Breakfast Links

Posted by Jeff Carter
on June 27th, 2011

Being there. Really, I think it might be true. (tip of the hat to Insty)

Loving the NY Times coming to the realization that corn is over subsidized, and so is ethanol.

About that peak oil….

Let’s hope Bernanke is not that confident. Soros is.

Transaction tax coming to an EU exchange near you. This makes the American exchanges very competitive, and would be a good reason why DB bought NYX. No trader will pay this tax willingly. They will avoid it.

An article on socialism. Ironically, socialists don’t like socialists!

We are on an unsustainable path with regard to debt. No Democrat seems to get that.

Yesterday I was on a walk through the city of Chicago. Stopped by the Gay Pride Parade. Saw all the politicians, and it occurred to me-none of them had ever been productive members of society. They only had held government positions. Here is an example of the typical Chicago bureaucrat. Look at her record-all government based. A few years in private law practice-dealing with government. Virtually every Democratic politician in Illinois (and many Republicans)only exist by virtue of the government. If they know enough cronies, they will create a position for them.

That’s what it’s like in Europe as well. If you go to the right schools, you will become a career bureaucrat and the crony system will take care of you. It’s unproductive.

These are the kinds of things that turned David Mamet. If you are a liberal, or independent you ought to read his book.

This will hurt the car business in the US. The more they raise CAFE standards, the worse the performance of the entire car fleet becomes. It’s counter intuitive, but when viewed through the lens of microeconomics, it’s apparent. Supply meets demand. If they want to improve fuel economy, the government ought to end all CAFE standards. Let consumers, and the market decide. But, it’s Government Motors….

Free trade works. They ought to end subsidies to Africa and stop propping up bad governments.

If you think economics is simply about money, you are wrong. Read this article. Then this paper. It has changed many an economists life.

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