The Book as Blog

Harvey Mackey's Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt sat tantilizingly on the thrift store shelf. For a mere 75 cents I could have a copy of the book that followed on the heels of Mackey's 1988 bestseller, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. Naturally, I grabbed the book, took a seat, and began turning pages randomly.

Surprise! Mackey is, for want of a better term, a print blogger. In other words the book reads like a series of posts on a business blog. Mackey's format anticipated web logs by a half dozen years or more! If the Internet had been then what it is now, perhaps Mackey would have been a blogger before becoming a published author. Here's a sample:

Spend some time in the trenches.There is no dirty work in your business. One way to prove how important every job is and everyone is, is to take on the job yourself. If you believe there is no such thing as a good job with a shovel, then so does the guy who has the job. You can't expect his attitude to be any better than yours. At least once a year, I'll spend a day at one of the jobs at my company generally regarded as menial. It's not a stunt; I don't announce it in advance or announce it afterward, either. I don't hire a photographer to record it; the house organ does not carry a story about it. I just do it. Believe me, that's enough. Word gets around. And more than once a year, I will go out with a salesperson on his or her calls. That works, too.

The thrift store economy keeps classic books like this one circulating. Anyone can easily find out the New York Times and Amazon.com best sellers. But for a lot of Americans, some living on a limited income and some not, the thrift stores offer a source of affordable reading. And a few surprises, too!

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QuickTake: The AARP's Tearin' Down the House

I happened to catch an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) TV spot last night. Picture Social Security as a surburban ranch and personal accounts as a wrecking ball. Watch the wrecking ball destroy the house. Associate the destruction of Social Security with adoption of personal accounts and the commercial's done its job.

Outrageous exaggeration like this doesn't help shape a rational public debate on Social Security reform. But maybe that's the AARP's intent.

Getting and Keeping a Job Through KM Expertise

How to get and keep a good job ... that's an issue in the minds of many Americans today. In this post I'll introduce you to KM--Knowledge Management--a skill that everyone must have to prosper in the 21st century economy.

Every Economics 101 course at some point brings up the significance of human capital--skills, knowledge, and abilities--to an economy. Human capital in today's world is more important than physical capital as a generator of wealth. The right human capital can also enhance individual job security.

As mentioned in my previous post, information hoarding is destructive to an organization, and hinders economic efficiency. As workers in the information economy, we must know how to beat information hoarders by making use of technology to access information and effectively utilize it.

Organizations are increasingly utilizing KM experts to break down information bottlenecks. However, to a certain extent each individual must be his or her own KM expert, fighting information overload on the one hand and information hoarders on the other.

KM consultant Edward Truch proposes the 5 Es of successful knowledge management:

1. Engagement: top management teams must engage and persuade across the company.
2. Empowerment: empowering people to act effectively and with authority.
3. Entitlement: opening access to information across the organisation.
4. Enablement: providing specific support systems across the company (e.g., Intranets and knowledge tools)
5. Environment: creating work environments conducive to meeting and sharing knowledge.

Truch speculates that as people become more aware of the significance of KM to their own success, the success of their organization, and to the economy, he or she who masters the technology associated with effective KM will possess essential intellectual capital. It could be the difference between having a job and a place in the unemployment line.

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Information Hoarding--Building Personal Empires at the Expense of Others

Quick, what's the I in IT stand for? If you said information, go to the head of the class. In the days when computers were mainframe rather than personal, the IT office would have had the initials DP, which stands for data processing. Processing data is not enough in today's economy, however. For an organization to function efficiently requires that people have information.

Because information confers power on those who have it, there are likely to be many information bottlenecks in an organization. Some people build empires by hoarding information. It's a way to ensure job security. It's a way to increase a budget. It's also a way to ensure that an organization remains backward and inefficient. But for information hoarders, what's good for the organization doesn't matter.

If EconOpinion had a magic bullet to cure organizations of information hoarding, EconOpinion would be out on the lecture circuit rubbing shoulders with Zig Ziglar, Tom Peters, and Tony Robbins. One obstacle to joining the lecture circuit is that information hoarding is invisible. It's not obvious, nor are its effects on the bottom line. To be interested in a cure for a disease, you have to be aware that you've got the disease.

There are a couple of steps that organizations can take to reduce information hoarding. One is to create a culture of collaboration. When people are working in teams, all striving to achieve a common goal, information that bears upon the reaching of that goal is less likely to be kept secret. The second involves the leadership style of top management. When the group at the top freely shares information, it sets an example.

Perhaps the best way to strike down information hoarding is to flowchart the ideal flow of information. The technique, which you should be warned is EconOpinion's untested innovation, starts with identifying the ideal set of information that a group of people within an organization should have in order to do their jobs well. Survey them to test their actual information against the ideal. Then investigate why they lack the vital information that they do not have. Track the flow of information backward to identify bottlenecks.

Information hoarders are a drag on economic efficiency. They are thieves just as much as the burglars and shoplifters who sit in our jails. They need to be rooted out and counseled to change. If change is not forthcoming, they should be shown the exit. The others in the organization--those who strive to make it better--deserve no less.

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Sacramento's Needy Pets Get Meals on Wheels Too

I love this story from the Sacramento Bee. While the social safety net provides for needy humans, too often their animal companions are left out. In Sacramento, California, that's no longer the case since the launch of Meals on Wheels/Pets Eat Too.

The motivation behind this innovation is simple. Needy clients of the human Meals on Wheels program were sharing their meals with their pets. And who wouldn't share with a family member? That's the way many folks see their dogs and cats--as family members.

Now Pup and Kitty can eat their own delivered-to-their-doorstep meals. But it wouldn't surprise EconOpinion a bit if the lucky canines and felines who benefit from Pets Eat Too are still offered a little treat from their owners' plates once in a while.

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QuickTake: FOMC Sees Uncertainty

From the Federal Open Market Committee minutes of May 3, 2005 (bolding by EconOpinion):

In their discussion of current conditions and the economic outlook, meeting participants observed that incoming data over the intermeeting period hinted at possible upside risks for inflation and downside risks for economic growth. Earlier increases in energy prices seemed to be an important factor contributing to an uptick in core inflation and a slower pace of economic activity. With energy prices leveling out more recently, however, and the behavior of compensation suggesting a lack of pressure in labor markets, underlying inflation appeared to remain contained. The weakness in spending was widespread and could not be completely dismissed, but it had appeared only very recently and could be a product of the inherent noisiness of high-frequency economic data. On balance, economic fundamentals including low interest rates, robust underlying productivity growth, and strengthened business balance sheets were expected to support economic growth at a pace sufficient to gradually eliminate remaining slack in resource utilization. Although the economic outlook generally seemed favorable, there was also broad recognition of greater uncertainty attending the outlook for both inflation and output growth.

