Carnival of the Capitalist -- July 18, 2005
| Welcome to the Carnival! Before we get into it, let me make the usual disclaimers and shameless plugs. First, if you submitted a blog post but don't see it below, please feel free to send it again to cotcmail -at- gmail -dot- com, and it will be considered by the next host. If your blog post is included in the links below, but I have severely and callously butchered your name or made some sort of grammatical mistake, please e-mail me at aroth at clubforgrowth dot org and I will fix the error tout suite! Second, for those of you new to the Club for Growth blog, let me first let you in on what we are all about. The Club is a non-profit group whose members support the Reagan vision of economic growth through limited government and lower taxes. We do several things at the Club, but two of them are really big. First, our PAC endorses candidates to Congress who believe in what we do - namely limited government and lower taxes. We usually support these candidates in open House seats in heavily Republican districts, sometimes where a liberal Republican (RINO) is trying to promote themselves to Congress on a horrible track record of higher taxes and more government intervention.
If you are interested in joining the Club (it's free!), you can click on the Join Now link up at the top right, or you can click here. Finally, I've tried a new table format for the Carnival. I hope it's easy on the eyes. Send me an email at the link above if you want to give me your feedback on the new layout. And, without further ado (drumroll, please), I give you the Carnival...of...the...Capitalists for July 18th, 2005. |
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| Blog: Truck & Barter | Post: America, First in the World! |
Commentary: Tino Sanandaji provides an uplifting account on why America is first in the world. First in knowledge, first in economics, and first in freedom. Beautiful post. |
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| Blog: The Skeptical Optimist | Post: Foreigners Owning US Debt |
Commentary: Now we're talking. This is a great post. Whether it's CAFTA or the CNOOC-Unocal deal, people are scared to death of foreigners meddling with American capitalism. Steve Conover's post provides a lucid explanation on why we shouldn't fear foreign investments in the U.S. Specifically, read the section that states, "When a 'foreigner' buys a US Treasury bond, that person is in effect saying..." |
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| Blog: Common Folk Using Common Sense | Post: No Government Ever Met A Tax It Didn't Like |
Commentary: Beware! Shamalama provides a good example of why a temporary tax is never temporary. Governments will never let a tax expire...that would mean saying "NO" to the chance of spending other people's money. |
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| Blog: The Prudent Investor | Post: Survey: US Workers Idle For 2 Hours/Day |
Commentary: This blog post is interesting because it provokes a million questions. If we waste away 2 hours on the job, you gotta wonder how much the French dither away with their 35 hour work week. Also, is surfing the internet on the job considered wasteful? I could make an argument that it isn't depending on the content. The last couple of sentences in this post is particularly telling. |
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| Blog: Don Surber | Post: Euronomics Failure |
Commentary: I love any post that sticks it to the French, and this one does it well. Here's a great excerpt: "France enjoys the triple crown of high unemployment, high taxes and high national debt." |
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| Blog: Social Security Choice | Post: Liberal Media Wrong Again |
Commentary: I have no shame. I'm offering this blog post that I wrote on the Club for Growth's Social Security Choice blog. You would be amazed at the spin the liberal media is putting on the Social Security debate. They literally want to smother personal accounts in the cradle. This post offers yet another example of their tactics. |
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| Blog: The Happy Capitalist | Post: The Economics of Wages |
Commentary: I don't know why the minimum wage still has its supporters. A simple supply and demand chart explains it all. This post provides a good example as well. |
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| Blog: Different River | Post: The Economics of Terrorism |
Commentary: This post delves into something most people refuse to listen to or understand. What are the motives of terrorists and are our foreign policies fostering or removing the incentives for their terrorism? Quality post. |
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| Blog: Coyote Blog | Post: Why Aren't We Seeing Long Gas Lines? |
Commentary: Warren Meyer asks and then answers the question of why we aren't seeing long gas lines like we did in the 1970s when the price of oil was skyrocketing. This is a good lesson in supply, demand, price controls, and regulation. |
