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January 30, 2006
Dr. Heston's Paper
Here is that article I promised you about the pricing of options during the existence of a financial bubble.
Download file
I didn't get a chance to share an interesting story that Dr. Heston told at his talk. Consider the optimal betting strategy "double or nothing". You walk into a fair (doesn't have to be quite fair, but it makes it much easier) casino. You wager a dollar and lose. You wager two dollars and lose, you wager 4 dollars and win. You get your $4 back, you get $4 in winnings from the casino, cover the $3 you lost in the first two bets and pocket the dollar as profit. Then you bet 1$ and repeat the process.
Two obvious problems:
1) This requires an infinite bankroll, as any finite bankroll would be bankrupted by a long enough string of bad luck.
2) This is one reason why casinos have table minimums and maximums. The minimums make doubling prohibitive too quickly for those with small bankrolls, and the maximums (table limits) cut off the few that remain with big ones.
Now consider investing in a bubble. For our purposes a happens when the price of an asset (P) is greater than the discounted value of all future returns from that asset (NPV). Let's say we know there is a bubble, but not the magnitude (P - NPV) bubble nor the duration. If you are bank, required by customer demand to buy and sell this asset as well as its derivatives, you have to invest your money in a bet that is probabilistically going to zero. Similarly, you might be a speculator seeking to make money short term market movements but still believing that the market is in a bubble.
For example, let's say in June of 1998 you buy a mutual fund that tracks the behavior of the NASDAQ stock market index. By June of 2000 you'd have tripled your money. By then the index had already hit its all time peak. Two years after that you'd have returned all (less dividends) the money you'd made between 1998 and 2000.
This is what Dr. Heston calls the the "reverse double or nothing", where you follow a strategy that results in you losing your money every time. By failing to diversify your investments, you were effectively doubling up on on certain assets and scaling down your less successful assets. But, if there is some concern that your assets are in a bubble, then you've got a real problem, you are increasing your bet on something that is going down with certainty some time in the future.
For the personal investor, the solution to these hidden bubbles is to admit your blindness and trust in diversity. On a yearly basis you should be sure to rebalance your portfolio consistent with your financial goals. For example, if you've determined that the optimal investment mix for you is 10% cash, 10% government bonds, 20% US corporate bonds, 10% foreign stocks, and 60% US stocks, but over the course of a year US stocks doubled in value while everything else was flat be sure that at the end of a year your move some (probably 40%) of the gains into your other investments. You won't know if stocks are in a bubble, in fact, one of your other investments might actually be in a bubble. But rebalancing will reduce your exposure to the failure to perform of any of your assets. Of course, there is no free lunch. Under situations such as the trivial example of a run-up in stocks that lasts your whole lifetime, you'd be better off not diversifying. But as long as all your assets aren't highly correlated (go up and down together), you will have much more money under a wider array of less rosy scenarios.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:25 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2006
Democracy is like a raft: It won't sink, but you will always have your feet wet. Russell B. Long
As many of you know already, Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament. About 78% of the 1.3 million eligible Palestinians cast their ballots for one of 11 parties, according to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission. Palestine uses a parallel voting system, where 76 members are elected from single member districts, and 66 from party lists apportioned proportionally. Abu Mazen (Abbas), the president of the Palestinian National Authority. This is not a figurehead job like it is in say, Germany or Israel, but a true locus of power and commander of the armed forces. Well, at least he would be if Palestine weren't a failed state.
Hamas, meaning "zeal" or "courage" in Arabic, is also an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawima al-Islamiyya, in English the Islamic Resistance Movement. It is essentially the violent, militant, offshoot of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood. Early on they focused on increasing the level of religious observance in Palestinian society, but they transformed into a political organization through their charitable activities in the late 60's. In this way they ingratiated themselves into everyday Palestinian life, while fostering and causing (through their own acts of terror by the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades) Palestinian racialism. They are serious Muslim radicals, who do not recognize the right of Israel to exist and aim is to establish an Islamic republic on the land they call Palestine. Both the United States and Israel has discussed cutting off communications with the Palestinian government as a result of this election. It does look grim.