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REPOST OF MY FAVORITE STORY: This Dog is a Blogger ...

Shrek, the blogging dog. I'm repeating this story from its original Saturday post because it's such a great story. Enjoy.

... and for proof, click on the title of this post and be transported to Shrek's DogBlog.

Shrek lives in Australia, which EconOpinon thinks of as a law-abiding country. But some neer-do-well "kidnapped" the handsome German Shepherd pup when he became lost after he slipped his collar while playing in the park. Shrek's reckless romp and poor sense of direction set off the long chain of events that turned him into the world's first dog blogger.

In his own barks, er ... words, Shrek blogs about the loneliness and distress that he experienced while separated from his mum and dad. This is one dog tale (pun intended) that has a happy ending, though. Shrek is ultimately reunited with his two-legged parents, but not without the help of some nice policemen. Shrek's story isn't quite over yet since he and his mum and dad will be walking to benefit animals in Australia's million paw march. Celebrity hasn't gone to his head, but the big shepherd does promise to give each of his admirers along the march route a pawtograph if they would like one.

EconOpinion is impressed by Shrek's cleverness in using the power of blogging to make his way safely back home. Other clever canines and even clever felines might utilize the resources provided by the blogosphere to achieve that same happy ending should they become lost.

(P.S. to all novice blog readers: You read blog posts from the bottom up because the most recent posts appear at the top. Shrek's first post was on April 22, which is the one that should be read first on Shrek's DogBlog even though it starts toward the bottom of his Web page.)

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Yes, Dr. Greenspan, But What About the Price at the Pump?

This quote was selected from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's speech on energy, given May 20, 2005 before the Economic Club of New York:

But if history is any guide, should higher prices persist, energy use over time will continue to decline relative to gross domestic product (GDP). In the wake of sharply higher prices, the energy intensity of the United States economy has been reduced about half since the early 1970s. Much of that displacement was achieved by 1985. Progress in reducing energy intensity has continued since then, but at a lessened pace.

This more-modest rate of decline in energy intensity should not be surprising, given the generally lower level of real oil prices that prevailed between 1985 and 2000. With real energy prices again on the rise, more-rapid decreases in the intensity of use in the years ahead seem virtually inevitable. As would be expected, long-term demand elasticities have proved noticeably higher than those evident in the short term.

EconOpinion understands, but still would like to know if the price at the pump will be higher or lower the next time Americans fill up their tanks.

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Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Listen to the Radio Again

A Spice Girls reunion? Believe it!

Unlikely as it may seem, the Spice Girls are seriously considering a reunion. Out of sight and out of mind after their breakup, the girls just might be tempted back into the spotlight by the promise of a $24 million payday. That's $24 million each!

Rumors have it that their first get together in five or six years will happen sometime next year at the new Wembley Stadium in Britain. Will they tour again? Will anybody care?

It's rare for fads to be successfully resurrected. The pet rock is probably still waiting for a second chance. Maybe the promoters who are working to put together the Spice Girls for a second run at fame and fortune have rocks in their head. Time will tell.

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QuickTake: Statutory Rape Among Fletcher Christian's Descendants

Pitcairn Island, population 47. And now six of them are convicted sex offenders. EconOpinion ventures to say that if these men had committed their crimes in Texas, the home of EconOpinion, that they would be serving 60 year sentences, not three years. Either there's something screwy with the statutory rape laws in other countries or in Texas. I'll let you decide.

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QuickTake: A $20,000 Bra--What an Uplifting Story!

I can't resist blogging another story from the always informative HBS Working Knowledge e-newsletter. It seems that there's a Business Plan Contest at the Harvard B-school that offers $10,000 in cash plus another $10,000 in in-kind services to the winner. This year's winner, Karen Grajwer, reflected on her own full figure and dashed off a plan for Uplift, a venture that will cater to women who need larger-size bras and who want a bit of fashion to go with the support. Who would have guessed that the bra market is worth almost $5 billion, and that larger sizes account for nearly $800 million? Ms. Grajwer offers the following advice to other entrepreneurs: Surround yourself with a good team and know your market.

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Sinking Globalization: What's The World Coming To?

Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson predicts possible de-globalization of the world economy

The HBS Working Knowledge e-newsletter features an interview with Dr. Niall Ferguson in which he identifies scenarios that could lead to the de-globalization of the economy. He warns that the precarious state of international relations today could bring an end to the world as we know it. As an historian, the basis for his fears is in the similarities between current world conditions and those that prevailed in 1914, which year marked the end of the first great era of globalization and the start of World War I.

The professor identifies tensions between the U.S. and China as a source of trouble. The post on EconOpinion on May 19 identifies one of many specific causes of that tension (see Textile Imports from China--A Quota Without Teeth?). There are many others, including the status of Taiwan.

It's easy to see the stresses created by the effects of globalism. Here in the U.S., the issue of illegal border crossings recently came to a head with the Minutemen controversy. In Europe, the upcoming vote on the EU constitution is causing some leaders to wonder whether the EU will hold together.

As nations turn inward, globalism could end with a whimper rather than a bang. Alternatively, Dr. Ferguson notes a worst-case scenario:

There is a real danger that Taiwan could be what Belgium was in 1914: the small state over which two great powers went to war without either quite meaning to.

For the sake of us all, if globalism needs to be cut down somewhat, let it be through peaceful means. Of course, that's probably what they were saying in 1914, too.

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This Dog is a Blogger ...

Shrek, the blogging dog

... and for proof, click on the title of this post and be transported to Shrek's DogBlog.

Shrek lives in Australia, which EconOpinon thinks of as a law-abiding country. But some neer-do-well "kidnapped" the handsome German Shepherd pup when he became lost after he slipped his collar while playing in the park. Shrek's reckless romp and poor sense of direction set off the long chain of events that turned him into the world's first dog blogger.

