One of the highlights of teaching at several IHS seminars over the past decade has been the fantastic teaching offered by other faculty members. One of my favorites is philosopher Aeon Skoble of Bridgewater State. In this video he takes on the smoking bans that have become commonplace around the country.
Senior sources said that the first official figures indicated that there had been “manoeuvring” by well-off Britons to avoid the new higher rate. The figures will add to pressure on the Coalition to drop the levy amid fears it is forcing entrepreneurs to relocate abroad.
The self-assessment returns from January, when most income tax is paid by the better-off, have been eagerly awaited by the Treasury and government ministers as they provide the first evidence of the success, or failure, of the 50p rate. It is the first year following the introduction of the 50 [percent] rate which had been expected to boost tax revenues from self-assessment by more than £1billion.
Source
From Gizmodo:
Medical advances mean that many us aren't just made up of bone and flesh these days: artificial knees, titanium plates and pacemakers make their way into human bodies across the world every day. But what happens to them when their owners are cremated?
A report by the BBC offers some reassuring news. Fortunately, all the metal doesn't go to waste. In fact, there's a booming business in recycling the implants that get left behind when corpses make their way into the incinerator.
Many thanks to P.J. for regaling our students with tales of the not so wild, wild west. Anyone who has not read the book should put it at the top of the to-be-read pile.
Part of the abstract of a Journal of Economic Perspectives article by Maury Gittleman and Brooks Pierce on public employee compensation:
Looks like Bob's favorite Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has a bit of difficulty paying his property taxes on time. Maybe he's just auditioning for a future job as Treasury Secretary. Or maybe, as he contends, it's just an oversight. (I wonder if posting this will get me a call from him too!)
From the inbox:
As part of Milton Friedman's Century, Free To Choose Network has kicked off the “What Milton Means to Me” video contest! The contest is open to all ages and offers a chance for you to tell the world what, exactly, Milton Friedman means in your life. Whether it's a personal encounter you had with him or a change in perspective caused by reading or viewing his works, Friedman has impacted the lives of so many around the world and we'd like you to tell your story. Write poem, compose a rap, create a Milton Friedman flashmob or come up with something we're not even smart enough to think of – just be creative and have fun! Prizes total $2,500.
We also reward those teachers/professors who spread the word by offering a $250 bonus if their student wins!
More information here.
From the Rome News-Tribune. Lester's cartoon is prescient because since its publication the Obama budget has been released and it calls for upping the Volt buyers' subsidy from $7,500 to $10,000.
White House Economic Adviser: 'We Need a Global Minimum Tax'
The abstract of a new NBER WP:
Chris Coyne on the economics of Valentine's Day.
Harry Reid's infamous take on job-creating millionaires:
CBS News spotted one:
This remarkable discovery from the Boston subsidiary of the New York Times: The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University found that there were 5.4 million fewer people in the workforce last year than projected by the Labor Department in 2008 - many the “hidden unemployed'' who, no longer searching for work, are not counted in the official jobless rate. In Massachusetts, their numbers have more than doubled over the past decade to about 120,000.
Story here.
Hey, bacon works on nose bleeds too (HT: Instapundit).
From the NYT (italics added):
There's a good reason that the U.S. Constitution or any other constitution should not recognize entitlements to food etc.--such a "right" implies an obligation that someone else provide the food or medical care. While many people believe that in a decent society people should voluntarily help others, compelling a person to provide another with food or medical care or whatever is enslavement. It is depressing that this point was not mentioned in the NYT article and that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg thinks the U.S. Constitution is an anachronism because it eschews such provisions.
It's been awhile since I've bothered to point out someone's ignorance about Herbert Hoover's economic policy but here's one worth noting.
FT's Martin Wolf, the author the superb Why Globalization Works, thinks that British policymakers' belief that fiscal stimulus would not help the sluggish British economy indicates they think Herbert Hoover was correct. Never mind that Hoover wasn't much of a fan of fiscal restraint either since he boosted spending some 50% during his four years in office.
Of course, it is also silly to think that current British policy rises to anything resembling "masochism in economic policy" as Wolf claims. Don Boudreaux and Scott Sumner point out that British spending has increased since 2007 and that Britain's budget deficit as a share of GDP trails only Greece and Egypt among 44 major economies tracked by The Economist.
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