URLs du Jour

2008-04-03

  • Fans of baseball and grammar have one less thing to worry about today. (Via Language Log.)

  • If (a) you're in favor in "net neutrality" and (b) you're at least semi-receptive to free market arguments, then you should check out "Dumb Pipes, a Dumb Idea: Net Neutrality as 21st Century Socialism" by Clyde Wayne Crews. It might change your mind.

  • What are you most worried about: (a) the current economic crisis; (b) government efforts to "do something" about the current economic crisis? If your answer is (a), you might want to check out:

    • this WSJ editorial on Rep Barney Franks' efforts to effectively transfer billions of dollars from the pockets of people who made responsible financial decisions to the pockets of those who … didn't;

    • Steve Chapman on the same;

    • this analysis by Arnold Kling on the current housing bill's efforts to bail out homebuilders who speculated unwisely on ever-rising housing prices.

    Arnold concludes with a more general lesson:
    Pundits have been braying that the subprime mortgage crisis demonstrates the failure of private markets and the need for more regulation. They say that the crisis is a reminder of why we need more government intervention, not less. The housing bill is a reminder of the opposite.
    So true. (And a sage commenter sagely comments: "Note that when we want to bail them out, they're not developers. They're homebuilders.")