Category Archives: Economics

Don't Be a Turkey: Czar

Really.  All ya’ll.  Just get out of the way and let people make decisions that reflect their best interests.  If you do that, wonderful wonderful things will happen.  All by themselves!

Like in previous years, you probably didn’t call your local supermarket ahead of time and order your Thanksgiving turkey this year. Why not? Because you automatically assumed that a turkey would be there when you showed up, and it probably was there when you showed up “unannounced” at the grocery store to select your bird.

The reason your Thanksgiving turkey was waiting for you without an advance order? Because of “spontaneous order,” “self-interest,” and the “invisible hand” of the free market – “the mysterious power that leads innumerable people, each working for his own gain, to promote ends that benefit many.” And even if your turkey appeared in your local grocery stores only because of the “selfishness” or “corporate greed” of thousands of turkey farmers, truckers, and supermarket owners who are complete strangers to you and your family, it’s still part of the miracle of the marketplace where “individually selfish decisions lead to collectively efficient outcomes.”

The entire process of raising turkeys for slaughter is timed so that a huge demand is met with a huge supply, but not TOO much of a supply.  And nobody, not even ONE body, is in charge of making it so.

The Law of Supply and Demand is Proven Again!

If we ever had any doubt, there is a new real world example of the law of supply and demand:

Raleigh, N.C. — Home sales in the Triangle area shot up 44 percent in October from a year ago, but the good news was offset by a 12 percent decline in sale prices.

As prices decrease, demand increases.  Very soon, if left to its natural devices, the housing market will be dangerously close to equilibrium.

Oh, yeah.  About that pesky decline in sale prices?  Yeah, 2000+ families have now found buying a home affordable.

New and existing property sales hit 2,009 in October, up from 1,397 a year ago, according to the North Carolina Association of Realtors.

Go capitalism!

Tap'ing Out

Wanna know why public education can’t keep up with private industry?  One word.

Unions.

It’s the teacher unions in this country that have the educational process in a strangle hold.  These organizations restrict innovation, creativity and mobility.  It becomes virtually impossible to implement any sort of meaningful change as a result.  All of which gives me great joy to see this happening in Wake County:

Wilburn Elementary is the only Wake school that offers merit pay, in which some teachers could get bonuses while others get none based on how their students and the school perform.

Finally a system that incents people act in a manner that closer resembles the goal of the organization.  We want teachers to teach better.  Therefore, we should, as closely as possible, offer more money to teachers who teach better; not just longer.

As excited as I am over the policy, I am very concerned with how the new Board of Ed is couching it; and why we need it:

“Under community-based schools, we may have more schools with higher needs,” said Debra Goldman, a newly elected school board member. “We need to figure out how we can get more resources to those schools. TAP is a way we can do that.”
It would seem that the Board is more concerned with providing cover for the sure to come “high poverty schools” than with the actual program itself.
Right idea.  Wrong reason.

You Have to Try to be This Dumb

Or, maybe, you just have to have never done it.  Check out this bit of information describing the Obama Administration:

Hat Tip The Enterprise Blog via Carpe Diem

Rookie QB, RB and WR. Wonder why we have zero points?

We are witnessing a deadly combination; A powerful government expansion into the private sector coupled with an administration that has not one single clue how to run an organization within that private sector.  The Entrepreneur in Chief himself has never held a single position that required him to run an organization of people, accomplish a goal and do it well or be fired.  Shift managers at McDonald’s have more experience running a shop than this guy.

And so it is that while I shake my head in wonder, I find myself understanding how this can continue to continue:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration, battling a foreclosure crisis that shows no signs of relenting, will step up pressure on mortgage companies to do more to help people remain in their homes, officials said Saturday.

… the goal was to increase the rate that troubled home loans were converted into new loans with lower monthly payments.

Industry officials said the new effort would include increased pressure on mortgage companies to accelerate loan modifications by highlighting firms that are lagging in that area.

So, to be clear, the government “stepped up pressure” on firms to borrow people money so that they could get into a home.  Then, when those people who couldn’t afford to buy a home actually start to demonstrate that they can’t afford to own a home, the government is going to “step up pressure” on those companies to help those people who can’t afford to be in a home stay in the home that they can’t afford to be in.

Awesome.

