Interesting Graph: How charities and religion (should) solve the problem of social spending

Posted on February 1, 2012 by steve

Found this very interesting graph at the Adam Smith Institute.

Via ASI:

As they show in Figure 1. (pg 259 of the paper) European welfare states (such as Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway etc.) experience traditionally high levels of social spending (measured as a % of GDP) while simultaneously religious beliefs (measured by the importance of God in a person’s life) are not very high (averaging between 4 and 5 on a 1 to 10 scale). On the other hand, countries in which religious beliefs play an important role (between 7,5 and 8,5 on the same scale) in an individual’s everyday life (such as the US, Ireland, Canada, Portugal) the level of spending tends to be much lower, 5 to 10 percent on average, thus strengthening their initial hypothesis. Therefore religion could act as a substitute for an inadequate level of state funded social insurance.

Very interesting trend. The ASI article concludes with this:

Charitable donations can be tracked in the same direction; due to the fact that more people tend to privately solve the coordination problem in the demand for social insurance, there is less need for the state to step in and provide it.

If this is indeed true, it should act as a signal to countries such as the UK or Ireland to lower their welfare spending, since private incentives and charitable organizations are likely to take over from the government and provide services such as child day care, private schools, hospital care, retirement homes, homeless shelters, soup kitchens etc. The Salvation Army does just that, as do many other UK organizations. Perhaps it isn’t quite sure how much the private sector can ‘offload’ the government in its welfare spending, but it should be given a chance to do so, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon countries where social capital is undoubtedly very high.

Private charities are always more effective than government.

Sunday Morning Links: The Fictitious Beverage Edition

Posted on January 29, 2012 by steve

I found these imaginative designs for fictional beverages at justinvg’s photostream.

Romulan Ale. Too cool.

Now, on to the links…

Bunker: Romney says “I hope we’re ultimately able to eliminate some of the differences, and repeal the bad and keep the good.”
CH2.0: Decoding the Leftist Narrative
CP: The State Of Our Disunion
The Eye: See What Google Thinks It Knows About You
TBA has a nice weekend round up.

LAS: My First Demotivational Poster
MTTM: Michigan Served As Valuable Lesson Against Government Economic Efforts
Moonbattery: Tantrums on the Tarmac
Political Realities: The Buffett Rule and Paying a “Fair Share”
Pundette: “The Obama administration has earned its totalitarian cred anew”

RR: Fred Thompson Endorses Newt Gingrich (VIDEO)
Spellchek asks a great question: “Who is killing more Americans, Iran or Mexico?”
SJ: How will history judge this generation if we let our republic slip away?
TMGGB: Elderly Florida Woman Emulates Hero, John Wayne
theCL on the “Kim Kardashian of the GOP”
Gator: So, why don’t Democrats believe in science?

Roug: A Job Is A Job Is A Job
WWTFT: Three Years Into an Obama Nation
ChrisWy: Friday Fratricide
FCBZ: Rick Santorum’s Young, Special Needs Daughter Isabella Has Been Hospitalized
The Pup: Illinois Democrats Pass Discriminatory Law Against Those Who Need Drain Cleaner

Detroit Lions ‘Well Represented’ on 50 Worst Head Coach List & Funny Coach Video

Posted on January 28, 2012 by steve

BleacherReport.com has complied a list of the 50 worst NFL head coaches of all time. The Detroit Lions are ‘well represented’ on the list:

46) Dick Jauron

28) Marty Mornhinweg

15) Darryl Rogers

5) Rod Marinelli

I’m surprised that “The General” Bobby Ross didn’t make the list. I guess the guys didn’t want to seem like the were picking on the Lions by populating a full 10% of the list with former Lion head coaches.

By the way, Coach Ross appears at 2:30 of this great video because, as he says, ”I don’t coach that way”

Too funny…

Obama Demands Taxpayers Increase Funding For Overpriced Universities

Posted on January 28, 2012 by steve

Trying to buy votes Barry?

“You’re the ones who need help,” the president told students gathered at the University of Michigan’s Al Glick Field House.

“A quarter of all millionaire [earners] pay lower taxes than millions of middle-class households. t… [audience boos] Is that fair? … does it make sense to you? … do we want to invest in things like… student loans and grants?”

He called on Congress to cut the interest rate on government loans to students, and said he had already limited graduates’ monthly payments on government loans to 10 percent of their after-tax income.

It seems the college aged Obama was busy honing his street agitation skills rather than hitting the ECON 101 books.

If he were truly serious about bringing college costs down, Obama would stop advocating policies (i.e. easy student loans & grants) that artificially increase demand for college. Any high school student can tell you when demand increases, prices will increase.

As pointed out previously here at MCT, if the government would stop artificially inflating demand by funneling tax payer money to colleges, prices would drop in a hurry:

One way to drive down the cost of college tuition is getting the government out of the business of student loans. Every time government becomes involved in an economic activity, it becomes more expensive. If government student loans are severely limited and Universities see fewer students attending their hallowed halls of higher learning, cost of tuition will drop in a hurry.

Of course, it’s tough to buy college student votes if politicians can’t pull the strings of student loans.

Global warming… I mean climate change… Is so 2009

Posted on January 26, 2012 by steve

According to a study released by the U.K government shows a sharp decline in public ‘concern’ in global warming. Sorry. Climate change.

Via The Mail (UK):

The number of people willing to alter the way they live in the hope of making a difference to global warming fell by around 10 per cent last year.

