Who Owns Utah?

Take a look at this map:



And then ponder on all those calling western Republicans hypocrites for taking federal money.

Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated...

59% Still Believe Government Is the Problem

Rasmussen

Employee Free Choice Act

Soon to be up for consideration in Congress is the Employee Free Choice Act. According to the Huffington Post, Big Labor is "very pleased" that President Obama has been more outspoken in his support for the bill.

However, Larry Summers, Secretary of the Treasury under president Bill Clinton, and now head of the White House's National Economic Council for President Barack Obama, once wrote,

"Another cause of long-term unemployment is unionization. High union wages that exceed the competitive market rate are likely to cause job losses in the unionized sector of the economy. Also, those who lose high-wage union jobs are often reluctant to accept alternative low-wage employment."

The "Free Choice" act would make unionizing much easier because among other things it would remove the requirement of secret ballots. According to Harvard economist Greg Mankiw that means, "union organizers would be able to use strong-arm tactics to get workers to say they support a union, even when privately the workers don't."

"Causes long-term unemployment" + "strong-arm tactics" doesn't seem to bode well...

"Generally it means being less productive"

Hold up. You mean to tell me that higher taxes cause less productivity?

Who knew?

"President Barack Obama's tax proposal – which promises to increase taxes for those families with incomes of $250,000 or more -- has some Americans brainstorming ways to decrease their pay.

"I've put thought into how to get under $250,000," said Poczatek. "It would mean working fewer days which means having fewer employees, seeing fewer patients and taking time off."

"Generally it means being less productive," she said.

"The motivation for a lot of people like me – dentists, entrepreneurs, lawyers – is that the more you work the more money you make," said Poczatek. "But if I'm going to be working just to give it back to the government -- it's de-motivating and demoralizing."

Colorado dentist Poczatek says those who support the increase in taxes misunderstand what it means for those who will end up paying more.

"I'd like these people to know that we pay a lot of taxes, and have been paying a lot of taxes through the past administration," said Pcozatek.

"We make a lot of money, it's true, but we also already pay a lot of taxes," she said.

"So maybe we got a little bit successful but we worked very hard," she said. "It's taken us over 30 years and it didn't happen overnight. Every day is a lot of work.

"We're working for it and we're still overtaxed."

Obama's Change on Iraq

President Obama spoke about the Iraq War recently. There were a few things that caught my eye because of their contrasts to the rhetoric used by the president and the president's party since 2003.

"To understand where we need to go in Iraq, it is important for the American people to understand where we now stand. Thanks in great measure to your service, the situation in Iraq has improved. Violence has been reduced substantially from the horrific sectarian killing of 2006 and 2007. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been dealt a serious blow by our troops and Iraq’s Security Forces, and through our partnership with Sunni Arabs. The capacity of Iraq’s Security Forces has improved, and Iraq’s leaders have taken steps toward political accommodation. The relative peace and strong participation in January’s provincial elections sent a powerful message to the world about how far Iraqis have come in pursuing their aspirations through a peaceful political process"

First, this sounds like something President Bush would have said - and been ridiculed for. In fact, it sounds quite similar to what General Petraeus told Congress about the surge two years ago. Statements which of course got him summarily dismissed and ridiculed.

It also stands out in stark contrast to what Candidate Obama said in February 2007,

"We now have spent $400 billion and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted."

Another point from the president's speech that stands in contrast to the last 8 years is when President Obama called General Petraeus one of "our finest Generals" - forgetting, obviously, Petraeus's real name - "General Betray Us"

Throwing a bone to all the "we want a timetable" screechers of the last eight years, the president said he came "to speak to you about how the war in Iraq will end." Which was apparently another example of his forgetfulness - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told us "This War is Lost" two years ago.

President Obama also had many nice things to say about the military in his speech,

"And so I want to be very clear: We sent our troops to Iraq to do away with Saddam Hussein’s regime – and you got the job done. We kept our troops in Iraq to help establish a sovereign government – and you got the job done. And we will leave the Iraqi people with a hard-earned opportunity to live a better life – that is your achievement; that is the prospect that you have made possible."

