a low standard of living.

The reason for that, however, is not that they are exploited by foreign companies who take vast sums of wealth out of the country. The principle reason is that the country is underdeveloped and simply doesn’t generate enough wealth for Venezuelans to live well, even if all of that wealth remains in the country. Hence, the central issue facing Venezuela isn’t how to distribute the countries economic output more equitably (though that too can be worked on in various ways) but how to INCREASE its economic output.

Putting this in terms that would be familiar to Marxists, Venezuela’s problem isn’t who OWNS the means of production; it is that it doesn’t have ENOUGH means of production."

Awesome!! If this guy gets it right, how can anyone NOT?? Phone call for Hugo Chavez on line 7!!

Places I would go live if they tripled my salary

Tyler, in his post about how (not?) to build a great university, said he wouldn't move to Saudi Arabia or Japan for triple his current salary. Me neither, but here are some places where I would go:

Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal.

Lol, you guys can start lobbying people there and / or taking up a collection!!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

There are some very confused people in NY as this story shows:

NY suburb: Gere fence too high

Richard Gere, like Martha Stewart before him, is running into some zoning hurdles as he tries to put his imprint on the wealthy New York suburb of Bedford.The 58-year-old actor and a partner have opened a cafe and bakery and have plans for a luxury inn and fine restaurant. But their new 180-foot-long cedar fence may not pass muster, building inspector Richard Megna said Monday. Bedford's rules call for a fence no higher than 4 feet along the street side of a property, he said, and Gere's is 5 feet tall.


Are you freakin' kidding me?? People, this is clearly a "that tiger wall is too LOW" situation here. When it comes to Richard Gere, I'd say 18 feet is the minimum safe wall height!!

Will Boliva split apart?

Here at KPC we have been following the dual saga of Evo Morales' attempts to pass a new consititution in Bolivia that re-distributes political power and several of the richer individual states making plans to hold autonomy referenda (see here for a story and other links).

The Miami Herald ran a story yesterday about how this situation is still unresolved and a cause for concern.

A major diplomatic effort is underway to ease tensions in Bolivia, where planned autonomy referendums by rich, renegade provinces have stoked fears of political strife. Dante Caputo, the head of the political unit of the Organization of American States, is to meet on Monday with the governors of five provinces that have challenged Bolivia's left-wing President Evo Morales' push to pass a draft constitution. The text gives indigenous peoples more power and the state greater control of the economy, deepening regional and ethnic rifts in the Andean country. This has produced an unprecedented international reaction, with the foreign ministers of Brazil and Argentina visiting the country in recent days and on Friday the European Union and 16 more countries offering to mediate, underscoring international concerns over the direction of the poor, landlocked nation, which sits on some of South America's largest natural-gas reserves and is a major producer of cocaine.

The state of Santa Cruz has an autonomy referendum scheduled for May 4th, two others on June 1, and a fourth on June 22.

The article ends on a cautionary note:

Economic woes are adding to the tensions. Inflation has been creeping up in Bolivia and natural-gas output has been slipping since Morales nationalized the industry in 2006. Bolivia is a major natural-gas supplier to Argentina and Brazil.

Libertarian Surge: Where There's A Will.....

George Will's column in Newsweek, about the Libertarian Party:

It has recruited 600 down-ballot candidates around the nation (including Michael Munger, chairman of the political-science department at Duke, who is running for governor of North Carolina) and expects to have 1,500 by Election Day.

George called me last week, and we got to talk for a second. He wanted to make sure I was really running, since it is "irrational."

I pointed out that, as a Cubs fan, George Will is just as irrational as a Libertarian, and maybe more so. He acknowledged that there is some truth in that.

ATSRTWT: A Libertarian Surge?

(Nod to Tim G, who has his own surge)

Roddick to France: "Forget" about it!

Or in pictures, too much of this:

created this:

Story here. Next up for the US team is Spain in the semi finals.

Bittergate II

I second Angus' motion.

An excerpt from an article in TIME this week, with a little Munger quote:

"Mistakes become "gaffes" when they play to an underlying stereotype," said Michael Munger, a polticial science professor at Duke University in North Carolina, which is scheduled to hold its primary May 6. "If Bill Clinton had said this thing about some white people being bitter and using guns, it would have been fine, since he grew up a poor white guy. But the Obama stereotype is a wealthy ivy-league elitist. He's a little too well-spoken; his suits are a little too expensive. From him, the comment comes off as condescending."