There was also a sharp drop in those who regarded themselves as ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change.

The figures, released by the Government yesterday, suggest that doubts about global warming have been growing since the summer of 2009.

This was before the damage inflicted on the cause by the ‘Climategate’ scandal later that year, in which leading scientists were accused of manipulating data to support the case of man-made climate change.

The credibility of global warming and concern about halting it appears to have been affected by the succession of three cold winters between 2008 and 2010.

The study also shows that there is a growing skepticism about green energy as well.

More recently, doubts about the efficiency of wind turbines and the high costs of the Coalition’s drive for renewable energy have seen enthusiasm for the cause dwindling.

Fewer than two thirds now say they are at least ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change or that they are prepared to do something about it, figures published by the Department for Transport said.

While it is good to see people waking up, there still is a significant (nearly two thirds) portion of the British population is still on board with the global warming fraud / hoax.

An extra big tip O’ the hat to Tom Nelson for high lighting the article.

Joe Bonamassa: Blue and Evil

Posted on January 25, 2012 by steve

Oh ya…. Rockin’ Blues.

A video all leftists should watch

Posted on January 24, 2012 by steve

This short video from the Adam Smith Institute is informative and interesting.

I like the bit about “this is mistake Karl Marx made.”

Scary Graphs: Why I don’t feel like I’m getting ahead

Posted on January 24, 2012 by steve

If you ever get the ‘I’m not getting ahead’ feeling, the following graphs from the National Inflation Association will help explain why you feel this way.

The median American family was earning over $100,000 per year in today’s dollars during the 1970s.

The average American has been earning less per hour (adjusted for real inflation) and seeing a decline in their standard of living since the early 1970s after we left the gold standard.The Dow Jones divided by the price of gold. After the inflationary crisis of the 1970s, the Dow/Gold ratio bottomed at 1

There has been a whole lot of inflation happening over the past few decades, and as the above graphs illustrate, the average American has been losing ground in real purchasing power.

So, if you here the “hey, the DOW is over 1300 so the economy is back and Obama is great” spin, remember the above graphs. And these graphs as well.

Markets don’t fail… Politicians on the other hand…

Posted on January 23, 2012 by steve

When you see nonsense such as this:

Democrats call for broader investigation into banks’ foreclosure processes

…….

Meanwhile, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asking him to bring high-ranking executives from the nation’s biggest mortgage banks to Capitol Hill testify about foreclosure abuses.

“Rather than using its substantial investigative powers to protect American consumers from the abuses of banks, the committee has focused instead on attacking the new agency created by Congress to protect these same consumers,” Cummings wrote.

Miller said the settlement won’t likely include enough relief for those who are underwater on their mortgages. He and Brown said they don’t yet know what mortgages are subject to the settlement because negotiations are ongoing.

Remember, markets don’t fail.

But markets don’t “fail.” They respond rationally, quickly and often brutally to conditions as they find them. If they see a shortage of supply or an excess of demand, they’ll drive prices higher. Conversely, excess supply or falling demand drives prices lower. If you’re looking for villains, examine why supply is constricted or inflated or why demand is stifled or encouraged. But don’t blame the markets for responding accordingly.

Politicians, on the other hand, do.

For example, the onset of the financial crisis three or four years ago was largely due in the US and the UK to excessive demand for mortgages from people who couldn’t afford them. In the US, this was driven by government mandates to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do just that – pump up demand for housing. In the UK, tight restrictions on construction limited supply to a market that quite rationally came to believe home ownership was a sound substitute for more productive investment.
In both cases, the bankers’ cost of funding was distorted by deliberately low official interest-rate policies, the implicit knowledge they wouldn’t be allowed to fail and lax competition enforcement that led to the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland swallowing up competitors. The logical response by the markets was to divert money to housing, just as the politicians wanted.

How could anyone think government is going to solve this, or any other economic mess, when the government created the mess in the first place.

Sunday Morning Links: The “Tooth Picks, Bug Eaters, Pukes and Suckers” Edition

Posted on January 22, 2012 by steve

click for larger version

This is so cool. Via Strange Maps @ Big Think.

The map’s link to Sus domesticus [1] is via the company that produced it: H.W. Hill & Co. This Decatur, Illinois outfit were the sole manufacturers of Hill’s hog ringers, Hill’s triangular rings, calf and cow weaners, stock markers &c. On the map, we see one pig per state or territory, each with one of H.W. Hill’s trademarked triangles through its nose.

But that is as far as product placement goes. Even though it was printed in [H.W. Hill’s] own advertising department, the map is a deft example of oblique advertising – a clear-cut case of 19th-century viral marketing.

For its main attraction were not H.W. Hill’s markers, weaners and rings. It was mailed out – for five one-cent stamps – as a tableau entitled: “Nicknames of the States”. It’s always interesting, and perhaps a little titillating, to see what names you’re being called by others, and to know how to return the mockery [2]. And it helps that all involved are portrayed as that most unloved of domestic animals, the pig.

For us, the map holds one extra appeal: in the almost 130 years since its publication, the nickname landscape has shifted somewhat. A few have remained popular, but many have fallen into disuse. Curiously, next to the sobriquets that are insults or compliments, a few are merely descriptive, and some states and territories don’t even get one. Somehow, that feels like the worst option.

Included in this post, are close ups of the more interesting areas taken from a high res version of the map downloaded from the Library of Congress.

On to the links…