The Reality-Based Community

Romney’s Swiss bank account: did he take amnesty?

Mark Kleiman — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:55:38 +0000

A question for Rick Santorum to ask Mitt Romney: did the $3 million UBS account revealed on your 2010 taxes but not in your financial disclosures show up on your previous tax returns, or did you participate in the IRS amnesty program set up after UBS was forced to disgorge thousands of account-holder names to the IRS?

Contraception and Accurate Framing

Jonathan Zasloff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:17:35 +0000

Here is the supposed controversy on contraception: Republicans and Mitt Romney think that whether you get contraception in your health plan should be up to your employer. Democrats and Barack Obama think that whether you get contraception in your health plan should be up to you. That’s what the whole alleged issue is about. Here’s one more hypothetical: [...]

Annals of commerce – coffee and pens

Michael O'Hare — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:41:32 +0000

A little more than a year ago, I had some snarky reflections about Nestlé pod coffeemakers. Since then, I noticed that the Keurig system’s pods are more reasonably priced, though still a very expensive way to get a cup of coffee compared to starting with bulk coffee and good technology. The Motley Fool has stepped [...]

Myshkin the Point

Andrew Sabl — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:33:26 +0000

Tyler Cowen is fascinated by cutting-edge communications technology, and by literary criticism. But this is no Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: the two great things don't go great together.

Innovation in America

James Wimberley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:26:53 +0000

Honeywell's patent on a thermostat dial.

Standoff weaponry

Michael O'Hare — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:06:59 +0000

Kevin Drum notes that 65% of people in a WaPo poll approve of drone attacks on “suspected terrorists”, even on American citizens. The question mixes up some important issues, and Kevin dissects out whether a death penalty, no matter how delivered, for being suspected is OK. But a lot of people are also very antsy [...]

Contraception

Harold Pollack — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:15:06 +0000

Via Doctors for America

Doctor my eyes…

Harold Pollack — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:45:57 +0000

While you’all were doing whatever day-job you do between tweets, I was stimulating the economy and reducing health disparities: almost effortlessly. With two vitreous detachments, one of which took a morsel of retina with it, a budding cataract, macular changes, and astigmatism, I’m doing my part for Obama 2012 by supporting the ophthalmological economy. I’ve accomplished most of this using only the inside of my left eyeball. For the life of me I don’t understand why the Obama administration and Ben Bernanke can’t finish the job.

Facebook’s IPO and Local Housing Markets

Matthew E. Kahn — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:42:32 +0000

There are millions of homes in the greater Bay Area in California. If thousands of newly minted Facebook multi-millionaires seek their dream home in the area, how will local real estate prices change? The NY Times presents a strong article. In my 2011 piece, I present evidence that liberal cities tend to issue fewer [...]

Garry Trudeau

Michael O'Hare — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:14:40 +0000

channeling the RBC (ht: Mark Delucchi) . If only we could draw…

Romney’s very bad night: boo farking hoo

Mark Kleiman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:31:05 +0000

Romney gets his clock cleaned in Missouri and Minnesota, and maybe in Colorado as well. Liberals terrified of the awesome electability of Rick Santorum are - according to wingnut logic - quaking in their boots.

Not Ready For Prime Time

Jonathan Zasloff — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:46:04 +0000

Brett O’Donnell, who received (perhaps wrongly) a lot of credit for Romney’s performance in the Florida debates, has been fired by the campaign. There is, as they say, an app a saying for that: 1. First-rate people hire first-rate people. 2. Second-rate people hire third-rate people. Whatever one thinks about Barack Obama, he seems comfortable [...]

More on the Pursuit of Unhappiness

Keith Humphreys — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:30:54 +0000

Last year I wrote about discovering that American Airlines had a better club hidden inside the airport club which I had previously thought was the only club there was. My excitement at entry to “the next level” faded when I began to wonder “Is there a better club inside the club that is inside the [...]

Improving the RBC Web Site

Keith Humphreys — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:43:19 +0000

At the upper right of posts on RBC are category indicators (e.g., “Election 2012″, “Personal Moment” and in this case “Blogging”). Until recently, all the RBC post categories were listed on the left side of the website. We noticed recently that less than 1% of readers were clicking on that list, so we have moved [...]

Bloggingheads on Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Chicago’s challenges

Harold Pollack — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:28:21 +0000

Glenn Loury and I cover Newt Gingrich’s janitorial views, Mitt Romney’s misconceptions on social insurance. We also had some serious talk about the challenges facing young people in Chicago. I feel genuinely blessed to have such conversations with an old friend and mentor.

The numbers don’t lye: our kids reely have goodness righting skills.