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| Blog: EconLog | Post: Capitalism: You Look Marvelous |
Commentary: An online liberal magazine's theory is that "Advertising is designed by the greedy corporations to brainwash us into accepting their rule." Bryan Caplan rebuts with "Any decent economist can point out the hole in this theory." And he does it effectively. |
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| Blog: Mover Mike | Post: Discounting Deflation |
Commentary: Mike shows, "How to determine retail price in a deflationary economy and the dangers of deflation to a business." |
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| Blog: Morgan Spurlock Watch | Post: 400,000 |
Commentary: This new blog by Radley Balko goes after Morgan Spurlock, the Michael-Moore-wannabe director of "Super Size Me". In this post, Balko destroys the stat that Spurlock uses over and over to justify his intense hatred of fast food companies. Click on this post if only to see than funny image in the upper lefthand corner. I dare you not to laugh. |
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| Blog: Chocolate and Gold Coins | Post: The Economics of Obesity |
Commentary: This is a well-rounded (da-dun-da, crash!) blog post about our culinary incentives. Michael Higgins provides an interesting though experiment: "Imagine if the food you ate were priced at ten cents per calorie, but you are given 200 dollars to spend on food or anything else per day." |
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| Blog: Environmental Economics | Post: A Simple Benefit-Cost Analysis |
Commentary: What are the costs and benefits associated with building a coal-fired power plant in an economically depressed area? More importantly, should we protect the environment at all costs? Should we follow the NIMBY's offspring, BANANA? Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. Of course, not. This analysis merely seeks to quantify an analysis that environmentalists don't even consider. |
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| Blog: Tax Foundation Blog | Post: States And The Estate Tax |
Commentary: As the Senate plans to vote on the repeal of the federal estate tax later this month, several states have decoupled their own death tax from the federal version. Curtis provides a state-by-state listing. Is your state one of them? |
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| Blog: Kole Hard Facts of Life | Post: Estate Taxes = Bad Policy |
Commentary: Mike laments about the "bone-headed" death tax laws in his home county in Indiana. |
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| Blog: The American Mind | Post: Ending Farm Subsidies |
Commentary: How quickly we forget. Republicans pass the Freedom to Farm Act as part of the 1994 revolution and then they undo it in 2002 with the Farm Security Act. Notice the difference between these two acts? Freedom and Security. Reminds me of the Benjamin Franklin quote, "One who gives up liberty for security, soon finds he has neither." |
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| Blog: The Entrepreneurial Mind | Post: Entrepreneurship in the East |
Commentary: Jeff Cornwall smacks down the idea that governments can improve the entrepreneurial atmosphere in their countries by implementing more and more interventionist policies. This is a solid post. |
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| Blog: No Speed Bumps | Post: Terrorism & The Welfare State |
Commentary: Dan Morgan provides some interesting insight on why our slow crawl towards a welfare state is more troublesome than our war on terrorism. |
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| Blog: Gongol.com | Post: Why Virtuous Politicians Usually Have To Be Irrational |
Commentary: The title says it all. Politicians are motivated by the same incentives that all of us have. Namely, that their actions are dictated by self-interest. |
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| Blog: Wizbang! | Post: This Is What Poverty Looks Like |
Commentary: Mary Katharine Ham provides a very telling verbal exchange between a woman who is trying to promote freedom and democracy in Kenya and two dunderheads whose ignorance in trade fosters the anti-globalization mentality. |
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| Blog: Cafe Hayek | Post: Chavez and Other Beasts |
Commentary: Don Boudreaux makes a great analogy when he compares dictators like Chavez and Castro to little kids who bully their classmates on the playground. |
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| Blog: Interested-Participant | Post: Saudi Woman Gets Commercial Pilot's License |
Commentary: Recently, it was announced that a Saudi Arabian woman, Hanadi Zakariya Hindi, 24, had earned a commercial airline pilot's license. One critic in this "women are beneath us" country said that it was "un-Islamic" to allow her to obtain the license. |
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| Blog: Bad Example | Post: What Africa Really Needs |
