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Going Cross-Eyed Thinking About TARP

I started thinking about this last night and had to reboot my mind. After writing this post, I realized that I had left out a huge consideration: risk. Even if the government ends up making an accounting profit on the Capital Purchase Program component of TARP, that doesn’t really prove that it was a good […]

Has the Government Made Money on TARP?

One of the ideas (btw I refuse on principle to ever use the word “meme”) bouncing around the geeconosphere is that the government has made money on TARP. For example, Brad DeLong says his prediction on this looks to be coming true (though in fairness he has not yet claimed victory), and I know I’ve […]

More Free Market Evangelism From Larry Kudlow

Long-time readers know that Larry Kudlow is not on my A-team for free market economics. (It pains me that this is so; I seriously used to love him when he worked for Bear Stearns and I was just getting into this stuff, reading Walter Williams and such.) I went ballistic over his flip-flopping endorsement of […]

Are We All Utilitarians Now?

Besides my disagreement with their conclusions, there is something similar in Tyler Cowen’s recent defense of the Paulson Plan, and Roger Koppl’s defense of Ted Kennedy. Both eschew arguments from natural rights or principles, and justify particular instances of the growth of the federal government by speculating on its possible net benefits. As I say, […]

Reflections on the San Fran Mises Circle

Over the weekend I was in San Fransisco for a Mises Circle. (Next stop: Seattle.) We had a surprisingly large crowd of around 175 (not an exact count), in an area that you would think would be slim pickings. A special surprise was that Edward Gonzalez showed up. I also met “Lilburne” (his secret identity […]

The Downside of Talk Radio

In a previous post, I praised Glenn Beck for getting the word out about what’s going on regarding the open praise for communism by members of the federal government. On the other hand, let me relate a particularly ridiculous statement by Mark Davis–today’s guest-host for Rush Limbaugh–that shows talk radio is only afraid of Democratic […]

Rep. Diane Watson (D-Ca) Praises Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Cuban Revolution That "Kicked Out the Wealthy"

Despite his flaws, Glenn Beck is doing a great job alerting Americans to the Marxist takeover of the federal government. You say, “Give me a break, Bob, just because someone wants everyone to have access to health care, doesn’t make him a communist.” That’s true, but look at how many people in the federal government […]

Subjective Value Pricing Theory in the NBA

Based on this favorable review (and funny anecdote) by Robert Wenzel, I got David Falk’s The Bald Truth a few months ago. It makes for great bathroom reading. Falk is a sports agent, whose most famous client was Michael Jordan. (Jordan’s ghostwriter did the foreword for the book.) This book is good because it shows […]