Tag Archives: Wall Street Journal

Toughen up

Posted on May 27, 2012 by

1. Milton Friedman’s comment, “Capitalism is a profit and loss system. Profit encourages risk-taking. Loss encourages prudence.” 2. Nassim Taleb, author of the Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness, released the prologue of his new book on Anti-Fragility online. In it, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Economy, Government, Power of Incentives, Markets, Black Swan | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Arthur Brooks: Earned Success vs. Learned Helplessness

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

I recommend reading this piece from Arthur Brooks in the Wall Street Journal.  A snippet: Earned success means defining your future as you see fit and achieving that success on the basis of merit and hard work. It allows you … Continue reading →

Posted in Power of Incentives, Reading Recommendations | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Two education links

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

1. Education Is the Key to a Healthy Economy 2. Creating Innovators: Why America’s Education System Is Obsolete

Posted in Education, Innovation | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

“Losses encourage prudence”

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

George Mason economist and EconTalk podcast host Russ Roberts has said: Capitalism is a profit and loss system. Profits encourage risk-taking. Losses encourage prudence. It follows, then, that if you remove losses, you wind up with risk-taking and less prudence. … Continue reading →

Posted in Capitalism, Experimentation, Taxes | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Justice Roberts to Blinder: “I don’t care”

Posted on April 21, 2012 by

If Alan Blinder understood why Tommy Lee Jones’ character said, “I don’t care,” in the scene below from The Fugitive, I doubt wouldn’t have written this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal lamenting what he fears will be the Supreme Court … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, Health Care | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Westward Implosion

Posted on April 21, 2012 by

Here’s a couple links on the subject. Joel Kotkin: The Great California Exodus in the Wall Street Journal And for a true measure…U-Haul Rates Confirm the Great California Exodus from Mark Perry at Carpe Diem

Posted in Bureaucracy, Emergent Order, Feedback, Government, Taxes, True Measures | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bottoms-up experimentation

Posted on April 21, 2012 by

The nice thing about having 50 states is that we get to experiment with policies and see what works and what doesn’t. As individuals, it’s nice to have choices, too. If you’re not happy with your state, rather than struggle … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Experimentation, Government, Innovation, Politics, Reading Recommendations, Taxes, True Measures | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Cost benefit BS

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

In the Wall Street Journal today, Allysia Finley offers several examples of cost benefit analyses (CBAs) to support more government force with similar arguments to government-forced contraception coverage to illustrate why such CBAs are absurd. I recommend reading the whole … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Blame Disorder

Posted on March 10, 2012 by

Jason Riley writes in the Wall Street Journal today: The Obama administration is waving around a new study showing that black school kids are “suspended, expelled, and arrested in school” at higher rates than white kids. According to the report, … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Education, Feedback | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Politics is a group of people making a decision for you

Posted on March 2, 2012 by

Peggy Noonan discovers something Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell has known for a long time. In her column in the Wall Street Journal this morning, Noonan writes about her thoughts and experiences with Andrew Breitbart.  After getting the chance to speak … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, Health Care, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments