NEW BLOG

To anyone who still comes to this blog: Appstate YAL has a new blog at bravenewresistance.blogspot.com.

Fear the Boom and Bust - Hayek v Keynes Rap Anthem

"Your so-called stimulus will make things worse,
Just more of the same, more incentives perversed"

This was written in part by Russ Roberts, the host of EconTalk, that blog I am always mentioning.

I love the gunshots throughout the song. lol

You owe it to yourself to watch this video.

Return to the blog?

I have internet every now and then... because I don't pay for it... fuck the man. Anybody want to start writing on this again with me? I don't have anybody here in knoxville with who I can discuss these important issues, so I'd love to write on here again. I looked and my last post was from like the end of 2008... shit man. Anyway, holler at me if you're down.

Shawtay

Anybody who hasn't seen these yet is missing out. Apparently one of the guys is an appstate alum too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDOYN-6gdRE&feature=video_response

But really...

... cool website
Free University in Internet
Cool blog.

Found my login

Everyone who wants to play fantasy English Premier League Soccer can join my newly formed league. To join just go to espn.com, find the soccer section, click the fantasy tab, create a team, and then click the "league" tab and then in the join league section type in "Raffies and co" and just join. and get beat. aye.

Blam!!

What a cool podcast on "price gouging" in the event of natural disasters. Just another one of those things you may not have looked at objectively and in a broad sense. The concept is that when you limit the prices a vendor can charge for an item, the end result is that the product is not even offered at market because essentially the incentive to bring the product to market is obliterated. So the price is infinity instead of whatever "gouging price" the vendor tried to charge. Also, the gougers won't charge any amount that people can't pay, because they'd be wasting their time and money investment in the venture. So over the course of the sales, the price will end up representing the perceived value of the good by the people that really need it. In the example discussed, so-called price gouging even takes care of making sure the ice (typically) makes it to those to whom it matters most. A person who was in line to buy the ice to keep their beer cold will not be willing to pay say $12 a bag of ice while a person trying to keep insulin cold will, so on average, the insulin person will get it, and will be happy paying $12, maybe even $50 and will feel like they got a deal.
Damn, economics is fun. (I think)

Hope everyone is enjoying summer.

Need any starts? I will probably have extra zucchini, beans, sugar snap peas, maybe spinach and lettuce, and some dill.
Let me know and get a pot and some dirt, I'll hook you up when they are ready.
Peace, y'all.

And they said Zeitgeist was just another conspiracy theory...

Time for 'new world order': Brazilian President

Time for 'new world order': Brazilian President

Jun 17 11:45 AM US/Eastern The global financial crisis has reduced the differences between nations and created the opportunity to form a new world order, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday. Speaking after a meeting with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Kazakh capital Astana, Lula called on the global community to seize on the crisis to create a fairer world for developing nations. "I want to say that before the crisis, there were many countries which had greater significance than others, and some countries which had no significance at all," he said through a translator. "After the crisis, everyone has become similar. We have the possibility to create a new world order and together we should improve our relations." Lula arrived in Kazakhstan Wednesday following the first-ever summit between fellow developing economic powerhouses Russia, India and China -- together with Brazil dubbed the BRIC nations -- in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Nazarbayev, head of Central Asia's largest economy, is keen to secure a larger role for his government in world affairs. Following up on Lula's call, the pair said in a statement following their meeting that the United Nations should open up the UN Security Council to developing nations in an effort to bolster global security. They said that opening the organisation, which only has five permanent members, to wider membership was the only way to make the often-criticised body "more legitimate and effective." breitbart.com

Libertarian Classic: The Incredible Bread Machine

Thanks, congress. Obama can say anything he wants to woo the people, don't matta. And while we roll back our environmental commitment, China launches their Green Energy Revolution. Nice. Also the headline is yet another example of Raw Story crap. I like their converage, but the editing sucks.

Just the guy for the job. Read the comments, too. They're usually interesting to read, if not educational.

In case you're wondering, the US trade deficit continues to widen.

AND FOR THE GOOD NEWS!!!!
Rhode Island backs medical marijuana retailers. About damn time. Another example of garbage legislation. It is obvious at this point to any right-thinking individual that actually knows what they're talking about that mj should be legalized. Period.

Oh oh oh, I just noticed. Lots of interesting stuff today on RS. Peter Schiff considering senate run He's on the daily show, and manages to keep Stewart from throwing him off with the constant joking. (not that that is ever Stewart's intention)

Later

Who just types random stuff in search bars? (esp. when they're drunk) I mean, come on.

