Why I Love Congress--Improper Payments

Government Executive reports on a bill which passed the House requiring government agencies to recover payments they make improperly.  Why the title of this post?  Because a number of years ago Congress passed a law requiring FSA to let farmers keep payments which were made improperly.  Talk about double-faced!

To be fair, I should add this is all based on my memory, which is fallible; the law permits FSA to recover payments if the recovery can be made within a period (90 days maybe?); and the reason for the law was that farmers claimed they didn't realize they had been overpaid, so they used the money in their operations and felt it was unfair to be required to repay when it was FSA which made the mistake. Regardless, my Calvinistic heritage rebels at that.

Sows

The summary of an extension post on farrowing and nursing facilities:

The decision regarding space allocation pits the biology of the pig against the economics of production systems. Since each 3% reduction in space allocation for pigs in fully slatted facilities results in only a 1% reduction in daily gain and daily feed intake, producers have historically accepted a reduction in individual pig performance in order to maximize economic returns from investments in facilities. Based on the recommended codes of practice from the European Economic Community and Canada, there is no agreed upon standard for space allocation in the world community. In the future, considerations such as welfare codes and response of the market chain may change the space allocation decision.

If I recall, Florida put some sort of restriction on farrowing pens. I'm rather of two minds on this, and similar animal welfare issue. On the one hand there's a power imbalance between the animal grower and the animals.  One of my rules is based on Lord Acton: power corrupts.  Granted over the long haul it's in the interest of the grower to treat her animals humanely, but so is it in the interest of employers to treat employees well.  We know neither happens in every case.  On the other hand, there's definite economic tradeoffs, as shown by this study.  The bottom line, as society gets wealthier we can afford to put some of the wealth to better treatment of animals as opposed, say, to more square footage for the home.

An Inventor All Bureaucrats Should Honor: Edwin G. Seibels

Via Matt Yglesias, here's the inventor of the filing cabinet.  You laugh, but being able to store and retrieve accurately the desired information is important.  Just ask anyone with Alzheimers.

White House Garden Update--Artichokes?

Obamafoodorama has two posts tied to tours of the White House Garden and stories resulting from it. Judging by the photo, the garden's doing well, although I can't say the same for the grass bordering it.  One hazard of showing it off to lots of people I guess. It confirms that while they're using "raised" beds, meaning the dirt is hilled up, they aren't enclosing them with boards, which provides deeper beds.

I was surprised by the mention of artichokes, which I don't think of as growing in the area.  Turns out an annual variety can be grown in zone 7, which the White House is in. Since I've never grown them, I shouldn't second guess, but they don't seem like a vegetable that maximizes productivity per square foot.

Since the President likes pie, it looks as if he'll get some rhubarb pie.  Though again I'm a little surprised if they get significant production the first year out.  But even one pie is worth it

Nationalizing Ratings Agencies

Ezra Klein posts on whether we should nationalize the ratings agencies.  My comment--USDA inspects and rates grains and cotton, why shouldn't the government rate bonds and derivatives.

Recruiting Employees

Ezra Klein has an interview with a Harvard grad who went into investment banking, which includes some discussion of why students with humanities and social science majors go to Wall Street.The interesting suggestion is that investment banks steal a march on other employers by offering summer internships to rising seniors.  Do well then, and you've got a job offer, thereby alleviating all the stress and anxiety of job searching during the senior year.  Instead you can relax and drink enjoy the college life.  Immediate gratification is perhaps more important than the lure of high incomes down the road.

I wonder how well the government does in offering internships--I know there are a few around, but I doubt OPM views itself as in a hot competition with Goldman Sachs.

Being on the Receiving End of Voice of America

Or, information dissemination activities like VOA. John Pomfret at the Post has an article on China's attempts to spread its influence by a Voice of America style effort.

The stations don't broadcast outright propaganda, but rather programming with a Chinese focus and flavor, tailored for local audiences. In Galveston, the format mixes China-centric international news, talk shows about the status of China's women and a healthy dose of gangsta rap -- all in English.
In New York, China's official Xinhua News Agency is moving its North American headquarters from a small building in Queens to a sprawling office complex in Times Square. It will soon have more than twice as many bureaus in the United States as any Western news agency has in China.

What I found interesting were the cultural misunderstandings which the Chinese have to overcome in order to communicate with us.  Reminds me of past discussions of the problems the US government, and large corporations, have had in operating abroad.  (Supposedly Chevrolet's Novas were a flop in Mexico because the name meant "no go", etc. etc.

Best Sentence of April 26

From Dan Drezner, discussing Stephen Hawking and dealing with aliens (or not):

If aliens crave either sea water or bulls**t, then the human race as we know it is seriously screwed. 

Clayton on Small Rural Towns

A couple paragraphs from Chris Clayton's blog:

I found the Vilsack-Lucas exchange interesting considering I spent the better part of Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning in Southeastern Arkansas. On Tuesday night, in Monticello, Ark., at a political candidate forum, one older man complained about the lack of jobs for people in small towns. All of the manufacturing jobs were gone. A spec building built by the town a decade earlier was never used. The man said, "We got fast-food jobs, though. We have a every kind of burger in this town you want it, but people can't live off those jobs."

(I thought that also dovetailed nicely into the obesity debate.)

On Wednesday, I traveled a little way farther southeast. The blight really was surprising. There were a couple of towns with almost completely boarded former business districts. Any kind store other than liquor or convenience was gone. There was just nothing there in terms of work or economic development. It was depressing and made me wonder just how in the world you return jobs back to these small towns.

My answer is: you can't return jobs and people to small towns. At least you can't consistently and on a national basis.  Small towns have been declining for over a century and there's nothing on the horizon which would change the process.

Speculation on Safety: Companies Safer Than Family Farms?

That's John Phipps:

"It may take a legion of lawyers and hard-nosed insurance companies to make this happen, but as the number of family-only operations slides and those with employees (and their concomitant legal exposure) increase, I suspect these numbers [fatal accidents] will begin to drop rapidly."

Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations. I think I agree with John, by the same logic as believing "commercial agriculture" produces safer food on the whole than smaller operations.  Commercial aviation is safer than private aviation.