But if Clinton, and McCain for that matter, are going to use these comments to cast Obama as an arrogant elitist, they better be prepared to deal with the blowback. As Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant and Obama supporter, put it in an email exchange with TIME, "Hillary Clinton calls Barack Obama elitist? Really? Hillary Clinton was a corporate lawyer who sat on the Wal Mart board before becoming First Lady and is now worth over $100 million. Barack Obama is the child of a single mother raised in part by his grandparents who went to school on a scholarship and was a community organizer making $12,000 a year before becoming a law professor, lawyer and state senator. Five years ago he was still paying off student loans. It's a bogus charge."

Let me see if I understand: this would also have been condescending if Hillary had said it. Two things. (1) Yes, that's right. (2) But Hillary DIDN'T say it.

ATSRTWT

Grasping at straws

For the sake of argument, let's grant Obama's point that people cling to religion out of bitterness and desperation. I then wonder, who would/should you rather put your faith in to make your life better? God and your fellow congregants, or Barack / Hillary and big government? Which belief would actually be more "deluded"?

Bittergate (as Tyler is calling it) is lights out for me as far as Obama as something special is concerned. At this point, besides the fact that he can't bowl, what is the difference between him and HRC?

Goob!

I am so tired.

But.....I am now the official candidate for Governor of NC for the LPNC.

The convention was wonderful, really interesting.

More soon....

Your Latin America Roundup

1. Venezuela: the girl can't help it! Hugo, the serial nationalizer has done it again. On top of his recent announcement of nationalization of the cement industry, he is now going to nationalize the main steel producer in the country, which is an Argentine firm. These nationalizations are well beyond screwing with the USA as now firms of neutral (Mexico) and allied (Argentina) countries are being targeted. Predictably but sadly, these action are touted as the way to reduce shortages and lower prices domestically.

2. Ecuador: Standin' on shaky ground. President Correa's campaign to bring the military under his control has hit a very rough patch.

3. Cuba: Be it ever so humble. "Thousands of Cubans will be able to get title to state-owned homes under regulations published Friday, a step that could lay the groundwork for broader housing reform. The measure was the first legal decree formally published since Raúl Castro succeeded his brother Fidel as president in February. It came a day after state television said the government would also do away with wage limits, allowing state employees to earn as much they can as an incentive to productivity. The housing decree spells out rules to let Cubans renting from their state employers keep their apartment or house after leaving their jobs. They could gain title and even pass it on to their children or other relatives. Those who could take advantage of the new law include military families, sugar workers, construction workers, teachers and doctors."

Wow that sounds cool. Any fine print??

By law, Cubans still are not permitted to sell their homes to anyone but the government, though they may swap housing with government approval — a process that can take years.

ouch!

4. Mexico: Little by little. President Calderon has introduced legislation that shine a little light into the black hole that is PEMEX. "But the limited measures effectively ended any expectation that Mexico would soon take steps to open important parts of its energy industry. With one of the world’s most protected energy sectors, Mexico is the third most important supplier of crude oil to the United States. But production by the state-run oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, has fallen more than 10 percent since reaching a peak in 2004. Crude oil exports, too, have begun to slide. Pemex has failed to invest enough in exploration or refining, and pipelines and storage facilities have deteriorated. Mexico now imports 40 percent of its gasoline. Analysts predicted that the proposed legislation would do little to change all that. “They are maybe taking 50 tiny steps in the right direction,” said David Shields, an analyst based here who writes extensively on Pemex. “That’s better than nothing, but it’s not much better than nothing.”

Trade: Yer doin' it Wrong!!

Is it really going to come to this, people? Government to Government barter instead of person to person free commerce? I guess Obama and Hill would be all for it. From the FT:

Governments are racing to strike secretive barter and bilateral agreements with food-exporting countries to secure scarce supplies as the price of agricultural commodities jump to record highs, diplomats and cereal traders say.

The discussions follow a barter contract signed between Egypt and Syria in which Cairo agreed to supply Damascus with rice in exchange for secure wheat cargoes. The Philippines also sought unsuccessfully last month to reach a deal with Vietnam to secure a large supply of rice.

