Category Archives: Economics

Return-on-Investment of Lobbying Greater Than Entrepreneurship

Posted on Thu, 16 Feb, 2012 by pmjones

Wall Street can do math, and the math looks like this: Wall Street + Washington = Wild Profitability. Free enterprise? Entrepreneurship? Starting a business making and selling stuff behind some grimy little storefront? You’d have to be a fool. Better … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Government | Leave a comment

Econ 101: “Nothing Has Any Value”

Posted on Wed, 25 Jan, 2012 by pmjones

The value is not in the object, it is in your mind. Short, sweet, and genius: Via ‘That’s the mistake that Karl Marx made’ | Samizdata.net.

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535 People Control 23% Of The Nation’s Wealth

Posted on Fri, 13 Jan, 2012 by pmjones

In cities all over the country, protesters are drawing the battle line between the top 1% and the rest of us in the bottom 99%. Too much economic power is in too few hands. It’s unfortunate indeed that the Occupiers … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Government | Leave a comment

What’s Wrong With Gruber’s “Health Care Reform” ?

Posted on Thu, 05 Jan, 2012 by pmjones

Given my interest in health economics and graphic novels, I was initially hopeful about Jonathan Gruber’s graphic novel, entitled Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, How It Works. But in all honesty, the book is awful. Gruber … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health Care | Leave a comment

IP Feudalism and the Shrinking of the Public Domain — Marginal Revolution

Posted on Mon, 02 Jan, 2012 by pmjones

If the pre-1976 law were still in place then as of Jan 1, 2012 the following books, movies and music would have entered the public domain (from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain): J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Government | Leave a comment

Statism Incomparably Worse Than Free Markets

Posted on Fri, 23 Dec, 2011 by pmjones

… [C]apitalism vigorously pursued has never produced the atrocities – starvation, tyranny, and genocide – that are produced by statism vigorously pursued.  Nothing remotely close. Capitalism vigorously pursued might produce trade cycles and long periods of high unemployment; it might … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Government, Liberty, Police State | Leave a comment

Social Security: Tax-Based Welfare Program, Not Insurance

Posted on Fri, 23 Dec, 2011 by pmjones

… turns out [Social Security] really is a tax-based welfare program, not a dedicated, contribution-based retirement program … Remember that line when you hear someone say “I just want to get from it what I paid into it.” Buddy, you … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Taxes | Leave a comment

How Food Stamps Increase Measured Poverty, David Henderson | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

Posted on Fri, 16 Dec, 2011 by pmjones

So food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, and subsidized housing, a substantial part of the welfare state, don’t count in measuring people’s income. And those items, especially food stamps, are a particularly large part of the poor people’s income. That makes Danziger’s … Continue reading →

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The Difference Between Economic Power And Political Power

Posted on Fri, 16 Dec, 2011 by pmjones

A simple and memorable way to keep straight the crucial distinction between “economic power” (the power to produce) and “political power” (the power to coerce) is by a terminological duality – “makers” versus takers” – as incorporated in Edmund Contoski’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics | Leave a comment

Against Fairness

Posted on Mon, 12 Dec, 2011 by pmjones

Yes, it’s upsetting that some people have so much while other people have so little. It isn’t fair. But I accept this unfairness. Indeed, I treasure it. That’s because I have a 13-year-old daughter And that’s all I hear, "That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 1 Comment