Pay Go, No Go Alex Tabarrok It's not just GM, United Airlines and the Federal government who have made unsustainable promises to current and future retirees. State and local governments have also been irresponsible, to the tune of perhaps a trillion dollars in _unfunded liabilities_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/business/yourmoney/11retire.html) . For years, governments have been promising generous medical benefits to millions of schoolteachers, firefighters and other employees when they retire, yet experts say that virtually none of these governments have kept track of the mounting price tag. The usual practice is to budget for health care a year at a time, and to leave the rest for the future. Off the government balance sheets - out of sight and out of mind - those obligations have been ballooning as health care costs have spiraled and as the baby-boom generation has approached retirement. ...most states and cities have set aside no money to pay for retiree medical benefits. Instead, they use the pay-as-you-go system - paying for former employees out of current revenue. December 12, 2005 at 07:10 AM in _Economics_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/economics/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/pay_go_no_go.html) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/pay_go_no_go.html#trackback) My favorite things North Carolina Tyler Cowen 1. Jazz musician: Umm...should it be John Coltrane or Thelonious Monk? 2. Bluesman: _Reverend Gary Davis_ (http://www.revgarydavis.com/) remains underrated. Try "Maple Leaf Rag" or "Sally Where'd You Get Your Liquor From?" For country music -- really just another form of blues -- you have Earl Scruggs and Merle and Doc Watson. George Clinton did funk. 3. Female singer-songwriter: Tori Amos, favorite album _Little Earthquakes_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002IT2/qid=1133964972/sr=2-1 /ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-8441786-3985759?v=glance&s=music/marginalrevol-20) . Her most underrated album is _Strange Little Girls_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005NKYQ/102-8441786-3985759?v=glance/marginalrevol-20) . Nina Simone is another good candidate, although she did mostly covers. 4. Movie, set in: I hate Bull Durham, so you will have to help me out here...Is part of _Sherman's March_ (http://www.ncflix.blogspot.com/) set in the state? 5. Writer: Thomas Wolfe, _Look Homeward, Angel_ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684804433/qid=1133964931/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8441786-3985759?n=507846 &s=books&v=glance/marginalrevol-20) . 6. Basketball player. _You-know-who_ (http://www.kenston.k12.oh.us/khs/feature_stories/michael_jordan.jpg) was actually born in Brooklyn, so I say Meadowlark Lemon. The bottom line: The state is strong on music, sports, and barbecue. December 12, 2005 at 07:05 AM in _The Arts_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/the_arts/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/my_favorite_thi_1.html) | _Comments (19)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/my_favorite_thi_1.html#comments) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/my_favorite_thi_1.html#trackback) How to spend less money Tyler Cowen Jane Galt has _a good list of suggestions_ (http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/005614.html) , yet I don't follow them all. When it comes to "don't eat out" I receive an _F minus_ (http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/19th%20Cowen.htm) . Arguably I have _excess self-discipline_ (http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/selfliberation.PDF) , rather than _the opposite problem_ (http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2005/12/self-discipline-matters-more-than-iq.html) . That means I will try to rationalize this spending, rather than apologizing for it. I view dying young as an enormous tragedy. It would be so, so, so, bad. As the economist would say, it would not equate marginal utilities of money across different world-states. It is also very hard to insure against premature death. The life insurance payment would help my family but it doesn't go to poor, lil' dead ol' me. Given the imperfection of post-death markets, what else can I do? Er...I can spend money now. If I die soon, I had bigger kicks today. That is a kind of partial compensation for the tragedy; admittedly I run a greater risk of outliving my remaining savings. (Quick micro quiz: Do bloggers, by offering free fun outputs, raise or lower the savings rate?) Can we find a testable prediction? Religious people should save a greater fraction of their incomes. I don't hold _the view that religious people should be indifferent to death_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/02/should_theists_. html) ; presumably they think they are on earth to fulfill God's plan. But they should have fewer purely selfish reasons to fear death. (Good religious people, that is, or at least those who think they are good.) A weaker selfish fear of death means less need to buy insurance against premature death. The devout should spend less money now. Last night we ate at _Zengo's_ (http://www.modernmexican.com/Menus.htm) -- Latin-Asian fusion -- which was excellent. Get the hamachi, the empanadas, the ribs, and the arepas. December 12, 2005 at 05:26 AM in _Education_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/education/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/how_to_spend_le.html) | _Comments (16)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/how_to_spend_le.html#comments) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/how_to_spend_le.html#trackback) Henry Niman, worrying Tyler Cowen