In his own barks, er ... words, Shrek blogs about the loneliness and distress that he experienced while separated from his mum and dad. This is one dog tale (pun intended) that has a happy ending, though. Shrek is ultimately reunited with his two-legged parents, but not without the help of some nice policemen. Shrek's story isn't quite over yet since he and his mum and dad will be walking to benefit animals in Australia's million paw march. Celebrity hasn't gone to his head, but the big shepherd does promise to give each of his admirers along the march route a pawtograph if they would like one.

EconOpinion is impressed by Shrek's cleverness in using the power of blogging to make his way safely back home. Other clever canines and even clever felines might utilize the resources provided by the blogosphere to achieve that same happy ending should they become lost.

(P.S. to all novice blog readers: You read blog posts from the bottom up because the most recent posts appear at the top. Shrek's first post was on April 22, which is the one that should be read first on Shrek's DogBlog even though it starts toward the bottom of his Web page.)

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An Angel Sayeth: Be Grateful for the Free Market

Who says that spiritual values can't flourish in the free market? That ultimate free market resource, the Internet, shows us otherwise. The linked web page in this post is just one of many examples of the free market at its best--providing opportunities for nonmaterialistic values to be heard above the din of soul-deadening claptrap put out by hundreds of thousands of Internet pitchmen.

Gratefulness.org is devoted to . . . you guessed it, making people feel GRATEFUL. Here's what one visitor to the web site had to say:

Gratefulness.org reminds us that in the use of technology, we can choose to do good, bringing people of the world closer together. I am grateful to the connection I feel to all of you, no matter where you live. — Leslie, Ohio

I found this feature on the web site, too:

WORD FOR THE DAY
Saturday, May. 21

Prosperity depends more on wanting what you have than having what you want.
Geoffrey F. Abert

There's a lot more to explore at Brother David's Gratefulness web site. Angels, animals, grief, and joy are just of few of the things you'll be gratefully thinking about long after you've left the attractively designed pages.

EconOpinion recognizes that the economy is made up of more than just demanders, suppliers, and policy wonks. It's made up of people whose needs go beyond a BMW in every garage and chicken mole in every pot. Brother David is a soldier in the army of servant-leaders who are quietly nourishing our spiritual appetites.

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QuickTake: A Leader Looks Inward

An economy can't thrive without leadership. Joe Jaworski, founder of the American Leadership Institute, offers this definition:

Most leadership programs begin with a description of the attributes of the leader -- a leader has vision, a leader has courage, a leader inspires others. All of that's fine; it's very important. But what's leadership really all about? To me, leadership is a journey toward wholeness. A leader's journey starts by looking inward to understand, Why am I here? What is it that I'm here to do?

Here's a link to his book, The Inner Path of Leadership.

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QuickTake: This Forehead for Sale

Talk about immediate confirmation of a point. A few seconds after posting the previous item, I found the humanadspace.com web site, which offers to provide body advertising. There I learned that the female college student in the previous post was not the first to auction off body billboards. The creator of Human Ad Space auctioned off his forehead space earlier this year, earning a high bid of $37,000.

There's something wacky about this. Once was enough. Twice is too much. EconOpinion hopes we've seen the last of it.

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QuickTake: Sex Sells? So What Else is New?

Advertising space for sale here.

The pretty college student in the picture has sold advertising space on her body through an e-bay auction. The winning bid was $11,300. In economics we call this outcome first mover advantage. I predict that the next body up for auction will command far less than $11,300 and generate far less publicity. Just as in a horse race, sometimes it pays to be first!

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The Gender Gap--More Than Just Pay

Gender differences manifest themselves in diverse ways, including in preferences toward entertainment. I don't want to become the subject of criticism similar to that received by Larry Summers, so I'll not speculate on whether these differences are innate or the result of nurture. All I know for sure is that when I was growing up all the boys loved Larry, Curly, and Moe, and the girls couldn't stand them.

If women today were adventurous enough to pick up and read some of the books found on a man's bookshelf, they would react about the same as the girls of my youth did toward the Stooges. Ditto for the man brave enough to venture into the reading territory women have staked out for themselves. Whether it's books, TV shows, movies, or video games, women tend to prefer one genre and men another.

The books of Erica James and Chris Ryan exemplify the gender divide in pleasure reading. Ms. James' heroine, Harriet, lives her life in striking contrast to that of Mr. Ryan's hero, Matt:

Matt, generally to be found spraying the room with bullets, would not fit in well to the world of Love and Devotion; nor would Harriet cope impressively with the deadly assassins of The Increment, despite her cute beret. These worlds can never meet. Somehow their readers must, though, as they lie side by side on the beach. Or more likely back to back.

Yes, men and women must meet, and not just on the beach. And not back to back either. Shared values bring men and women together to raise children, work side-by-side, . . . to create civilization. If one sex brings pepper to the table at dinner time, then is the world worse off because the other brings salt?

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QuickTake: U.S. Says al Qaeda Hurting for Funds

Even terrorists have to worry about their own personal economies. Economic sanctions against countries have a long history, although they haven't been very successful. Applying sanctions against terrorists is even more difficult since there is no obvious target.

Starving the beast won't kill it, but it might slow it down.

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QuickTake: Kudzu Cuts Alcohol Consumption

I've seen kudzu cover just about everything in the south. In fact, I was warned by one old timer not to stand still too long or I'd be covered in it too. It grows pretty fast, but I think the old timer was pulling my leg.

The news that kudzu reduces the consumption of alcohol is good for people who'd like to cut back but can't. It's also a positive for the economy since the overconsumption of alcohol is costly in terms of sick days, accidents, and inefficiency. I wonder if we'll soon be seeing kudzu farms, with the price of kudzu right up there with the price of soybeans.

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QuickTake: All the Persuasive Power In the World for a Mere $1.48

Dr. Robert Cialdini's Power of Persuasion is available as an audio file for the bargain price of $1.48. Just click on the title and head over to audible.com. You can listen to a sample that just might convince you that Dr. Cialdini is a genius.

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QuickTake: Mandated Moonshine in Your Tank?

Ethanol comes from corn, which means the big farm lobby is for it. So is Senator Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico). The Senator proposes that the U.S. use 6 to 8 billion barrels of ethanol in fueling our automobiles. What do the automakers and petroleum refiners say? Look for a lively debate on this proposal in the near future.

