Monday Book Pick: Super Freakonomics
Super Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and SStephen J. Dubner
The Rogue Economists are back. This one is as fun as the first one. They tackle a wide range of issues, including:
- Why walking drunk as, if not more, dangerous than driving drunk
- This history of the economics of prostitution in the US, and a look at the low and high ends of modern prositution in the US.
- Why the solutions to global climate change a group of really smart people came up with are so different than the solutions Algore wants.
Oh, there is more, those are just a sample. Here is one data point that shouldn’t suprise you, a “low end” prostitute in Chicago is much more likely to have sex with a Chicago police officer than be arrested by Chicago police officer.
Another reason to not spend time on Facebook
Leo Leporte reports that Facebook has added a new “Feature”. Automatically uploading your mobile device photos to Facebook.
That’s right, all your photos, straight to Facebook.
If you were paying attention to the “user agreement”, Facebook reserves the right to use everything you load on it, including pictures, anyway they see fit.
That Facebook gets the right to use your stuff is nothing new. Been that way since just about Day One, if not before.
Here is a basic rule of the Internet you Coppertops need to understand.
If you aren’t paying for the service, you are the product.
Originally posted at Urbin Technology
Friday B-Movie Pick: Heroes of the East
It’s Chinese Gung Fu squaring off with Japanese martial arts in this 1970s Shaw Brothers martial arts classic! This film stars Gordon Liu and group of actual Japanese martial arts masters recruited for this film. The fights are a real treat to watch. Three Section Staff vs. Nunchuka & Tonfa. Katana vs. Gim Sword. Sai vs. Butterfly Swords. Spear vs. Spear. Karate vs. Chinese Drunken God style Gung fu. Judo vs. Chin Na. How does this come about? Well, a young Chinese martial arts student has an arranged marriage with a young Japanese girl who is also skilled in her countries martial arts, including Ninjitsu! The fun continues from there.
Al Gore sells out to Big Oil
Filed under: Barking Moonbats, Culture of Corruption, energy, Politics
Al Gore, the patron Saint of the Algore cult of Global Warming, sold his “Current TV” business to Al Jazeera, which is owned by the Emir of Qatar.
Qatar is one of those oil producing OPEC nations.
It seems that some of the “true believers” on the Current TV staff, who are all being fired, are a bit miffed over this.
Yesterday morning, the still shell shocked staff at Current TV was called to an all hands staff meeting at its San Francisco headquarters, which was teleconferenced to their offices in LA and NYC, to meet their new bosses…
“Of course Al didn’t show up,” said one high placed Current staffer. “He has no credibility.
“He’s supposed to be the face of clean energy and just sold [the channel] to very big oil, the emir of Qatar! Current never even took big oil advertising—and Al Gore, that bulls***ter sells to the emir?”…
“We do stories on the tax code, and he sells the network before the tax code kicked in?”
To quote Allahpundit: “Oh, the schadenfreude.” Perhaps now Algore can afford yet another giant, energy guzzling, mansion.
Quote of the Day
It comes as no surprise that the same people who worked themselves into a lathered frenzy of Gov. Romney’s “binders” are completely and utterly silent over VP Biden’s sexual harassment of a Senator’s wife.
Monday Book Pick: Tiger by the Tail
Tiger by the Tail by John Ringo and Ryan Sear
The latest in John Ringo’s Paladin of Shadows series. Mostly written by Ryan Sear from an outline by John Ringo. As you should remember, the first book in the series, Ghost (a Monday Book pick in in 2009), was one Ringo felt he had to write from a personal perspective, but never thought it would be published. Not only was it published, but it was a run away best seller that won an award as a Romance novel for its open and honest look into the B&D/S&M world from the viewpoint of a Het male Dom. Tiger by the Tail follows the Kildar and his dour band of warriors to the South Pacific, where they are hunting pirates as a training exercise. Of course, things get interesting from there. It’s a fun filled action series, so expect battles, adventure, beautiful exotic women, spies, and references to really good beer. Ringo handed the bulk of the writing to Ryan Sear. Sear has been the fellow writing the current Executioner series (originally written by Don Pendleton). A gritty pulp series about an Army sniper in Vietnam who’s family has been destroyed by the Mafia, so he declares a one man domestic war on the Organized Crime families. One of the cool things about that series was the firearm gearhead detail. This is something that Ryan Sear has brought into the Paladin of Shadows series and personally, I think it fits well. The characters are a little wooden compared to the previous books, but that isn’t unexpected since this is the first time Sear is taking them out for a spin. Close enough to be recognizable to fans of the series, so as they say “good enough for government work.” Like most books in the series, there is some sex, but this primarily an adventure pulp of the old school, which is a good thing.
Quote of the Day
Filed under: Barking Moonbats, economy, Obama Economy, Politics
If I had a nickel for every time I heard a liberal place social issues above economic issues, I’d have enough money to pay off the monstrous $16.4 trillion and counting national debt.
Quote of the Day
I made it to 2013 and all I got from the SciFi books of my youth was the lousy dystopian government.
A tale of two recoveries
Filed under: American History, economy, Obama Economy, Our Dear Leader, Politics, Taxes
First let us review some history and economic theory. Now you have heard often enough that the recent recession was the “worst since the Great Depression.” This bit of disinformation is repeated by those with a poor grasp or history and/or really don’t care if their information is accurate as long as it furthers their political agenda.
