Top Economic Fallacies of the Left

1. there is a fixed supply of and demand for labor
2. competition is a zero-sum game
3. trade is a race to the bottom
4. prosperity depends largely on the welfare of producers, not consumers

Effects of the Drug War

America's intense pressure on Columbia over the past 25 years to stamp out drug cultivation has produced an unfortunate result for the Columbians. Columbian citizens are now being terrorized by a right-wing "paramilitary" group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Columbia (AUC), a group which finds its origins in the decades-long drug war. From The Economist:

The AUC's origins lie in vigilante groups set up by landowners for protection against the guerrillas. Two decades ago, drug-traffickers began buying land and transformed the vigilantes into private armies. ... The paramilitaries are too strong to be forced to accept a settlement they dislike. Alfredo Rangel, a security analyst, reckons the AUC still has more than 10,000 troops, plus civilian helpers. It operates in a third of Colombia's municipalities. Despite a supposed ceasefire, some AUC leaders continue to recruit. Drug money allows them to pay nemployed youths up to 500,000 pesos ($210) a month.

Debunking Education Myths Part III

Myth: If we spent as much on education in this country as we do on wars, our government-run schools would be great.

Reality: Tax dollars spent on government-run schools in this country are greater than the entire budget of the Department of Defense (a budget which has increased 35% in the past 5 years but is still lower than education spending).

Annual Public Elementary-Secondary Education Revenue: $440.3 billion
2005 Department of Defense Base Budget: $401.7 billion

I Loathe the Kennedys

Via TheAgitator:

"Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on Bill Maher's dreadful show:

'The Cato Institute, which, as you know, is a conservative Republican institute that endorses almost everything that President Bush says...'

No. Other than Social Security and a few environment-regulatory issues, there's not much Cato and the White House see eye to on at all. Just to name a few areas of disagreement: the federal budget, the drug war, the PATRIOT Act, homeland security, No Child Left Behind, the prescription drug benefit, the regulatory state, campaign finance, farm subsidies, energy policy, corporate welfare, and the federalization of crime.

Oh, and then there's that whole 'foreign policy' thing."

Debunking Education Myths, Part II

Myth: Public schools are terrible BUT if we throw more money at the problem, schools will get better.

Reality: Throwing more cash into the money pit of government-run schools does not result in better schools.

Top 5 states in per-pupil spending:

1) D.C. ('nuff said): $16,205
2) New York: $13,669
3) New Jersey: $13,402
4) Connecticut: $11,346
5) Vermont: $10,760

Number of these states in top 10 of student achievement: 1

Debunking of Education Myths, Part I

Myth: Teachers hardly make any money. That is why government-run schools are so crummy.

Reality #1: Average salary + Benefits for U.S. teachers is $50,855.00. Not too shabby.

Top 5 states:

California: $72,042
Connecticut: $70,316
New Jersey: $70,405
Michigan: $73,917
New York: $68,392

Number of these states in top 10 for student achievement: 1

Reality #2: Because of their shorter work year and workday, teachers actually earn more than many other educated professionals on an hourly basis.

Occupation and Mean Hourly Earnings
Accountants and Auditors: $22.08/hour
Computer Programmers: $24.49
Secondary Teachers: $30.48
Elementary Teachers: $30.52
Engineers: $31.05
Public Lawyers: $34.64

And the average for all state and local workers? $23.90/hour
Teachers earn on average 27% more that than their state and local counterparts.

I Love this Place: Dual Installment

8:42: On my way into work saw Jerry Lewis, Chairman of the Approps Committee, walking his schnoodle outside of Longworth.

12:35: Came within a foot of Ruth Bader Ginsburg while walking into the capitol

Quote of the week

From The Economist:

"And now he is in the Senate—a club whose inhabitants think about becoming president as often as normal humans think about sex."