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QuickTake: Good News for Toyota and GM

The J.D. Power survey shows that Toyota and GM had the best initial build quality in 18 categories. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz gives a nice response to the good news on the GM FastLane Blog.

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QuickTake: Red--The Color of Winners

This story about the association between wearing red and winning in sports was linked on the Drudge Report today. I immediately thought of the allegations that wearing a red "power tie" can help make a man a winner in the business world.

No one taught me these things in school. I'm so angry about it that I'm seeing red. . . Now I've cooled off, but I'm embarrassed at my anger and my face is turning red. How can I possibly keep up with all the things I need to know to get through life. Oh well, I'd better add some red to my wardrobe instead of my face.

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Textile Imports from China--A Quota Without Teeth?

As an economics teacher, it's easy to go into the classroom and say that import restrictions are bad. And in fact, I do my duty and say exactly that. Convincingly, I would judge. When I'm a consumer, things are not always so cut and dried. The problem I have is that I've found so many Chinese-made goods to be of absymal quality--so much so that I'd rather run around in my tattered old clothes looking like a young Jed Clampett than buy new ones made in China. With that opinion of Chinese goods in mind, I took a look at the import quotas announced today by the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA). You can read the news release yourself by clicking on the title to this post.

The purpose of a quota is to reduce the amount imported. These quotas, which apply to several specific categories of textiles, have been set 7.5 percent above the level of imports last year. Unless Chinese imports of the products in question were expected to be more than 7.5 percent greater than last year, then these quotas were set with the realization that they would not actually reduce imports. Why would the government impose a quota with no effect? The U.S. has fired the proverbial warning shot across the bow at China. Talks between the two governments are to begin shortly to try to settle the issue amicably. As Theordore Roosevelt put it, "Walk softly, but carry a big stick." The threat of serious import quotas is that big stick.

U.S. consumers might have to pay a little more for their clothing, depending on how the negotiations turn out. As for me, I just hope the Chinese figure out how to do cheap AND good instead of just cheap!
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Larry Kudlow's Money Politic$ blog has a post today about China's currency that complements this post nicely.

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When I Was a Kid . . .

. . . cars used to look like this.

I wish they still did. The economics of car production and ownership changed it all.

That sexy 1957 Nash Ambassador Custom in the picture bespoke the exuberance of the 1950s. From the white-on-red paint to the gleaming chrome grille and bumpers, this is a car that reflected 1950s post-war prosperity. Let a two-tone paint scheme replace the old-fashioned single color. And forget Henry Ford's earlier admonition that you could have your car in any color you wanted, so long as it was black. If one headlight per side was necessary, then let's do the unnecessary and double the number. And if airpower helped win the war, then let's make our cars look as if they stand ready to take off and fly at our command. What a driveway decoration!

Today's bland, boring, look-a-like cars speak of not much other than decades of government safety regulation and fuel economy standards. Chrome is out because it weighs down a car. Plastic is in because it's light, and the weight saved marginally improves fuel economy.

Because of preservationists we can still see the old beauties. On special weekends, they're trotted out of the suburban three-car garages where they slumber most days. Their engines are fired to life as they get the chance to once again travel the open road. Today's cars should be so lucky 50 years from now.

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Superblog: The Huffington Post Celebrates Its First Anniversary

It's a week old now and I don't care about all these negative reviews. The Huffington Post rocks. This is one addicting web page. Let's see why.

• The selection of news content: Excellent, a combination of the top stories of the day and little offbeat items.
• The two column look in which the news is presented: Excellent, easy to read.
• The "in brief" link that allows me to spend 10 seconds absorbing the gist of a story and deciding whether to click and read the whole thing. Excellent, and a big improvement over Drudge.
• The "click to comment" on each news item. Great innovation.
• The use of color on the front page. Outstanding, with the teal graphics, combining beautifully with the red and black fonts on a white background.
• The lack of ads. Great, none of those annoying popups like on Drudge.
• The sign up box for email updates. Nice touch.
• The contact box for reporting scoops. Nice, but I wonder how many they've had.

This baby's like a sexy new car that makes last year's model look like a peacock stripped of its feathers . But how does she perform on the road?

The attention to detail continues with the wider left hand column that gathers Arianna's intro and all the previews of the blogs of the day together. That little bit of extra column width is important. The blog previews are set off subtlety but clearly from the news because of it. And what blogs. Before I actually read The Huffington Post the comments I'd seen had made me believe I'd better brace myself for airhead, wacko-vegetarian, new-age, far-left, blogger lite. It hasn't been that way at all. Why would it surprise anyone that Walter Cronkite and mystery writer Roger Simon can think clearly and write well? Why would the blogging community tar and feather the 250-strong stable of bloggers that Arianna has put together? Jealousy? Until The Huffinton Post features Paris Hilton mouthing off about how cute her feet are, let's show some appreciation for the work it took to get these folks into the blogosphere.

There's one improvement that would make this superblog perfect. It's obvious that readers would like to weigh in with comments on the blogs. That's not allowed. At least not yet. Arianna, do it. That change would make The Huffington Post the closest thing to a true town meeting on the Internet. And make for one heck of a read!

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Quotations from Chairman Greenspan

From Alan Greenspan's Wharton address on Sunday, May, 15, 2005:

The principles governing business behavior are an essential support to voluntary exchange, the defining characteristic of free markets. Voluntary exchange, in turn, implies trust in the word of those with whom we do business. To be sure, all market economies require a rule of law to function--laws of contracts, rights to property, and a general protection of citizens from arbitrary actions of the state. Yet, if even a small fraction of legally binding transactions required adjudication, our court systems would be swamped into immobility, and a rule of law would be unenforceable.
Of necessity, therefore, in virtually all our transactions, whether with customers or with colleagues, with friends or with strangers, we rely on the word of those with whom we do business. If we could not do so, goods and services could not be exchanged efficiently.

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Moreover, even when followed to the letter, laws guide only a few of the day-to-day decisions required of business and financial managers. The rest are governed by whatever personal code of values market participants bring to the table.

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Trust as the necessary condition for commerce was particularly evident in freewheeling nineteenth-century America, where reputation became a valued asset. Throughout much of that century, laissez-faire reigned in the United States as elsewhere, and caveat emptor was the prevailing prescription for guarding against wide-open trading practices. In such an environment, a reputation for honest dealing, which many feared was in short supply, was particularly valued. Even those inclined to be less than scrupulous in their personal dealings had to adhere to a more ethical standard in their market transactions, or they risked being driven out of business.

