You are currently browsing the Armchair Economist weblog archives for the day January 2, 2008.
- General post (802)
- April 3, 2008: Armchair Economist gets a much-needed update
- April 3, 2008: Ghost of Herbert Hoover
- April 3, 2008: Are you smarter than a high-schooler?
- April 3, 2008: Katrina hero: Wal-Mart
- April 2, 2008: No Child Left Behind
- April 2, 2008: The poverty hype
- April 2, 2008: Oil profits
- April 2, 2008: Don's response
- April 2, 2008: Oil refinements
- April 1, 2008: My profile
Archive for January 2, 2008
Economic myths
January 2, 2008 by Tom Armstrong.
Top ten economic myths for 2007 (good list).
HT: Club for Growth
Posted in General post | No Comments »
$60 minimum wage
January 2, 2008 by Tom Armstrong.
Schwarzenegger has signed into law a $60 minimum wage for jockeys.
Posted in General post | No Comments »
The Internet gambling ban
January 2, 2008 by Tom Armstrong.
Radley Balko tackles the Internet gambling ban in his latest Fox News column. Notable:
From the right, many feel that if they’re personally morally opposed to a particular consensual activity, it ought to be banned for everyone. From the left, it’s the mentality that because some people can’t engage in a particular activity responsibly and without harming themselves, that activity ought to be banned for everyone. One is moral paternalism. The other is Nanny State paternalism. But the result is the same. The government makes your decisions for you.
Posted in General post | No Comments »
Banning bulbs
January 2, 2008 by Tom Armstrong.
This opinion ran in today’s WSJ. Notable:
What’s remarkable about this bit of market interference is that there is, basically, nothing wrong with the present-day, Edison-style lightbulb. It’s not a lawn dart or a lead-painted toy or a magnet that will perforate your kid’s intestines if he swallows it. It is what it is, and for most people in most applications, it was good enough. So the lightbulb makers and the environmentalists convinced Congress to ban them for no better reason than they believed everyone would be better off with something else.
…
There are billions to be made — and spent — figuring out how to get consumers to pay more for something. This year Steve Jobs convinced a million people to pay $400 for a cell phone in a market in which many people believe that the phone should come free with a service contract. But why worry about making a product so good people feel they have to have it, when you can instead get the government to tell them they have no choice?
Don’t fault the bulb makers for this. If Microsoft could get a law passed requiring users to upgrade Windows, they’d probably go for it, too. Same with Detroit — “Buy a hybrid, or else!” would probably suit them fine. But do remember this the next time a company goes to Washington to save the world: They’ll end up doing it at your expense.
Posted in General post | No Comments »