Abdolreza Abbassian, an expert at the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, said: “The use of bilateral agreements is on the rise.” Diplomats also say bilateral and barter contracts signal a broader trend.

“Some countries could view this [type of agreement] with interest as, in the event of future restrictions, they would be able to get the supply,” Mr Abbassian added.

Sadly, I am not making this up!!

Rules and Credibility: an historical example

In a new NBER working paper (ungated version here), Ferguson & Schularick argue that adopting the gold standard did not impart increased credibility to periphery country governments though it did for rich country governments. Here is their abstract:

This paper asks whether developing countries can reap credibility gains from submitting policy to a strict monetary rule. Following earlier work, we look at the gold standard era (1880-1914) as a "natural
experiment" to test whether adoption of a rule-based monetary framework such as the gold standard increased policy credibility. On the basis of the largest possible dataset covering almost sixty independent
and colonial borrowers in the London market, we challenge the traditional view that gold standard adherence worked as a credible commitment mechanism that was rewarded by financial markets with lower borrowing costs. We demonstrate that in the poor periphery -- where policy credibility is a particularly acute problem -- the market looked behind "the thin film of gold". Our results point to a dichotomy: whereas country risk premia fell after gold adoption in developed countries, there were no credibility gains in the volatile economic and political environments of developing countries. History shows that monetary policy rules are no short-cut to credibility in situations where vulnerability to economic and
political shocks, not time-inconsistency, are overarching concerns for investors.

I really like that last sentence!

Science marches on

Lost, but not forgotten

Before stinking up a theatre near you, the latest James Bond film (improbably named "Quantum of Solace") is raising a stink on location in northern Chile. The problem? The story takes place in Bolivia but is being filmed in Chile. That happens all the time, though right? So, how can it be a problem? Well the part of Chile being used used to be part of Bolivia until Chile took it in the War of the Pacific. But, the War of the Pacific ended in 1883, right, so who cares now? Mister, EVERYBODY cares.

The Bolivians are mad because Chile is impersonating them on land that used to be theirs. The Chileans are mad because the movie is dressing up people as Bolivians and having them run around acting like this part of Chile is actually Bolivia.

I am not making this up. Read more about it here.

On a related note, Mrs. Angus recently had a Bolivian student in one of her classes who had served in their military. He claimed that when Bolivian soldiers put bullets in their guns (not a real modern arsenal there I guess) they chant, "un Chileno, dos Chilenos......" as each one goes in.

The Show

Starting tonight.....THE NC Libertarian Party Convention.

In Burlington, NC. Details.

Highlights....

1. Nominations for candidates for office will be made. I may, or may not, be the NC LP candidate for Governor.

2. Discussions with visiting LP Prez candidates. I will be picking up Bob Barr myself, tomorrow at the airport. Also there: Mike Gravel. Mary Ruart. George Phillies. Wayne Allen Root.

Actually, it ought to be pretty darned fun. I mean....Mike Gravel? I get to sit with Mike Gravel and have a beer? Wow.

I've Been One Poor Correspondent

I've been too, too hard to find.

But that doesn't mean I ain't been traveling a lot.

In the past week, I went up to VTech in Blacksburg to give a BBT Lecture to the B-school, debated Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory at a GOOB forum in Greensboro, and then drove around for some other stuff. It's good to be back.

A post on the GOOB forum soon.

Under Pressure

When Students Pay for Convenience
It’s not exactly cheating. More like crafty dealing, says Alicia Dugas, Kenyon College’s assistant dean of students for housing and residential life. Whatever you call paying money for a desirable residence hall lottery number, Dugas and many students at Kenyon College want the practice to end.

Legislation introduced by Kenyon students and passed this week by the student body disallows beginning-of-the-term room switches that are often necessary to complete such transactions. Dugas said the vote is a sign of the widespread concern about an underground market that demands as much as $500 for a favorable housing number.

“It sets up a dichotomy between haves and have nots,” she said. “Students are paying a lot of money to get into the nicest housing units, and some are feeling a lot of pressure to sell their numbers to afford tuition and things for the year.”

I'm trying to understand this. Denying poor students a chance to sell their number for cash reduces the pressure? They get tuition discounts? No. They still have to pay. All Kenyon is considering doing is preventing students from being able to make some money to pay their bills.

