Newmark's Door

"The Forgotten Man of the Tax Debate"

Interesting testimony from a small business owner.

Now, finance theory, at least the one called the Modigliani-Miller theorem, argues that the market is basically indifferent to how a business is financed. Debt or equity, it matters not. If taxes are so high that I can’t save cash to reinvest in my business, it doesn’t matter, because if the expected return of investment in my business is greater than the cost of capital, the market will provide.

However, neither Modigliani nor Miller has been in contact with my banker, who seems unaware of financial theory. When we expanded our farm recently by purchasing a neighboring place, the lender required at least 35 per cent of the purchase price as a down payment. That would be cash. It mattered not the capital gains tax rate, the cost of capital, the expected return, or what Obama considers fair. Business is hard and cash is king.

"Where the Jobs Will Be in 2020"

Geographic, not occupational. 

Think warm weather. And, of course, Washington D.C.

"On the horrors of getting approval for an ice-cream parlour in San Francisco"

Want greater economic growth? This is the kind of crap that we should stop ASAP.

Link via Instapundit.

Also: "Tech startups facing unexpected challenge: the government".

"‘The Left’ and Public Choice Theory"

Superb post. In the current intense debate about the role of government public choice theory is the trump card of conservatives. (Link via Cafe Hayek.)

From a public choice standpoint, however, if the modern social democratic state is the major source of special interest power then by far the most effective way to reduce this power would be to dismantle the apparatus of anti-competitive intervention in markets. This does not require an egalitarian fantasy land where all inequality is abolished. Rather, it requires a framework of limited government where inequalities which reflect superior performance and entrepreneurial ingenuity are welcomed but where those that reflect the power of crony capitalists, crony union bosses and public sector bureaucrats are reduced to a minimum.

"Caterpillar shuns home state for N.C."

How's it going, Illinois? Sooner or later, anti-business policies catch up with you.

Some say buy, some say sell: one reason why we have markets

Sell. Sell now! "The insiders are selling heavily".

No, buy. Buy! "The cash conundrum revisited".

The famous Valentines for the Fed Twitter feed

Thrill to the outrageous humor of econonerds:

I'd like to borrow you overnight and then hold you to maturity.

Roses are red, violets are blue, thank you for Twist and, of course, QE2!

Hey baby, we're too big to fail.

When I get that feeling I want quantitative easing. [Ed. note: Marvin Gaye, call your office.]

Animation of annual Bakken shale oil production, 1985 to 2010

Drill, baby, drill.

Link via Carpe Diem.

One of the horrors of living on the Upper West Side

Chain stores are replacing boutiques! Where, oh where, will UWSers go on their lunch hours? Don't the chains know there is a fundatmental right to browse in cute shops?

John Podhoretz takes this goofy complaint down hard. 

Two on Detroit

One:

At times, watching the film is like watching the ultimate American nightmare. It can be hard to believe it’s a documentary. . . .

“We love our magic bullets,” says Ewing, who is originally from the city, “but it’s not going to be a magic bullet that saves Detroit.”

Two:

The massive abandonment has invidious, far-reaching effects for the Detroiters who remain. Over the last year, there have been an average of 35 major fires a day in the city.