Thus, of the 13 confirmed and 5 excluded [recent Indonesian] cases, 13 or over 72% of these [avian flu] cases were in familial clusters. In contrast, only about _1/3 of the cases_ (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02050503/Human_Transmission_One_Third.html) in southeast Asia were from familial clusters through the spring of this year. This dramatic increase in cases from clusters shows that H5N1 is being more efficiently transmitted and this efficiency can also be seen in recent cases from China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Here is _the longer discussion_ (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12060501/H2H_H5N1_Efficient_Indonesia.html) . Now "more efficient transmission" need not mean human-to-human transmission. It could mean you catch avian flu more readily from the family collection of birds. Still, in expected value terms, this is not good news. (You can ask whether the familial clusters all get sick at the same time, or whether there are lags; the latter implies a greater likelihood of human-to-human transmission. I have not seen a formal treatment of this issue, although Henry has made various worrying remarks on this score.) Niman is pessimistic, and often makes controversial claims, but his credentials are strong. Here is an _expert assessment of Niman_ (http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2005/02/recombinomics-conundrum.html) . Here are Henry's _periodic updates_ (http://www.recombinomics.com/whats_new.html) . Here is Indonesia, _closing a U.S.-run bird flu lab_ (http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2005/12/pride-and-prejudice-and-bird-flu-in.html) , just after the U.S. promised $10 million more in funding for the lab. Good idea. Here is a Chinese report: Although human cases of bird flu are mounting in China, the virus here is currently stable, not mutating toward a form readily transmissible among humans, a top Chinese government scientist said. Not as reassuring as they wanted it to sound. Here is a story on _the extreme trustworthiness of China_ (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/st ory/RTGAM.20051209.wchinaflu1209/BNStory/International/) . If you missed it the first time around, here is _my policy paper on what we should be doing about avian flu_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/11/my_avian_flu_po.html) . December 11, 2005 at 07:45 AM in _Medicine_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/medicine/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/henry_niman_wor.html) | _Comments (2)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/henry_niman_wor.html#comments) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/henry_niman_wor.html#trackback) Handbook for Cyber-Dissidents Alex Tabarrok _Reporters without Borders_ (http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=20) has put together a _Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents_ (http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542) explaining such things as how to blog anonymously. Contributors to the book include _Arash Sigarchi_ (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15010) , an Iranian blogger who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for criticizing the Iranian regime. Thanks to Carl Close for the pointer. December 11, 2005 at 07:05 AM in _Web/Tech_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/webtech/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/handbook_for_cy.html) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/handbook_for_cy.html#trackback) Tabarrok on Feldstein on Capital Taxation Alex Tabarrok The plethora of discount rates and taxes obscures the basic point in _Feldstein's argument_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/martin_feldstei.html) against capital taxation. Here is a bare-bones version. There are three goods, labor, apples and oranges. Assume that the government taxes oranges at a higher rate than apples. A tax on oranges is also a tax on labor since you need labor to buy oranges and if the price of oranges is high the value of your labor is low. Now let's show that a reduction in the orange tax matched by an increase in the labor tax to keep total tax revenues constant can make everyone better off. The simplest case is to assume a tax on oranges so high that no one buys any oranges. Orange tax revenue is therefore zero. Now we get rid of the tax on oranges and add an equal-revenue tax on labor (zero). So long as the consumer cares at all about oranges he now buys more oranges and is better off (because he now consumes a variety of fruit and has an increased incentive to work). The consumer will still be better off even if we replace the zero-revenue orange tax with a small labor tax which increases government revenues. The zero-revenue assumption makes the argument obvious but is not at all necessary for the results. The basic point