"Olds" VS. "Youngs" Population Pyramid...What are YOU going to do with all Us Old People???

As luck would have it, today in class I used a population pyramid to illustrate the changes in demographics from the 1930's to today to show the effects of an aging US population and its impact on Social security/Medicare.  This graphic gives a more accurate portrayl than the one I wrote on the board...The premise is still valid...More "Olds" relative to "Youngs"...How are YOU going to pay for all the the "Me's"??? Source: HERE

Spirited Defense of Job Creation by the Fed Govt---Worth a Read!!

Here is an excellent blog post from a respected economist on how and why government can and should create jobs...It is in parable form and easily read...Makes sense and offers an alternative viewpoint on whether government can "create" jobs (the word "create" in a the context of jobs is a very loaded word in economic circles)...

URGGHHH!! The Demand for Cigarettes is relatively INELASTIC!

From BBC: Ash calls for 5% increase in tobacco tax

A five per cent rise in tobacco tax would lead to a substantial drop in the number of smokers and save millions in health costs, a UK charity suggests....Ash's report says that raising tobacco prices would reduce the number of smokers by 190,000 and save the NHS more than £20m a year by cutting the cost of treating smoking-related diseases.

According to Cancer Reseach UK, approximately 9.5 million Brits smoke.  Elasticity is determined by dividing the Percentage Change in Quantity Demanded by the Percentage Change in Price.  If the result is less than 1 then demand for cigarettes is inelastic (consumers NOT very responsive to changes in prices) and if it is more than 1 then demand is elastic (consumers are VERY responsive to changes in prices).  Using these numbers we have a change in quantity demanded of 2%.  If we divide 2% by 5% we get .40.  Smokers are relatively UNRESPONSIVE to the tax, assuming these numbers are correct.  I believe Mr Ash is WAY over-estimating the decrease in demand from a relatively small change in tax. A 2% change in response to a 5% increase in tax seems high for a good like cigarettes.  I have to think it would actually range from something less than 1% to maybe 1.5%.   Yes, fewer people will smoke, no question.  But the big winners will be the government in increased tax revenue AND the cigarette companies who will bear some burden of the tax, but not as much as consumers will bear.  My question: Why JUST 5%? Why not a much higher number if you really want to make a dent in the smoking population.  I dont know what that amount is, but if you want to "cross-over" to an elasticity of greater than one and REALLY reduce quantity demanded  by 50% or more, then how about 20%, 30%, 40%?...thinkin' that might do the trick...

Informative Graphics on the Trade in Tiger Parts---What is wrong with people!!!!

Things like this make me wonder about people/culture sometimes and the things they believe in...In today's NYTIMES there are a couple of informative graphics on the Tiger trade.  The first shows which body parts are coveted for medicinal and/or spiritual/"black magic" uses. The second shows hides confiscated and the third shows the areas of remaining habitats for wild tigers...I believe this species is doomed because there seems to be no unified consensus in the conservation movement and across international boundries as to what to do about it...Shameful...

If I offer to buy your groceries tomorrow, will you buy them with your own money today? Did not think so...-

Analogy:  If you were on your way to the grocery store with $100 to buy food and I stopped you at the door and offered you this deal:  "Postpone your purchase today. Come back tomorrow and I will give you $100 to buy your groceries".  Did I give you an incentive to come back to the store to buy food TOMORROW with my money?  Do you (or anyone) take this deal?  What if I originally borrowed that $100 I am going to give to you and sent the bill for it you your children (born or yet to be born) asking (forcing?) them to pay it back with interest out of their future earnings? So (follow me here)...I borrowed $100 from someone (or country(s)) today, that future taxpayers (children) will have to pay back with interest, to give to you to buy groceries you were already going to purchase in the first place...

Read this story...Substitute "you" with a business on their way to hiring someone.  Subsitute me with "Congress" and Substitute "child, born or unborn", with, well, "child born or unborn"....

Real life example (I have personal knowledge of this)---A local subsidary of a major corporation needs to hire 30 people (NEW JOBS!!)...If they see that Congress may pass this law but not until, say, May, do they have a financial incentive (30 X $5,000 = $150,000) to postpone hiring for a couple of months? They are going to hire these people anyway, why not wait and get the Tax Credit for it?? 

