Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Armageddon!

In a column at Project Syndicate, economist Jeffrey Sachs begins with an ominous statement, "America is on a collision course with itself.", but then proceeds to back it up with the following:

"The problem is America’s corrupted politics and loss of civic morality. One political party, the Republicans, stands for little except tax cuts, which they place above any other goal. The Democrats have a bit wider set of interests, including support for health care, education, training, and infrastructure. But, like the Republicans, the Democrats, too, are keen to shower tax cuts on their major campaign contributors, predominantly rich Americans.

The result is a dangerous paradox. The US budget deficit is enormous and unsustainable. The poor are squeezed by cuts in social programs and a weak job market. One in eight Americans depends on Food Stamps to eat. Yet, despite these circumstances, one political party wants to gut tax revenues altogether, and the other is easily dragged along, against its better instincts, out of concern for keeping its rich contributors happy.

This tax-cutting frenzy comes, incredibly, after three decades of elite fiscal rule in the US that has favored the rich and powerful. Since Ronald Reagan became President in 1981, America’s budget system has been geared to supporting the accumulation of vast wealth at the top of the income distribution. Amazingly, the richest 1% of American households now has a higher net worth than the bottom 90%. The annual income of the richest 12,000 households is greater than that of the poorest 24 million households.

The Republican Party’s real game is to try to lock that income and wealth advantage into place. They fear, rightly, that sooner or later everyone else will begin demanding that the budget deficit be closed in part by raising taxes on the rich. After all, the rich are living better than ever, while the rest of American society is suffering. It makes sense to tax them more.
"

This passage in the piece reminds me of a recent Nicholas Kristof column that I blogged about last month about how the gap between rich and poor leads to dysfunctional countries.

Read the entire Sachs piece because it is not just another "left is right and right is wrong" diatribe. He is fairly critical of both sides for succumbing to the whims of the rich.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Behold, your new God! The Sun!! (It's gone for most of today though.)

Great article in The New York Times about this history of various cultures celebrating the sun (or rather, the absense thereof) for the Winter Solstice. One passage that's important to point out:

"The transition from Roman paganism to Christianity, with its similar rites, took several centuries. With the Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in the fourth century, customs were quickly appropriated and refashioned, as the sun and God’s son became inextricably entwined. Thus, although the New Testament gives no indication of Christ’s actual birthday (early writers preferring a spring date), in 354 Pope Liberius declared it to have befallen on Dec. 25.

The advantages of Christmas Day being celebrated then were obvious. As the Christian commentator Syrus wrote: “It was a custom of the pagans to celebrate on the same Dec. 25 the birthday of the sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity .... Accordingly, when the church authorities perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnized on that day.”

In Christendom, the Nativity gradually absorbed all other winter solstice rites, and the co-opting of solar imagery was part of the same process. Thus the solar discs that had once been depicted behind the heads of Asian rulers became the halos of Christian luminaries. Despite the new religion’s apparent supremacy, many of the old customs survived — so much so that church elders worried that the veneration of Christ was being lost. In the fifth century, St. Augustine of Hippo and Pope Leo the Great felt compelled to remind their flocks that Christ, not the sun, was their proper object of their worship.
"

The whole article is a fun read. ENJOY!!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

So what's all this bickering over taxes really about?

Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein tries to explain why Democrats and Republicans disagree on tax policy:

"There may be some truth to the Republican belief that lowering taxes overall is a good way to boost economic growth or contain the size of government. However, that would apply just as well to cuts in corporate and payroll taxes or additional income tax cuts for the middle class. Yet you don't see Republicans drawing lines in the sand over those. What's so magical about the estate tax or the top marginal income tax rate?"

Read the entire column to find out the answer to this question. My personal take on it is both the Left and the Right have gotten themselves so wired up for a fight that they have forgotten the basic difference between fact and opinion.

The real story behind Wall Street Boguses..er..Bonuses

Four Wharten School professors wrote an excellent op-ed in The Washington Post about how, in the eyes of MBA students at Wharton, bonuses don't necessarily produce the results that the companies paying the bonuses claim to be getting from their employees. One particularly reflective quote from a student:

"Taking unpopular positions on the prospects of an investment in opposition to a partner may have helped the fund avoid poor investments, but this behavior would likely result in a lower annual bonus," one student wrote. "As such, I felt incentivized to agree with my superiors rather than make good investments."

Food for thought...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

If the NCAA had listened to me...continued

A follow-up on my blog post from last Sunday, based on the criteria I laid out in my February 4, 2009 blog post, this is what the BCS playoff matchups would be for the 2010-2011 football season:

#1 Auburn vs. #8 Connecticut (Sugar Bowl)
#2 Oregon vs. #7 Virginia Tech (Rose Bowl)
#3 TCU vs. #6 Oklahoma (Fiesta Bowl)
#4 Stanford vs. #5 Wisconsin (Orange Bowl)

Auburn and Oregon would probably steamroll through their respective first-round opponents but the other two games would definitely be worth watching. The winner of Stanford/Wisconsin against Auburn and the winner of TCU/Oklahoma versus in Oregon in the final four would be pretty huge too.

Why aren't you listening to me BCS?!?

NYTimes.com: Japan Starts to Shop Its Bullet Train Technology

A few points from a New York Times article earlier this week about Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's visit to Japan:

"Of particular interest to the Japanese has been a planned $1.25 billion, 84-mile high-speed link between Tampa and Orlando — the first leg of a corridor that state officials hope will eventually reach Miami. Twenty-two companies are bidding for the contract, and Washington is set to announce a winner this year."

"Central Japan Railway, which is based in Nagoya and is more commonly known as JR Central, is promoting its N700-I trains, which are in use in Japan and can run at a top speed of about 330 kilometers (205 miles) an hour.