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But material success is possible in this world, and far more satisfying, when it comes without exploiting others. The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in your wake.

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Prejudice of whatever stripe is unworthy of a society built on individual merit. A free market capitalist system cannot operate fully effectively unless all participants in the economy are given opportunities to achieve their best. If we succeed in opening up opportunities to everyone, our national affluence will almost surely become more widespread. Of even greater import is that all Americans recognize that they are part of a system that is fair and worthy of support.

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Wal-Mart To Apologize--Is the Point Being Overlooked?

Maybe Wal-Mart needs better public relations. Or maybe the retailing giant needs to fight back. I'll let you decide.

OK, so the ad was a little over the top. A Nazi book burning was presented as analogous to a proposed ordinance that would have forbidden the company from expanding its store in Flagstaff, Arizona. Now we learn that Wal-Mart has caved to its critics and will run another ad apologizing for the first ad.

The point that the company was trying to make has apparently been lost. Private property means just that. It's private, not public. My opinion is that ordinances that change the rules after the fact violate Wal-Mart's freedom to use its property as it sees fit. If the ordinance had already been on the books when Wal-Mart bought the property, maybe that's a different story. I think I see a coalition of Wal-Mart haters and competitors using the government to accomplish what they can't achieve through persuasion, which is to get people to stop shopping at Wal-Mart.

Perhaps the ad was tasteless, as critics charge, but the nerve of those who would impose their will through government instead of the market is beyond tasteless. Let's hope the voters reject on principle the ordinance and let shoppers decide whether that store expansion was a good idea.

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Sex Tourists--Solicit Them and They Will Come

After reading Alex Renton's eyewitness account of prostitution in Thailand, I would advise sex tourists, pedophiles, and perverts headed that way to rethink their summer vacation plans.

Renton's sifting through the numbers suggests nearly a million men a year hop a plane to Thailand with images of nubile, compliant nymphettes dancing in their heads. Sex tourists are a diverse bunch--American, European, Japanese, and Australian. These are men eager to get down-and-dirty with one or more of the 2-million-strong army of Thai prostitutes. Highly coveted by pedophiles are the childen, who it is said offer "yum-yum" or "boom-boom" for a few dollars a sordid act.

Although the true facts are hard to come by, Renton's investigation of the oldest profession concludes that the number of prostitutes in Thailand is lower and their ages higher than is commonly reported. The actual number of prostitutes is closer to 150,000 than to 2 million. Likewise, reports of children involved in prostitution are difficult to verify and the numbers are probably inflated significantly.

Make no mistake, though, prostitution flourishes in Thailand, even though it is illegal. If reports of its extent are exaggerated and that brings in more free-spending sex tourists, then who's going to complain? Not the prostitutes, the pimps, the bar owners, the cabbies, the airlines, the hotels--everyone who makes money from tourism. Neither will the 21 international agencies based in Thailand to fight the sexual enslavement of women and children. If the true dimensions of the sex industry are overstated, it's easier for them to get money to fight it.

If some pedophiles return from Thailand unable to find what they wanted, then good! They might complain, but I have the feeling no one's going to have much sympathy for them.

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QuickTake: A Sin Tax the Sinners Asked For

The Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Blog features a story about Nevada brothel owners promoting a state tax on prostitution. Haven't brothel owners heard the saying, "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree"?

As you might guess, brothel owners have an ulterior motive in this case. They expect that taxing prostitution would help legitimize it. Get the state's politicians accustomed to the idea that prostitution enriches state government coffers, and then away we go. More brothels, bigger brothels, better locations, advertising. The sky's the limit.

States used to be officially opposed to gambling. No more. Will the same hold true for prostitution? Time will tell.

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QuickTake: Dog Crate Hotel

I understand that it's expensive to be a tourist in Japan. I'll probably never go there, but if I did I might be willing to save money by spending the night in a dog crate. Well, not actually a dog crate. The Japanese are ingenious. They've come up with the idea of a capsule hotel. The capsules remind me of the kennel area in a vet's office. They are little sleeping compartments, one stacked on top of another.

If Elvis were alive to see this, he might change the lyrics of that big hit song of his to

Since my baby left me, I've found a new place to dwell,
It's down at the end of lonely street at the dog crate hotel . . .

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QuickTake: Yahoo! Chases Big-Spending Neos

From the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia comes this story about the tribe of free-spending "neos:"

Neos were first identified in Australia nearly three years ago and are rapidly igniting international interest as a group of consumption leaders who represent 24 per cent of the population but account for 54 per cent of discretionary spending.

I think we had a similar group in America some years ago. We called them yuppies. Where have all the yuppies gone? Perhaps they immigrated to Australia to lose that label. It wasn't good to be identified as a yuppie. I wonder how the neos of Australia feel about being so labeled.

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Bill Gates is in the lower left corner of the picture. 

The Fed and Monetary Policy

The Fed Uses This Letterhead

Most people have never seen a Federal Reserve Press Release. Instead, they rely on newspapers, TV, and the Internet to keep them informed and to interpret the Fed's monetary policy actions. Because of the Internet, you can do it yourself.

Copied and pasted below is the latest press release, indicating a tightening of monetary policy by the Fed. I've read that this is the eighth time in a row that the Fed has announced an increase in the federal funds rate target. The federal funds rate is the interest rate than banks charge on funds they loan to each other. You might think that the interest rate on savings would increase in lockstep with the federal funds rate, but I haven't seen any upward movement in the interest rate I earn on my savings account. Savings rates usually respond to Fed actions, but with a lag.

You'll notice that the vote to raise the federal funds rate target was unanimous. That's typically the case since the Fed wouldn't want to appear divided. It might upset the financial markets if they were. The related decision to raise the discount rate, which is the interest rate on funds banks borrow from the Fed, sends a uniform message: "We're tightening!"

Release Date: May 3, 2005
For immediate release
The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent.

