Public Choice Economics in One Panel

[HT Russ Roberts.]

Good God

This is what happens when state governments try to be cute:



[HT: DCist]

America has ED (Economic Dysfunction)

Via Reason.

Accuracy in Economic Reporting

In a recent post, Cafe Hayek's Russ Roberts corrects an AP article, and illustrates how bias can creep into supposedly "objective" reporting. Roberts strikes the hyperbolic language, and adds caveats (in bold) where needed:

Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted increasing the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to try to revive the economy through a stimulus package and a revamped financial bailout plan, both of which are may be nearing completion.

The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported.

With cost-cutting employers in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate bolted increased to 7.6 percent in January, the highest since September 1992. The increase in the jobless rate from 7.2 percent in December also was worse than the 7.5 percent rate economists expected though the tenth of a percentage point difference could be treated as negligible.

All told, the economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. About half of this decline occurred in the past three months.

"Companies are in survival mode and are really cutting to the bone," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "They are cutting and cutting hard now out of fear of an uncertain future."

Factories slashed cut 207,000 jobs in January, the largest one-month drop since October 1982, partly reflecting heavy losses at plants making autos and related parts. Construction companies got rid of 111,000 jobs. Professional and business services chopped 121,000 positions. Retailers eliminated 45,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality axed 28,000 slots.

Those reductions swamped employment gains in education and health services, as well as in the government but I won't bother telling you the size of these increases.

To repeat what was said a few paragraphs earlier in a trivially different way: Just in the 12 months ending January, an astonishing 3.5 million jobs have vanished, the most on record going back to 1939, although the total number of jobs has grown significantly since then which is just a confusing way of saying that as a percentage of the work force, it's nothing close to 1939.

The Politics of Fear Return to Washington

So much for change:

'A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery, and a more uncertain future,'' Obama said in his prepared remarks.

I'm not surprised, or disappointed. Though it is amusing that the left think their guys don't resort to their opponents' tactics.

The American Dream

Here's a follow-up to my random thought below.

Zogby International has published a new survey of our view of the "American Dream." While definitions of the American Dream vary, the gist is that the American system of capitalism allows anyone with the determination to improve their lot the ability to do so. The results of the poll show a fundamental difference in viewpoints.

For those, the 56%, who still believe in the American Dream, their top reasons were:

59%: "I'm intelligent and work hard, so I should succeed."

52%: "America is the land of opportunity."

25%: "I am an optimist."

For those opposed:

44%: "The powers that be don't care about people like me."

29%: "Americans shouldn't think of themselves as special and entitled to an ideal life."

27%: "Where I live, it costs too much, and the American Dream is just out of reach."

Notice that the latter are collectivistic ("the powers that be don't care about me"), anti-American, and pessimistic; the former are individualistic, pro-American, and optimistic. Who do you think is more likely to advocate statism? Freedom?

[HT: Russ Roberts.]

A Note and a Thought

I've been vacationing in sunny South Florida, hence the lack of posts this last week. I'm back to blogging now, for better or worse.

A random thought: Has anyone noticed that those who have been chanting the word "hope" the last two years are the ones proclaiming cataclysm, while those in the so-called "dismal science" are the ones who are optimistic about the state of the economy? Here are two articles published in today's New York Times, just one illustration of this schism.