is that the tax on oranges distorts the labor-leisure choice and the apples-oranges choice. A tax on labor distorts only the labor-leisure choice and so is preferred. For Feldstein's argument rename oranges as savings, apples as present consumption and labor as income. To see a counter-argument introduce more people into the model and rename oranges as yachts. December 10, 2005 at 09:08 AM in _Economics_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/economics/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/tabarrok_on_fel.html) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/tabarrok_on_fel.html#trackback) Favorite warning labels Tyler Cowen On grape juice, during Prohibition: Caution: May Ferment into Alcohol. The harvesting of grapes rose dramatically during this constitutional experiment. December 10, 2005 at 07:47 AM in _History_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/history/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/favorite_warnin.html) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/favorite_warnin.html#trackback) Newspapers as non-profits? Tyler Cowen A newspaper company, like a public broadcaster, could be organized as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation. It could still sell papers and advertising, it could still develop new Internet revenues, it would still pay market wages and salaries (or maybe better), it could re-invest in improving its own staff and facilities and operations, it just couldn't make a profit. And it wouldn't pay taxes or dividends. Here is _more_ (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001657297) . As newspaper ads move to the web, draining a key source of revenue, I see a few options: 1. Subscription finance with high prices and few ads. A bit like the Financial Times. Of course this means fewer newspapers and fewer newspaper pages. On the plus side, fewer articles would continue on other, distant pages. 2. Sleazy tabloids. But the competition with the Internet remains. 3. Some clever newspaper coup to take over Web processing of commercial information and leapfrog over ebay and Craigslist. 4. Web products evolve into customized, print-on-demand newspapers. A some major newspapers survive by going the hybrid route, or by merging with their web competitors. "What is a newspaper?" becomes a question of degree and we needn't mourn the lack of pure newspapers. 5. Non-profits would take in revenue and also raise donations by selling access to social and political networks. What would a date with Maureen Dowd go for? 6. Extremely partisan, low-cost "rag" newspapers, akin to 19th century U.S. experience, and paid for by subscription. Advertisers seek to offend nobody, and thus exert a centrist influence over newspaper content. I place virtually no weight on option #3. Comments are open. December 10, 2005 at 07:12 AM in _Economics_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/economics/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/newspapers_as_n.html) | _Comments (13)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/newspapers_as_n.html#comments) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/newspapers_as_n.html#trackback) Email beats Doorbell Alex Tabarrok I'm sitting at home working on my computer when I get an email saying that UPS just delivered a package to my door. So I get up, walk 10ft, open the door and sure enough there is my package. We live in a magical world. December 9, 2005 at 03:25 PM in _Web/Tech_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/webtech/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/email_beats_doo_2.html) | _TrackBack (1)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/email_beats_doo_2.html#trackback) Markets in charity Tyler Cowen 'This is our months bill and is owing $126.37. It has been a tough month and we are a bit low on cash'. That is from Wellington, New Zealand, on TradeMe, the Kiwi equivalent of ebay. Bid _here_ (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Movies-TV/Other/auction-42313041.htm) to help out. Thanks to Jason Reid for the pointer. December 9, 2005 at 01:41 PM in _Economics_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/economics/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/markets_in_char.html) | _Comments (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/markets_in_char.html#comments) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/markets_in_char.html#trackback) Levitt and Dubner update Tyler Cowen ABC just signed the pair to a one-year deal for recurring spots on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and Nightline, including backing for their own documentaries... Conventional wisdom says there's more to come. Dubner says, "We're working on another book: 'Superfreakonomics.' " Here is _the link_ (http://pf.fastcompany.com/magazine/100/next-economist.html) . Elsewhere on _www.politicaltheory.info_ (http://www.politicaltheory.info/) , here is a piece on _the mathematics of Sudoku_ (http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/48550?