And why are we going to do this?

Rising foreclosures depress home prices and threaten the sustainability of the fledgling economic recovery.

Ahhh, yes.  Of course.  And so, in an effort to help fix the problem, ol’ Unc Sam is gonna step in and hold those home prices artificially high.  See, right now, there are a number of people holding onto assets [homes] at a price that isn’t sustainable.  Given their marginal risk and marginal gain, they are determining that keeping the house is not an option.  If left to normal devices, the house would foreclose and the surrounding properties would adjust their value; almost assuredly downward.  This in turn sends a signal to home BUILDERS that new homes are not needed and therefore they won’t be built.  In time, the value of existing homes will find a level at a sustainable price and people will again begin to buy homes.

But no.  Obama wants tp keep prices artificially high.  This in turns keep people in their homes sending signals to builders that we need more homes.  Further, because these value stay high a whole segment of the population is not able to realize THEIR dream of buying a home; they are priced out.  In any event, the bubble that was is now becoming the bubble that continues to be.

The best part?

Under the $75 billion Treasury program, companies that agree to lower payments for troubled borrowers collect $1,000 initially from the government for each loan, followed by $1,000 annually for up to three years.

We get to spend a TON of money that we don’t have on a government program that is going to beg, BEG, for fraud and abuse.

At this rate; Sarah Palin, heck, anyone, will be able to beat Obama in 20112.

California: Part I

I think that I’m gonna keep a running tally of the crap that’s going on in California.  It is possible, very likely, that the State is going to have to go bankrupt or beg for and receive a bailout from the Federal Government.

Part I:

California is known for its car culture. But it turns out those wheels are rolling over some of the worst roads in the nation. A recent study ranked California 49th out of the 50 states for the quality of its pavement. New Jersey came in last. But California has the distinction of having the nation’s worst roads in urban areas.

I should be happy that NPR is saying anything negative on the darling of the left.  But then again, not one single reference as to why the roads are so bad.  Not one mention as to the shrinking revenues, the mounting debt and the tendency of California to drive out both business and the wealthy.

A guy can dream?

Sadly, This is What it Takes

Perhaps not so sad after all.  One of Tzun Tzu’s admonitions is that we should never want the current circumstances to be anything other than they are.  What is; IS.  So, we should waste no gnashing of teeth on the fact that the government can’t distribute well, but that the private sector can:

Raleigh, N.C. — Walmart stores in central North Carolina will offer the H1N1 vaccine in conjunction with Mollen Immunization between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.

A total of 20 stores will be selling H1N1 shots.  What are the chances that Walmart runs out?  Or makes you stand in the cold rain to get your shot?

Conservative

I love it.  I really love that “ah-haa” moment when the light bulb clicks and someone sees what’s really happening.  When the fog dissipates and the realization of the truth occurs.  I simply LOVE that moment.

Taxes and the economy are concepts that don’t register with younger folks; never did with me.  I didn’t make enough to really PAY taxes and I had jobs that really didn’t put me in full view of the economy.  In short, I just didn’t care.

So it is refreshing to see the “care” start to sink in for some of these folks:

“Well, for one, I know nobody wants to pay taxes for anybody else to go to the doctor — I don’t,” said Kate Kuhn, 20, of Acworth, Ga. “I don’t want to pay for somebody to use my money that I could be using for myself.”

How awesome is that?  Especially enlightening is the part where young Kate mentions that she might be better served “using the for herself.”

And maybe it’s not so much that I didn’t care when I was younger, it’s that no one took time, including me, to tell me what the trade offs were.

For example, according to Pew in October, nearly 82% say they favored a ban on policies took into account pre-existing conditions.  When a separate poll explained that such a ban would result in higher premiums support for that ban went down to 43%.

Another example, mandatory coverage:  67% of those asked were in favor of all people having health insurance.  But when asked with the added detail that those who failed to obtain such coverage would face Federal penalties, support plunged to 28%.

“I think it’s crazy. I think it infringes on our rights as a citizen, forcing us to do these things,” said Eli Fuchs, 26, of Marietta, Ga.

Music.  Sweet Music!

Additional Cost of Health Care

The big knock against private insurance is that profit is immoral.  “How  can you make money off other people being sick?”  That’s all we hear from the Leftists when it comes to this plan.