But not all is woe. The Hamas candidate receiving the second most votes, Mohammad Abu Teir, said last week Hamas does not "rule out negotiations" with Israel.Hamas has largely honored the Israeli / Palestinian truce for the last year. Abbas' (and Arafat's old) party, Fattah, isn't that great either, notorious for their corruption and themselves with many members who have sponsored or conducted terror. New blood and a balance of power with Fattah could mean much less corruption. And as I said the other day, Religious democracy is better than secular fascismIran is a state sponsor of Hamas, and look how well Islamic fundamentalism has done to inspire piety there. The young hate it and craving a freer and more secular government. This could be a positive step toward functioning democratic institutions in Palestine.
Will these yahoos likely lead their people to more terror or even war against Israel? It could well be. Will choosing people like this to lead them cost them in aid, make the peace process more difficult and generally worsen the lot of Palestinians? Most likely it will, but I must agree with Anthony Hall, that "it’s for the Palestinian people to decide whether their interests are best served by a government thusly condemned and isolated" If that is what the people want, and they will pay for it, they should have it. I remain confident that a stable, mostly secular, Palestinian democracy will emerge from the islamo-fascist ashes of their present society. Until then do not despair. Be hopeful until disappointed, but ferocious when attacked.
A look at American and European political fallout. Clarity and resolve noticed that Palestinian stocks slid on the news.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
Immigration
Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel has an Op-Ed in today's WSJ where he critiques the Sensenbrenner-King bill, H.R. 4437. This bill isn't a very good bill. It is expected to cost an estimated $1.9 billion over the five year period between 2006-2010. But more seriously, it treats as a felon anyone who "assists, [or] encourages . . . a person who . . . lacks lawful authority to remain in the United States". The punishment is three to 20 years in jail, the same punishment meted out to human traffickers. Another significant criticism is a lack of a humanitarian exception (for doctors, firemen, etcetera) for helping illegals. The City Troll has a few additional criticisms.
I love immigration. Without immigration it is almost certain that all of my ancestors would have died from either Hitler's abattoirs or Stalin's madness. America is nearly an under populated country. As I mentioned in an article about broadband penetration, last year, America is less than a tenth as dense as many other industrialized nations. As a moral matter, it is wrong to restrict employment to those born in a certain place. Simple hypocrisy avoidance requires us to recognize that essentially every American owes his place here to a liberal immigration regimes past. Our unemployment rate is low, we are very successful in integrating immigrants, and they are often more driven than the native born. However, not everyone else agrees.
The anti's in the immigration issue fall into two categories, border watchers and nativists. The former see our porous borders as a weakness to possible terrorist infiltration. The nativists are trying to protect our unique culture, American jobs, or just think the place is already too crowded. Bills like the 4437 (which also funds a border fence), seem anti-immigrant, but are in some sense an attempt to protect the level of immigration we currently have. They placate the naysayers. If we are going to restrict immigration, it is fair that who is to be admitted be decided democratically, not by who happens to be able to be able to sneak in. We aren't accomplishing that today and doing so could very well require a fence, a vast increase in border police, and some sort of punishment for employing illegal aliens. It isn't my first choice, but If a secure border is what is required to achieve a broad consensus among Americans that legal immigration (economic and humanitarian) is a great thing that deserves significant expansion, it might be a bit unseemly to have to build a fence and punish people looking for cheap nannies and gardeners (financial punishments would do, no need to jail them), but that is a price worth paying.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)
You find the strangest pretty things on flicker
"It is good that war is so terrible, else we should become accustomed to it." - Robert E. Lee
Full size inside
Found on flicker. This is the city of Cologne, which was damaged in the "night of the 1000 Bombers" at May 30th in 1942.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:23 AM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2006
Why not try it in organs?
