This is why I love economists:
The argument goes something like this: Al spends $20 on a fruitcake for Mom. Since Mom only values the fruitcake at $5, and would have instead placed a value of $40 on $20 worth of cosmetics, then Al is out 20 bucks and Mom is missing $35 in consumer surplus. Perhaps it is the thought that counts, but in a nation of 300 million people, the deadweight costs of Christmas gift giving added up to an estimated $4 billion in 2001.
CNN has the story:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Firefighters quickly doused a two-alarm fire Wednesday in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which houses the vice president’s ceremonial offices and the majority of the White House staff.
Either the Revolution has started or someone threw a cigarette into the trash. I’m not sure which.
Okay, not pesos. But money, and lots of it.
CNN has the story of Ron Paul’s big day as the front story on the website:
His campaign said it raised $6 million-plus in 24 hours earlier this week — one of the largest single-day fundraising totals in U.S. election history — but he remains low in the polls.
Paul says those polls might be mistaken and insists he has a wide following.
I am not one of those people who think Ron Paul is really winning, but the polls just don’t show it. However, I do think he’ll out-perform his current polling numbers. Maybe by 5-10%, depending on voter turnout for other candidates.
Thanks to CNN for getting this to the front page.
But the deeper reason to support Ron Paul is a simple one. The great forgotten principles of the current Republican party are freedom and toleration. Paul’s federalism, his deep suspicion of Washington power, his resistance to government spending, debt and inflation, his ability to grasp that not all human problems are soluble, least of all by government: these are principles that made me a conservative in the first place. No one in the current field articulates them as clearly and understands them as deeply as Paul. He is a man of faith who nonetheless sees a clear line between religion and politics.
Read the full post at The Daily Dish.
I think this is fantastic. He’s right, Ron Paul is the best choice for conservatives. I like to think of him as the Anti-Huckabee.
Nonetheless, kudos to New Jersey for almost certainly abolishing the death penalty. The governor still has to sign the bill, but it looks like a done deal.
The government should not have the power to put citizens to death. Period.
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that judges can go below sentences guidelines for crack-cocaine crimes:
The 7-2 ruling represents a victory for lawyers who argued that crack-cocaine offenders were unfairly targeted under U.S. sentencing guidelines.
Current federal penalties for selling 5 grams of crack cocaine can warrant the same prison sentence as dealing 500 grams of the powdered variety.
Any reduction in the sentencing of non-violent drug offenders is a good thing. I think it is a pretty compelling argument that the guidelines were written with the understanding that one violation (the more harshly punished one, of course) was more prevalent among minorities.
In 1992, Mike Huckabee said we should “isolate the carriers of this plague” in reference to AIDS.
He was right, IF:
1) You think the government should have the power to “isolate” people
2) You think the government should protect the health and welfare of the people, despite the cost (financial and social)
3) You trust government data and research enough to play with peoples’ lives
Those are some pretty big “ifs.”
From my article over at The Porch:
Perhaps the most divisive issue among Christians in the past few decades is the reconciliation of personal politics with religious beliefs and how those views are advocated among Christian groups
…
The following essay identifies and describes a fourth group of Christians, one that is noticeably different from the three described above. Though small, this group provides a relevant and consistent view that is both biblically and politically coherent.
The Golden Compass topped the box office this weekend, despite protests by Christian groups:
Mittweg said he was uncertain about the effects of a backlash against “The Golden Compass” by some Christians, who said Pullman’s books preach atheism.
“It’s very hard to say. Historically, protests of these sorts tend to be ineffective on box-office results,” Mittweg said.
Another victory for Christianity!
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