Blog - Page 57

Don’t get cocky. This week’s news that your cellphone won’t give you brain cancer isn’t cause for relief or rejoice. You see, it’s really 1933 all over again: “Americans’ personal savings rate dipped into negative territory in something that hasn’t happened since the Great Depression. Consumers depleted their savings to finance the purchases of cars and other big-ticket items.” Although the definition of “deplete” is “to use up” or “to empty out,” it’s hard to see how consumers have “depleted” their savings when U.S. households have a record $51 trillion in net worth and a near record $27 trillion in financial net worth (excluding homes). By all means, let’s employ policies that encourage more savings and investment, but let’s not Read More ›

The NFL will show many of its own live games on its own cable channel (sub. req.) next year. No doubt games on its own Internet “channel” aren’t far behind. What’s a network or cable system to do? -Bret Swanson

Mobile phones, yet again, are shown to be brain-safe… -Bret Swanson

Our colleague George Gilder yesterday in The Wall Street Journal explained the real source of egregious earmarks: How McCain-Feingold Favors ‘Earmarking’ January 26, 2006; Page A11 Your Jan. 17 editorial “The Keepers of K Street” ignored the most crucial source of “earmarks” in the congressional process — a campaign finance system that favors the bribery of interest groups over the contributions of citizens. Under McCain-Feingold, a citizen with diverse interests in the future of the nation is permitted to contribute $2,000. A political action committee representing a single interest group is permitted essentially unlimited contributions. In other words, a PAC is a monomaniac with a single legislative goal. Until ordinary taxpayers with diverse interests and common sense — perhaps kids Read More ›

Don Luskin has the goods on the terrific 2003 capital gains tax cut and the increased government revenues it yielded. Bottom line: The Congressional Budget Office predicted the 2003 capital gains tax rate cut from 20% to 15% would reduce capital gains revenues by $26 billion when in fact those revenues have increased by $27 billion over the baseline projection, for a total CBO botch of $53 billion. Wasn’t it just earlier this week that former Treasury Secretary and current Citigroup director Robert Rubin was giving us another lecture how in order to become more competitive and prepare for a future of intense globalization the U.S. needs to raise tax rates? Sorry, Bob, the new numbers, as have all the Read More ›

Are Comcast and Verizon bent on slowing your Google and Yahoo! searches to a crawl? Each day, it seems, yet another pundit jumps into the “net neutrality” fray, and that is the impression they give readers. In last Sunday’s Washington Post, it was Christopher Stern failing to listen to the technology. Stern’s treatment was fairer than most but still drew a false caricature of the complex business and technical issues that have recently dominated the Internet and New Media debate. Stern asks: “Do you prefer to search for information online with Google or Yahoo? What about bargain shopping — do you go to Amazon or eBay? Many of us make these kinds of decisions several times a day, based on Read More ›

Google thinks everyone should have the right to visit any legal web site they choose — as long as it can track every move and remains free to manage the data in its wisdom. Google maintains server logs that record the date, time and originating IP address of every search query and subsequent click on a link. The New York Times reported in 2002 that Google collects “150 million queries a day in its databases, updating and storing the computer logs millisecond by millisecond.” If you were a prosecutor, an investigator or a private plaintiff, could you resist the temptation to examine this material? And what about the more serious problem of theft and loss? If Gen. Wesley Clark’s mobile Read More ›

Proof that you can never have it both ways can be found in a report by Christopher Rhoads in today’s Wall Street Journal, which notes that countries and organizations are erecting rival Internets. Internet pioneers such as Vinton Cerf are alarmed about a fragmentation of the Internet, according to Rhoads. But we should step back and give thanks for what this development is not. It is not U.N. control of the Internet. The U.N. is a sclerotic, and some say corrupt, organization that is full of strange notions about the importance of personal and commercial freedom. Were it to control the Internet, foreign dictators and bureaucrats would be able to influence how we can use the Internet in this country. Read More ›

It looks like we might have some progress at the U.S. Treasury Department, which mostly botched the China currency-trade issue over the last few years. Now Undersecretary Tim Adams is changing the biannual monetary-trade report that previously was used, among other purposes, to label nations “currency manipulators,” whatever that means. As Adams now acknowledges, the economics surrounding these currency and trade matters is much more subtle than the “on-off switch” approach that Treasury had been taking (and that Congress wished it would continue). There are no guarantees the new, more nuanced, more frequent reports will also be more intelligent, but this change points in the right direction. -Bret Swanson UPDATE: Maybe I spoke too soon. Other articles suggest Tim Adams Read More ›

The Wall Street Journal Asia notes a new international poll (sub. req.) gauging sentiment on capitalism. In a poll conducted for the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes between June and August last year, fully 74% of Chinese citizens said they agreed with the statement “the free enterprise system and free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world.” The Philippines, at 73%, and the U.S., at 71%, were second and third. If you’ve been there recently, you know it’s true. -Bret Swanson