Blaming Government...the Change I'm looking for
Does the week start on Sunday or Monday? Do I tend to listen to economists or analysts?
In both cases, it is usually the latter. I see Sunday more as a wind down, then as a warm up. I see economists as often too focused on theories to examine the practical angles of life.
From time to time, however, I like to give the economists light. Especially, if they are prone to bouts of human deductive reasoning found within the first standard deviation. That having been said I always got a kick out of this one...with the main player and his agenda to follow. If you haven't seen it, enjoy. Cheesy, but I like it.
Russell Roberts of George Mason University continues what I think of as "the boutique college migration" as we see more star athletes, mathletes and profs doing bigger and better work at smaller institutions with less pedigree. Not to Ivy Leaguers, dead that socialist redistribution crap already. You're supposed to be leading this country into the future, not burying in more big gov progs.
In a lucid explanation that requires little more than 75 or 6 IQ points, Russell plays music to my ears.
Admittedly, I am not on the cutting edge of economic academia, however, this may be this first I have heard of someone actually going the lengthy dissertation route in pooping on Washington policy. I for one, am all for it and fling my disgruntled inner recyclables in unison with Mr. Russell.
For those who haven't read a good academic piece in a while...or...ever. Have some fun
checking this out. A relatively quick read which brings home the ultimate long term point of the last 2 years: " we must return to the natural incentives of profit and loss if we want to prevent future crisis ".
Or as I like to say...long live capitalism and free markets, if only somebody can bring them back from the dead.
Great video, saw it a long time ago. It spells things out in a catchy way, wish more people without a econ background would watch it. I see too much basic ignorance on economic issues.
What are you gonna do? The more info at our collective disposal, the less we use it...
Btw, the MSF blog's looking real nice, man. Keep it moving.
Thanks man. I got a domain name and web hosting. Going to swap it over this coming week if I have time.
Oh and you are right about people not utilizing information. Never in the history of the world has so much information been at everyones finger tips. I am old enough to have a set of Encyclopedia Britannica and remember using them for papers in school. Now I real industry papers and wikipedia on my Ipad in bed. So much information, advice, knowledge out there yet people still have no clue. Disgusting.
LMAO. I still have my EB 1992 edition. It's crazy... you realize we're the last of the dinosaurs? Outside of my immediate age bracket, when I try to talk about doing research that involves a card catalog or microfiche I get these blank sheepish looks. Sad thing is...I can think of at least a dozen Master's/PhD level students who fall into this category.
The web's been great for the practical aspects of commerce and communication, however, on the intellectual plane it has made mental masturbatory sloth not only acceptable, but encouraged. That's the real problem. Any asshole can edit wikipedia pages and most people take it as gospel. The future brain trust of America...raised by MySpace...disciplined by Facebook...and lastly, seasoned by Twitter.
Like you said...disgusting.
Its funny you mention facebook and twitter. Before I even finished watching the video above I had already posted it to my facebook. Yet another example of the way your generation and my generation's web use differs.
And a blank, sheepish look is exactly what I imagine myself having done after I read that you guys still own print encylocpedia's.
what industry papers do you read then
Absolutely.
I read white papers from Chatham House regularly. The US Fed and Treasury put out some great working papers as does the FDA. No was in hell any of us could have had access to this amount of information.
You always hear people complain about inequality and things not being fair. The same arguments were going on 30 years ago. Now the playing field in many aspects has been leveled. It is incredibly easy to gave your voice heard. It is easy to become an entrepreneur now. Price information is transparent. Knowledge is free and easily accessible. Yet people still complain. All it tells me is no matter how much you help some people, they will always be uninformed and act like they are the victim.
I wouldn't go to the extreme of saying it is simply technology's fault. I do think, however, that the ability to simply run a search and then babble about a subject you have never dealt with tangibly creates and added layer of intellectual entitlement.
As far as the victim mentality, just ask the average 18-23 y.o. guy what he thinks of feminism. They are all for it. When you have a society where men engage in testosterone suppression you get all bitching all the time. Naturally, there's a few thousand pages of discussion in the subject. But my underlying view is that not getting your ass properly kicked (either physically or metaphorically) in youth will lead to a spineless and wilting existence in adulthood.
It's never been easier then today, yet...never more bitching.
p.s. The USDA site is one of my favorites, the info you can dig up on it is astounding.
http://www.khoslaventures.com/khosla/papers.html
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/publications/papers/
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/cfr/workingpapers.html
http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ReportsManualsForms/Reports/EconomicAnalyse…
Many more
I download a lot of stuff off SSRN, Moodys, Bloomberg reports, etc. I would ruin my back carrying all that paper around.
the problem with economics is that people LOVE to comment on it. Because it's easy to say something trivial and populist and feel like you deserve a pat on the brain.
I'd add that every Fed Reserve Bank has its own website with applied research papers. They're often quite good. Or think tanks focusing on economics issues often have their applied research on their sites too (e.g. the peterson institute). It's fun reading current commentary in economics that has an academic seriousness. Unlike the links to CNN money or Forbes that my father emails me :D
Yeah, outside of Bloomberg TV I shun most mainstream news. I caught 20 minutes of face the nation today and almost threw the remote through the TV.
World Book Encyclopedia 1999 Edition baby! I also have the World Book 1969 Edition as well. It's great to go back and read articles about asbestos and its amazing benefits.
I see technology / internet providing extremely easy access to information is almost in a way a bad thing, similar to what Midas mentioned above. Any idiot can go on Wikipedia and graze over an article about something and then claim to be an expert on the topic because they memorized a few figures and dropped some complex terms, but don't provide any substantive argument. Which factors into why I refuse to watch network news channels. It's all talking heads who haven't a freaking clue about what they're talking about. I do enjoy the news hour with Jim Lehrer and Charlie Rose, those are about the only two current events programs that I can tolerate watching.
Another website with loads of cool information (to me at least) is the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website.
I do agree that I think there is a lot of faux expertise going on, I still think it is far dwarfed by people who have no clue about anything.
Thanks for the BTS website. I am on it now.
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