Whether it is "right" for businesses to respond this way is one question.  Congress seems to laying a Moral Hazard trap for businesses to fall into (delay what they were already going to do in exchange for a tax credit)...

In principal I have no problem with Congress trying to incentivize businesses to hire NOW...Seems like this would have potentially been more effective LAST year...The job situation is stabilizing and there are hints that the picture will improve in short order...This kind of indecision/delay on the part of Congress (Dems AND Reps) only slows down the process of recovery.   Borrowing money to pay businesses to do what they were going to do anyway...You be the  judge as to whether this is effective policy...

List of Top Ten "CleanTech" Companies---My Favorites are on the Top of the List...

WSJ: And the Top Cleantech Companies Are...

In class when we talk about economic growth and what is going to be the next industry that shifts our Production Possibilities Frontier outward, hence, increasing our  long run ability to produce goods and services (Long Run Aggregate Supply), I speculate that this will come in the energy sector.  Specifically, in solar power generation.  It seems to be the most logical resource to tap.  Right now the technology is sufficient to meet only a very small percentage of our overall energy requirements.  However, I believe someday (soon(?)) someone will develop the equivalent of the microchip, which produces MUCH more in productivity (and residual value to society) relative to its cost, for the solar power industry.  The suns energy is "free" but the technology to convert it into mass-use power is simply not there yet...
For start-ups that harness the energy of the sun, 2010 looks to be a promising year.

"In The Wall Street Journal's first survey of venture-backed clean technology companies, three makers of solar cells came out on top: Solyndra Inc. of Fremont, Calif.; Suniva Inc. of Norcross, Ga.; and eSolar Inc. of Pasadena, Calif. The rankings, announced Thursday at the Journal's ECO:Nomics Executive Conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., seek to identify those green companies that have the capital, executive experience and investor know-how to succeed in an increasingly crowded field",

Scales of Justice: In Zurich, Even Fish Have a Lawyer

Obviously this is an extreme example, but is the concept of having a "public defender" for animals valid?  Protecting animals from abuse is certainly a worthy pursuit, however, do animals have "rights"? And, if so, how is that right defined? What do you think??

WSJ: Last month, Antoine Goetschel went to court here in defense of an unusual client: a 22-pound pike that had fought a fisherman for 10 minutes before surrendering.  .Mr. Goetschel is the official animal lawyer for the Swiss canton of Zurich, a sort of public defender who represents the interests of pets, farm animals and wildlife. He wound up with the pike as a client when animal-welfare groups filed a complaint alleging animal cruelty in the fish's epic battle with an amateur angler.  The case emerged after a local newspaper photo showed the fisherman proudly showing off the four-foot-long fish—a scene that, to Mr. Goetschel, was reminiscent of a safari hunter with his foot perched on the head of a dead lion. "It is this Hemingway thinking," he says. "Why should this be legal when other animals have to be slaughtered in a humane way?"

How Do You Save the Elephants? One at a time..

Also see my other posts HERE and HERE...Saving endangered species--in the real world...

“Mr President, let me tell you the story of two African countries. In 1978 Kenya banned the hunting of elephants and that decision was followed by an almost total destruction of elephant herds in Kenya. Round about the same time – in 1979 – Rhodesia, as it was still called, made elephants the property of whoever’s land they were roaming on. Result – explosion of elephant numbers.We in this House do not think of the elephant in the way that the African does. We are not threatened by it; it does not trample our crops; it does not destroy our villages; and it does not damage human health. The only way to prevent local populations from doing the logical thing, which is to eliminate a dangerous menace, is by giving them an incentive in treating it as a renewable resource. This, of course, is what Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe – successfully did. Environmental policy should recognise the basic Aristotelian wisdom that that which nobody owns, nobody will care for.”(My emphasis)

Here is the video clip of the Parlimentarian speaking...

Source: MisesBlog

NFL to consider rule change---This is change I can believe in!!

