Greek Loan Would Violate IMF Charter | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary

Greek Loan Would Violate IMF Charter | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The articles of association of the IMF state clearly its aim to provide loans for balance of payments support. Greece has a huge fiscal need but no balance of payments need. Greek importers can get all the euros they wants from Greek banks, which get euros from the European Central Bank. The IMF is by definition a monetary authority, and Greece has no monetary issues — it surrendered its monetary powers to the ECB Bank on joining the eurozone. Some eurozone countries have fiscal crises, but these are Europe's problem, not the IMF's."

Ron Johnson receives GOP backing in U.S. Senate race | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin

Ron Johnson receives GOP backing in U.S. Senate race | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin: "Ron Johnson said he went into the Republican state convention hoping that the delegates would not endorse anyone – and he’s surprised they endorsed him for the U.S. Senate.

Johnson got 64 percent of the final vote Sunday over Madison developer Terrence Wall and Watertown businessman Dave Westlake.

Former state Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel withdrew, saying a bitter primary would result in the re-election of incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold."

Certainly surprising!

Budgeted Back Into the Stone Age ... or 1998 | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Budgeted Back Into the Stone Age ... or 1998 | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "According to inflation-adjusted federal data, in 1970-71 Americans spent $5,593 per public-school student. By 2006-07 we were spending $12,463 — a whopping 123 percent increase that bought lots of teachers, administrators, and other shiny things!

That said, even minor backsliding from this overwhelming trend could be truly alarming if increasing resources had been producing commensurate academic gains. But they hadn't — as starkly illustrated by 17-year-olds stagnant National Assessment of Educational Progress. In 1973, their average math score was 304 (out of 500). In 2008 it was just 306. In reading, their average score in 1971 was 285. In 2008 it was just 286.

For all our huge spending and staffing increases, we have simply gotten no positive return."

How China will bury us | Cranach: The Blog of Veith

How China will bury us | Cranach: The Blog of Veith: "Notice that this is NOT free market economics but state-run and state-directed economics that takes advantage of capitalist economies by means of state monopolies, coercive government power, and economic clout."

Central planning has been shown to be a failure (i.e. most communist nations) and it will once again be shown to be a failure.

Doug's Diggings: School salaries raise plenty of comments | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin

Doug's Diggings: School salaries raise plenty of comments | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin: "Lord knows, all these administrators are hard workers and probably deserve more money. The problem is, the same could be said for all of us. The difference is that during the past couple of years, the vast majority of us are getting one of the following: no pay increases, pay decreases, pink slips, reduced benefits (401k contributions and health care) and plenty of anxiety about whether or not we’ll have a job in three months."

"Second, this all seemed a bit odd when compared to the timing of the recent school board election. The vote came after the election, but before the new board was seated. I’m sure there are a dozen reasons why it had to happen that way. But the school board should think a little bit about public perception — it doesn’t pass the smell test for most people.

Third, many people are unhappy that many district employees who are much lower on the totem pole have been relieved of their duties and driver’s education was eliminated because of cost factors. Again, maybe all justifiable moves, but it seems to point to a complete lack of perception or empathy from the people sitting on the top.

Fourth, people seem to get tired of this idea that salaries have to be comparable to similar districts, or neighboring districts. It’s a never-ending ladder. Once Hudson raises its salaries, District ABC uses the Hudson model to get higher salaries — when District ABC raises salaries, then Hudson must raise salaries again to be 'competitive.' I understand, of course, that we have to be in the ball park, but I think many people believe that the argument is overused."

Is Aid a Matter of Justice? | Marian L. Tupy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Is Aid a Matter of Justice? | Marian L. Tupy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Africa is poor not because of Western consumption and stinginess, but because it produces too little. Most economists agree that Africa's low productivity is, in large part, a result of bad policies, such as restrictions on private enterprise, bad institutions, and inadequate rule of law. Unfortunately, far from stimulating growth and reducing poverty over the last 60 years, aid has served as a disincentive to economic and institutional reforms.

Governments that depend on income taxes are generally more accountable to their citizens and more responsive to their citizens' desire to advance economically than governments that do not. In Africa, the constant flow of aid has stunted democratic and private sector development.

Moreover, foreign aid that was not wasted on white elephant projects was often stolen by African politicians and bureaucrats. Corruption insulated the elite from the negative consequences of its own actions. When the ordinary people rebelled, as the Ethiopians did after the rigged 2005 election, they were suppressed by their own troops, who were partly financed by foreign aid. According to Paul Collier of Oxford University, between 1960 and 1999, aid financed up to 40% of Africa's military spending."

Invention Awards: A Box That Keeps Plants Hydrated in the Desert | Popular Science

Invention Awards: A Box That Keeps Plants Hydrated in the Desert | Popular Science: "In 2006 Hoff took 25 Waterboxxes to Morocco’s Sahara desert, and after a year, 88 percent of the trees he treated had green leaves, while 90 percent of those watered weekly (the traditional local method) died under the scorching sun. He is conducting more experiments with 20,000 Waterboxxes in difficult terrains in places like Pakistan and Ecuador this year."

FOXNews.com - Fuzzy Math: Tax Cut Doesn't Add Up for Some

FOXNews.com - Fuzzy Math: Tax Cut Doesn't Add Up for Some: "It's an example of how the early provisions of the health care law can create winners and losers among groups lawmakers intended to help -- people with health problems, families with young adult children and small businesses. Because of the law's complexity, not everyone in a broadly similar situation will benefit."

Could the U.S. Become Argentina? | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Could the U.S. Become Argentina? | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The U.S. has a per capita income of about $47,000 per year, while Argentina's is just $14,000 on a purchasing-power parity (PPP) basis. A hundred years ago, Argentina's per capita income was about 80 percent of that in the U.S. If Argentina had done as well relatively as the United States, it would have a per capita income of about $38,000 today. Countries can become wealthy in a few decades, as have South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Finland, by following the correct economic policies. They also can become relatively poor, as have Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela, by doing the wrong things."

Read the article to see ways that we are following Argentina's path.

Ron Paul Challenges GOP's Foreign Policy Agenda | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Ron Paul Challenges GOP's Foreign Policy Agenda | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Paul observed that conservatives, like liberals, enjoyed spending money, only 'on different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases.'

Similarly, Paul said, conservatives talked about following the Constitution, 'except for war. Let the president go to war anytime they want.'"

"Indeed, the 'Defense Department' has become anything but. Most of America's forces do nothing to secure the U.S. They instead are employed to remake failed societies, impose Washington's meddlesome dictates, and subsidize populous and prosperous allies."

"The Europeans might have a larger collective GDP and population. The South Koreans might enjoy a GDP 40 times that of the North. Japan might have the world's second largest economy. Israel might be a regional superpower with up to 200 nuclear weapons.

Yet in GOP eyes all are helpless American dependents, to be defended by Washington at all cost — and apparently forever."

"The U.S. was created as a constitutional republic, with a limited national government bounded by law. Yet the last Republican administration claimed that the president could unilaterally, subject to review neither by Congress nor the courts, order the arrest and indefinite detention of American citizens in America."

"While U.S. citizens pay to defend dozens of nations around the world, those countries invest in business enterprises, economic research and development, and generous welfare states. Trade competitors cheerfully accept U.S. military troops while excluding commercial products.

The defense budget is the price of our nation's foreign policy, and the price is high. The U.S. is spending more than $700 billion annually on the military. In real terms that is more than at any point during the Cold War, Korean War, or Vietnam War. Today America accounts for roughly half of the globe's military outlays."