Friedman’s Contribution to Economics

Robert Hertzel on Milton Friedman in the Economic Quarterly of the Richmond Federal Reserve. (PDF file)

Forbes on Guiliani’s Economic Record

Steve Forbes argues that Rudy Guiliani has the best “free market” record of all the GOP Presidential candidates.

Transcript — Kudlow Interviews Guiliani

Read it here. Quotable:

If you’re talking about a response of government, probably what government can do best is to try to limit spending and try to bring down government spending. We haven’t done that in a while. We haven’t done it in a concerted way. And it seems to me that’s how the federal budget can have the best impact on the private economy. And make it clear that we’re going to extend the tax cuts and it’s not just a temporary thing so people can look forward to long term planning. And look for other ways in which we can put money back in the private sector.

Steve Forbes Endorses Guiliani

Forbes will be Co-Chairman of Guiliani’s national campaign committee.

Is “Cuteness” The Problem With Economics?

Alex Tabarrok considers Noam Scheiber on “Freakonomics”. Quotable:

The truth is that even today most of economics is a wasteland of boring papers on profoundly uninteresting questions.

Tyler Cowen adds:

I can assure you matters [in economics] were once worse [before “Freakonomics”]: too theoretical, too much game theory, and too little interest in the real world. That has all changed. At a bare minimum, the Freakonomics movement ensures that everyone understands incentives and that is not to be taken for granted ..
If there is any problem in top economics graduate students, it is not excessive interest in the clever at the expense of substance. It is lack of interest period, lack of breadth, and excessive careerism. There is plenty of room in the profession, and in people’s brains, for a bit more Freakonomics.

The Ability to Execute An Exit

One reason private enterprise has a huge advantage over government enterprise. Quotable:

Koch is the CEO of Koch Industries Inc., one of the best-performing firms in American history. Koch Industries is the largest private company in the country with businesses in minerals, energy, financial services and consumer goods. It brings in over $90 billion in revenues and has over 85,000 employees around the world ..

In his book Koch provides a list of over 40 businesses they exited, from pizza dough to tennis court surfaces to air quality consulting. It is clear that Koch’s management is proud of its ability to identify areas they should exit and take the steps to do so. Exit is often a painful and difficult process and there are significant obstacles to its realization – sentiment, bureaucracy, loss of business vision. But exit is nonetheless crucial for success.

More on Koch and his book here.

It’s A Third World Slum

Populated with third world citizens — living in California.

Obama’s Bogus “Autobiography”

The Chicago Tribune has the true untold story of Barry Obama. Quotable:

In his best-selling autobiography, “Dreams from My Father,” Obama describes having heated conversations about racism with another black student, “Ray.” The real Ray, Keith Kakugawa, is half black and half Japanese. In an interview with the Tribune on Saturday, Kakugawa said he always considered himself mixed race, like so many of his friends in Hawaii, and was not an angry young black man.

He said he does recall long, soulful talks with the young Obama and that his friend confided his longing and loneliness. But those talks, Kakugawa said, were not about race. “Not even close,” he said, adding that Obama was dealing with “some inner turmoil” in those days.

“But it wasn’t a race thing,” he said. “Barry’s biggest struggles then were missing his parents. His biggest struggles were his feelings of abandonment. The idea that his biggest struggle was race is [bull].”

HT Sailer, who writes:

The downside for Obama in these Hawaiian articles is twofold: First the vast majority of Americans have no idea that his autobiography is stuffed full of racial resentment. That’s the opposite of the image he’s trying to project. Second, these investigative reports make him look hyper-sensitive and disingenuous.

Ike & Civil Rights

The untold history of one of the best U.S. Presidents over the last 100 years. Notable:

His journey on the issue began during World War II at the Battle of the Bulge. Here, needing more troops to send to the front, Ike went against War Department policy and encouraged African-American soldiers in the Supply Service to train for combat and be treated “without regard to color or race….” Many responded. And served well. Ike took note and later told an African-American aide during the 1952 presidential campaign that he was inspired by the heroic service of black troops in World War II. “They fought nobly for their country,” he said. “And I will never forget.”

Eisenhower’s [excellence can] be seen in the actions he took over the course of his presidency in handling civil rights ..

First, Ike desegregated the District of Columbia. Having full constitutional power over the nation’s capitol, he effectively ended decades of segregation. He even pressured Hollywood executives to open up their DC theaters on a color-blind basis. They did.

Second, Ike desegregated the military. In response to Truman’s executive order in 1948, many in the military had dragged their heels. Eisenhower used his military aura to help finish the job of creating a desegregated military. Interestingly, Truman’s executive order in many ways can be traced back to Ike’s decision at the Battle of the Bulge, which proved that African-Americans were just as brave as any soldiers.

Third, Ike weighed in on Brown v. the Board of Education. He had mixed feelings about the case, worrying about the size and scope of it. But he agreed to let Attorney General Herbert Brownell file a brief on behalf of the NAACP that separate schools were unequal. When the ruling came down, he vowed to enforce it.

Fourth, Ike pushed for and signed the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. His only disappointment with the new law was that Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson successfully attached a “jury-trial” amendment so that whites accused of racial crimes would have the home field advantage offered by a white jury.

Fifth, he appointed fair-minded judges who would hand the civil rights movement its biggest victories for years to come. “The best civil rights judges in the South,” remembered Andrew Young, “were the Eisenhower appointees…”