Make DC fun again

Gene Healy speaks my mind:

What ought to happen instead is a return to real filibusters. The Jimmy Stewart–style filibuster became a rarity in the 1970s when then–majority leader Mike Mansfield ushered in a two-track system whereby the Senate could move on to other business when a credible threat to filibuster was presented. In the modern era, real filibusters only occur when the majority sees political advantage in the spectacle. In 1988, for example, in the midst of a filibuster fight over campaign-finance legislation, then–majority leader Robert Byrd ordered the arrest of Republican senators boycotting a quorum vote. Three Capitol policemen forced their way into Sen. Bob Packwood's office, grabbed Packwood by his ankles and both arms, and carried him feet first onto the Senate floor. "The knock on the door and the forced entry smack of Nazi Germany, smack of communist Russia," wailed Senator Arlen Specter. "I rather enjoyed it," said Packwood.

Washington needs more of this sort of thing. If the Democrats really think Janice Rogers Brown is a threat to the Republic, they ought to be willing to get hoarse-voiced and incoherent keeping her off the D.C. Circuit. And if Republicans are committed to these judges, they ought to be willing to sleep on cots in cloakrooms. For their salaries, perks, and power, the least they can do is give us a show.

Corporal Punishment

Those runaway bison that snarled traffic in Pikesville yesterday are being sent on a trip... to the slaughter house.

Throwing Rocks in Glass Houses

It turns out Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, a Dem member of the Ethics Committee, took a 2001 trip to Puerto Rico that was paid for by a registered lobbying firm — an apparent violation of the chamber's ethics rules — according to documents that she filed with the House clerk. How did Tubbs-Jones rectify this problem? With an eraser. When questions came up, her staff simply replaced the name of the lobbying firm with the name of a non-profit in Puerto Rico.

Even more entertaining, members of Nancy Pelosi's staff took 41 free trips over the last three years, 12 of them not properly disclosed.

What's more, Obama-wannabe Harold Ford is having issues in his campaign for Frist's open seat because he has taken more privately funded trips than any other current member of Congress.

I wonder if she'll attack herself and other Dems with the same fervor that she attacked the GOP?

Look at me! Look at me!

In desperate attempts to prove their relevancy, the House Committee on Gov't Reform and the Senate Select Committee on Aging will hold hearings featuring sports celebrities.

The Gov't Reform Committee, just behind Small Business in the "least respected committee" race, will speak to members of the NFL about steroids. As if NFL drug-testing policy really has anything to with reforming government.

Aging will talk to Frank Robinson, the 70 year old manager of the Nationals, about working past retirement age. As if most Americans will have the option of earning millions of dollars managing a major league baseball team when they reach age 65.

I wonder what these people think when they look in the mirror at night: "I deserve good things. I am entitled to my share of happiness. I refuse to beat myself up. I am attractive person. I am fun to be with."

More on SS Reform

So, I'm studying for a final and I came across this article, Perspectives on the Presidency, written by Charles Jones. He makes note of an interesting theory of the interaction of government institutions:

In a system of diffused responsibility, credit will be taken and blame will be avoided by both institutions and both parties. ... [O]ne has to doubt how reasonable it is to hold one institution or one party accountable for a program... [D]iffusion of responsibility may permit policy reform that would have been much less likely if one party had to absorb all the criticism...

Maybe split-party government is needed in order to tackle the difficult reforms of "entitlement" programs that lie ahead... just a thought.

FINALLY

M'Dawg (and former boss) Paul Ryan has introduced his Social Security Reform Bill. H.R. 1776... no, that number is not an accident.

This plan recieved unsolicited praise from House leadership on numerous occasions and is the preferred plan of most conservatives. Some its choice bits:

1) An average account contribution among all workers of 6.4%
2) Guaranteed minimum benefit equal to Social Security promises under current law.
3) A “life-cycle” fund that automatically adjusts the worker’s portfolio based on his or her age - moving near-retirees into safe, government-backed bond funds.
4) Survivors and disability benefits would be unchanged
5) Scored by Chief Actuary to achive permanent slovency by 2051
6)Under the Chief Actuary’s score, workers would accumulate $7 trillion in today’s dollars in their accounts by 2020. Wealth ownership throughout the nation would become much more equal, and the concentration of wealth would be greatly reduced.

