voluntaryXchange

Time for a Moment of Moral Clarity, Michelle

Obama may not understand that he does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is typical of men: our filters for flattery work inversely from the degree of outrageousness. 

That makes this the moment for Michelle Obama to sit Barack down and tell him clearly that he cannot accept the Nobel Peace Prize without having done something comparable and active that would put him on the same footing as other potential recipients.

This is a pass/fail test; with a stick for failing and no carrot for winning.

Technorati Tags: nobel,peace,prize,2009,obama

What a Joke

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize?

For what?

Do I need a new dictionary or something?

A few years ago I posted on some people who ought to win the Nobel peace prize. Not one of them has been touched – and yes, there are still monks in Burma being killed protesting for change without even raising a weapon.

FWIW: the best thing I can say about Obama is that at least he doesn’t deserve not to win a peace prize. I’m in the same category.

Technorati Tags: nobel,peace,prize,obama

Dux – the Alternative to Czar

I’ve been thinking, and James Taranto concurs, that the widespread use of czar to describe certain White House officials is a bit ignorant. (N.B. “czars” preceded the Obama administration).

The reason is that czar comes from Caesar which indicates an emperor. Taranto calls this a “singular leader”.

Our czars aren’t singular at all.

But, the Romans had another term for someone of nearly that level, but one step down, and not singular: dux (the root word of duke, although a dux is much closer to our czar than a duke would be).

Unlike Caesar/czar, dux indicates an almost-all-powerful leader, with wide local latitude, but subordinate to a Caesar/czar.

The Wikipedia article does dux some justice:

... It usually refers to the Roman Governor of the provinces. As the governor, the dux was both the highest civil official as well as the commander-in-chief of the legions garrisoned within the province.

 

However, during the time of the Dominate, the powers as a dux were split from the role of the governor and were given to a new office called "Dux". The dux was still the highest military office within the province and commanded the legions, but the governor had to authorize the use of the dux's powers. But once authorized, the dux could act independently from the governor … [emphasis is mine]

It seems to me that the second paragraph does justice to our current situation: Obama is the Caesar, cabinet secretaries are analogous to Roman governors, and the Roman dux to our czar.

The part of this that is missing (and I'm not expert enough to add it) is that under the Franks, a dux was named as the local (and loyal) representative of the Frankish king to rule over captive peoples who were still tribal, but while no longer nomadic didn’t really have a fixed geographic region either (for example Chrodobert was dux of the Alemans in the 7th century).

It seems to me that this is close to the White House conception of a czar even prior to Obama. The Frankish dux

• Reported to the executive
• Was often closer to the executive than to his subjects,but
• Was assigned to rule over people who had some affinity to each other, rather than to a location (as later dukes did).

Technorati Tags: dux,czar,caesar,obama,white,house

Spider Silk Tapestry

Cloth made out of spider’s silk (more photos and video):

The color is natural. It is on display at the American Museum of Natural History.

This took over a million spiders, producing almost a million 80-foot long fibers, which were spun 96 at a time into thread.

The spiders had to be hand-milked.

And yes, no spiders were harmed during the making of this tapestry.

Technorati Tags: spider,silk,cloth

Excel Tip # 5: Insert Blank Rows Between All Rows

I can’t remember having to do this, but I can certainly see that it is possible that I might. It’s roundabout, but straightforward to insert a blank row (or more than one) between each existing row using Sort.

Technorati Tags: excel,insert,blank,row,between

Excel Tip # 6 – Quick Graph Paper for Design

Use the Excel GUI as the graph paper.

Just highlight, then set column width to 1, row height to 9. Ouila.

Via Lifehacker.

Technorati Tags: excel,graph,paper,design

A Bonus Tax Casualty

I sat on this piece for 6 months to see how things panned out. We haven’t gone this way yet, but I think the intent is still there.

Consider:

Until a year ago, I was The Wall Street Journal's personal-finance columnist -- and widely considered to be a friend of the ordinary investor.

But that was then. In April 2008, I left to join a new Citi venture. (What follows are my views -- not those of Citigroup Inc.) For the past year, I thought I was involved in building a wonderful, customer-friendly business that minimizes conflicts of interest, favors index funds, and helps everyday Americans with their entire financial lives.