The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Recent data suggest that the solid pace of spending growth has slowed somewhat, partly in response to the earlier increases in energy prices. Labor market conditions, however, apparently continue to improve gradually. Pressures on inflation have picked up in recent months and pricing power is more evident. Longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Edward M. Gramlich; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

In a related action, the Board of Governors unanimously approved a 25-basis-point increase in the discount rate to 4 percent. In taking this action, the Board approved the requests submitted by the Boards of Directors of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco.
2005 Monetary policy

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But Can Kitty Climb the Pole?

From the BBC comes this priceless item about the British government providing funding for a woman to take up a new occupation--pole dancing. I may be wrong, but I think we call it stripping here in the colonies. Anyway, the cost to the taxpayers was 2,100 pounds. According to the currency converter at itools.com, that amounts to $3,970.47 at today's exchange rate. It seems the lady in question had served five years of military duty and was thus eligible to be funded for the job training of her choice.

The woman is now dancing under the name Kitty. Even Kitty didn't think her request for funding would be approved, but a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense defended the expenditure by noting that the only requirement for funding is that the occupation be legal. I hope the MoD knows what it's doing. Pole dancing is an occupation that chews up and spits out dancers pretty quickly. It may not be long before Kitty is back looking for funding for another occupation. Hmm. Firemen slide down poles when the fire alarm goes off. We might just look at Kitty's current occupation as an apprenticeship for duty in the fire department.

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Ten For the Road--And Five Are Trucks or SUVs

The list of the top 10 bestselling vehicles for calendar year 2004 provides an interesting look at America's taste in motorized transportation (unit sales are in parenthesis):

• Ford F-Series (939,511)
• Chevrolet Silverado (680,768)
• Toyota Camry (426,990)
• Dodge Ram (426,289)
• Honda Accord (386,770)
• Ford Explorer (339,333)
• Honda Civic (309,196)
• Chevrolet Impala (290,259)
• Chevrolet TrailBlazer (283,484)
• Ford Taurus (248,148)
  Source: Automotive News Data Center

Will these rankings still prevail after all 2005 sales are accounted for? I think most of the rankings will stay as is, at least if gas prices don't rise much more than they already have. What surprised me is that Nissan is nowhere on the list. And if it weren't for the big Dodge Ram, DaimlerChrysler wouldn't be represented either. Whatever happened to the popularity of minivans?

It will be interesting to see if the new retro-style 2005 Ford Mustang can sneak onto the list. If I were a betting man, I'd place a little money on the pony car. I'm seeing a lot of new Mustangs, some driven by college students and some driven by people who were in college when the original Mustang first came out in 1964. A car that can attract buyers of all ages has a good shot at the list. Even so, the new model won't push the original's sales record. That first model took the country by storm and sold over 400,000 units. At less than $3,000 the car was a steal. Especially compared to the price of a nice, original 1964 Mustang today. I wish I still had my 1965 convertible. I'd be rich!

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The Glass Ceiling in the Granite State: Women's Earnings and Jobs

American women earn less than American men. Thus, it's not a surprise that women in New Hampshire earn less than men in that state. That's according to a report of the New Hampshire Women's Policy Institute. The report offers a lot of common sense insights and solutions, perhaps because it was written by an economist, Ross Gittell, an economics professor at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business.

Rather than calling for tougher enforcement of anti-discrimination laws or the passage of new ones, the report zeros in on reducing occupational segregation. When more college women major in the same subjects as men and choose careers in currently male dominated occupations, that male/female earnings differential should shrink.

One issue that remains a bit murky revovles around the following facts:

Among the state's 25 public companies, only 13 percent of the executive officers are women and nearly 9 percent of the corporate board members are women. Sixteen, or 64 percent of the companies have no women among the top five paid executive officers. And 12, or 48 percent, have no women on the board of directors.

Smart New Hampshire stockholders should make sure that "the glass ceiling" isn't the explanation for these statistics. If I were a stockholder in any of these companies, my only concern would be with making money. In my experience when women are turned loose and given the power to excel, they do. Have these companies looked hard enough for women executives and board members? If you're a stockholder, that would be a good question to bring up at the next meeting.

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$ymbolizing the Dollar

For Americans, the symbol for money is the $. I like the $. When I was a little kid, it was easy for me to learn. Just draw an S and then put a vertical line through it. Hey, I said to myself, I can do that. When you're done, it looks nice. To me, it looks better than the euro sign, which is sort of e with a horizontal line through it.

If you ask most people where the $ appears on their money, they'll probably say on the corners, right where the amount appears. The truth is that the $ doesn't appear on our currency. That's confusing.

Another confusing thing is that the dollar sign can be written with one vertical line or two. I always write it with two vertical lines, but one of them sometimes ends up looking like a 1. Thus, sometimes when I intend to write $20.00, the amount comes out looking like $120.00. The extra vertical line gets displaced over to the right so that it comes out as a 1. Maybe I should just drop the extra vertical line.

In school, we were never taught where the $ comes from. According to the linked article, the $ is used in some countries as the symbol for the peso. That quashes the theory that the $ is a narrow U superimposed over an S. It also must mean that the $ is not American in origin. I can't see other countries honoring the U.S. by symbolizing their money with our initials. The article also goes on to explain why we write $1 instead of 1$. Good. Now that I know something about the $, I can go back to spending $, earning $, thinking about $, dreaming about $ . . .

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QuickTake: Is Yahoo Superior to Google?

I'm asking the question in the title because for two days now the Google Freakonomics count remained static, while it increased significantly on Yahoo. That suggests to me that Yahoo is updating their database more frequently than Google. If my conclusion is true, then if you are looking for the latest information on a topic Yahoo would be your best bet. More research needs to be done on this topic because I'd always heard that Google was the best search engine.

QuickTake: The Google Freakonomics Count

I'll leave out the link today because you know what I'm doing. On Google the Freakonomics count stayed at 130,000, while on Yahoo it jumped to 187,000. I'm tired of this exercise, so I'll leave it to some other blogger to take up the slack and check the count every day.

Slogans--Even Universities Have Them

I was amused when I came across a story about brand identity in higher education. A quick click or two of the mouse took me to the Stamat page linked in this story, where 575 slogans used by colleges and universites are listed.

Stamat is a consulting company that specializes in higher education. Their tagline is Promises Kept. I'm not sure what it means, but it sounds nice. No one would hire a consulting firm that had the slogan Promises Unkept.