Which must be news to these guys; I doubt they think our soldiers achieved much in Iraq. But who can blame them, since neither did our president during his run for the White House?

The truth is, President Obama is simply following the trajectory set up and made possible by President Bush's last two years in office. There is nothing new or revelatory in this speech or in Obama's policy. The only thing strikingly new and different about it is the change in tone and tenor in the way the president - and by extension, the president's party - talks about Iraq.

After years of doom and gloom, we suddenly see the bright side.

I Wonder If We Could Get Jimmy Buffet...

Las Vegas continues to get pounded because of its image. After an initial refusal to cancel their incentive trip to Vegas, Wells Fargo finally caved to public pressure:

Wells Fargo & Co. abruptly canceled Tuesday a pricey Las Vegas casino junket for employees after a torrent of criticism that it was misusing $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money.

The company initially defended the trip after The Associated Press reported it had booked 12 nights beginning Friday at the Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore Las Vegas. But within hours, investigators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill had scorned the bank, and the company canceled.

The conference is a Wells Fargo tradition. Previous all-expense-paid trips have included helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 of the company's top employees and guests.

Utah's got to be looking better and better...

The Great Depression as Seen Through the Eyes of a Child

My grandmother sent this to me last week. I've been to Monroe where she grew up, and I've seen the house she writes of here. It truly was a different world they lived in, and what's truly remarkable to me is to think that it wasn't really that long ago.

Great Depression Through Eyes of Child

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Academic Work Fiction & Literature child depression

Obama Less Popular Than Jimmy Carter

So says Gallup.

One month in and his approval rating went from 68% to 63%. Jimmy Carter had the highest approval rating at this point, at 71%. Of course, at 55%, Reagan's approval was the lowest since Nixon, so the title of this post could just as easily been Obama More Popular Than Reagan. Which is an interesting commentary on the power of presentation.

The interesting data here though is the disapproval rating. Obama's went from 12% to 24% in a month. The average rating since Nixon is only 16%, which at first glance would seem to make Obama's quite high. However, it is actually right in line with the disapproval ratings of Bush and Clinton, there's being 21% and 29% respectively.

There's likely some commentary there about our political discourse of the last 16 years.

HT: Greg Mankiw

If Obama Cuts The Deficit in Half...

That'll get us to $533 billion, or about what we had 4 years ago.

But that won't happen until 2013, after $1 trillion deficits in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

What Happens in Vegas...

Makes people not want to go there any more,

Born of carefully crafted slogans — "What happens here stays here" — and smiling, sequined showgirls, the image of a 24-hour adult Disneyland with free-flowing liquor and casino chips is making the tourist destination seem radioactive to companies keen on not appearing frivolous as they seek government bailouts.

In the past two weeks, at least four major companies canceled meetings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — not because of costs but because of appearances.

They ought to just come to Salt Lake instead. With our "quirky", "outdated", and "unkind to tourism" liquor laws I doubt businesses would have any problems with "appearances".

School Frustration

My daughter is painfully shy. She does not like to have attention fall on her, and at times will not speak or even look at people she doesn't know or doesn't know well. Even people she does know and likes still may not get much outward attention from her.

Because of this my wife and I have struggled with what to do this fall when kindergarten starts. We are worried that a classroom full of kids and a teacher could exacerbate her problems and set her back. But we also wonder if home schooling would prevent her from coming out of her shell too.

We decided that by talking to and working with her teacher we would make a go at school. However, it would take a teacher with experience and understanding. There are four kindergarten teachers at our school, two of which we believe would be the best for our daughter. We've spoken with one of these teachers about it and she told us to mention our situation when we registered for school and we could work it out.

