Monthly Archives: March 2011

Corporations and the Distribution of Wealth

Posted on March 30, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

After the little dustup over at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen about my post on the middle class lifestyle, I wrote this and asked E.D. Kain if he would be willing to run it as a guest post. I wouldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 22 Comments

Conservative Policies Create Big Government

Posted on March 29, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

Two recent studies suggest that two of the favored tactics of contemporary conservatives actually result in larger government. Berkeley economists Romer and Romer argue that the “starve the beast” approach ultimately results in greater spending, and George Mason ‘s Matt … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

On the Other Hand…

Posted on March 28, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

After criticizing Fred Clark, I want to point out the intriguing part of his post, which is a link to a ScienceBlogs post by Ethan Siegel, a theoretical astrophysicist. Siegel argues that with a solar panel array of just 125 … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 12 Comments

The Liberal Error

Posted on March 26, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

Fred Clark, the irreplaceable slacktivist, is an uncommonly intelligent, thoughtful, and well-read man. And yet he fails to properly comprehend economics and politics. In a recent post titled Smaller government, smaller dreams, smaller people he discusses a Weather Channel documentary … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 7 Comments

Breweriana

Posted on March 26, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

One of my pet interests is finding examples that counter the popular belief that mass markets dominate the modern world. What could be a better example than beer? Source: Rob Carlson, Micro-Brewing the Bioeconomy: Beer as an Example of Distributed … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Instances of U.S. Use of Military Force Abroad

Posted on March 25, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

Here is a chart I put together of instances of U.S. use of military force abroad, 1800-2009, by decade. Two caveats: 1) the numbers by themselves say nothing about the severity of any conflict, and 2) some cases are double-counted … Continue reading →

Posted in The Democratic Process, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Best Phrased Question of the Day

Posted on March 25, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

From Alex Tabarrok; why are US firms assumed to own the rights to sell to US consumers? This is in reference to a WSJ article detailing how U.S. furniture manufacturers blackmail Chinese manufacturers, extracting literally millions of dollars from them … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 4 Comments

One Party Government Among Political Scientists?

Posted on March 24, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

The Midwest Political Science association has announced the candidates for election to the presidency and vice-presidency of the organization. It bears a curious similarity to one-party government. MPSA Slate of Officers Announced The Nominations Committee has announced the following proposed … Continue reading →

Posted in The Democratic Process | 5 Comments

Early Polling for 2012

Posted on March 22, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

Because political junkies can’t get enough, here’s a poll from Democracy Corps, suggesting that House Republicans may have some difficulty holding on to their gains. As dubious as we all ought to be about such early predictions, their summary seems … Continue reading →

Posted in The Democratic Process | 30 Comments

What’s Our Strategic Goal, or Do We Even Have One?

Posted on March 22, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

From my standpoint, the strategic level was, what do we want as the end state? What do we want to accomplish as a nation, and as NATO, in whatever action we’re going to take? What are the measures of effectiveness … Continue reading →

Posted in The Democratic Process | 6 Comments