Once I started looking at the list of slogans, I immediately found one I liked. Mississippi College's tagline is A Christian University. In three short words I know a lot about that college. Not all Christian schools do as well. Philadelphia Biblical University, which I assume must be Christian, uses the tagline A Distinctive Approach. That's too vague for my taste. It could mean anything. Do they combine devil worship with their Bible studies? That would be a distinctive approach. Maybe they should change it to read A Distinctive Approach to Christian Values, or something like that.

Some schools emphasize a foundations approach in their slogans. A Firm Foundation for a Life of Opportunities is the tagline at Eastern College in Pennsylvania. Berry College in Georgia takes a similar tack, claiming A Foundation for Life. I guess the word "firm" is implied in the Berry College slogan, since no one would want a soft foundation or an unsound foundation for life. I wonder why Eastern College found it necessary to include the word "firm" explicitly. I think that word could go. It would make the slogan easier to fit on a bumper sticker.

Other schools lay out a vision of the future. A Distinguished Past and A Bold Future is how the University of Georgia Law School brands itself. I didn't know that law professors were psychic. How else would they know that the school has a bold future? Troy University in Alabama keeps it simple with A Future of Opportunities. There's that word "opportunities" that Eastern College uses. I'm beginning to suspect that schools select from the same short list of words to create their taglines.

The school where I work uses the tagline Come Here, Go Far. A search of the Stamat database didn't turn up my school. I guess the slogan is too simple for Stamat to include. None of the big words that so often appear in university slogans are present. I think our students like the slogan, though. After a semester or two here many of them do seem to go far. As far away as they can get from here. Maybe we should change the slogan to read Come Here, Stay Here. That could help solve our retention problem. Or how about Come Here, You'll Want to Stay. You see what I'm getting at.

I'm learning so much about different schools just from seeing their slogans. Most of the schools I've never even heard of. I've only gone as far as the second page on the Stamat list. I'll look at the rest of the slogans later. So, which is my favorite slogan of the 40 that I've seen so far? . . . Shout for joy. That's what Hope College in Michigan says to do. I'd go along with that if I were one of their students. A person's college years ought to be a happy time, in spite of the exams and grades that go along with getting an education. Of course, I'll bet that Hope students, like all other college students, shout for joy the most when spring break rolls around. See why I like that slogan the best? It's universal. Any school could use it and it would be true.

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QuickTake: Sip or Gulp?

John Stossel's little coffee taste test revealed the obvious. Preferences in coffee are a matter of individual taste. Next up, a beer tasting? Where do I sign up?

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QuickTake: The Google Freakonomics Count

What's wrong with Google? The count stayed at 130,000 today, while on Yahoo the number of hits has risen to 182,000. By the way, thanks to Professor Levitt my copy of Freakonomics has arrived. When finals are over I'll be reading the book, filtering the content through my common sense and professional expertise, and sharing thoughts with you on this blog.

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Blue Skies or Stormy Weather for the Weather Service?

I'm reminded of the weather rock I saw in a thrift store. The inscription said "If rock is wet, it's raining." The weather rock is NEVER wrong. That much can't be said for other weather forecasters. Who's got the best record for accurate predictions, the government or private weather forecasting services? A simple question to which I couldn't find an answer. Maybe these people do. In any case, while trying to find the answer I ran across this neat little tutorial on how weather forecasts are created.

When I was growing up it was called the Weather Bureau and it was the only game in town. Now its the National Weather Service, and they're no longer alone in making forecasts. There are several competitors, including the Weather Channel and AccuWeather.

OK, so what was once a government monopoly is now an oligopoly. The new guys who entered the market knew that they would be competing against the government's service, but they found investors who provided start up capital and with the passage of time they established themselves in the marketplace. Now, they would like to emasculate that pesky competitor that's funded by the taxpayers. Tax funding provides a unfair advantage, they cry. But do they tell their customers that their forecasts are based on . . . data and forecasts provided by the Weather Service?

Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, has proposed legislation that makes the future of the Weather Service as murky as sewer water after a summer cloudburst. According to the linked story,

His bill instructs the commerce secretary not to give out weather information "that is or could be" provided by the private sector, except for storm warnings. It says that information instead should be channeled through "data portals" designed for "volume access by commercial providers."

The Weather Service would be a handmaiden to the private forecasters if this legislation passes. I can see the benefits to private forecasters. They would profit from the government's huge investment in weather satellites and other assets used in collecting weather data. At the same time, the Weather Service's role would shift from that of competitor to that of input supplier to the private firms. What a cold, dark day in the proud 135 year history of the Weather Service that would be.

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Things You Never Knew About Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman

He's been called the second most powerful man in the world, behind the President of the United States. But how much do you really know about him? See if you can answer the following questions without looking at the answers or reading the linked official biography.

1. Where was he born?
2. What year was he born?
3. How old was he when he received his B.S. degree?
4. How old was he when he received his Ph.D.?
5. What is that Ph.d. in?
6. Has he won the Nobel prize?
7. In what year was he appointed to the Fed?
8. Which foreign countries have honored him?
9. How many terms as Chairman of the Fed has he served?
10. How many honorary degrees does he list on his biography?

Ready for those answers? I'll present them in reverse order to make it more difficult for you cheat: 8, 5, Britain and France, 1987, No, Economics, 51, 22, 1926, New York City.

The most surprising fact I discovered about Alan Greenspan is that he was 51 years old when he received his doctorate in economics. In fact, there was a 27 year gap from the time he received his M.A. until he received his Ph.D. That tidbit should provide hope for grad students everywhere who are struggling with their dissertations.

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QuickTake: The Google Freakonomics Count

Wow! The count is up to 130,000 today. Only up to 171,000 on Yahoo. Bottom line: the Internet buzz over Freakonomics is still increasing. But for how long?

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"NOTHING LIKE THIS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!"

Don Lapre's New Infomercial

Infomercial king Don Lapre is back! With more outrageous claims than ever. And just when I thought I'd never see that handsome, boyish face again!

I have to admit that I watch everything the man puts on the air. "Tiny little classified ads" gonna make me a millionaire? Yeah, I'll buy that. Oh, and that Cindy Margolis looking up at Don with racoon eyes. I wish it was me she was goo-goo eyeing.

This go round Don's making life way too complicated for me, though. If I sell 20 bottles of the Greatest Vitamin in the World, I have to choose between $1,000 in cash now or $200 a month for the rest of my life. Where's my calculator? What's the present value of $200 a month for life? Darn, I'm too old to care. I wanna live it up now. Send me the thousand smackers.