Commentary: Writing off foreign debt to Africa, along with providing more aid is not the way to increase wealth on this struggling continent. |
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| Blog: Gateway Pundit | Post: The Pro-American Danish |
Commentary: Those Danes. I always liked them, especially Helena Christensen. In this post, Gateway shows us a nice demonstration of pro-American Danes. |
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| Blog: KimSnider.com | Post: The Stairway to Financial Heaven |
Commentary: I like the opening sentence to this blog post. "Investing is a constant battle between your rational brain and your lizard brain." |
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| Blog: All Things Financial | Post: Questions to Ask Your Broker |
Commentary: I liked this post because it helps teach a person to question the motives of stock brokers. Coming from the industry myself, I'm convinced that over 90% of all brokers are not worthy of one's business, so you must choose carefully when you are looking for investment advice. An additional question I think one should ask of a stock broker is to ask them what the Rule of 72 is. If they don't know it, don't give them your business. |
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| Blog: Fund Universe | Post: Growth Stocks Defined |
Commentary: The post title says it all. What is a growth stock and what are the advantages and disadvantages of owning one? |
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| Blog: Free Money Finance | Post: An "Expert" Debunked |
Commentary: This post examines the track record of stock "expert", Jim Cramer. This is worth reading if you are a regular viewer of CNBC and, no doubt, are subject to Cramer's thoughts on investing. |
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| Blog: Lip-Sticking | Post: 5 Ways 800-CEO Read is Female-Friendly |
Commentary: Jane explains some good design elements in a popular book website -- elements that you can use to enhance your website to attract the largest economic demographic online today: women. |
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| Blog: BizTactics.com | Post: Travel & Tourism Marketing |
Commentary: Ankesh Kothari asks, "What does a Chicago travel and tourism company do to stand out of the pack and be noticed?" |
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| Blog: Drakeview | Post: Faith in Branding |
Commentary: Charles Lesser, CFO of True Religion, provides lessons about building a brand, reverse mergers and learning from experience. |
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| Blog: Mob Happy | Post: "PR People Are Morons" says Russell Beattie |
Commentary: Russell Buckley provides some tips on what PR people shouldn't do if they are trying to get his attention about their products on his blog. |
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| Blog: Mad Anthony | Post: Brand X Isn't The Anti-Kelo |
Commentary: A look on why the decision in the Brand X Internet case isn't as clear a case of defending private property rights as some have cast it as. |
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| Blog: Photon Courier | Post: The Eminent Domain Decision |
Commentary: David Foster rounds up the Kelo Decision. Here's a money quote - "The coverage of this issue by the mainstream media has not, for the most part, been very astute." |
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| Blog: Political Calculations | Post: Thinking About Starting a Business? |
Commentary: This is a nice outline of how to start a business...if you're crazy enough to try. |
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| Blog: IdeoLogicLLC.com | Post: Add a Business Blog to Your Website |
Commentary: Harish Keshwani asks, "How about hiring a Blog Outsourcing company to add a Business Blog to your website?" |
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| Blog: Random Thoughts from a CTO | Post: The Invisible Box |
Commentary: This post provides ways to better manage your time considering several constraints like time, skills, a budget, etc. |
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| Blog: Blog Business World | Post: Seek The Facts |
Commentary: When examining your own business, remove your emotions from the process. Be honest about the strengths and weaknesses. Understand the fundamentals of accounting and seek the truth. |
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| Blog: Selling to Small Business | Post: Customers Say They Get No Respect Online |
Commentary: The country's largest companies are lazy about responding to customers online. Shape up or pay the price. |
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| Blog: Business Pundit | Post: Can The Business Blogosphere Build and Run a Real Business? |
Commentary: Robert May proposes an interesting idea -- Creating a business using a democratic process through the blogosphere. |
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Posted at Andrew Roth at 8:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
