Newmark's Door

Richard Epstein vs. PBS reporter Paul Solman on income inequality. It's no contest. They shoulda stopped it in the first round before Solman got hurt.

Here Epstein smacks the Administration's American Jobs Act. He ends this way:

The AJA misfires because it starts from unsound economic premises. What a worker needs is a job. Accordingly that worker should worry about the number of opportunities available to him, not the number of closed doors. It is far better therefore to seek a job in a growing economy, in which a small fraction of employers wish to hire you, than in a stagnant economy, in which no one gets hired at all. Judged by these standards, the AJA is an economic nightmare waiting to happen.

Sounds smart to me. 

How long before the bureaucrats decide to stop it?

Can businesses in the private sector sometimes cheat and steal? Sure. But to really mess people over you probably need government.

Vivek Wadhwa argues that mentoring and networking are important to high-tech innovation. 

This means that the key to boosting entrepreneurship and innovation is to encourage diversity, mentor entrepreneurs and facilitate their networking. Science parks and industry subsidies can’t do this. This holds important lessons too for groups that are left out of tech entrepreneurship—such as women, African Americans, and Hispanics. They need to continue to form new networks and strengthen existing ones in order to uplift each other and address concerns unique to their communities. Government can’t make that happen either.

Sample:

1. I use forms but charge you as if I did it from scratch.

Many documents lawyers prepare for clients are slightly edited versions of old templates, according to Steve Brodsky, Esq., of the Brodsky Law Firm.

“Instead of charging for the minor edits, most lawyers charge for a completely new document as if it were created from scratch,” said Brodsky. “There’s nothing wrong with providing edited forms; what’s wrong is the way they are priced.”

As usual, caveat emptor.

I don't know if the prediction is right, but I do think online ads are getting more annoying and less effective.

As most have probably heard, tenure in higher education is supposed to secure "academic freedom". 

One "tenured professor of languages at Princeton" didn't feel very secure.

I hope you--and I--never need this information, but if you do . . . 

Some beauties here.

"Paul is Dead": oops.

NASA faked the moon landings: yeah, sure.

Elvis is alive! Please let me know if you see the King walking around.

Turns out that having a lot of oil can be a long-term curse. Reminds of Spain and all that New World silver.

And the best answer for resource-blessed countries turns out to be similar to those for blessed families--save some on that wealth!