Monday morning my wife went to the school to register our daughter in kindergarten. She talked to a woman at the registration desk and explained our situation. The woman rolled her eyes and said she'd see what she could do. My wife again stressed the importance of getting the right teacher for our daughter, and that she had spoken to someone before who assured her it wouldn't be a problem. This woman again brushed off my wife. Trying to stress the importance of what she was asking, my wife said that if we can't get the right teacher for our daughter, then our only alternative would be to home school her. The woman then looked at my wife and said something akin to "we don't respond well to threats here."

Ma'am, there is no threat here. We are trying to make the best decision in regards to our daughter's progress and education. School could be either the best or worst thing to happen to her at this point in her short life. My son has been at this school for two years now and I have remained silent as he sat bored by 1st year teachers with little ability to organize a classroom let alone keep him interested. These teachers try hard and mean well, but they have been unable to stimulate his learning.

Meanwhile there are other teachers at this school with more experience. They are beloved by everyone lucky enough to have their children assigned to their class. I can work with my son at home to stimulate his desire to learn. But my daughter absolutely needs a teacher who will be patient with her while at the same time challenge her. These teachers exist. They even work at my school. I want one, and I won't take no for an answer.

New Study: Alcohol Can Cause Cancer

Here

Each extra drink per day increased the risk of breast, rectal and liver cancer, University of Oxford researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The type of alcohol — wine, beer or liquor — didn't matter.

This supports a another study from two years ago.

But really, who cares about a little cancer? We need the tax revenue.

AP: Obama pledges to cut deficit in half

See here.

How will he do it?

"he wants to reinstate a pay-as-you-go policy on federal spending programs, get rid of programs that do not work and end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas."

Pay-as-you-go = the bill for all of the profligate spending of the last decade, and which continues today, will come due in the form of higher taxes.

What Economists Don't Really Agree On

A few days ago I posted a link to Harvard economist Greg Mankiw's blog post listing a number of economic principles about which economists generally agree. Number 4 on that list was,

4. Fiscal policy (e.g., tax cut and/or government expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative impact on a less than fully employed economy. (90%)

What I didn't include in my post was the following from Mankiw's post:

"Note that the proposition about fiscal policy (#4) does not distinguish between taxes and spending as the best tool for purposes of macro stabilization. Maybe that question should be added in a future poll. I doubt, however, that the answer would make it onto this list of widely agreed upon propositions."

Our government isn't very good at distinguishing between taxes or spending as the best tool either. What happened during President Bush's terms was a combination of both fiscal policies. Remember, the US was already in a recession when Pres. Bush took office. That recession was exacerbated by our last "worst economic crisis in decades" brought about by 9/11. The government responded by cutting taxes, increasing tax rebates to the poor, and increasing spending like never before.

Now we have a new "worst economic crisis in decades" and our government is responding in much the same way. Huge government spending coupled with tax cuts. A strategy destined to increase our national debt like never before. Again.

To those opposed to the huge increase in government spending, many are asking where were you 8 years ago when Republicans did the same thing. First, I think it's important to point out that even Republicans don't like national Republicans right now - largely because of the spending of the last 8 years. But perhaps more educational is to say that I suppose national Republicans are now doing exactly what national Democrats did during the President Bush years. I distinctly remember our current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pledging on Meet the Press that Democrats would reinstate Pay As You Go spending habits should they retake Congress. She and her colleagues were outraged (outraged!) at the deficit spending that Republicans were doing.

The pendulum of power may have swung since then, but the economic policies, and opposing party political rhetoric, haven't really changed all that much.

SB48: Should Professionals be Teachers?

There is a bill at the Utah Legislature that would make it easier for professionals to be teachers as well. Information on the bill's status can be found here.

It's passed initial votes in the Senate so far, and has a House sponsor, but there have been some concerns expressed, most notably by Senators Ross Romero and Scott McCoy,

"This bill really is an insult to education," said Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City. "Teachers have a skill set that is unique, developed and is nurtured and trained. I think this bill expands the profession of teaching into a hobby of teaching."