"But JR Central has also been showing off its MLX01 maglev bullet train, still in its testing phase, which in 2003 clocked the world’s fastest trial run of 581 kilometers (361 miles) an hour. "

In case you're doing the math, the JR Central line in use in Japan today would make the Tampa to Orlando trip in 25 minutes. The MLX01 maglev would do it in 14 minutes.

For some reason people would rather sit in traffic for two hours and pollute the environment. Go figure.

Friday, December 10, 2010

If you scratch my back...

It's kind of embarrassing for India that the three countries ahead of it for having the most prevalent cultures of bribery are Liberia, Afghanistan, and Iraq: one country artificially created by the United States in the 19th century that is forever enthralled in political turmoil and two countries where the United States has actively engaged war recently. Perhaps this means the reason we Americans are so far down on the list is because we tend to export bribery inducement to other places?

On the other hand, considering India's economic progress over the past decade or so, I'd be curious to know if this percentage has actually decreased over that period.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

“Life is like a box of chocolates.”

In a blog post on October 6th, I said that the Republican candidates for Governor in Ohio and Wisconsin were only using the issue of high-speed rail for political posturing and really had no intent to turn away free federal money that would create construction jobs in their states.

I guess I was wrong because The New York Times now reports that California, Florida, and a handful of other states will be receiving the funding that Ohio and Wisconsin are turning away. (Update: The Wall Street Journal also reported this story on December 10th.) For those states, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

As far as the newly-elected Governors of Ohio and Wisconsin are concerned, another Forrest Gump quote comes to mind:
Stupid is as stupid does.

Monday, December 6, 2010

What would Brian Boitano do?

(If you didn’t get the reference, it’s from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.)

David Leonhardt explains in today’s New York Times what the $60 Billion that could be raised from not extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the highest income bracket would buy. Some of my favorites:

- Universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, with relatively small class sizes.
- A national infrastructure program to repair and upgrade roads, bridges, mass transit, water systems and levees.
- Free college, including room and board, for about half of all full-time students, at both four- and two-year colleges.

Paul Krugman takes the argument further by saying “a cold, hard look at the consequences of giving in to the G.O.P. now suggests that saying no, and letting the Bush tax cuts expire on schedule, is the lesser of two evils.”

What Krugman fails to mention, as does everyone else, is extending the Bush Tax Cuts permanently for incomes below $250,000 still blows a $2 Trillion hole in the deficit. Again, that’s $2,000,000,000,000! The $700 Billion the administration speaks of is the difference between the $2 Trillion Democrats want to create and the $2.7 Trillion Republicans want to create. In reality, both sides are being dishonest here and people are falling for it all over the place.

The most important question is, if you didn’t make enough to notice the tax cut nine years ago, do you think you’ll notice the taxes go back up now, especially since incomes have been flat over that period? Would you be willing to do that for the nation’s economy?

Sunday, December 5, 2010

If the NCAA had listened to me, we'd be sitting on pins and needles today...

If you've followed this blog since the beginning, one of my earliest posts was my solution to the BCS "Mess", where I made the following recommendations:

  1. Keep the BCS points system
  2. Use the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls as National Quarterfinal games
  3. Select three new locations each year for the two semifinal games and championship game
  4. Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten.
The reason we'd be hanging on the edge of our seats for tonight is because of point #4: "Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten." Boise State went into yesterday ranked #11 but had a commanding victory over Utah State yesterday.

The question we'd be waiting to have answered would be is a victory over a weak opponent like Utah State enough to push Boise State up one spot into the top ten? Based on the BCS rankings going into yesterday's play, TCU was the only mid-major team in the top ten. Based on my criteria listed above, that would mean the other open spot would go to the highest non-conference champ in the BCS, which would be Stanford. Based on yesterday's results, we have the following:

  • SEC Champ: Auburn (currently #1)
  • Pac-10 Champ: Oregon (currently #2)
  • Big 12 Champ: Oklahoma (currently #9)
  • ACC Champ: Virginia Tech (currently #15)
  • Big East Champ: Connecticut (currently unranked)
  • Big Ten Champ: Either Wisconsin, Ohio State, or Michigan State (currently #5, #6, and #8, respectively)

So rather than the anti-climactic announcement of the Auburn vs. Oregon matchup, we'd be waiting to find out if Boise State cracks the top ten for an automatic bid and, if that doesn't happen, whether the automatic bid goes to Stanford or one of the Big Ten teams that does not get the conference's automatic bid. Then we'd be waiting to find out how the seeding works out. Instead the BCS and NCAA choose to give us a rather dull and boring bowl matchup announcement on Sunday night.

Think about it guys. My idea could have given you better ratings!!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

He Don't Know What He Don't Know

The New York Times' Tom Friedman writes an uncharacteristically humerous column today about what a WikiLeaks document from the Chinese Embassy in Washington would look like. After taking a very accurate cheap shot at Amtrak's Acela:

"The ambassador recently took what the Americans call a fast train — the Acela — from Washington to New York City. Our bullet train from Beijing to Tianjin would have made the trip in 90 minutes. His took three hours — and it was on time!"

Friedman goes on the state the obvious fact very few politicians are willing to say:

"But the Americans are oblivious. They travel abroad so rarely that they don’t see how far they are falling behind."

Unfortunately this has always been the case in this country. For example, we also complain about how high our taxes are in the United States even though our tax rates are among the lowest in the world. It's not surprising then that the places with the highest concentrations of immigrant populations as well as people that vacation abroad tend to be blue states. People living in those states actually have a clue as to how the rest of the world lives.