&print=yes) . December 9, 2005 at 12:57 PM in _Books_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/books/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/levitt_and_dubn.html) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/levitt_and_dubn.html #trackback) Martin Feldstein on capital taxation Tyler Cowen Follow these numbers, and the bold face is mine: An example will illustrate the harmful effect of high taxes on the income from savings and show how the tax reform could make taxpayers unambiguously better off. Think about someone -- call him Joe -- who earns an additional $1,000. If Joe's marginal tax rate is 35%, he gets to keep $650. Joe saves $100 of this for his retirement and spends the rest. If Joe invests these savings in corporate bonds, he receives a return of 6% before tax and 3.9% after tax. With inflation of 2%, the 3.9% after-tax return is reduced to a real after-tax return of only 1.9%. If Joe is now 40 years old, this 1.9% real rate of return implies that the $100 of savings will be worth $193 in today's prices when Joe is 75. So Joe's reward for the extra work is $550 of extra consumption now and $193 of extra consumption at age 75. But if the tax rate on the income from saving is reduced to 15% as the tax panel recommends, the 6% interest rate would yield 5.1% after tax and 3.1% after both tax and inflation. And with a 3.1% real return, Joe's $100 of extra saving would grow to $291 in today's prices instead of just $193. There are two lessons in this example, each of which identifies a tax distortion that wastes potential output and therefore unnecessarily lowers levels of real well-being. The first is that a tax on interest income is effectively also a tax on the reward for extra work, cutting the additional consumption at age 75 from $291 to just $193. Because the high tax rate on interest income reduces the reward for work (as well as the reward for saving), Joe makes choices that lower his pretax earnings -- fewer hours of work, less work effort, less investment in skills, etc. The second lesson that follows from the example is that the tax on interest income substantially distorts the level of future consumption even if Joe does not make any change in the amount that he saves. With the same $100 of additional saving, the higher tax rate reduces his additional retirement consumption from $291 to $193, a one-third reduction. If Joe responds to the lower real rate of return that results from the higher tax rate on interest by saving less, the distortion of consumption is even greater. For example, if Joe would save $150 out of the extra $1,000 of earnings when his real net return is 3.1% (instead of saving $100 when the real net return is 1.9%), his extra consumption at age 75 would be $436, more than twice as much as with the 35% tax rate. But the key point is that Joe's future consumption would be substantially reduced by the higher tax rate even if he does not change his savings. Taken together, these two lessons imply that a lower tax rate on interest income, combined with a small increase in the tax on other earnings, could make Joe unambiguously better off while also increasing government revenue. More specifically, if reducing the tax on interest income from 35% to 15% had no effect on Joe's earnings or on his initial consumption spending, the government could collect the same present value of tax revenue from Joe by raising the tax on his $1,000 of extra earnings from $350 to $385. Although this would cut Joe's saving from $100 to $65 (if he keeps his initial consumption spending unchanged), the higher net return on that saving would give Joe the same consumption at age 75. In this way, Joe would be neither better off nor worse off. But experience shows that Joe would alter his behavior in response to the lower tax rate. He would earn more at age 40 and would save more for retirement. This change of behavior makes Joe better off (or he wouldn't do it) and the extra earnings and interest income would raise government revenue above what it would be with a 35% tax rate. So Joe would be unambiguously better off with the lower tax rate on interest income and the government would collect more tax revenue. Here is _the link_ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113400654429916967.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries) . Elsewhere from The Wall Street Journal, here is _a piece on bargaining theory_ (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113279169439805647-aFLWyiV_uhnOoyh8YYQClQ1GIOs_20061208.html) , thanks to Chris Masse for the pointer. December 9, 2005 at 07:23 AM in _Economics_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/economics/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/martin_feldstei.html) | _Comments (30)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/martin_feldstei.html#comments) | _TrackBack (2)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/martin_feldstei.html#trackback) Stocking stuffers Tyler Cowen _Infrastructure: A Guide to the Industrial Landscape_ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/handle-buy-box/ref=dp_start-buy-box-form_1/102-8441786-3985759/marg inalrevol-20) . A picture book for those who love Duisburg, Gary, Indiana, and the Pulaski Skyway. Addendum: Here is _a working link to Infrastructure_ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393059979/qid=1134219438/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ 1/002-9986706-1372017?