The worst recession “since the Great Depression” was clearly the recession American suffered through in the late 1970s. Double digit unemployment, double digit inflation and double digit interest rates! The prime rate actually hit 21%! So even if you had a job, the cost of living was rising faster and higher than you could possible get a raise and forget about buying a house with interest rates around 20%.
So we have that lie out of the way, let us get to some actual facts. The last recession end way back in mid 2009. That is when economy when from negative GDP growth to positive GDP growth. You may ask what growth? In most of America, there are still far too many empty store fronts as small business are shutting down faster than they are opening. What growth we have had has been anemic at best. GDP growth has not been over 2% in the three and half years since the last recession ended and employment has been over 7.5% and has even hit 10% during that time as well. What you are experiencing is clearly the worst recovery since the Great Depression.
Let’s review, worst recession followed by a roaring recovering in four years. Not the worst recession, worst recovery on record with no signs of getting better. Why such a glaring difference? Well the nice folks at Forbes covered this nicely. Let us review the facts about Reaganomics vs Obamanomics.
Reaganomics had four key points.
1. Cut tax rates to restore incentives for economic growth (just like JFK)
2. Real spending reductions, nearly 5% of the federal budget
3. Anti-inflation monetary policy
4. Deregulation, which saved American consumers an estimated $100 billion per year!
This simple plan resulted in the longest peacetime expansion in American history. The American standard of living increased by close to 20% and the poverty rate declined every year.
Now let’s look at Obama’s economic, and we are being generous here, plan. It is the exact opposite of President Reagan’s plan, which was clearly very successful. In addition to the new Obamacare taxes, he is calling for a sharp increase in the federal tax rate on the Americans who already pay the majority of the federal income tax. In additions, Obama is calling for increases in:
1. The capital gains tax
2. Corporate dividends tax
3. The Medicare tax
4. The death tax
Instead of spending cuts, Obama and the democrat controlled congress opened with nearly a trillion dollars in new federal spending, most of which was borrowed money, further increasing an already high federal debt.
Then we have the double-whammy of an inflationary monetary policy (the Quantative Easing non-stimulus acts) and massive re-regulation in health care, finance, energy and pretty much anything else Obama thinks he can get away with.
Mr. Ferrara sums up the results of the two policies nicely:
As a result, while the Reagan recovery averaged 7.1% economic growth over the first seven quarters, the Obama recovery has produced less than half that at 2.8%, with the last quarter at a dismal 1.8%. After seven quarters of the Reagan recovery, unemployment had fallen 3.3 percentage points from its peak to 7.5%, with only 18% unemployed long-term for 27 weeks or more. After seven quarters of the Obama recovery, unemployment has fallen only 1.3 percentage points from its peak, with a postwar record 45% long-term unemployed.
Previously the average recession since World War II lasted 10 months, with the longest at 16 months. Yet today, 40 months after the last recession started, unemployment is still 8.8%, with America suffering the longest period of unemployment that high since the Great Depression.
This is the Obama Economy. The worst recovery from a recession since the Great Depression. To make it worse, Obama’s policies are likely to cause that record to be broken, rather than produce real, sustainable economic growth.
Update: From Forbes: One Year Later, Another Look at Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics Here is the summary, it’s still Reagan for the win. Here are some of the highlights.
Let’s start with the GDP data. The comparison is striking. Under Reagan’s policies, the economy skyrocketed. Heck, the chart prepared by the Minneapolis Fed doesn’t even go high enough to show how well the economy performed during the 1980s.
Under Obama’s policies, by contrast, we’ve just barely gotten back to where we were when the recession began. Unlike past recessions, we haven’t enjoyed a strong bounce. And this means we haven’t recovered the output that was lost during the downturn.
This is a damning indictment of Obamanomics
…
Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, former Senator Phil Gramm and budgetary expert Mike Solon compare the current recovery to the post-war average as well as to what happened under Reagan.
If in this “recovery” our economy had grown and generated jobs at the average rate achieved following the 10 previous postwar recessions, GDP per person would be $4,528 higher and 13.7 million more Americans would be working today. …President Ronald Reagan’s policies ignited a recovery so powerful that if it were being repeated today, real per capita GDP would be $5,694 higher than it is now—an extra $22,776 for a family of four. Some 16.9 million more Americans would have jobs.
…
…As I’ve written before, Obama is not responsible for the current downturn. Yes, he was a Senator and he was part of the bipartisan consensus for easy money, Fannie/Freddie subsidies, bailout-fueled moral hazard, and a playing field tilted in favor of debt, but his share of the blame wouldn’t even merit an asterisk.
My problem with Obama is that he hasn’t fixed any of the problems. Instead, he has kept in place all of the bad policies – and in some cases made them worse.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Total Recall
Not the Schwarzenegger classic, but the remake that left out Mars entirely. An OK flick if you judge it on its own, but it pales to the original. Not that it didn’t try and it did have some real hat tips to the original. They also roped in the Bladerunner look and feel for the streets of “the colony”, as they were calling Austrilia in the film. There was even a Mr and Mrs Smith reference thrown in. Fun to watch for the fight and chase scenes, as well as the leading lady eye candy factor (Kate Becinsale and Jessica Biel for the double w00t!). Ok for a rental, but not worth the added cost for the less than useless Ultraviolet crap you are forced to pay for in order to get a DVD/BluRay version.