ATSRTWT

(Nod to Tenured Man)

He may be the Maestro, but he's no Paul Volcker

Great column yesterday by Caroline Baum on how Volcker is standing tall while Al keeps shrinking, despite his increasingly desperate attempts to shore up "the legacy thing".

an excerpt:

Volcker is tall; Greenspan isn't. Volcker is a man of few words; Greenspan won't shut up. Volcker retired as Fed chair and avoided the limelight; Greenspan is doing everything possible to make sure the light shines on him.... What really separates the two men, however, is the legacy issue. Volcker is content to let his record speak for itself: He inherited inflation of almost 15 percent and bequeathed a rate of 4 percent to posterity. It took two recessions to get there, but he did the heavy lifting on inflation. Greenspan is desperate to deflect the blame for a credit crisis he called ``the most wrenching'' in 50 years. He can write his autobiography, which he did last year, but he can't write his epitaph.

Well, actually, I wouldn't put it past him!

Universe to Greenspan: Zip It Mister!!

It has been hard to avoid big Al's push back against his critics (here is an example), but my man Willem Buiter is having none of it. He deconstructs Al's self defense on his blog at the FT.

The whole post is well worth reading but I especially agree with his first three points which I reproduce here:

1. The Greenspan Fed (August 1987 - January 2006) did indeed contribute, through excessively lax monetary policy, to the US housing boom that has now turned to bust.
2. The Greenspan-Bernanke put is real. It is an example of an inappropriate monetary policy response to a stock market decline.
3. The Greenspan Fed focused erroneously on core inflation, rather than using all available brain cells to predict underlying headline inflation in the medium term.

Amen brother! You know, from exposure to his academic writings I'd always assumed I wouldn't like Buiter, but he is one righteous dude!

Sticking up for Starbucks

I'd like to report that I have successfully ordered and had approved a customized Starbucks gift card with the slogan "Free minds and free markets" written on it.

I think that fairly well refutes the innuendos that David Boaz was throwing their way in the WSJ, claiming that they were somehow anti-capitalism or anti-free markets (and thus hypocritical) when they didn't approve "laissez faire" as a phrase on a gift card.

In Boaz's "research" on the subject, he tried liberal slogans in English and Spanish and got them approved. He didn't try either a liberal slogan in French, or a pro-market slogan in English.

Free minds and free markets was the first and only slogan I tried. It just seemed obvious that a fair test of Boaz's anti-Starbucks thesis was to use English. Not that many people in the real world know what the heck laissez faire means!!

So, lovers of liberty, set your minds at ease and consider these two pieces of advice: (1) go ahead and get your coffee at Starbucks, (2) Be wary of empirical work from CATO.

It's funny....'cause it's true!

A "video" of a pizza order

(Nod to JB)

I'm a baaaaad man!!

25

Hat tip to Shawn

The 64,000 euro question

"Why do Foreigners Invest in the United States?" by Kristen Forbes. NBER working paper (ungated version here). Her answer is bad news for us; she says it's because of our highly developed financial markets!!

Here's the abstract:

Why are foreigners willing to invest almost $2 trillion per year in the United States? The answer affects if the existing pattern of global imbalances can persist and if the United States can continue to finance its current account deficit without a major change in asset prices and returns. This paper tests various hypotheses and finds that standard portfolio allocation models and diversification motives are poor predictors of foreign holdings of U.S. liabilities. Instead, foreigners hold greater shares of their investment portfolios in the United States if they have less developed financial markets. The magnitude of this effect decreases with income per capita. Countries with fewer capital controls and greater trade with the United States also invest more in U.S. equity and bond markets, and foreign investors “chase returns” in their purchases of U.S. equities (although not bonds). The empirical results showing a primary role of financial market. development in driving foreign purchases of U.S. portfolio liabilities supports recent theoretical work on global imbalances.

Acemoglu strikes again

MIT's Daron Acemoglu, the James Brown of economics has a new NBER working paper, "A Theory of Military Dictatorships". An ungated version is available here.