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) . _Murderball_ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B5XP24/qid=1134054314/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8441786-3985759?n=507846&s=dvd&v=glance/marginalrevol-20) , just out on DVD. I know, some of you thought "I don't want to see a movie about cripples." That was a mistake of instrumental reason. Seu Jorge, _The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000BRD6T4/qid=1134132157/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9986706-13720 17?v=glance&s=music&n=507846/marginalrevol-20) . David Bowie songs on acoustic guitar, sung in Portuguese, not just the cuts from the movie. December 9, 2005 at 07:06 AM in _The Arts_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/the_arts/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/stocking_stuffe.html) | _Comments (3)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/stocking_stuffe.html#comments) | _TrackBack (0)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/stocking_stuffe.html#trackback) Austan Goolsbee is smart Tyler Cowen Try _this_ (http://www.slate.com/id/2131897/) : The evidence shows that companies are particularly likely to raise prices when the government is footing the bill. Economists Mark Duggan at the University of Maryland and Fiona Scott Morton at Yale studied the prices of the top 200 drugs in the United States from 1997 to 2002. They found that drug makers gamed the government procurement rules that forbid companies from billing Medicaid more for a drug than they bill private consumers. When private-sector demand for a drug is small compared with the demand of Medicaid patients (as is the case, for example, with antipsychotics), drug companies massively inflate the price of the drug for private buyers. Sure, they lose some business from that part of the market. But they more than make up for that loss by being able to bill the government at a vastly higher price for the Medicaid patients. And this: As the moral-hazard problem for medical expenses becomes a corporate rather than individual matter, the solution that economists currently favor—Health Savings Accounts—will fail to rein in costs. The HSAs won't fix things because they change the incentives of individuals, not companies. Indeed, as more people get HSAs, we may very well see the companies raise prices even further to capture the tax-free savings in people's accounts. That would be exactly analogous to what has happened with "529" college savings programs. In 2001, Congress passed a tax break for college savings accounts. _As I wrote three years ago_ (http://www.slate.com/id/2070062/) , the plans were "supposed to be an enormous federal tax subsidy for education." But the small number of financial firms that are approved to manage the 529 accounts have basically captured that subsidy by raising their investment fees to levels well above those in the regular investment market. I believe the argument, although it remains a puzzle why these markets do not behave in a more competitive fashion... December 8, 2005 at 10:56 PM in _Medicine_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/medicine/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/austin_goolsbee.html) | _Comments (12)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/austin_goolsbee.html#comments) | _TrackBack (1)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/austin_goolsbee.html#trackback) Three new constitutional amendments Tyler Cowen The Cato blogad at the right, and _Jim Buchanan's new essay_ (http://www.cato-unbound.org/2005/12/05/james-m-buchanan/three-amendments/) , ask what three amendments you would pick for the American Constitution. _Will Wilkinson_ (http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/archives/2005/12/cato_unbound_un.html) suggests an amendment to ban interference with voluntary exchange. Sadly, I am unable to come up with good candidates. I have plenty of ideas, such an amendment to forbid tariffs and quotas on foreign goods and services (would it cover health and safety concerns? Would we be assured of non-pasteurized French cheeses?). But I worry the amendments would place too much weight on the Constitution. It is easy to ignore a Constitution or to overturn it altogether. Libertarians (and contractarians) often treat the Constitution as a kind of free variable to be manipulated. We can write into it what we want, and if we fail we treat this as a kind of lament, or a sign of moral decay, rather than a problem with our basic approach. In my view, if a constitution deviates from popular opinion (or is it the prevailing structure of interest groups?) by any more than "k" percent, that constitution will be chucked. Furthermore changing your constitution too much, or ignoring it too blatantly, is costly in terms of long-run political order. I view this as a constraint to be satisfied by political thinking, even though we can (and should) criticize that constraint at a meta-level. That is why my three amendments would have to be modest. Free trade might stick as an amendment, especially if we added a national security clause. The Finns didn't get very far with a supermajority requirement for fiscal policy. I don't see "procedural" approaches, such as term limits, as yielding much gain. But local municipalities should not be allowed very strict anti-barbecue codes; I don't care what they do with the smoke. Nor should commuters be forbidden from driving on side roads during rush hour, just because