Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Renegotiating NAFTA: It’s not just for the US any more

It’s no secret that I am no fan of NAFTA, which is to free trade what George W. Bush is to entrepreneurship. So when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were talking about changes needing to be made, I yawned. (save the rustbelt, by contrast, looked up and said, “Now they understand?”) Then changes they want […]

Soc Sec XXIV: Treasury’s Social Security Issue Brief no. 5

More homework for Coberly and Arne (and any others who want to join in). Andrew Biggs alerts us to the release of the Treasury Department’s Issue Brief No. 5: Social Security Reform: Strategies for Progressive Benefit Adjustments The proposal seems quite interesting. Rather than simply readjusting the benefit schedule by some blunt change in method […]

Foreign Engineers and Scientists

Greg Mankiw makes an interesting point. Two-thirds of doctoral candidates in science and engineering in U.S. universities are foreign-born. But only 140,000 employment-based green cards are available annually, and 1 million educated professionals are waiting — often five or more years — for cards. Congress could quickly add a zero to the number available, thereby […]

Information asymmetries

Hat tip Naked Capitalism for this link to PhysOrg. “Firms from rural areas are less likely to conduct a follow-on offering, even after adjusting for firm size, prior stock returns, book-to-market ratios, and other factors,” the authors conclude. “Geographic location is closely related to information asymmetries.” Is this accurate to a significant degree? If so, […]

Reporting the same incident online or in print

by reader Tinman Here’s the NYT Internet “headline” of Obama “Shifting stand…” Yet here’s a pic of the actual print version! So what is it NYT? Is he “shifting” or “reversing”?! I love how the MSM is saying he’s abandoning his pledge to use public finance when he’s NEVER said such a thing anywhere!————————This one […]

Experienced acquisition staff drops over 35% as privatization escalates

Hat tip to reader vtcodger The NYT reports: Over the last decade, even as spending on new military projects has reached its highest level since the Reagan years, the Pentagon has increasingly been losing the people most skilled at managing them. That brain drain, military experts like Mr. Kaminski say, is a big factor in […]

GAO forces review of Northrop deal

by ilsm (submitted June 23) One point of view is here on the KC-45 win for the taxpayer.I will highlight a couple of points. 1. “The Air Force, in making the award decision, did not assess the relative merits of the proposals in accordance with the evaluation criteria identified in the solicitation…” This is contracts […]

Gitmo and recidivism…worst of the worst…and Scalia uses it.

by rdan The Seton Hall Law Center for Policy Research reported on: On December 10, 2007 The Seton Hall Center for Policy and Research issued a Report,THE MEANING OF “BATTLEFIELD”: An Analysis of the Government’s Representations of‘Battlefield Capture’ and ‘Recidivism’ of the Guantánamo Detainees, which demonstrated thatstatements asserting 30 detainees had returned to the battlefield […]

Rarely mentioned night soil and mineral

by rdan Hat tip to Healthy Rivers for this piece of news: We’re taking your Number Two and making it Number One That’s the goal behind an innovative plan to re-invent sewage bio-solids as garden compost, unveiled yesterday at the GMSC’s new facility on Delong Drive in Moncton. Marketed under the brand name Gardener’s Gold, […]