Yearly Archives: 2010

Archive of posts published in the specified Year

Year End Thoughts from the Grand Poobah

Dec. 31, 2010

These are some year end thoughts submitted by consummate entrepreneur, doctor, inventor and the  Grand Poobah, Dr. Doug Ott.  Though not his creation they are collections from others he has accumulated over his years of reading. Looking is not the

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Year End Thoughts 2010

Dec. 31, 2010

We like to believe we are rational creatures, but we are more driven by emotion. Even in intellectual affairs we tend to make up our minds first by emotion, and only then rationalize our decisions intellectually.  I call this emotional

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Rebelyid in American Thinker 2010

Dec. 30, 2010

I had about two dozen postings in American Thinker this past year.  A few for those who may have missed them: The New Aristocracy Why Elitists Fail Finding John Galt The Price of Equality The Immorality of Class Warfare Many

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Free or Fair

Dec. 29, 2010

Walter Williams writes in Townhall.com,  Free or Fair? In order to expose the fallacies of the debate between free trade and fair trade he poses the question of how we would view our basic constitutional rights if they were written

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Rewarding Those Who Get It Wrong

Dec. 28, 2010

Global warming- I mean ‘climate change’- mongers are unfazed by record cold temperatures. They are astute at explaining how record cold temperatures do in fact prove man made global warming and carbon dioxide emissions actually support their warming hypothesis, but

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The Right Economic Mix

Dec. 27, 2010

Brian Domitrovic’s Econoclasts writes of the rise of supply side economics as proposed by Nobel prize winning economist Robert Mundell and his intellectual emissaries, most notably Arthur Laffer. The core of Mundell’s theory was that monetary policy should do only

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Focus on Ideas

Dec. 26, 2010

On the road listening to a bit of talk radio, I heard some lady substituting for Sean Hannity, leading the show with complaints about how much vacation time Obama has taken compared to other presidents. I realize it is a

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The Bed of Procrustes

Dec. 23, 2010

Procrustes was a cruel estate owner in Greek mythology who insisted that guests fit the traveler’s bed to perfection. He would cut off the legs of those who were too tall, and those who were too short were painfully stretched.

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Merry Christmas from Obamacare

Dec. 22, 2010

One of my least favorite acts as a business executive is buying health insurance for my employees. Being  a small business I am pretty close to the individual needs and preferences of the workers, and there is just no way

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We Are All Redistributionists

Dec. 20, 2010

The president ran on clear ideals of a fairer and more just society,  ultimately meaning redistribution of income. He saw the gaps between the rich and the poor widening.  He has been demonized by his opposition for being socialist, communist

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Property and Equality

Dec. 19, 2010

It is probable that we habitually overestimate the extent to which inequality of incomes is mainly caused by income derived from property, and therefore the extent to which the major inequalities would be abolished by abolishing income from property. What

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Savings are Bad for the Recovery but Good for the Economy

Dec. 18, 2010

It is the common Keynesian misconception that recessions are caused by reduced consumer spending, thus justifying greater government spending to make up the difference.  Savings becomes an evil. But savings are not the problem; it is the CHANGE in savings

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The More the State Plans…..

Dec. 14, 2010

The state should confine itself to establishing rules applying to general types of situations and should allow the individuals freedom in everything which depends on the circumstances of time and place, because only the individuals concerned in each instance can

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The Speech I Want to Hear

Dec. 13, 2010

The financial collapse and its aftermath involved decades of market distorting government incentives, short sighted reforms and laws, moral hazards created by clear and direct government guarantees such as FDIC and less than clear but the assumed backstops of Fannie

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Gold Risks

Dec. 12, 2010

With the dollar weakening, debt growing, and the global and domestic economy still sluggish there is pressure driving up the price of gold, silver and industrial commodities.  Forgive me if it just seems too obvious.  Endless ads selling gold, and

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Blocks to Long Term Thinking

Dec. 12, 2010

Congress passed financial reform in response to the recent crisis even though they have not yet fully understood what caused it.  There are still commissions working to study the crisis. There will never be complete agreement on the causes and

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The Class Warfare Dilemma

Dec. 10, 2010

Randall Hoven writes in American Thinker, Class Warriors Got What They Wished For that the Class Warriors have created a great contradiction;  they wish both for a more progressive tax system and for less income disparity or fewer wealthy. Yet

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Does Stimulus Work?

Dec. 09, 2010

The government has spent trillions to stimulate the economy. Interest rates are at a record low. Yet American businesses are sitting on top of trillions of dollars of cash, reluctant to spend any of it to grow or hire.  Does

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Beyond Demand and Supply

Dec. 05, 2010

A debate between the relative merits of a demand side and supply side stimulus is an oversimplification of the dynamics of our economy.  Is our economy more demand driven or supply driven? The answer, like so many answers to questions

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Worse than a Tax Increase

Dec. 04, 2010

Two of my favorite economics blogs are Carpe Diem and Calafia Beach Pundit. Both are rich with information and perspectives from professional and experienced economists. For months both of these writers have highlighted numerous indicators that the economy is bottoming

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