voluntaryXchange

Oops - Carnival of the Capitalists

I forgot to plug the October 15 edition of Carnival of the Capitalists at Dispatches from Blogblivion.

Here are my recommendations:

• Professor Bainbridge on Supreme Court decisions about security markets:

... The real puzzle thus is that federal judges are claiming-at least implicitly-both a level of expertise about the workings of markets and organizations that, in some areas, not even the most sophisticated researchers in financial economics and organizational theory have reached ...

... The majority did essentially what the government told it to do ... Justice Ginsburg’s opinion ... framed the case as one involving a “theory of liability for which the Government seeks recognition,” and adopted the central element of the government’s theory. 

The government’s interest is to win, not to clarify the law. It is important to recall that the government is represented by individual lawyers, for whom winning is itself important.  One therefore would not expect them to devote much effort to helping the court work through the complexities of a given case.

• Businesspundit on lousy decision-making.

Disconfim. Disconfirm. Disconfirm. Always ask yourself what piece of data would prove you wrong, and look for that data.

• And ... just about always, Econbrowser is the place to go to for information about what the movements in oil prices mean. In recent weeks:

The real story remains as it has been-- the demand for oil remains strong, and increases in production have not been very significant.

• Honorable mention to Sophistpundit on the relevance of the newspapers and their business model.

Oops - Carnival of the Capitalists

I forgot to plug the Carnival of the Capitalists for the week of August 13, hosted by Spooky Action.

I wasn't thrilled by the offerings, but Econbrowser has a solid analysis of the liquidity actions taken by the Federal Reserve (and other central banks) over the last few weeks:

The bottom line is that the Fed was doing exactly what it needed to do. But the fact that this was needed is a very troubling development.

I would add that the Fed is not only doing what it is needed, but doing what it regularly failed to do through the 70 years or so of its existence.

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists is up for this week at Mighty Bargain Hunter.

I recommend "A Government-Enforced Monopoly" from PowerBlog. I loved the build-up, which I'll excerpt here:

1. The government bans ... Industry X.
2. ...Bureaucrats [resurrect] Industry X ... to create new streams of revenue for the government.
3. ...The government itself is deemed the only institution responsible enough
4. The government realizes that it cannot run Industry X effectively, and so decides that it must privatize the industry.
5. The government ... take[s] bids ... The winner gets the exclusive right to run Industry X and is protected by a government-enforced monopoly.

The whole thing is heinous, but that's what passes for policy these days.

Honorable mention to InsureBlog's post entitled "Vanishing Coverage" - it seems USAToday did a puff piece about declining health insurance coverage that didn't note that didn't note the fraud committed by the consumers.

Carnival of the Capitalists

Go visit this week's Carnival of the Capitalists, hosted by The Entrepreneurial Mind. I especially liked:

• InsureBlog pointing out that North Korea is now involved in reinsurance fraud. Think about that the next time your rates go up.
• The Simple Dollar discussing the pros and cons of Wal-Mart. It's on the pro-side, but it does list out the cons fairly and mildly point out their weaknesses.

Carnival of the Capitalists

I'll link belatedly to this week's Carnival of the Capitalists, hosted at Crossroads Dispatches.

I especially liked:

• Econbrowser's piece on how California's environmental measures are reminiscent of the Soviet Union (truth be told, I had read it in real-time last week).
• Barry Ritholtz - who everyone seems to usually like more than I do - has a cool piece about income inequality noting how we are desperately poor relative to our grandchildren; food for thought the next time you worry about that national debt.
• The Scratching Post offers a World War I analogy for managers that ends with: "Before asking subordinates to take one more task, it might be a good idea to get some idea of what they already have to contend with."

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists is up for this week at Selling to Small Business (another blog by Anita Campbell).

(Ugh - get rid of the pale tangerine links on a white background.)

Anyway, I recommend J. Timothy King's post on 10 good reasons to be a wage slave - entrepreneurship isn't for everyone.

Carnival of teh Capitalists

I am remiss in not noting last Monday that Carnival of the Capitalists for this week is up at Blog Business World (which is, BTW, a useful site for people trying to sell stuff through their blogs).

View from a Height has recommendations for the best entries (and I concer that you can't do better than having James Hamilton of Econbrowser disect the Democrats economic plan for this election cycle).

I especially liked the Stingray piece knocking global warming. I wonder if Al Gore can tell us why Mars, Jupiter and Triton appear to be undergoing global warming as well?

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists is up for this week at Rethink(IP).

Let's see. I liked Wordlab's little joke at iCryptex.com, the example that hits somewhat close to home from Free Money Finance, and the note from Resistance Is Futile that Oregon is giving a tax break if you're gay but coupled.

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists is up for the week at CaseySoftware.com.

I recommend:

• For those who like rankings, "Air America's Ratings In the Top 100 Radio Markets" at Political Calculations.
• Coyote Blog points out that what France has now is the exact opposite of indentured servitude - dubbed indentured employertude.
• The Big Picture offers a list of one liners on you know you're a permabear when ...
• Professor Bainbridge recaps and extends the idea that GM has too many levels of management.

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists is up this week at Ideologic LLC.

I recommend

• Photon Courier's post about ultracapacitors - I hadn't heard about these, and if you know anything about electricity you'll recognize the potential here.
• Professor Bainbridge write about the broken Hollywood business model that relies too much on summer blockbusters - I'm interested, but I've posted before that I think this predilection is an overrated problem.