Kansas City Que-Off

I'm relaxing in the concierge lounge of the KC Intercontinental hotel getting ready for the econ blogger conference sessions tomorrow (Friday) at the Kauffman Foundation. Some of the sessions will be live streamed at growthology.org, and I'm really looking forward to it.

But on to more important things. I've eaten barbeque extensively in Lexington NC (with LeBron) and once in Lockhart TX (with Mrs. Angus) and now in the third 'que capital of America, Kansas City.

The Kauffman dinner was co-catered by Oklahoma Joe's and Jack Stack.

People you know I'm going to pick a winner here.

I'd have to say the single best item was the Oklahoma Joe's pork ribs. They were amazing! I'm not sure if they weren't better than the beef in Lockhart (I'll need to do more research). The second best item of the dinner was the beef burnt ends from Jack Stack. So I'd say Joe's for pork and Jack's for beef.

I ate two huge plates of nothin' but meat and can't thank the folks at Kauffman enough for such an enjoyable dinner.

Almost heaven

"A West Virginia man found wearing women's underwear and standing over a goat's carcass told police he was high on bath salts.

Mark L. Thompson of Alum Creek was arrested at his home Monday. A criminal complaint in Kanawha County Magistrate Court charges the 19-year-old with cruelty to animals.

Sheriff's Deputy J.S. Shackelford says witnesses reported Thompson standing near a neighbor's pygmy goat in a bedroom. He was wearing a bra and female underwear. The goat, a male named Bailey, had at least one stab wound."


1. Isn't a bra already "female underwear"?

2. bath salts? Party tonight at Bath & Bodyworks people!!!

3. do you snort, inject, drink, or just marinate in the bath salts to get high?

Full article (self recommending), including mug shot is here. I would have posted the mug shot, but didn't want Mungowitz to rip me for doing so!

Should movies be subsidized?

Michael Kinsley says no. Interfluidity says yes.

Interfluidity is quite right that subsidies will increase the supply of movies, and seems to consider that a good thing.

I have to differ. The motion picture industry is a huge rent seeking contest that is socially inefficient, just like professional sports. A large number of people dedicate themselves to trying to get a desirable position and the vast majority of them will (a) fail, and (b) be quite unprepared to do something else.

Increasing the number of movies, just like expanding a professional sports league will most likely draw many more people into the rent seeking contest than it will provide positions for, thus making matters worse.

Los Angeles and New York are already teeming with waitress / cab-driver / hobo "actors" and "screenwriters" who are smart, talented individuals, well prepared for jobs they'll never get and generating large social losses by not having gotten a more general preparation and more productive jobs. Do we really want to encourage these kinds of wasteful outcomes in New Mexico and Michigan as well?

Occupations that generate rent seeking contests should be taxed, not subsidized!

We should be nudging people OUT not in to the motion picture industry.

Larry King, guest blogger

"Here's my problem with nominal GDP targeting; 5% inflation with 0% growth and 1% inflation with 4% growth are not evaluated any differently."

"Now that a judge has ruled against Obamacare, what will happen to the quantitative easing?"

"The Ben Benank should either shave or resign."

I came, I saw, I bailed out

I am deviating from the Angus-Mungowitz investment optimism, at least in the short run.

On August 3, Angus did a dangerous thing, making a prediction...about the future. I went along, and in fact had been buying stocks for a bit.

But I'm out, as soon as the trades can be executed. Almost totally out.

1. Since August 3, stocks have risen a bit, total. Not a lot, from about 10680 to 10950, with a drop and recovery in between, but if you had bought on the advice o'Angus on August 3 you would already have made 2.5% in 2 months. Don't be greedy.

2. It's October. Sure, I know that this is like believing in goat entrails or tea leaves, but some bad stuff has happened in October. You may enjoy this, especially the "ripe pumpkin theory."

3. There's an election. I know 'cause it's in all the papers. And no one knows what is going to happen. Not knowing means volatility and lots of it.

I parked almost everything in money market and real estate. (TIAA-CREF's real estate account is up 8% this year, btw). Bonds may be bubbling, 'cause any change in inflation expectations will hammer them. Bonds aren't usually this risky, though they are always riskier than many people seem to believe. And stocks scare me until after the election. That means zero out stocks, and zero out bonds, for a month.

So, depending on what happens on the first Tues after the first Mon in November, I may go back to stocks. But now I am officially on the sideline.

I knew I felt wimpy and weak, and now I know why!

America has become too European. I hate it when that happens.

(Nod to RS)

quit whining and go buy some stocks!

Great post from some guy calling himself "Baruch" on the awesomeness of equities.

Some blurbs:

Equities...are the asset class of the future. This anti-equities movement, led by jealous journalists and winking, cackling bond apologists with axes to grind, needs to be nipped in the bud, as it is dead wrong.

and

Right now, equity investors are being offered a win:don’t lose very much proposition. A double dip, the great fear of the equity markets, is at least partially priced in here, and the upside if we don’t double dip looks very good indeed. It’s a great moment for stocks.

Me and Mungo differ here. As I understand it, he's out of the market, while I am still buying.

Another burning question

People, has Mungowitz bought a motorcycle??

Don't you ever call me Shirley

So now the administration is falling all over itself to apologize and offer another job to the woman they were falling all over themselves to fire, like, one day ago?

Really?

And the NAACP is doing the same two-step?

Phone call for Jesse Jackson! (oh, he's already well on the case).

We are still really screwed up on race in this country, aren't we?

And someone needs to send out an APB on Tom Vilsack's spine (among other parts).

I however, have a much better idea than re-instating Ms. Sherrod:

Fire all of her erstwhile colleagues and get rid of the Department of Agriculture!

There is no baby in this bathwater, so why not?