Andrew Sabl — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:13:04 +0000

Appalling, essential article on what level of writing earns a passing grade on New York's high school leaving exam.

Two Quick Notes on Megan McArdle and Cold Medicines Used for Making Meth

Keith Humphreys — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:10:33 +0000

I post a short item on cold medicines and methamphetamine, focus on my day job for a bit and wow, return to a sea of thoughtful comments and critique here at RBC and around the web. Well done everyone, and advance apologies that your comments warrant more thoughtful responses than I have time to give [...]

Too good to be true?

Mark Kleiman — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:00:51 +0000

You have to believe this was staged. Update Or Photoshopped. See comments.

The 2012 Democratic platform

James Wimberley — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:57:24 +0000

Time to start a discussion on it.

The Paranoid Pivot in Political “Thought”

Keith Humphreys — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:56:52 +0000

Doug Mataconis analyzes how paranoid Tea Party movement members are now battling efforts to build bike lanes and put smart meters on appliances. Why? Because such policies are part of an elaborate United Nations plot known by the ominous sounding name of “Agenda 21″. Political paranoia is common in some segments of the U.S. population [...]

The Social Network and Washington Access

Matthew E. Kahn — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:37:59 +0000

At UCLA, I sometimes teach at the business school. As far as I know, until recently the business school curriculum has not emphasized how companies influence government policy to create “rules of the game” that help that company. So, in the case of Google or Facebook, what policies can the Obama Administration enact that will help [...]

Cold Medicine Sales Tracking to Reduce Meth Labs: Worthless and Effective

Keith Humphreys — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:42:13 +0000

Methamphetamine cooks cannot operate their labs without easy access to the cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine (PSE). This has resulted in a long-running political battle across the U.S. Many state legislators want to make PSE-containing medicines prescription-only, which as the Oregon and Mississippi experience shows, virtually eliminates a state’s meth labs. On the other side, [...]

The turkey memo

Mark Kleiman — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:11:17 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the immortal Frederick O’Reilly Hayes, writing as John Lindsay’s budget director in New York to someone in the school construction agency who was trying to blame project delays on the Budget Bureau. December 30, 1968 MEMORANDUM TO: Jason Nathan FROM: Fredrick O’R. Hayes SUBJECT: LaGuardia High School O, you [...]

Washington Monthly’s bloggers are making us look bad

Harold Pollack — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:02:59 +0000

Rachel Maddow’s group had the good sense to hire Steve Benen for their blog. Washington Monthly had the equally good sense to hire Ed Kilgore to replace him. I’m proud to call Ed a co-author. Few people can match his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, particularly the politics within the moderate and conservative locales of the Democratic Party. This [...]

How First Responders Can Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths

Keith Humphreys — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:04:41 +0000

Opiate painkiller overdoses are at epidemic levels in the United States, but the public health and public safety systems have not adapted sufficiently in response. A simple, inexpensive and life saving reform would be to have police, firefighters and other first responders carry naloxone (aka Narcan) as standard equipment. Naloxone is a medication that reverses [...]

Mitt Romney Cares Deeply About The Very Poor

Jonathan Zasloff — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:02:41 +0000

Really. I’m quite surprised to see that Mark has gone so soft on the Mittster, saying that Romney inadvertently stated what he really believes. Mitt, like all Republicans nowadays, cares about the very poor very much. This is primarily for three reasons: 1) He needs the very poor to serve as the scapegoat for the Republican [...]

Weekend Film Recommendation: Brighton Rock

Keith Humphreys — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:33:09 +0000

I hope the recent remake of Brighton Rock stirs interest in the 1947 original, which is both a fine character study and a solid piece of British film noir. Made just after the war by the Boulton Brothers, this story of razor-wielding gangsters was considered shocking in its day. Though a bit dated, it remains [...]

More on the Buffett challenge

Kelly Kleiman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:37:23 +0000

When Warren Buffett challenged Mitch McConnell to help him pay down the deficit, McConnell paid him no never-mind—but a teenage girl in Northbrook, IL heard and responded, sending $300 to the Feds and asking Buffett to do the same. This is an adorable story, and the video makes it more adorable still. But let’s not [...]

The Insurance Industry’s Response to Anticipated Climate Change

Matthew E. Kahn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:40:07 +0000

My mom often sends me articles to read. She just sent me this piece about new disclosure regulation intended to nudge insurers into revealing how they are updating insurance pricing and expected probabilities of nasty future events (i.e severe floods) caused by climate change. This is a nice example of the small ball of climate change [...]

Jim or Hal? The servile corporation again

James Wimberley — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:52:15 +0000

Professor Balkin discusses corporations as slaves - following the RBC.