Podcastroid, Unite!

For podcast fans: An econ version of "Pardon the Interruption."

With the indefatigable Russ Roberts as the interruption.

And as always, available on iTunes U, for use while driving or exercising. Makes a GREAT gift!

A Little Lunch at Nello's....

Russian billionaire Abramovich drops $50k for a nice lunch.

The Ward Boss writes, "Look, I had the Milanese, and the water. I'm not submitting receipts to be reimbursed for anything else...."

Good. I am not sure that the $7k+ "tip" would have made it through Duke's accounting office.

(A copy of the bill....) (Click to enlarge)
















Now, you are thinking, "3 bottle of wine? For $1,500? WOW!" But wait, check again, you missed a zero....Plus, tax is more than $3,200, and the tip is more than $7,300. Nice tip...

Come on Eileen!

Let me begin by saying that I'm not a Republican and I've never voted. What I am on record as supporting is gridlock. And I love the theatre of the absurd that our political discourse has become. 

Naturally then, I am all a-tingle in front of the surreal possibility that the Democrats could actually lose Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.

I am sure those political geniuses Reid and Pelosi have contingency plans to get their extremely popular political agenda passed if they lose their 60th vote, but I don't think they can do it without sometime taking another vote of some type and I am wondering how many rank and file legislators would reconsider their previous votes in light of current trends.

Could it be like the 1994 midterm elections a year early? A boy can dream, can't he?

Change of government in Chile

Since the end of Pinochet's dictatorship in 1990, Chilean presidential elections had been won by the left coalition group Concertación. Yesterday, Concertación lost the presidency to a candidate of the right, businessman Sebastian Piñera.  This is partly because they ran a very poor candidate in ex-president Eduardo Frei, and partly because the coalition itself is unraveling.

As far as I know, there haven't been any denunciations from the Chavez - Ortega - Morales - Correa axis as of yet, perhaps because, by their standards, Concertación is not a really a left party.

Good on ya, Rog!

Roger Federer organized a pre Aussie open exhibition to benefit Haiti. It was a big hit. Here is one video:

and there is much more here. It is very entertaining, perhaps more so than actual tournament tennis these days.

 

The OKC: where we take our processed meats VERY seriously

I am not joking:

Police say a fight over Spam led to a sledgehammer attack.

Investigators said it happened at a southwest Oklahoma City home when Howard Jones thought his roommate ate his Spam.

Officers said the men argued and then Jones hit him in the head with a sledgehammer....

Police arrested Jones on suspicion of assault.

I can only imagine what would have happened if it had been braunschweiger!

How come people named Kevin are so darn smart?

Great stuff from Kevin Murphy (source here):

(Q) What about skepticism toward the government: Isn’t that also a key part of the Chicago tradition?


(A) Sure. You have to ask why would the government get it right. You can’t just say, here’s a market failure and the government needs to step in and address it. You have to look in detail at what the government might do, and compare the relative effectiveness of the two.

This....THIS is entertainment

This is REAL music.

And performance talent.

WOW! I almost get creamed in a drug bust.

So, I walk to the service station where we have our car worked on. It's 4.2 miles, but it's pretty, and today was a nice day. So I walked to go pick up the Lincoln, which had had some battery cable work.

Here is the route I walked.

Between 3 and 5 minutes after I passed this spot, this happened. Here is the raw video footage, after the white van ran over the "stop strips."


Note how after two cops are holding him down a third cop comes and puts a knee on his neck. If the guy is not resisting, that is likely to make him try to resist, just so he can breathe.

Also, watch when the camera pulls back at the end. At least 20 cop cars. That is what I saw, though of course at earth level, when I came out of the McDonalds across the street, and saw that cop world had opened in the middle of Creedmoor Road at rush hour.

I wish I had been three minutes later. It would have been cool to see.

Against the grain

I guess I am the only person misguided enough to be against the “Federal Crisis Responsibility Fee” to be levied on the largest US banks. Besides the usual suspects, Brookings is in favor and Mankiw gives a qualified endorsement.

To me, though, it's heinous. Here's why:

1. It's supposed to be for TARP recovery, yet remember, money is fungible, these revenues can't /won't be earmarked. It just goes into the giant slush fund.

2. Basic tax incidence theory tells us that a significant part of this tax on banks will be passed on to their customers, presumably the very people the administration is trying to placate with the fee to begin with.

However, let us grant the idea that banks got a TARP gift so it's only fair they repay it. Well,

3. Many big banks have already repaid their TARP funds

4. Some banks were strong-armed into taking TARP funds that they didn't want in order not to stigmatize the banks that did need them.

5. Over 50 billion of TARP money went to automakers GM and Chrysler and this money won't be paid back. This is I believe the biggest chunk of TARP funds that won't be recovered. Why should big banks pick up that bill?

6. In the larger picture, this ex-post targeting of very narrow groups, whether punitively as in this case, or positively as occurred in the health bill negotiations, is a disturbing trend in the current administration's method of operation.

7. Finally, this is mere window dressing when compared to what needs to be done with our banking sector. Leverage needs to be limited. Some enlightened form of Glass-Steagall needs to be re-instated. Credit default swaps should trade on exchanges. We need real reform in this sector not a populist, window dressing, revenue grab.