the homeowners don't like it. Here is _one relevant critique of Buchanan_ (http://positiveliberty.com/2005/12/why-buchananâs-generality-requirement-wonât-work.html) . Surely you all have better ideas for three constitutional amendments; comments are open. December 8, 2005 at 07:23 AM in _Law_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/law/index.html) , _Political Science_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/political_science/index.html) | _Permalink_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/ma rginalrevolution/2005/12/three_new_const.html) | _Comments (47)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/three_new_const.html#comments) | _TrackBack (1)_ (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/12/three_new_const.html#trackback) Should Christmas be more commercial? Tyler Cowen Sometimes a bracing Randian approach is needed. _Leonard Peikoff writes_ (http://www.capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=2254) : Christmas in America is an exuberant display of human ingenuity, capitalist productivity, and the enjoyment of life. Yet all of these are castigated as "materialistic"; the real meaning of the holiday, we are told, is assorted Nativity tales and altruist injunctions (e.g., love thy neighbor) that no one takes seriously. In fact, Christmas as we celebrate it today is a 19th-century American invention. The freedom and prosperity of post-Civil War America created the happiest nation in history. The result was the desire to celebrate, to revel in the goods and pleasures of life on earth. Christmas (which was not a federal holiday until 1870) became the leading American outlet for this feeling. Historically, people have always celebrated the winter solstice as the time when the days begin to lengthen, indicating the earth's return to life. Ancient Romans feasted and reveled during the festival of Saturnalia. Early Christians condemned these Roman celebrations -- they were waiting for the end of the world and had only scorn for earthly pleasures. By the fourth century, the pagans were worshipping the god of the sun on December 25, and the Christians came to a decision: if you can't stop 'em, join 'em. They claimed (contrary to known fact) that the date was Jesus' birthday, and usurped the solstice holiday for their Church... Then came the major developments of 19th-century capitalism: industrialization, urbanization, the triumph of science -- all of it leading to easy transportation, efficient mail delivery, the widespread publishing of books and magazines, new inventions making life comfortable and exciting, and the rise of entrepreneurs who understood that the way to make a profit was to produce something good and sell it to a mass market. For the first time, the giving of gifts became a major feature of Christmas. Early Christians denounced gift-giving as a Roman practice, and Puritans called it diabolical. But Americans were not to be deterred. Thanks to capitalism, there was enough wealth to make gifts possible, a great productive apparatus to advertise them and make them available cheaply, and a country so content that men wanted to reach out to their friends and express their enjoyment of life. The whole country took with glee to giving gifts on an unprecedented scale. Santa Claus is a thoroughly American invention. There was a St. Nicholas long ago and a feeble holiday connected with him (on December 5). In 1822, an American named Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem about a visit from St. Nick. It was Moore (and a few other New Yorkers) who invented St. Nick's physical appearance and personality, came up with the idea that Santa travels on Christmas Eve in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, comes down the chimney, stuffs toys in the kids' stockings, then goes back to the North Pole. Of course, the Puritans denounced Santa as the Anti-Christ, because he pushed Jesus to the background. Furthermore, Santa implicitly rejected the whole Christian ethics. He did not denounce the rich and demand that they give everything to the poor; on the contrary, he gave gifts to rich and poor children alike. Nor is Santa a champion of Christian mercy or unconditional love. On the contrary, he is for justice -- Santa gives only to good children, not to bad ones. All the best customs of Christmas, from carols to trees to spectacular decorations, have their root in pagan ideas and practices. These customs were greatly amplified by American culture, as the product of reason, science, business, worldliness, and egoism, i.e., the pursuit of happiness. OK, some of that is over the top and some of the history is a wee bit false. Many Christians place greater stress on Easter. Still, I should start a new title: "Bracing but Required Randian Shocks, A Continuing Series." Thanks to _www.politicaltheory.info_ (http://www.politicaltheory.info/) for the pointer. ____________________________________ YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS * the _Yahoo! Terms of Service_ (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/) . ____________________________________ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 1.2 million kids a year are victims of human trafficking. Stop slavery. http://us.click.yahoo.com/U6CDDD/izNLAA/cUmLAA/KlSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