The thing is, these people have no clue, ZERO, about the role that profits play.  Profits, see, are the thing that incent “better behavior.”  If you have a lemonade stand and are making stupid money, I am going to start my own lemonade stand.  And how am I going to make money or steal your customers?  I’m going to have to challenge you on price or quality.  Maybe both.

THAT’S the power of profits.  When it comes to making sure the public is getting as good a deal as possible, you have to make sure that the incentives are aligned as such.  If you want to have the lemonade drinking public better served, you can use lots and lots of tools and regulations and edicts.  Or.  Or you can allow for free market and the profit signal.

Oh, the other benefit of those who like to make profits?  They don’t like to see their money just flushed down the toilet.

WASHINGTON — The government paid more than $47 billion in questionable Medicare claims including medical treatment showing little relation to a patient’s condition, wasting taxpayer dollars at a rate nearly three times the previous year.

Excerpts of a new federal report, obtained by The Associated Press, show a dramatic increase in improper payments in the $440 billion Medicare program that has been cited by government auditors as a high risk for fraud and waste for 20 years.

For you Leftists out there; that better than 10% just in WASTE.  Insurance companies bring in about 2-3% in PROFIT.  That’s 3-5 times the difference.  Talk about waste.

When Swine Fly

Yowza!  Into day 5 of my personal experience with the Pig Flu.  Very not fun.  Very.  On the upside-I shouldn’t  need the vaccine now.  Which, it would appear, is a good thing; ’cause there ain’t none.

BARRE – Dozens of central Vermonters were turned away from an H1N1 flu vaccination clinic Saturday morning after health-care workers quickly ran through the 500 doses they had on hand.

By 8 a.m. – an hour before the clinic was supposed to begin – a queue of flu-wary residents braced against a cold and persistent November drizzle outside the Barre Auditorium. By 10:30, an hour and a half before the clinic was scheduled to end, nurses closed the doors.

And here’s the best part:

Vaccinations at Saturday’s clinic were reserved for people in “priority groups” who, by virtue of age or medical condition, are more prone to serious complications if they contract the virus, commonly known as swine flu.

Already the alternate rationing has begun.  See, normally when there is a properly functioning supply and demand market, the price of a good will rise with the demand.  This increase in price will signal to the market an unmet need, or, a better way to allocate scare resources.  New producers enter the market adding to the supply and delivering the required amount of the good to service that demand.  But when the supply and demand does not depend on price, the market does not respond.  At this point, the supply is determined by fiat.  And instead of being treated like an investment; it’s a cost.  A cost that must be minimized.  Oh, an added benefit of market exposure.  Iin order to compete, the price of the good will come down, or, barring that, undesirable features will be removed:

a queue of flu-wary residents braced against a cold and persistent November drizzle outside the Barre Auditorium.

Government Rationing

Doesn't this look like your last trip to the grocery store?

And new ones added:

I trek 25 miles from Rockville to the Fairfax store every month or so because it offers so much. First, there’s the Market Cafe for lunch, then the Wine Cellar to stock up on our favorites. Then we spend probably an hour strolling through the store, buying the best and most varied produce I’ve ever seen, meats that are packaged to last more than a day or two, and all those odd products I can’t find elsewhere. When we check out, not only is the cashier the most pleasant anywhere, but the grand total is competitive with other local stores.

or this one:

“They have ‘regular’ groceries at very competitive prices, but they also have ‘higher end’ gourmet foods. Most importantly, they have a willing, helpful and friendly staff almost too anxious to help a customer.”

Crazy free market!  Trying to profit by selling FOOD!  Everyone has a right to food!

Such utter bullshit.

Adult Talk in the World

This assessment should shake up team Obama:

BEIJING — China’s top banking regulator issued a sharp critique of U.S. financial management only hours before President Barack Obama commenced his first visit to the Asian giant, highlighting economic and trade tensions that threaten to overshadow the trip.

Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said that a weak U.S. dollar and low U.S. interest rates had led to “massive speculation” that was inflating asset bubbles around the world. It has created “unavoidable risks for the recovery of the global economy, especially emerging economies,” Liu said.

The situation is “seriously impacting global asset prices and encouraging speculation in stock and property markets.”

I LOVE getting schooled by China!

schools in session