Mad Statists

eEconomics Episode 10: Austerity

"David examines austerity and its effects on austerity and austerity austerity. Also, austerity is discussed briefly. A note on Reinhart-Rogoff: Who cares? The idea of fiscal responsibility wasn't created in a Harvard classroom three years ago. (a) we don't have austerity (b) two people messing up a spreadsheet doesn't somehow negate the laws of economics. Also, we've actually had deficit spending/stimulus. That's what demonstrably didn't work. But now that's seen as the solution once again because of a spreadsheet advocating a policy we don't follow? It's too insane to really think about." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingeEconomics Episode 10: Austerity

Suspension over gun-shaped toaster pastry is now permanent mark on kid’s record

"This week brought more bad news for Joshua Welch, the Baltimore-area second-grader who was suspended for two days because his teacher thought he shaped a breakfast pastry into something resembling a gun. School officials have denied an appeal to have the suspension expunged from the boy’s permanent record. Welch, who is now eight, was suspended from Park Elementary School for two days in March after he allegedly sculpted the pastry into something that maybe looked like a gun. At the time, Welch said that his goal was to turn the prefabricated delicacy into a mountain, but that didn’t really materialize." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSuspension over gun-shaped toaster pastry is now permanent mark on kid’s record

Walmart may cancel three planned D.C. stores over ‘livable wage’ act

"The District will have three fewer Walmart stores if the city's liveable wage act passes on Wednesday. The number has been cut from six to three, due to the District’s own doing. Councilwoman Yvette Alexander oversees Ward 7, where two of the three proposed Walmarts may no longer be built. Legislation that is supposed to pass on Wednesday requires big box stores like Walmart to start employee salaries at $12.50 – well above the District’s $8.25 minimum wage. Unfortunately, pulling the plug on these locations allegedly means pulling the plug on approximately 900 jobs as well." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWalmart may cancel three planned D.C. stores over ‘livable wage’ act

Bitcoins Soar In Value In Argentina Due To Capital Control Laws

"With the Peso undergoing yet another period of severe inflation at a rate of 20%, and now President Kirchner’s attempt to lure citizens back into the banking system over which they have absolutely no trust, by attempting to repatriate the US dollars held overseas or in hidden accounts by citizens in exchange for the domestic Cedin, the demand for Bitcoins has rocketed. Compared to Argentina’s much more freedom-orientated neighbor Uruguay, values of Bitcoins in Buenos Aires are between 30% and 40% higher than just 75 kilometers away in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay according to Argentinian Bitcoin expert Mauro Betschart." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoins Soar In Value In Argentina Due To Capital Control Laws

Violence Rages in Baltimore Despite Governor O’Malley’s New Gun Control Laws

"It is important to note that before O'Malley signed new gun control laws in May, Maryland already had some of the strictest gun laws in the country and also some of the worst violence in its big cities. Baltimore was bad and now, it's getting worse. New laws require that anyone who wants to buy a firearm must be finger printed. Maryland turned law abiding citizens who simply want to exercise their Second Amendment rights, into crime suspects before they had done anything wrong. But guess what? That didn't work to reduce crime, either." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingViolence Rages in Baltimore Despite Governor O’Malley’s New Gun Control Laws

Obama (Scut Farkus), Europe (Grover Dill), and Snowden (Ralphie)

"It is obvious that nobody in the highest levels of government thought through the implications of the bonehead decision of the advisor who decided that the government was going to get Edward Snowden off that plane. It never occurred to him that Snowden was not on the plane. It never occurred to him that toadies in Western Europe would resent the fact that they were exposed as toadies. Finally, he never figured out that this would enable two near-communists and the anti-American President of the number-four oil-exporting nation to the United States the opportunity to offer asylum to Snowden, when they had not had the courage to do this prior." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama (Scut Farkus), Europe (Grover Dill), and Snowden (Ralphie)

Dollars Vanish as Tourists Grab Argentine Bondholder Cash

"Argentina’s supply of dollars it needs to pay bondholders is dwindling at the fastest pace since the depths of the nation’s economic crisis 11 years ago. Since Fernandez banned buying dollars for everything but travel since July, the nation has posted a deficit from tourism revenue of $223 million this year through April, a 10-fold increase from a year ago, as more Argentines went abroad to buy dollars at a cheaper exchange rateand the nation attracted fewer visitors. On the black market, a dollar costs 8.05 pesos compared with the so-called 'tourist dollar,' which is the official rate plus a 20 percent tax on credit cards, or about 6.44 per dollar." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDollars Vanish as Tourists Grab Argentine Bondholder Cash

Keynesians Use Thomas Edison’s Advice For Destruction

"Thomas Edison is known to have said the following: 'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.' Unfortunately, instead of Keynesians admitting defeat (like they should have at least 40 years ago) they're gonna go all Thomas Edison on us. This 'experiment' turns out to be nothing new at all, but the same old same old. So welcome Japanese citizens to the world of being a lab rat. We Americans have been poked and prodded ourselves for many years, and appreciate your company. Failed ideas die hard (e.g. Marx's ideas died hard). Unfortunately, the mad scientist Keynesians will refuse to give up until economic law forces them." Continue reading →

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Greek Stocks Fall After Failed Gas Company Sale

"Greek stocks fell sharply after the country failed to attract a single bid for Depa, a natural-gas company it is selling, a significant setback to its effort to raise billions of euros from the sale of state assets this year. A failure by Greece to meet its privatization targets would limit Athens's ability to meet its debt targets and could require the government to take additional austerity measures that would hurt the economy. Greece's bailout agreement requires the government to use additional spending cuts to cover 50% of any shortfall in raising funds via privatizations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreek Stocks Fall After Failed Gas Company Sale

Mission Accomplished: China Gets Half of Iraq’s Oil.

"You may remember the promise of the neocons in 2003: America’s war with Iraq would be paid for by Iraqi oil. Besides, the war would cost only $50 billion — $60 billion, tops. The war cost $2.2 trillion — $3 trillion, tops — and the oil is being gobbled up by China. The story of how China is buying almost half of Iraq’s oil has not gotten much attention. It does not seem to be consistent with President Bush’s war aims. But that’s how the fortune cookie crumbles. The war cost the Chinese government nothing. It is now using its newly printed counterfeit money to buy the oil that it could not legally buy under the Clinton Administration’s oil export restrictions on Iraq." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMission Accomplished: China Gets Half of Iraq’s Oil.