SOME ECONOMICS AGAIN

The excellent Arnold Kling takles a look at a whiny Leftist article in "The Washington Post" which claims that it is now harder for Americans to stay in the middle-earning income range than it once was. The article is right -- but not for the reason it implies. There are fewer middle-income people now because the number of people in the upper income brackets (adjusted for inflation) has roughly doubled in the last 35 years! The only "problem" is that more people are getting rich. I guess Leftists would see that as a big problem!

Jobs and snow jobs: "Our current unemployment rate -- 5.4 percent -- is one of the lowest in the world and one of the lowest in our own history. Why then the hysteria about jobs? Because this is an election year and Senator Kerry is desperate for some issue that will rescue his faltering campaign. According to the Kerry campaign, President Bush has "lost" over a million jobs since taking office. This of course assumes that jobs are Presidents' to win or lose..... Few things have been more grossly distorted than tax cuts. Liberals in politics and the media seem to think that what matters is what happens to the money. In reality, what matters is how the cut in tax rates affects people's behavior. Time and again, lower tax rates have led to higher tax revenues. That is because lower tax rates make it profitable to take money out of tax shelters like municipal bonds and put it into something that is more productive, now that taxes are no longer taking such a big bite. When more money is invested in more productive economic activities, more output results -- and more jobs are created while generating that increased output. That is the whole point.... Jobs hysteria is only the latest in a series of evasions and distractions"

Sarcasm alert! Unions versus wages: "Somehow, over the last 50 years, while unions have become a less important force in the labor market, workers have managed to raise their wages and do better. This is one of the great mysteries of life. How can it be possible? It is not unrelated to the question as to how workers manage to earn so much more than the minimum wage. What protects workers from greedy employers? The simple answer is that there's more than one place we can work. Without unions, without minimum wages, workers thrive because of the competition of employers for our skills"

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ELSEWHERE

Dennis Prager: "Second, whereas they cannot change God's laws, those on the Left can and do make many of society's laws. In fact, the Left is intoxicated with law-making. It gives them the power to mold society just as Judeo-Christian values did in the past. Unless one understands that leftist ideals function as a religion, one cannot understand the Left. Laws are the Left's vehicles to earthly salvation. Virtually all human problems have a legal solution.... In fact, since it lacks the self-control apparatus that is a major part of religion, the Left passes more and more laws to control people. That is why there is a direct link between the decline in Judeo-Christian religion and the increase in governmental laws controlling human behavior. Of course, the more laws that are passed, the less liberty society enjoys. But to the Left, which elevates any number of values above liberty -- e.g., compassion, equality, fairness -- this presents little problem. All this helps to explain the Left's preoccupation with controlling courts; passing laws; producing, enriching and empowering lawyers; filing lawsuits; and naming judges. Laws and the makers of laws will produce heaven on earth".

Profound Leftist irrationality: "Homosexuals face terrible persecution under the Palestinian Authority and yet, there are actually groups like "Queers for Palestine" that go to anti-Israel demonstrations to shout slogans in support of Palestinians and then they get roughed up and shouted down by the Muslims at the demonstration. There is something very mind-boggling here, and it is connected to the radical feminist who shows up almost nude at an anti-war demonstration taking the side of militant Islam, when the fact is that if she even showed her face under some of the regimes she supports she would be mutilated or raped or killed or burned alive." It looks like their burning hatred of their own society blinds them to all else.

The Nobel Peace and Literature prizes are so notoriously political that it is a wonder they get any respect at all these days. This story is one instance of how biased in favour of the Left they are. Even the economics prize is far from impartial. Apparently Hayek's Nobel in 1977 was another political fix. Hayek certainly deserved one but his co-winner was Gunnar Myrdal, whose merit was much more dubious. The terms of the Nobel prize in economics (actually the Bank of Sweden award for economics) prevented a Swede from getting the award until 7 years had passed from the time of initiation of the economics prize. Myrdal, a socialist, was a board member of the Bank of Sweden and in order to balance the ticket they gave Hayek the prize in a shared win. Myrdal was surprised he had to share with anyone. Hayek was surprised he got one at all.

Cut the military bureaucracy: "With commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, no one disputes that the Army has a lot on its plate. But the consensus collapses when it comes to easing the military's charge. The disagreement has turned political -- John Kerry says the Army needs two more divisions, while President Bush argues such an expansion would be unnecessary. To meet its commitments, the Army has had to delay soldiers' retirement from the service and has temporarily expanded its ranks by 33,000 men. But when it comes to more permanent solutions, the Defense Department and some military experts say that much can be accomplished by improving efficiencies within the service."

NYT perpetuates a myth: "In your Sept. 13 edition, a "New York Times" analysis of President Bush's and John Kerry's respective approaches to dealing with the war in Iraq contained this error: "Richard M. Nixon declared in 1968 that he had a 'secret plan.'". I not only worked on the 1968 campaign as a full-time researcher but also collaborated as a writer/ researcher with Mr. Nixon on his memoirs. From its beginning in 1968, we have tried to correct the "secret plan" myth"

Michael Totten thinks that Israel has just about won its war against terrorists and says America will win in Iraq too if it sticks with it. Jewish World Review has an article saying that the Intifada is just about over too.

There is a new site up called Modern liberalism which uses graphics to give an explanation of what modern liberalism is.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH and SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftists is perfectly shown by the Kerry campaign. They have put up a man whose policies seem to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though they have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and big egos who will say anything to win applause

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