Blog - Page 58

Here are Mike Darda and Steve Forbes with the two best debriefings of the Greenspan era. Both are from The Wall Street Journal where a subscription is required. Mr. Greenspan probably made his most interesting contributions to economics in the fields of trade and productivity, where he recognized the power of the information age and helped beat back ever-present protectionist sentiment with eloquent explanations of globalization and its benefits. He surely was a savvy politician and inspired confidence on Wall Street. Yet for all his many virtues, monetary policy remains poorly understood by average Americans and even most financial and economic experts. Mr. Greenspan’s opaque and shifting rationales and methodologies leave many wondering what he actually thinks and what comes Read More ›

Here’s James DeLong, with the most sophisticated take on the Google-China dilemma. He not only gets the technology right but also offers intriguing thoughts on the geopolitical landscape and the very state of democracy in the West. It’s provacative, but I think he’s right. Tom Hazlett also understands what’s going on. -Bret Swanson

I think its an open secret that Congress is highly unlikely to make significant progress toward comprehensive telecom reform in 2006. That’s probably a good thing. While many people, including many members of Congress, recognize that telecom law badly needs an update, there is an astounding lack of awareness that the basic problem is too much regulation. Most of the proposals so far would create more new regulation than they would eliminate. The supporters of net neutrality sense that a window of opportunity is closing, and they are trying to do something about it. Douglas Van Houweling, the CEO of Internet2, gave an interview to National Journal’s Technology Daily, (subscription required) in which he claimed: “If you have enough bandwidth Read More ›

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 ›