From Carpe Diem

The more I read Mark Perry's blog Carpe Diem, the more I love him. He is a professor at the University of Michigan. I love his politics. Anyway...he had several posts yesterday that I wanted to point you towards that I thought were especially insightful. He posts like ten times a day, although a lot of his stuff is just referring you to other article and posts at other blogs. Kinda like me. See why I like this guy? Anyway, here they are:

• This post talks about the outcome differences between public v. private schools. The most revealing line in the post: EVERY study that compares academic achievement per dollar spent per pupil between market school systems and public school systems finds a significant market advantage.
• Then this post talks about the best and worst states to do business in. Of course California and New York are 49th and 50th, respectively. I was blown away by a related post I saw recently about the states with the lowest unemployment rates. What did the nine states with lowest unemployment have in common? Right to work laws, laws prohibiting unions from bullying people. Unions are evil. They started out well intentioned, but they have become their own problem with much more bad than good. I couldn't believe the unemployment rate here in Utah when I saw saw it a month or two ago. I think it was less than 5%.
  
• He quotes this article at length that actually comes via an econ professor at George Mason University. This one is my favorite of the three because I think it's so spot on. I'm also going to put a lengthy portion in here:
  

  The single greatest fact about capitalist society is that the great bulk of it appears to be the handiwork of a master designer but, in fact, is unplanned and even unimaginable before it becomes real and familiar.
  
  Remember this lesson whenever you hear alleged "experts" insisting that only conscious effort by government to "stimulate" demand can save the economy from its current downturn.
  
  It's true that no one can know beforehand the precise path by which a free market travels to escape the downturn. No one can foresee that, say, entrepreneurs in Texas and Ohio will be especially creative at finding ways to produce things that consumers will open their wallets wider to buy -- and, hence, that these entrepreneurs will succeed at launching profitable firms that hire more workers.
  
  No one can foresee exactly when, say, the increased efficiencies that the downturn obliges many established firms to pursue will make those firms again attractive to investors who then pump more money into them, enabling these firms to expand operations.
  
  No one can foresee or predict any of the details about how recovery will happen.
  
  But economics and history tell us that our inability to foresee and predict -- or even to imagine -- how recovery will come in the absence of conscious government stimulus is no reason to conclude that recovery requires conscious government stimulus.
  
  Yet, despite all of our experience with the marvels of free markets, the case for the massive government stimulus plans rests chiefly on people's fear that this time the market will fail.
  
  Why suppose that this situation differs from the countless other coordination challenges successfully met by market forces? I can think of no good reason other than the fear that oozes from biased imaginations. Despite experience that should teach us differently, we can imagine market failure much more easily than we can imagine just how markets will succeed.

Did you all know that I almost went to George Mason for grad school? It was in my top 3. I got accepted, they made a great offer with funding, but I decided against it. What's the best part about it? It's in Virginia right over by DC, total east coast school, but VERY conservative. How awesome is that? Hyper-conservative education embedded within an ultra-liberal environment. The law program, and the economics program that Perry refers to regularly. I actually kind of want to go there and enroll in their econ program. Why do I want to do more school when I'm already in school, and struggle with motivation sometimes? I'm a dummy.

I can't believe I chose Claremont over any of the other schools I got accepted to. I could have gone to Virginia Tech, George Mason, or become a Fighting Illini. Ugh...my blood is starting to boil...