World War 2, Fiscal Austerity, and Economic Growth
I was wrong last night. I was attempting to argue a point about stimulus spending and whether or not government spending actually helped an economic recovery. To offer some support for my position, I tried to relay from memory a point that David Henderson made over at EconLog. To wit, Keynesian economists predicted that the end of government spending after World War 2 would precipitate a massive rise in unemployment and a return of recession.
Education Before Public Schools
Did you know that before British and U.S. governments created public schools, parents still placed a high value on education? That children got a better education each passing year? That schools were cheaper? That 95% of teenagers were literate? That teenagers were more literate without public schools than they are now, with them? Truth.
I recently …
What Color Were Dinosaurs?
This is just incredibly cool.
Dr. Prum and his colleagues took advantage of the fact that feathers contain pigment-loaded sacs called melanosomes. In 2009, they demonstrated that melanosomes survived for millions of years in fossil bird feathers. The shape and arrangement of melanosomes help produce the color of feathers, so the scientists were able …
Estimating health care reform costs
Jon R. Gabel writes in the New York Times today, saying that we shouldn’t fear the cost of health care reform because the CBO has a long history of underestimating the savings from reforms.
In the early 1980s, Congress changed the way Medicare paid hospitals so that payments would no longer be based on …
Happy 233rd Birthday America
Happy Birthday America. Let’s remember how it all began.
And here’s the best dramatic reading I’ve seen, of the entire Declaration of Independence.
President Obama Ignores Physician Assistants
Earlier today, the American Academy of Physician Assistants issued an urgent Action Alert:
In a speech before the American Medical Association today, President Obama once again restated his commitment to building America’s primary care workforce of ”physicians and nurse practitioners” – omitting PAs from the discussion.
Please contact President Obama today. …
About Those Middle Class Tax Cuts…
The Wall Street Journal recently provided a history lesson about a Democrat President and his promises of tax cuts:
Mr. McCain could do worse than remind the middle class what happened to them the last time a charismatic Democratic candidate promised them a tax cut. While he’s at it, he might also remind them …
FDR: Responsible for the Great Depression
Recently, UCLA confirmed my belief that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of America’s worst Presidents. He not only did more than any other politician to create interst group politics, he not only centralized and increased government power to an unprecedented degree, but he prolonged the Great Depression by at least 7 years. That was the …
Quoted for truth
One of The Economist’s recent blog entries reminds me of why I like the magazine as much as I do, notwithstanding its faults. Can you see any mainstream American newspaper making this comparison?
”IMAGINE Nazi rule in Germany surviving for decades, with Hitler undefeated in war and succeeded on his death in the …
No roasting these
If you haven’t heard yet, the horse-chestnut tree that gave famous Jewish refugee Anne Frank so much comfort in the early 1940’s has been condemned by the city. And I don’t mean ”condemned” in the sense that the U.N. ”condemns” things; I mean it’s going to be ripped out of the ground. The …