How does he do it? From what I know about the brain there's a left brain and a right brain, but this guy must have two brains, or three sides to a single brain. Don's ability to bounce back from bankruptcy and the takeover of his original business is proof of something. Maybe he's part cat, with 9 lives. An old Don Lapre expires, but a new one steps forward to replace the old one. How many of those 9 lives has he used up?

Don Lapre is the most likeable pitchman I've ever seen. His enthusiasm is contagious. I wonder if any of the people who lost thousands of dollars following the plan in his old "Making Money Secrets" package have signed on this go round. If they lose as much this time, they deserve it. The funny thing is that in economics we emphasize the significance of reputation to a firm's ability to stay in business and make a buck. From what I see in Don's case, maybe economics doesn't pay enough attention to boyish charm. Or, maybe it's just another case of P.T. Barnum's famous maxim, "There's a sucker born every minute."

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QuickTake: The Google Freakonomics Count

I think I'll type the word Freakonomics into the Google search window every day and see how many hits appear. Today, the count is 127,000. Not bad for a word that didn't exist in anyone's vocabulary until a month ago. And a good indicator of the buzz about the book.

I've read that lead author Steven Levitt is a gambling man. I wonder how the number of hits will behave. It should increase so long as the book is selling big numbers, right? And then start to slowly decline? Is anyone willing to bet a cookie on what date the count will first begin to decrease? Professor Levitt?

PS As an afterthought I decided to do a Yahoo search and got 170,000 hits. Why the difference?

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Economically Literate Rock Band?--Sex, Drugs, and IPOs

Sex, drugs, and IPOs is the way the linked story begins. I don't know about the sex and drugs, but the initial public offering (IPO) of Warner Music stock is expected to enrich the company to the tune of $600 million. Sweet music to anyone's ears. Nonetheless, the IPO has struck a sour note with Linkin Park, one of Warner's top recording artists.

The band is protesting the Warner IPO by asking to be released from its contract. Why involve yourself in the company's financial matters when you're paid to perform? Linkin Park is concerned that the funds raised through the stock offering will be used to pay off the debts of the investors who purchased the company with borrowed money. At least that's the stated reason.

Observers of the rock scene note that the band is negotiating a new contract with Warner. Could the protest be a negotiating ploy? That thought has occurred to some. Warner's reaction?

"They have always been compensated generously for their outstanding worldwide success," spokesman Will Tanous said in an e-mailed comment.

I checked the official Linkin Park web site for a comment by the band, but found none. Undaunted, I wanted to see if Linkin Park's fans had an interest in commenting on the situation. Again, nothing. It looks like the band has made its stand, but the fans are more interested in the music. We'll have to wait and see if the band and its record company get back in tune. True economic literacy might include a recognition that a successful business partnership benefits both parties.

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American Students Receive an F in Economic Literacy

The linked 82-page report What Americans Know About Economics follows the old "good news, bad news" routine.

The good news is that almost all Americans believe a knowledge of economics is important and a majority are interested in economics. The bad news is that on a short quiz over key economic ideas adults received a grade of C, while high school students received an F. All 24 quiz questions are provided in the report. I think you'll agree that none of them require much in the way of thinking or knowledge. Why then, the dismal results?

Either a significant number of students are escaping economics instruction or that instruction needs to be improved. The report suggests that many high school economics courses are senior level. Can younger students understand basic economic concepts? I think so. Maybe that would help. Can economics instruction be improved? I've seen the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) materials used to teach economics and they are outstanding. From what I understand, though, many high school economics teachers teach the course as a sideline rather than as their main assignment. Maybe that'a problem, too.

A knowledge of economics is empowering. Lots of students must feel pretty disenfranchised these days.

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QuickTake: Bush Approval of Handling of Social Security at 35%

The results of this USA Today poll mirror my personal experiences when I talk about the issue with ordinary Americans. Has Bush forgotten that Social Security's nickname is "the third rail" of American politics?

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QuickTake: Click Here for a Review of Freakonomics

A nice review of Freakonomics on the Harvard Business Review Working Knowledge page. Sign up for their free weekly e-newsletter while you're there.

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QuickTake: Movies at no cost . . .

. . . to the producers, that is. To the list of distortions caused by tax laws, add the artificial incentive to make big-budget blockbusters instead of low-budget sleepers. The former can easily be financed at no cost to the producers by exploiting the tax codes in Germany, Britain, and elsewhere. Nothing you'd like to see at the movies? Blame the tax man!

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QuickTake: When Less is More

I'm introducing a new feature to my corner of the blogosphere: the QuickTake. Posts that carry this label will be short and sharply focused. Like this post!

Personal Social Security Accounts--What's the Answer to This Question?

"A recent Fox News poll found 84 percent of Americans ages 18 to 55 believe they should have the option of creating a voluntary personal account within the Social Security system."
Source: The White House Fact Sheet on Social Security, April 29, 2005.

OK, younger Americans like the idea of personal security accounts. The President says that individuals will own their accounts, but I assume that the accounts have strings attached. I would guess that those monies cannot be spent until an individual retires. Are there any exceptions to that restriction? Are there additional restrictions? Have younger Americans who favor personal accounts thought of these issues?

Here's one question to which I would especially like an answer: Does the proposal allow for the withdrawal of monies when a person is diagnosed with a terminal disease? If I were told by a doctor that I only had six months to live, I'd like to live it up, see places I've never seen, and do things I've never done. In short, I would like to spend, spend, spend. It would be a shame to have worked for that money and not be able to spend it. The President says that people can bequeath their account balances to their children. But lots of Americans have no children. Can they leave their account balances to whomever they wish?

Lots of questions at my end, but no answers at the other end, insofar as I am aware.

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Economic Literacy--Lastest NCEE Survey Results

The link in this post will take you to the National Council on Economic Education(NCEE) survey of economic literarcy. There are 82 pages of What American Teens and Adults Know About Economics. I can summarize the study for you in two words: Not enough. It's in pdf format so you'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

I'll have more to say about the survey's significance to society later this week on EconOpinion. I suspect there are significant implications for economics teachers, too. I'll post my thoughts about how we can teach our way out of economic illiteracy at The Royal Economics Academy.

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