Two Links and a Plug: 10/16

Sometimes you read a piece by a writer you really admire (and I do greatly admire Williamson's work) and are disheartened to discover you find his latest argument ridiculous. I don't know if we should tax Wall Street investment earnings as income, but to contend that this is going to lead to them all getting 70% raises is absurd. If the money was there for them to be paid 70% more, would they be leaving it on the table now out of goodwill? Are their clients not sensitive to any price increases that would support a 70% raise? To imply that raising taxes on finance guys will just cause those evil magicians to conjure up more income ascribes to them a level of power that would make leftist critiques of capitalism a lot more valid. Hell, if I thought these guys could collectively jack up their salaries like that, I'd be sitting in a drum circle with the hippies downtown right now.

Is your city Greece? Pennsylvania's capital city (Harrisburg, for those of you who have forgotten 4th grade geography) is going bankrupt, and it looks like many other cities in the Northeast, California and elsewhere could be right behind. So ask yourself: if you think debates in Congress are ugly, what is it going to look like when your town council announces they can't pay the police force? (Bonus link: Michael Lewis captured the despair of bankrupt cities magnificently in this piece for Vanity Fair.)

PLUG: Many of you probably saw Arcade Fire's customizable video for "The Wilderness Downtown". Now that same technology has been used by State Farm to blow up your house. Check it out here.

Two Links and a Plug

For months, I've been meaning to start directing people to some of the many interesting things I find myself reading. I've also wanted to share some of the cool stuff that's happening at Google. Thus, this format. As often as I have the time and material, I'm going to share two articles I think are worth your time, and one Google or YouTube creation you might enjoy experiencing. I won't be promoting these too often, so please check back if you're interested.

For stimulus to work, we must be stupid: I've been reading a lot about why we seem out of tools to fix the economy. I even wrote a piece about it about a month back. But I think this article on the limits of Keynesianism, and in particular how the theories of this year's Nobel Prize winners tell us that we should expect our traditional economic levers to fail as people start paying more attention.

An article I am too afraid to send to my wife: Is this finally proof that baby brain drain is real? (And does the same thing happen to men? Because it feels like it sometimes.)

PLUG: Spacelab channel launches on YouTube: This is a great use of the Internet's power to inspire and encourage people (in this case young people) to open their minds to new ideas and new possibilities. And how awesome would it be if some kid's experiment actually leads to a significant discovery?

Enjoy, and if you have any suggestions for stuff to feature, please send it my way.