A Route to Bipartisanship--Kneecapping Senators

If he wants to inspire bipartisanshi on the Hill, Obama should hope Tony Soprano kneecaps some Senators and Representatives. That's my takeaway from this Politico piece on the experience of Sen. Murkowski, who busted up her knee skiing and since has found bipartisan amity growing. [Revised--my reference to "goons" was more tasteless than I intended.]

Farmers Depend on Efficient Markets?

That's a surprising sentence from a NY Times article on big banks and possible changes in regulation:

Mr. Peterson, whose constituents include farmers, who are historically suspicious of Wall Street and whose livelihoods depend on efficient markets [emphasis added], is a longstanding critic of loose regulation. And since his committee oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, he would retain more of his prerogatives overseeing the market if the C.F.T.C. were the main regulator.

As part of the history of farm programs was to limit and temper the impact of efficient markets, it struck me as odd.

The Wingnuts Strike Again

The people who believe Obama is not an American citizen have struck Open Gov.

It's reminiscent of flame wars on Usenet or the problems wikipedia has had in the past: people who believe passionately in oddball causes can overwhelm. Not sure how one goes about moderating their impact so government can use Web 2.0.

Crop Insurance and GAO

Keith Good at Farm Policy blogs on a GAO report on crop insurance. If I get ambitious I'll look at the report myself, but one striking thing is that the federal subsidy for administration and operations is tied to the value of the crops insured. So the increase in crop prices in 2006-8 raised the subsidy, though presumably not the actual work involved. (The total program cost $6.5 billion, $2 billion for administration. Don't know what FSA's administrative expenses are.) Nice work if you can get it.

Why I'm Not a Conservative

The New Yorker had an article last week by Atul Gawande concerning the costs of health care. He uses McAllen, TX with its high costs to compare with other cities with lower costs. His analysis, in brief: Some treatments clearly work, others are more uncertain and some carry both possible gains and risks. But most treatments cost money. Some physicians care about money, some don't. It's partially a personal trait, but also a result of the culture in a city. American culture and social institutions particularly encourage thinking about money (as opposed, for example, to worrying about risks and the patients' overall health) and activity ("do something, don't just stand there").

My stereotypical conservative would argue that following the money always conduces to better health care, but not so.

Gawande is always interesting. In this case, I think he could have mentioned the specialization of care a bit more.

A Different View

Cafe Hayek alerted me to this article by Brink Lindsey from Reason discussing the reasons for the growing disparity between rich and poor. The writer may be using a strawman in arguing against Paul Krugman: " We have to back up to the 1930s and ’40s—when, he contends, the “norms and institutions” that shaped a more egalitarian society were created."

I'm not a conservative so I resist the argument, but he does remind of the bad side of that society--racism, discrimination, sexism, and nationalism. The "Greatest Generation" it wasn't, IMHO.

The Wikipedia Revolution and Culture

Just finished "The Wikipedia Revolution", by Andrew Lih. Before I get to the most interesting part of it, let me complain. The type face used is a sans serif one which I found particularly bothersome. Way back in the early 70's I was researching replacements for our IBM MT/ST word processors, which got me into CRT displays and legibility which, since I tend to digress, surprising as that may be to, got me into reading about type faces. This was way before Postscript and other computer-generated fonts. It seems the function of "serifs" is to help guide the eye, and the older you get the more guidance you need.

Anyhow, the book is good, although I was vaguely aware of some of the history. What was most interesting was his discussion of the way culture and history impact the structure and operations of the Japanese (lots more anonymity), German (more rule-oriented and concerned with quality, not quantity), and Chinese (although the spoken languages differ, there's one written language, except there's actually three systems) wikipedias.

ERS and Locavore

ERS is doing a conference on locavore. It's not true USDA is in thrall to big ag--it's better to view agencies like ERS and Extension as bureaucratic entrepreneuts--willing to follow the crowd whereever it wants to go because that's the way to get the right people on the Hill to support your appropriations.

On Cooking

In today's Times Amanda Hesser has an op-ed criticizing Michelle Obama for saying cooking isn't her favorite thing, etc. I'm not impressed with the column, particularly this paragraph:

The twist, of course, is that convenience foods save neither money nor time. As Marion Nestle pointed out in her 2006 book “What to Eat,” prewashed romaine hearts cost at least $1.50 a pound more than romaine heads. And the 2006 U.C.L.A. study found that families saved little or no cooking time when they built their meals around frozen entrees and jarred pasta sauce.

Ms. Hesser neglects the critical saving, at least for the old geezers and the lazy: effort. And most convenience foods save effort, if not money.

On a sidenote, have we had any spouses in the White House who enjoyed cooking to the extent they sat the chefs down? (If I remember, Calvin Coolidge did some of his cooking, at least according to Backstairs at the White House.)

Kristof Versus Shakespeare

I remember we read Julius Caesar in high school (9th grade maybe?). I vaguely remember someone, maybe Caesar, saying not to trust skinny men (like me) who are hungry and discontented.

But today in the Times Nicholas Kristof has a list of 15 things to do to stay safe in the sorts of countries he visits and in number 9 he disagrees with the great Will:

9. When you arrive in a new city, don’t take an airport taxi unless you know it is safe. If you do take a cab, choose a scrawny driver and lock ALL the doors — thieves may pull open the doors at a red light and run off with a bag.

I'm glad to know skinny is getting some respect.