So I was typing in search topics in Google Trends, which by the way is a really cool tool/game, and came upon an interesting one.

I personally thought this was funny. And I like the spike towards the end of '05. What could have caused that? Any ideas?
(It doesn't come up with anything if you use the punctuation.)

They need to actually show some numbers on those graphs. A lot less interesting this way, but it's still amazing that you can access this type of info.

Cash for Clunkers, bad idea!

Cash for clunkers
We are freakin' incentivizing unnecessary consumption and putting people into MORE DEBT! That is the problem here!

Obama meets up with financial leaders, surprise.
We are here again distracting from the real issue, which is a fundamentally flawed economy. I posted on RawStory in the comments, saying,"
The article quotes the president talking about building "green jobs" and new forms of energy. Do these two things, as important as they are, (I am a sustainability expert after all) have the impact on the economy as a whole to make the changes we need to make in our money system? If this is so, prove it, please. Because I argue that no, it doesn't. I grant that we need to work HARD for environmental sustainability if we want a rosy future for the world as a whole, but unless a sustainable economic system is not the foundation for it, it will not be enough.

Why did Obama's meeting concentrate mostly on energy policy in a meeting with his top financial advisors? Weren't they supposed to be talking about the broader economic problem? Seems like a little publicity stunt trying to get people behind a New Deal-like big gov't "solution" that will "end our problems once and for all." It is a distraction from the real problem at hand, which our government is perfectly happy to gloss over, because it is to their political benefit to perpetuate the problem, which I think they sometimes don't even really understand. If BO really saw the folly in this spending spree, would he really be doing it? Yea yea, we all know, a politician has gotta spend money on "helping people," "helping the country" if they want to get reelected, which is to their benefit because it keeps their job stable and gives them the opportunity to throw bones to their contributors and possible future employers.
And this idea of America leading into the new green economy is silliness. I agree that we should lead by example in this regard, but again, can we export renewable energy installation? Can we export our infrastructure that is always talked about? Nope.
And isn't the problem today that we have a massive trade deficit that is leading us over a cliff on our mountain of debt? Yes, at its root, that is the case. The more the gov't must borrow to finance the renewable energy or other green jobs sector, the more they exacerbate the real problem this country faces, which is that it doesn't contribute anything of value to the world economy anymore, and must borrow borrow borrow and spend spend spend to maintain the standard of living we so enjoy today. It's fake. This is not partisan politics, it is straight up common sense mixed with a good understanding of reality. And sadly, these unflinching supporters of Obama are behind him again and fervently avoid educated, logical, and relevant discourse.

SuperFed!

Just another piece ofevidence that the US gov't is not listening to it's people. We say "audit the Fed!" they say "empower the Fed!" Who wins?

Theory of Moral Sentiments on EconTalk

I've mentioned EconTalk in the past as being a really good podcast available for free discussing various topics in economics and beyond. I listen to several a week, and always hear things that are very interesting. The guests and the host are smart, insightful, and I feel like I learn a lot listening to these folks. And they are typically proponents of a realfree market, to boot.
Right now, the host and a common guest are doing a reading of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, a lesser known work by the author of Wealth of Nations. (The book itself is available on the linked site, too, if you want to read along.)

I listened to this first installment, linked to above, more than 2 times. There is a lot to get, and I found this concept of the different sources or dimensions of moral approval to be worth consideration. It's interesting to think about the different people or groups that tend to focus more on one source than another, and how these things tie into larger economic/political ideas. They actually give a disclaimer in the beginning, saying that they're going to be giving this mostly unpolitical book a political reading, which you should bear in mind when listening. I think it's a very legitimate lens to look at the concepts with, though. I am about to turn on part II right now and clean my apartment. You guys should check it out. I know, not everyone wants to sit around and listen to economics lectures when they have free time, haha
I'd like to continue dialog here about this if anyone else finds those discussions interesting.

Nassim Taleb: His website links to a lot of his writings, speeches, etc. Check it out

Keep it real.

This is bound to go viral...

People in North Carolina need to read the story here

Dr. Jeffrey Engel said Monday evening that officials are involuntarily isolating patients who may have the virus. He declined to specifically say how many suspected cases were in the state, noting that the number is always changing, and he declined to say where they were located.

read the story here