Here is the abstract:

We investigate how nondemocratic regimes use the military and how this can lead to the emergence of military dictatorships. Nondemocratic regimes need the use of force in order to remain in power, but this creates a political moral hazard problem; a strong military may not simply work as an agent of the elite but may turn against them in order to create a regime more in line with their own objectives. The political moral hazard problem increases the cost of using repression in nondemocratic regimes and in particular, necessitates high wages and policy concessions to the military. When these concessions are not sufficient, the military can take action against a nondemocratic regime in order to create its own dictatorship. A more important consequence of the presence of a strong military is that once transition to democracy takes place, the military poses a coup threat against the nascent democratic regime until it is reformed. The anticipation that the military will be reformed in the future acts as an additional motivation for the military to undertake coups against democratic governments. We show that greater inequality makes the use of the military in nondemocratic regimes more likely and also makes it more difficult for democracies to prevent military coups. In addition, greater inequality also makes it more likely that nondemocratic regimes are unable to solve the political moral hazard problem and thus creates another channel for the emergence of military dictatorships. We also show that greater natural resource rents make military coups against democracies more likely, but have ambiguous effects on the political equilibrium in nondemocracies (because with abundant natural resources, repression becomes more valuable to the elite, but also more expensive to maintain because of the more severe political moral hazard that natural resources induce). Finally, we discuss how the national defense role of the military interacts with its involvement in domestic politics

Justice: Yer doin' it Wrong

Ah Italy, where, "even traffic tickets can be appealed to the nation's highest court. Italy's courts are so clogged that the statute of limitations on most felonies expires before a final verdict can be reached. Claudio Urciuoli, a criminal defense lawyer in Rome, says he often reassures his clients: "Don't worry, you'll never go to prison.""

They are not content to rest on their laurels, though. Consider the following:

"Less than two years ago, Italy's prison system faced a crisis: Built to hold 43,000 inmates, it was straining to contain more than 60,000.

So the government crafted an emergency plan. It swung open the prison doors and let more than a third of the inmates go free.

Within months, bank robberies jumped by 20%. Kidnappings and fraud also rose, as did computer crime, arson and purse-snatchings. The prison population, however, fell so much that for awhile Italy had more prison guards than prisoners to guard.

In Italy, it sometimes seems that no bad deed goes unpardoned."

Don't you hate it when the article you are linking to gives a better punchline than you ever could? Kudos to you Gabriel Kahn, nicely done!

#4 with a bullet!

According to this morning's WSJ, Economics is the 4th most remunerative undergrad major (based on starting salaries), beating accounting, finance, and marketing.

Bad news for philosophy majors though: they come in dead last, behind even elementary ed majors.

Somewhere, Ludwig Wittgenstein must be smiling.

Hey Mungowitz: polysci isn't even on the list? Are there really no polysci majors left?

Marc Andreessen to the rescue

Over at pmarca, he has a nice list of possible follow-up stories to the NY Times' recent scare piece;

blogging = death.

Check them all, but my fave is: Hitler Probably Blogged!!




P.S. Hey maybe the Times's story explains where Mungowitz has got to!!

The best sentences I've read today

From TNR's J. Chait:

The persistent weakness of American liberalism is its fixation with rights and procedures at any cost to efficiency and common sense. Democrats' reluctance to push Clinton out of the race is the perfect expression of that delicate sensibility.

There is some point at which a candidate's chance of winning becomes so low that her right to continue is outweighed by the party's interest in preparing for the general election. Does Clinton have a chance to become president? Sure. So does Ralph Nader. Clinton's chances are far closer to Nader's than to either Obama's or John McCain's.

uh, Snap???

David Boaz defends our freedoms

In a case of crack investigative journalism, Cato's David Boaz gets to the bottom of Starbucks' outrageous policy of not allowing the phrase "laissez-faire" to be printed on their personalized gift cards.

Or rather doesn't get to the bottom of it. He claims it can't be because it's too political because he succeeded in getting a "people not profits" card (Boaz refers to that phrase as a "socialist slogan"). He claims it can't be because it's foreign because he got a "si se puede" card (Boaz refers to that phrase as "The Senator's (Obama) political campaign slogan").

Boaz and his assistant also made two phone calls to Starbucks but failed to get a satisfactory explanation for this outrage against liberty. Now that is exhaustive research my friends. No wonder this got published on the WSJ's editorial page

I'm guessing no one at Cato will use a si se puede or a people not profits gift card, so I am making a generous offer to buy these pariah cards from them at 50 cents on the dollar! Maybe that will ease the sting. Also perhaps Cato could set up a chain of coffee shops that sold laissez faire labeled gift cards and drive freedom-hating Starbucks out of business!