"I have seen the incredible amounts of very important training and learning that goes into learning how to teach," McCoy said, saying the bill was "too cavalier."

I see this bill as a way to add value to schools by attracting talented, motivated professionals willing to teach. They still have to pass competency tests and hold a bachelor degree, but they would no longer have to take, and pay for, 1 or 2 years of classes to be teacher certified.

Is there a precedent for this? Absolutely. Many of my classes at the University of Utah were taught by adjunct professors - professionals from the community who, in addition to their regular jobs, taught courses at the U. These were upper level accounting and finance courses required for a University degree, and all taught by "non-teachers".

This bill simply does for junior and senior high schools what is already going on at our state's universities. At a time when we are faced with teacher shortages, adding this avenue to attract good teachers seems to make a lot of sense.

It's Called A Metaphor

The local ABC TV news station reported Utah State Senator Chris Buttars saying the following quotes in a not-yet-released documentary about Proposition 8:

"They're mean. They want to talk about being nice. They're the meanest buggers I have ever seen."

“It's just like the Muslims. Muslims are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side.”

The response has been predictable. But really, Senator Buttars isn't saying anything different than what Anthony Asadullah Samad wrote in the LA Progressive last December,

"the gay backlash against African Americans was vicious and vile. Oh, now we was “Ni**gers” again."

Indeed. Was there a lot of meanness on display during and after Proposition 8? Yes, there was. Does that mean the entire gay community is mean? No, it doesn't. In fact, Samad's column is an argument to not listen to the more radical voices in the gay rights movement calling for riots after the Prop 8 vote. It was a plea to not be "taken over by the radical side."

As foolish as it was - because of the predictable response - Senator Buttars' metaphor works.

The Price of Oil Drops - Price of Gasoline Rises?

Here's why, according to the AP:

The price of gas is indeed tied to oil. It's just a matter of which oil.

The benchmark for crude oil prices is West Texas Intermediate, drilled exactly where you would imagine. That's the price, set at the New York Mercantile Exchange, that you see quoted on business channels and in the morning paper.

Right now, in an unusual market trend, West Texas crude is selling for much less than inferior grades of crude from other places around the world. A severe economic downturn has left U.S. storage facilities brimming with it, sending prices for the premium crude to five-year lows.

But it is the overseas crude that goes into most of the gas made in the United States. So prices at the pump will probably keep going up no matter what happens to the benchmark price of crude oil.

What Economists Do Agree On

From Greg Mankiw:

Here is the list, together with the percentage of economists who agree:

1. A ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available. (93%)
2. Tariffs and import quotas usually reduce general economic welfare. (93%)
3. Flexible and floating exchange rates offer an effective international monetary arrangement. (90%)
4. Fiscal policy (e.g., tax cut and/or government expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative impact on a less than fully employed economy. (90%)
5. The United States should not restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries. (90%)
6. The United States should eliminate agricultural subsidies. (85%)
7. Local and state governments should eliminate subsidies to professional sports franchises. (85%)
8. If the federal budget is to be balanced, it should be done over the business cycle rather than yearly. (85%)
9. The gap between Social Security funds and expenditures will become unsustainably large within the next fifty years if current policies remain unchanged. (85%)
10. Cash payments increase the welfare of recipients to a greater degree than do transfers-in-kind of equal cash value. (84%)
11. A large federal budget deficit has an adverse effect on the economy. (83%)
12. A minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. (79%)
13. The government should restructure the welfare system along the lines of a “negative income tax.” (79%)
14. Effluent taxes and marketable pollution permits represent a better approach to pollution control than imposition of pollution ceilings. (78%)

If we could get the American public to endorse all these propositions, I am sure their leaders would quickly follow, and public policy would be much improved. That is why economics education is so important.

In Honor of My UN-Employed Sister-in-Law

And stolen from her facebook page...

Because It's Friday & This Is A Really Fun Video