voluntaryXchange

Grading Real GDP Growth

The advance release of the real GDP growth rate for the first quarter came in at 4.8%.

Using my grade curve this works out to a high B (but I don't give pluses or minuses on the advance release).

Using the grade curve that is common at U.S. universities this is well into the A range.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Leftist

Gary Jason has an evenhanded review of a book about why so many of the leading leftists of otherwise capitalist countries are so rich.

The book, he argues, is fair and factual, but lacking in justifications for why this is the case. He offers four explanations: greed, public relations, guilt, and envy of power:

First, some people earn their money by manipulating the rules they help create. Consider a case that Schweizer surprisingly doesn't discuss, Jesse Jackson. ...

...There is what I would call "PR compassion." ... A genuine altruist would anonymously donate large amounts of money to charity, but that wouldn't work as a public relations tool; it helps your career to look compassionate and caring ...

I suspect that there is also a subtler phenomenon at work, one that I would call "warding off the evil eye." ... To ward off envy ... [they] make a conspicuous show of being kind and caring, setting up foundations that prominently feature their names.

Finally, there is power envy. Nietzsche famously argued that slave morality, the morality of compassion, of altruism, was devised by the weak out of envy and fear of the power of the strong. This is doubtful, but there does seem to be a real envy of the powerful ...

Via Samizdata.

State of Fear 13

This is Richard Feynmann:

Science is what we have learned about how not to fool ourselves. [p. 468]

Interesting View

SUU is expanding and converting the original building on campus into a new education building.

The flyer uses a retouched original photo (circa 1898) when that building was the campus. Clearly the area was pretty desolate - trust me, it doesn't look like that anymore (although the profile of the mountains on the horizon is still the same). The current location of my building is to the left in the small valley visible behind Old Main.

State of Fear 12

Publish the articles and the peer reviews in the same issue. That'll clean up everybody's act real fast. ... The editors openly take sides on certain issues. Bad dogs.  [p. 622]

Henry George, San Francisco and New Orleans

I did not know that Henry George's ideas were implemented in post-quake San Francisco.

Economic Principals has the story in a piece entitled "Back to the Future". They note that there may be a lesson there for New Orleans.

Economists poo-poo George's single tax, but it has never been clear to me why. It is a variation on the folk theorem that all gains accrue to those with fixed resources. The logic is that land is fixed, therefore all gains ultimately go to landholders, so they in turn should be the only source of tax revenue. I'm not sure how there can be a problem in that ...

State of Fear 11

... People don't know much about this stuff. They just posture and pontificate. Nobody tests. Nobody does field research. Nobody dares to solve the problems - because the solution might contradict your philosophy, and for most people clinging to beliefs is more important than succeeding in the world. [p. 621]

World Growth

The IMF reports that the real economic growth rate will average over 4% worldwide for the 4th consecutive year.

Such a high average for so long is unprecedented. Sharp people will also recognize that this is part of the reason that the current oil price spike is not terribly comparable to past spikes.

Macroblog has a roundup.

State of Fear 10

The nasty little apes that call themselves human beings can do nothing except run and hide. For these same apes to imagine they can stabilize this atmosphere is arrogant beyond belief. They can't control the climate. The reality is, they run from the storms. [p. 619]

Inoculation and Immunization

Truck and Barter has a short piece on the history of immunization (with links). I found this piece on inoculation which filled some holes in my understanding of the processes.