Our chief weapon is fear and a hedgehog?

In NZ, William Singalargh is being charge with assault with a weapon; viz a hedgehog!

Police allege that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog and threw it several yards to hit a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on Feb. 9.

"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," police Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said Monday.

Jenkins said Singalargh, 27, was arrested shortly after the incident on a charge of assault with a weapon. He is expected to appear in court again on April 17.

His lawyer, Rebecca Plunket, said Singalargh intends to plead innocent. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in prison

The Neverending Story

of Zimbabwe's presidential election has taken several even more bizarre turns. First and foremost, Mugabe's party, (ZANU-PF) has demanded a recount, even though no initial vote totals have been released!! Really.

The Movement for Democratic Change, which claims its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 presidential ballot outright, said it would not accept a recount, did not want a runoff and pressed ahead with legal attempts to force publication of the results.

"How do you have a vote recount for a result that has not been announced? That is ridiculous," said opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa.

He accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of vote fraud, saying that police have told opposition leaders that the ruling party has been tampering with ballots since early last week

Tsvangirai probably hasn't made things easier by publically telling Mugabe that he needn't fear for his safety in an MDC ruled Zimbabwe: "I want to say to President Robert Mugabe: 'Please rest your mind, the new Zimbabwe guarantees your safety,'" Tsvangirai told a news conference.

That to me is a bit like the general manager or owner giving a public vote of confidence to a coach days before firing him. I read that as saying, "don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out."

Finally Thebo Mbeki has taken this opportunity to show that he indeed lives on another planet. Remember that the vote was supposed to be announced a week ago and absolutely no information has been released to date while you savor this Mbeki gem:

A growing chorus that includes Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, has appealed for a speedy release of the vote count. But on Saturday, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, perhaps the most important international player in Zimbabwe’s electoral drama, counseled patience after meeting Mr. Brown in London, news agencies reported.

“I think there is time to wait,” said Mr. Mbeki, who was appointed by a regional bloc of nations to mediate in Zimbabwe but has been accused by Mr. Tsvangirai of favoring Mr. Mugabe. “Let’s see the outcome of the election results.”

Lol, sure thing Thabo, let's wait til your pal Bobby M fill out a few more "replacement ballots" and let the vote total come out maybe in June? How'd that be?

Hot Links!!

1. Vote for the NBAs LVP (least valuable player) here. Telling excerpt: Kidd has the opportunity to do something this season that no other great point guard has ever done: Cause two different teams to miss the playoffs.

2. So that's why me and Mrs. Angus are so happy; no kids!! Will Wilkinson has the scoop. A morsel: None of this is to say that people with kids are unhappy people. There are many things in a parent’s life that bring great joy. For example, spending time away from kids.

3. Stay in school kids. Mark Perry breaks down unemployment by educational achievement. Money quote: almost all of the .50% increase in the overall unemployment rate over the last 9 months from 4.6% in June 2007 to 5.1% in March 2008 was mostly from increases in unemployment for workers with less than a high school degree.

Basketball Zelig

Check out this photo of basketball royalty. No, not King James, but rather the other dude, William Wesley. The NY Times has a bizarre and fascinating story on this modern day Zelig.

He's friends with LeBron, MJ, Rick Mahorn, John Calipari, Coach K, and Denny Crum, even Derek Rose.

And it's not just basketball either. He's pals with Jimmy Johnson, Jay-Z, and Beyonce.

Here is a testimony to his Zeligness:

In one of the numerous “Where’s Waldo?” moments for Wesley, Mahorn said he saw Wesley on television on the sideline after a Cowboys Super Bowl victory. He was photographed breaking up the brawl between the Pistons and the Pacers in 2004. And he was on the floor in Houston last week, crying tears of joy when Memphis clinched its Final Four berth.

As another friend, Michael Irvin puts it:

“What Paris Hilton has done in Hollywood, Wes has done in the sports world,” said Michael Irvin, the former star receiver in the N.F.L. who now does a radio show for ESPN. “Whoever is winning a championship, Wes is there associated with them. He’s never played a down or shot a basket, but he’s a superstar anyway.”

