The Ramadi strategy 2006, prior to the surge, begins success. It’s a dilemma familiar to counterinsurgency strategists: much of the fighting in Ramadi and other places continues because of the American presence, not in spite of it. U.S. commanders tasked with clearing Ramadi, the latest insurgent hub in Anbar Province, aren’t looking to assault the […]
PRODUCTIVITY Productivity growth is clearly slowing, and the key question is, is this a purely cyclical development or is it signaling a slowing in the long term trend growth rate. Slowing productivity is a normal cyclical development and it is such a strong pattern, that historically, it has been a very good leading indicator. But […]
This analysis of Gallup Poll data offers insights for us to seriously think about. It also fits in with John Robb’s expert theory on terrorisms. Often U.S. policy-makers and other intellectuals draw an analogy between the Cold War and the current “global war on terror” and recommend analogous strategies, because, after all, both conflicts battled […]
The Pinochio Law carries the fiction of companies as persons to greater depth, finally. Last week, the British government agreed to introduce a new law titled the “Corporate Manslaughter Statute.” This law is remarkable because it attempts to make companies–not persons–criminally responsible for deaths caused by a firm’s gross negligence. In this column, I will […]
dmarek suggested this article about government functions regarding the FDA. “The FDA doesn’t disagree with the scientific information about cherries, but it does say that cherries have not been recognized as safe and effective when used as labeled. Do we need a double-blind placebo-controlled study to prove cherries promote health? Jeffrey May, editor of CCH […]
The Foreign Policy In Focus a think tank, reports increases in the role of the US Air Force in Iraq. These assaults are part of what may be the best kept secret of the Iraq-Afghanistan conflicts: an enormous intensification of US bombardments in these and other countries in the region, the increasing number of civilian […]
Jester’s Court update e-mail from Fool.com. The JC this week focuses on another acronym: PE. According to Slate.com, private equity firms have started buying up their own debt at significantly reduced prices. As the author explained, it works a little like this: You pay your friend a few dollars so that you can host a […]
The Cato Institute’s James Bovard in 1995 had thoughts on private versus public monies. ADM’s finagling in Washington may have cost taxpayers and consumers more than $40 billion since 1980, counting the cost of the sugar program ($3 billion in higher prices each year), the ethanol program, and federal food giveaways and export subsidies. Some […]
In looking at the question of whether business or government is more wasteful it might actually be possible to use the pro-business argument to demonstrate that business is actually more wasteful. The argument is that government does not have competition to force it to quit doing something so it continues to do things when they […]
It seems there are a few rules that emerged from yesterday’s discussion about private versus public functions and efficiencies. 1. Government functions are inefficient all on their own. There are not enough feedback mechanisms to make government efficient at any point in time, and its functions serve ‘minimal’ or no purpose. With the taxing ability, […]