WSJ: "In the NFL, Overtime Needs an Overhaul" .  I hate it when the coin toss winner in overtime kicks a field goal to win the game. It just does not seem right that an exogenous variable, luck, should decide a game...

The league is considering a new rule—if approved by 75% of the owners—that could even out scoring opportunities, says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. The new overtime would still end if the offensive team scored a touchdown, but if it only makes a field goal, the other team would get a possession. If both teams kick field goals, the next team to score would win.  Hold the applause, though. If approved, the rule would be used only in the playoffs.

SchoolHouse Rock Video---From a barter to a money economy

WHERE the Jobs are being "created"---Is this a good trend???

Source: Carpe Diem ...Question: Are these new federal jobs temporary or are they permanent?  If permanent, how do we support these jobs on an ongoing basis.  By all accounts, the labor market is going to recover slowly.  It follows that tax revenue will be reduced for a sustained period of time, unless taxes are raised on (1) everyone, or (2) targeted groups (wealthy, investors, corporations, entrepreneurs, etc). More resouces will be shifted to support the larger bureaucracy.   Bottomline: We will will come out of the recession with a much larger Federal workforce than before the recession. Will our national income (GDP) grow enough to cover this increased expense? If not, will the bureaucracies contract and lay these workers off?

Killing continues, and children pay the price in The Congo---Another day, another tragedy...

The more things change, the more they stay the same---Children are pressed into joining "rebel forces" in the on-going (never-ending?) conflict in The Congo.  I wish the US and the nefarious "international community" (whatever that means) would actually do something to solve this situation, but it won't happen until (1) there are no more people to kill or (2) the perpetrators actually get tired of doing the killing.  Then the diplomats will move in and save the day. Seems like that is usually how these things come to an end...Blahhh!

In the last few months, fighting between the Congolese army and rebels has escalated, and more and more children are being kidnapped to bolster numbers amongst the various militia. Jean Vierre was one of a group of 10 ambushed some two weeks ago. He, his six classmates and three teachers were abducted in what appears to be a well-planned attempt to find new recruits. "When we got to the camps, the rebels told to join the military forces. They took us and threw us in a hole. We were given military outfits and told we had to wear them," explains Jean Claude [not his real name]. The two boys managed to escape after two days but not before they saw many other teenage boys in a similar position.

See complete article HERE...

I Promise to NEVER answer my phone when I am talking to you face to face...can you do the same???

Am I too picky to expect someone to NOT answer their phone when we are talking directly to me??  REALLY frustrates me when a student OR adult does this...It is the epitomy of rudeness, in my opinion...WHAT is so important that one cannot silence the call and return it in a few minutes??...I vow that if this happens again, I will walk away (is THAT rude to do???). Guessin' I was not really needed in the first place...I am with this man...

So, for example, I don’t have a mobile phone turned on because I’m talking to you. I don’t want the outside world to impinge on the conversation we’re having. I don’t carry a BlackBerry. I do my e-mails regularly, but I do it when I have the time on a computer. I don’t want to be sitting here thinking that I’ve got an e-mail message coming here and I’d better look at that while I’m talking to you. Every moment counts, and that moment is lost if you’re not in that moment 100 percent.

Great Link to "Conflict Photos" from noted Photographers...

From Freakonomics Blog:

Images From the Field
Foreign Policy publishes “an exclusive collection of work by the world’s most acclaimed conflict photographers.” The photoessay includes photographs from Iraq, Sudan, Congo, Lebanon, Palestine, and Chechnya. Paul Lowe’s photograph of blood and footprints in the Chechnyan snow is particularly striking. “To me, this is not in itself a picture of violence, but speaks of what violence means,” Lowe says. “You can see traces of each action: first the fresh snow, then a body lain down, and the blood seeps into the snow. Then people running around in chaos.”(0)

What are People Really Buying Online?

Source: What people buy online differs substantially from what they buy in-store. According to a study by the US Census Bureau, the bulk of sales are still in-store. There are, however, several categories in which online sales dominate each product marketplace. These include: books and magazines, clothing, and electronics. Below, we have broken down the sales for each category, to show the percentages of both online and in-store sales as a part of the total marketplace, as well as a comparison of the two in absolute terms.l