A whole new meaning to the phrase: Sleep it off

From our French friends comes the news that,

"An extra hour between the sheets at night might be the key to shedding excess weight and fighting obesity, according to recent research"

Yeah, that's my kind of research! Maybe Eliot Spitzer was just trying to lose weight?

Sadly, that's not actually what they are talking about:

"More sleep could be the ideal way of stabilising weight or slimming," said neuro-scientist Karine Spiegel, of France's INSERM, a public organisation dedicated to biological, medical and public health research.

It's all about the hormones, people

Two key hormones produced at night which help regulate appetite were at play, she said.

Grehlin makes people hungry, slows metabolism and decreases the body's ability to burn body fat, and leptin, a protein hormone produced by fatty tissue, regulates fat storage.

"We have shown that less sleep (two four-hour nights) caused an 18 percent loss of appetite-cutting leptin and a 28 percent increase of appetite-causing grehlin," she said.

Such hormonal changes made people hungry for foods heavy in fats and sugars such as chips, biscuits, cakes and peanuts, she added.

INSERM?? Grehlin?

Hugo strikes again.

Yesterday, an apparently well-hydrated Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuela will be nationalizing the cement industry. The affected foreign companies are Mexican (Cemex), French, and Swiss.

He is making good on his vow made last year:

Prior to Thursday's announcement, Chavez had repeatedly expressed frustration with the high cost of construction materials and threatened to seize control of companies that fail to provide low-cost cement for the domestic market.

Last year, he said many of Venezuela's cement factories prefer to sell their product abroad at higher prices and warned: "If the cement factories do not (sell in Venezuela), we will occupy them."

Can cement companies price discriminate? Or is the price of cement held below the market price in Venezuela? Have any of you ever heard of a country nationalizing cement before, or is this another historic first for the Bolivarian Revolution?

Needed: An Ex-Dictator rest home

It looks like Mugabe has decided to fight. He's raiding opposition offices, arresting foreign journalists, and parading independence fighters through the streets. He is rumored to be planning a 90 day delay in the runoff election (it's supposed to be 21 days after the first vote). Incredibly, the electoral commission still has not released ANY presidential vote results. None!

One thing that may have weighed on Bobby M. is that ex-dictators don't tend to get cushy digs and aren't always safe from future prosecution. Thus they may tend to hang on til the bitter end.

Here are a few ex-dictators and their exile locations and durations. Please help me add to this list with other cases I've missed. Are there ones who have gotten a "good" (for them) deal?

Baby Doc-Haiti-France still alive 1986-present

Alfredo Stroessner-Paraguay-Brazil 1989-2006

Idi Amin -Uganda- Saudi Arabia 1981-2003

Mengistu-Ethiopia-Zimbabwe-1992-present

Charles Taylor-Liberia-Nigeria-2003-2006- now on trial in Sierra Leone

Hissène Habré-Chad-Senegal-1991-present.

Juan Peron-Argentina-Spain-1955-73-returned with new wife to be president again.

Snoop Dogg Attracted to Mormonism

FIrst a serious entry on the LDS. Now, less so.

Snoop Dogg...well, ATSRTWT.

(Nod to the Mayor, who is a BIG Snoop fan)

They Aren't Going to Get Jobs, Anyway, RIght?

Students do backflips, baksheesh, to get adWISE-ers.

BERLIN - A judge has sentenced a German law professor to three years in prison for accepting kickbacks from doctoral students.

The Hannover university professor, whose identity was not revealed, confessed to accepting euro 156,000 (US$240,000) to serve as a faculty adviser to 68 doctorate students between 1998 and 2005.

Court documents say an agency brokered kickback deals for him to serve as the students' adviser. Advisers can be difficult to find in German universities.

Judge Peter Peschka called it "a very severe case of corruption" on Wednesday.

The professor said he needed the money to renovate his Hamburg mansion.

Some observations:

1. Coase would say it doesn't matter, right?
2. Saying that the German academic system is corrupt is like
saying that trees are made out of wood. They aren't separate features. The whole "chair" thing is a state-run monopoly for the benefit of the mentally infirm. German students are good, some of them VERY good, but the system is horrible.
3. It's pronounced "adWISE-ers", as in "AdWISE-ers can be difficult to find in German universities."

(Nod to Anonyman, who never paid ME a darned thing)