This is a beautiful bill... alas, I fear it may not survive. Thank god for conference committees.

Silver Lining

Even though W has been a terrible spokesperson for Social Security reform and his 60-day trip has been a bust, he has accomplished something very important: increasing the salience of the issue by leaps an bounds.

A Hart Research (Dem firm) poll shows that 54% of voters believe the Social Security system is in crisis or serious trouble.

Well... it's better than nothing.

QUIZ TIME!

Can you guess who said the following about Senate filibusters:

A. "An up-or-down vote, that is all we ask."

B. "Our institutional integrity requires an up-or-down vote."

C. "If our ----- colleagues don't like them, vote against them. But give them a vote"

Give up?

A. Tom Daschle, 1999.
B. Diane Fienstein, 1999.
C. Edward Kennedy, 1998.

More Dean-Screaming

During a trip to the conservative bastion of Toronto, Canada, HD called Republicans "brain-dead." This is in addition to recent name-calling when he labled the GOP as "corrupt" and "evil."

I know you are but what am I?

Losing from the Left

Tight-faced see-you-in-Toledo Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi is very upset that moderates in her party, including baggy-eyed Whip Steny "Go Terps" Hoyer, have sided with the GOP on important legislation such as the recently enacted bankruptcy bill.

At a whip meeting last Thursday described as "very unpleasant," Pelosi derided members who dared to vote their conscience and stray from the left towards the center.

Sources suggested that the setbacks in November changed the dynamics for House Democrats. Attendance at many party meetings is lower, participation in House Democratic activities is down, ... "People generally feel the majority is more out of reach."

boo hoo

What trust fund?

Ever since W came out and acknowledged the fantasy of the Social Security Trust Fund, Democrats (especially that crazy mouth-breather, DeFazio) have been screaming bloody murder.

So is Bush making an unprecedented statement here? You be the judge:

President Clinton’s Administration

“These balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other trust fund expenditures – but only in a bookkeeping sense. These funds are not set up to be pension funds, like the funds of private pension plans. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence of large trust fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the Government's ability to pay benefits.”
--Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2000, “Trust Funds and Federal Funds,” p. 337

“The Federal budget meaning of the term ‘‘trust’’ differs
significantly from the private sector usage. The beneficiary of a private trust owns the trust’s income and often its assets. A custodian manages the assets on behalf of the beneficiary according to the stipulations of the trust, which he cannot change unilaterally. In contrast, the Federal Government owns the assets and earnings of most Federal trust funds, and it can unilaterally raise or lower future trust fund collections and payments, or change the purpose for which the collections are used, by changing existing law.”
-- Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1999,“Trust Funds and Federal Funds,” page 321.

Congressional Budget Office

Trust funds have no particular economic significance. They do not hold separate cash balances; instead, they function primarily as accounting mechanisms to track receipts and spending for programs that have specific taxes or other revenues earmarked for their use.
--Congressional Budget Office; The
Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2006 to 2015

Social Security’s finances are often discussed in terms of the trust funds that are used in the federal budget to track outlays and revenues over the life of the program. Those trust funds are mainly accounting mechanisms and contain no economic resources. But they are important from a policy perspective;
because Social Security’s legal spending authority each year is limited to the total balance of the trust funds.
-- Congressional Budget Office (CB0) Report, “The Outlook for Social Security,” June 2004

Rumor of the Day

Nominee for "Most-Hated Lobbyist," Jack Abramoff, is playing the role of Deep Throat, providing info on Delay to WaPo investigators.

Morning Notes

"Ribbet": An epidemic of exploding toads hits Germany.

What's your fantasy? In June, Sony will open a site where super-cool kids can pay cash for imaginary goods to be used by characters in their fantasy games. Sony estimates the value of this geek market to be in excess of $800 million.

Bobo: Bono seeks to topple Canadian dictatorship.

"How do you like me now?" 44-year-old ex-KY SEN nominee Daniel Mongiardo (D), who was the target of GOP "insinuations that he might be gay," is now "dating a 19-year-old woman."