The Neo-Paleo Gourmet

Uncle Sam's Greenhouse Gasses

The Federal Government is a hugely inefficient consumer of energy.

"According to a 1999 report by the Alliance to Save Energy, the 'federal government, consumes about 32% more energy per square foot than the nation's building stock at large.'"

Is anyone surprised?

From an excellent editorial in today's WSJ

Damned if you, damned if you don't

The XM and Sirius execs agreed to cap their prices in order to secure Congressional support for their merger.

But let's say a company has a monopoly and it raises prices.  PRICE GOUGING!  What if it lowers prices?  PRICE WAR TO UNDERCUT POTENTIAL COMPETITORS!  So a monopoly can't raise OR lower prices without antitrust accusations flying.

Now what about a company that is perceived to be a monopoly, like XM-SIRUS, even though they've always seen their biggest competitors as analog radio (and vice versa)?  The XM-Sirius execs never would have raised prices anyhow because they are keenly aware that their consumers have multiple stops on the dial.  But they can agree to the price caps, which mostly serve as a way for POLITICIANS to demonstrate that they are acting on behalf of the consumer.

Monopoly was always just a red herring.

It's gonna get worse before it gets better

Though it's not quite as bleak as it looks.  And clearly lots of consumers are better off.

But even free-traders have feelings and mothers and homes too...and some are even from Detroit.

White Collars and Animal Spirits

White collar crime doesn't inspire the same intensity of emotion (disgust, condemnation) that violent crime does.  Nor does white collar achievement inspire the same intensity of emotion (awe, gratitude) as in-the-streets Mother Theresa work.  The world would be a better place if the variance of our emotional reactions to white collar behavior increased.

White Collar Crime
When money is misspent, wasted, or stolen, it's easy to say that "No one was hurt".  And while the action may be non-violent, strictly speaking, the effects are real -- though often invisible and require counterfactual imagination.  Enron is an poignant example of how the deceit of managers and accountants resulted in long-serving employees losing much of their retirement.  Smaller scale accounting fraud is different only in degree, as is regulatory protection for special interests (big business or otherwise), or pyramid schemes (the only legal one being Social Security).  If only their were a guttural reaction to such things.

Decreasing Intensity of Emotional Reaction
Stealing a lady's purse at gunpoint
Stealing a lady's identity and robbing her retirement savings
Stealing a lady's retirement via Enron
Stealing a lady's retirement via forced contributions to Social Security

White Collar Achievement
Who gets more accolades for feeding the poor: the Chinese bureaucrats who decided to slowsly liberalize their domestic markets, or Mother Theresa?  Acknowledging the multiplier effect of Mother Theresa's example, I'm going with the People's Republic of China.  Business people, executives, entrepreneurs just don't bring people to tears.

Decreasing Intensity of Emotional Reaction
Mother Theresa feeding lepers
Family farmer serving the local market
ConAgra scientist developing a more effective fertilizer
Chinese leaders allowing people to own property, and sell what they produce on an open market

It's easy to understand WHY this is the case: Intentions matter, as do perceptions of self-sacrifice,  and tangible individual examples do what numbers can't.  Lamentable, nonetheless.

Emotional tools help govern behavior.  Heap scorn on the white collar criminal and exclude him from society...and white collar crime will decrease.  Praise the entrepreneur and businessman, and you will attract good people who aren't in it for the money.

Economics Art

My brother Clark made these images out of his ideas.  I can only post the images for now.  He is finishing up his PhD in economics at George Mason University, and will have a dissertation worth reading.

The Tomb of Jesus discovered?

"Feb. 25, 2007 — New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family."

It's from Discovery Channel News (via Drudge),  and James Cameron (of Titantic fame) is directing a documentary called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus", airing on Discovery at 9pm on March 4th.  I'm skeptical....but hey, he was a real guy, right?

Oh, and don't overlook this little tidbit:

"The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah."

Here is the dedicated site that the Discovery Channel has set up for the documentary.

The bottom line: Great teacher, but ate way too much bread.

Carbon-neutral pets and grandmothers

"Sydney-based Easy Being Green says it will mitigate your cat's flatulent contribution to global warming for A$8 ($6). The same company could also make your granny 'carbon-neutral'' at A$10 a year, according to a report in the Australian newspaper last weekend."

What happens if demand for this type of service takes off?  I'd like to see how the price of a carbon-neutral grandmother changes over time, as current technology improves and becomes more efficient.  This product has the strange characteristic that it might start off VERY cheap, but then become much more expensive over time.

Here is the company.

Here is the article.

News Flash Addendum:  Australia has just banned incandescent lights:

"Trumpeting it as a "world first," the Australian government is mandating a nationwide phase out of inefficient, old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact fluorescent bulbs by 2010.

The new policy, announced Tuesday by Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull should reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by four million tonnes two years later. Household lighting costs could be reduced by up to 66 percent, the minister said."

You might recall that even Walmart has set itself a goal to sell 100 million energy-saving light bulbs, shifting away from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Hat tip to Robert Cantwell.

What, no live entertainment?

The Smoking Gun just got a hold of Giuliani's demands when traveling to speaking events.  There are some choice bits.  And for those who don't recall, I'm adding some older demands from people you might recognize.

Rudy Giuliani
Of 18 stipulations, the first stipulates a private jet.  Not just any private jet....

"Please note that the private aircraft MUST BE a Gulfstream IV or bigger."

Dick Cheney
Generally pretty modest.

"Temperature set to 68 degrees."

"All televisions turned to FOX News."

(Must help him get to sleep.)

John Kerry
Many times as long as Cheney's -- seems to be a very healthy, but picky eater.  God, I hate picky eaters.

"Bottled water - uncarbonated.  Poland Spring preferred.  No Evian."

(What, don't want people to think you're European?)

Here are the "tour riders" for Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, and U2

Carbon-neutral banking

Why Bush is a Keynesian

Some of Bush's tax "cuts" were simply tax rebates, i.e., you got money back on taxes you already paid.  To the extent that the marginal tax rates that folks face are unchanged, then all you've done is give a one-time boost to the economy.  Keynesian fiscal stimulus.  Low impact, expensive.

Whenever discussing the effectiveness of tax cuts to drive economic growth, remember that if you aren't changing the incentives of employers, investors, businessmen, and consumers, you ain't doing much.

Here is Bruce Bartlett's book, which explains this in greater detail:

Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy