http://truckandbarter.com/ Where Sympathy and Hedonism Collide en-us saraand@fastmail.fm 2008-07-01T23:56:23-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/07/iraq_dinar_disc.html This is the Dinar Discussion for July 2008.... 5101@http://truckandbarter.com/ Iraq 2008-07-01T23:56:23-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/06/dinar_discussio_3.html This is the Dinar Discussion for June 2008.... 5100@http://truckandbarter.com/ Iraq 2008-06-01T20:22:34-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/05/do_house_repres.html Raymond Hernandez notes that one perk of being a member of the House of Representatives is an all expenses paid car. In fact, Representatives are permitted to lease any car they damn well please: There are few restrictions on what kind of car the members can choose, and there is no limit on how much they can spend.... Not only does the federal government pick up the cost of the lease and the gas, but also general maintenance, insurance, registration fees and excess mileage charges.... Congressional records show that about 125 members of the House make use of the benefit,... 5099@http://truckandbarter.com/ Automobiles 2008-05-02T08:24:03-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/dinar_discussio_2.html Dinar Discussion MAY 2008... 5098@http://truckandbarter.com/ Iraq 2008-04-30T22:57:30-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/calorie_counts.html I read The Consumerist because it often gets on my nerves. Like today, when it squawks about consumer ignorance of Calories in fast food: The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the American Heart Association recently conducted a scientific poll... in which they asked a sampling of consumers to tell them which menu items had the fewest calories. The results? Consumers had no clue.... If you guessed "Tuna Melt"—-you're smarter than approximately 96% of consumers. The Steakhouse Beef Dip with cheese and dressing actually has the fewest calories, with 730, whereas the Tuna Melt weighs in at a... 5095@http://truckandbarter.com/ Food 2008-04-21T18:05:12-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/patagonia_looki.html Part 2 of the Steven Greenshouse story cited below tells the story of Patagonia, a highly successful outdoor gear seller. Apparently Patagonia has an impressive total compensation package that its employees love: 100% health insurance, months off at a time, a childcare facility at headquarters, and -- don't forget this -- LOW WAGES: Patagonia is so mellow about flextime that the receptionist at headquarters, an 11-time world Frisbee champion, is allowed to take three months off each summer to run a surfing school. “I could make quite a bit more money working somewhere else,” Welling said. “But to have the... 5094@http://truckandbarter.com/ Income 2008-04-21T17:57:35-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/indy_contractor.html Part 1 of Steven Greenhouse's "Working Life (High and Low)", adapted from his new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, tells a sad story of Jean Capobianco, a Fedex route owner whose contract was terminated, after she failed to deliver her route's packages. She had developed ovarian cancer, but because she was an independent contractor, Fedex didn't have to make any accommodation for her. When she didn't find a replacement driver for her route (because, it seems, the available short-term replacement drivers wanted an arm and a leg), Fedex terminated her route, and she lost her... 5093@http://truckandbarter.com/ Businesses 2008-04-21T08:31:25-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/on_the_zero_mar.html Regarding this open letter trying to shame ABC. We're at a crucial moment in our country's history, facing war, a terrorism threat, recession, and a range of big domestic challenges. Large majorities of our fellow Americans tell pollsters they're deeply worried about the country's direction. In such a context, journalists moderating a debate--who are, after all, entrusted with free public airwaves--have a particular responsibility to push and engage the candidates in serious debate about these matters. Tough, probing questions on these issues clearly serve the public interest. Demands that candidates make pledges about a future no one can predict or... 5092@http://truckandbarter.com/ Politics 2008-04-18T17:16:32-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/rents_the_best.html Your Problem: Selling your wares sight-unseen in a foreign land with limited rule of law through unaffiliated intermediaries. His Problem: Buying your wares of uncertain durability during an annual fair from some wandering merchant. Your Solution: Belong to guild that enforces medieval ISO Standards, work rules, creates distinctive products requiring unique raw materials and capital goods. In Brand Names Before the Industrial Revolution ($5), Gary Richardson argues that the "conspicuous characteristics" of durable goods produced by the end of the Middle Ages in Europe were used by their manufacturers as they would use brand-names today. He starts with adverse selection... 5091@http://truckandbarter.com/ History 2008-04-14T17:59:22-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/housing_poll_pr.html ABC news reports about a poll of Americans about their attitudes towards the current housing situation: Nearly three in 10 said they are concerned their home's value will decline over the next two years, while 14 percent of mortgage holders expressed worry that they might miss payments in the next six months. However, this I find absolutely striking: The number envisioning falling prices in their area has grown to one in four, while four in 10 think prices will rise, a decrease from two years ago.But... Underscoring the public's unsettled feelings, the number saying local housing prices are about right... 5090@http://truckandbarter.com/ Real Estate 2008-04-14T17:05:37-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/italian_public.html I've decided to assemble a compendium of links on the historical tradition of Italian Public Finance and its intersection with Public Choice.... 5089@http://truckandbarter.com/ 2008-04-11T16:47:18-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/04/dinar_discussio_1.html Dinar Discussion starting April 2008.... 5088@http://truckandbarter.com/ Iraq 2008-04-01T01:44:18-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/03/dinar_discussio.html Dinar Discussion starting March 2008... 5087@http://truckandbarter.com/ Iraq 2008-03-03T10:36:42-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/01/iraqidinardiscu.html New page for comments as of January 2008... 5082@http://truckandbarter.com/ Iraq 2008-01-28T17:48:50-05:00 http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/01/stigler_vs_cham.html Don't know why I hadn't read it before, but I just finished Monopolistic Competition in Retrospect (1949), the short essay in which Stigler martyred Chamberlain's theory of monopolistic competition. At its core, Stigler's paper is methodological: for practical problems, use the economic theory appropriate to answer the question -- just not Chamberlain's. Stigler insists that Chamberlain's economic theory is incoherent, except for the analytically proper situation where you have multiple firms, all producing the same product, and all facing decreasing demand curves. That was pretty good. And it's good that Chamberlain's influence has refocused serious research interest on trademarks and... 5081@http://truckandbarter.com/ Economics 2008-01-28T17:28:08-05:00