It seems that I was sadly mistaken. If the rebuke from Washington is any guide, I have apparently played an integral part in the collapse of the global economy and the financial markets -- and I must be punished.

I used to read Jonathan Clements column, although he did seem like a bit of a dweeb. They were down to earth and practical, with a lot of personal information. I remember when he left the paper – I didn’t like his replacement very much.

Should the House bill become law, my bonus will be taxed at up to 90% once my adjusted gross income hits $250,000. …

…

I realize readers won't be shedding tears -- $250,000 is a decent chunk of change (though, trust me, it doesn't buy that great a lifestyle in New York). …

…

Not buying the hardship angle? Not persuaded that this tax is unfair? Consider this truly searing indictment: A 90% tax is downright stupid, creating bizarre disincentives. Exhibit A? That would be me. Once my total income hits $250,000 for the current calendar year, I will have no incentive to work a single day more in 2009. After all, for every extra dollar of income I earn above $250,000, I will lose 90 cents of the bonus I received earlier this year.

Being somewhat knowledgeable about personal finance, I'm trying to figure out how to finagle this. By minimizing my investment income in 2009 and pushing other income into 2010, I reckon I can delay the day of tax reckoning. But even with that finagling, by mid-October, I will hit $250,000 in total income -- and have no incentive to earn any more income in 2009.

At that point, I plan to ask Citi for an unpaid sabbatical. Forget earning more income. There's no point. Instead, you will find me hunkered down at home, desperately trying not to spend money. This will make entire financial sense for the Clements household. What about the struggling economy? Not so much. [emphasis added]

You know those children’s stories (and movie) where the bad fish are all caught in the fisherman’s net and the good fish too! That’s your Congress at work.

You know how the good fish always manages to break free of the net in some totally unrealistic way? The appropriate synonym for unrealistic is Orwellian.

Read the whole thing.

Technorati Tags: jonathan,clements,bonus,tax

Cool Science: Compressing Light

Think about this one:

1. Send a packet of light pulses (of the same wavelength) down a fiber optic cable carrying digital information.
2. Convert each element of the packet into a pulse of a different wavelength.
3. Take advantage of the fact that “redder” pulses travel more slowly outside of a vacuum; so make the earlier pulses redder and the later pulses progressively “bluer” so that they close the distances.
4. Reverse the process at the end.

If you can do # 2 and # 4 fast enough, you can compress more packets into the same fiber optic cable: 27 times as much in experiments. Way cool.

Technorati Tags: compress,light,fiber,optic

Economics Nobel Predictions

Ladbroke’s has odds.

I’ve been predicting Bhagwati forever, but I think since Krugman is thought of as a trade guy, they won’t give it to another one. That knocks out Dixit, Helpman and Grossman too.

Fama and French have been high on lists for a few years, but I’d have to say they’re out for a few years: there won’t be a finance prize until people once again realize that bubbles don’t mean markets are inefficient.

I’m not a micro person, but it’s been a while, so you’ve got to think that Jean Tirole, Dale Mortensen, Christopher Pissarides, Dale Jorgenson, Peter Diamond all have good chances.

I don’t think it’s a good year for macro, so Barro and Sargent are out, but I’d think that Chris Sims and Lars Peter Hansen might have a chance for econometrics.

I’ve heard Shiller mentioned, which I think is kind of lame, but perhaps paired with a real dark horse like Philip Cagan this might make sense: an early bubble theorizer with a bubble Cassandra.

If I had money I think I’d put it on Nordhaus. It’s starting to look like the panic has worn off about anthropogenic global warming, so at this point anointing a grown-up would be a useful message.

Also, there’s a chance for a dark horse from the younger international finance guys: Rogoff, Obstfeld and so on. I don’t think these guys really rank yet, but they’ve certainly been on radar screens the last year or so.

I still think Romer is too young.

Lastly, there’s the death watch list. Believe it or not, Harberger, Alchian, Demsetz, Shell and Uzawa have made it through another year. I’d be especially happy with an Alchian and Demsetz award.

Technorati Tags: 2009,economics,nobel,prize,predictions

The PIGS

I’d never heard the pejorative PIGS used for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. They’re the EU members that are having the most trouble acting their age.

I heard this in a George Feiger speech the other day, but Barry Ritholtz seems to have popularized it.

Technorati Tags: pigs,portugal,italy,spain,greece