Reason take a non-hysterical look at the free market in egg and seamen donations in the United States. It seems that we've become a leading supplier where other countries are experiencing shortages from price fixing (regulations that fix the price at zero mostly). Paying donors (odd word in this case) for blood is routine , so why can't we get comfortable with selling organs? Seventy-one thousand people are waiting for organ donations, while Heart Disease, Strokes, and Accidents kill over 850,000 people a year. If just half of these people could donate, and 20% chose to sell their organs, just about everyone who needed an organ could have one.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 4:35 PM | Comments (0)
ABA judicial qualification rankings are biased
The NY times discusses in today's Op-Ed that the judicial qualifications are biased against those from conservative backgrounds. Interestingly, this bias is bigger during times when that bias is likely to have consequence (like different parties controlling the White House and the Senate) than when it is unlikely to matter as it is today, when the Republicans control all Federal elected bodies.
Senate Majority Project has a few words from the ABA staff asserting that, the ABA is in fact a non-political organization.
This reminds me a bit of statistical discrimination claims. Essentially, when suing an employer for discrimination (age, gender, race, etcetera), if you can use statistical techniques to show that treatment of your group was highly improbable, you can shift the burden of proof to the defendant. That's what should happen here. The ABA should publicly explain why top-notch legal minds, as measured by looking backwards at citations by other judges, got bad ABA ratings. Because if they don't measure expected judicial contribution, why bother having it.
{corrected the use of smaller when I meant bigger in the first paragraph, thanks to M for the tip}
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:01 AM | Comments (1)
January 24, 2006
More on reinvestment
Back in late November we discussed how reinvestment (along with limited liability) was a critical to make money in investment strategies where the principal value converges to zero value given enough time.
Yesterday afternoon I was at Bloomberg, attending a training class on options valuation techniques. Dr. Steven Heston was there as one of the two lecturers, and talked about no arbitrage models. You see, the way most options (stock options or otherwise) are priced is to figure out how to buy a combination of stocks and treasuries (this is slightly different for other option types) that behaves like the option (this is called the replicating portfolio) while the stocks and bonds stay about where they they are. Then, as they move, you re-balance that replicating portfolio so that it always locally behaves like the option. If you figure out what that strategy costs, you then know the price of the option. He asked a tantalizing question. How do we know that a given replicating portfolio is the unique (or at least cheapest) solution?
We don't, and as it turns out, we can't, at least under a variety of situations, such as:
1) There is a bubble in the asset prices, but its magnitude and duration are unknown
2) Put call/parity doesn't hold.
Consider a share of stock that costs $100. Let's say the call option with a strike price of $105 (the right to buy the stock for $105 regardless of actual stock price) costs $5. If you buy the option and invest the rest in government bonds, then it turns out that this should have exactly the same performance as buying the put at 105 (the right to sell at 105) while buying the stock with the remaining money. Take a look a the previous link, you'll see that this is an obvious and reasonable proposition, although one that happens to break down.
Unfortunately, both of these things are known to happen, primarily when there is an inability to short the underlying asset. Take for example real estate. it is very difficult to borrow real estate, sell it, wait for it to fall in price, then buy it back and return it to whom your borrowed it. Or consider the
shares of Palm stock when they were being spun-off from 3Com. The total value of the Palm shares was as large as the total value of 3Com shares, yet the 3com had real economic value. Sure enough, there were no shares available to short and put call parity broke down in the option market.
I'll link to the presentation when they send it to me and you can see a explanation of how a bubble in asset prices still allows the profitable and unique pricing of options, you just can't use ordinary no arbitrage methods.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
Metaphors arise from social context
I got this quote from my "a work a day" email
Because we don't understand the brain very well we're constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (What else could it be?) And I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and now, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer. -John R. Searle, philosophy professor (1932- )
Which reminds me about the constellations.
In English, the northern constellations have ancient names like Orion, Taurus, Hercules. This owes to a long tradition of long distance sea navigation. The Southern Hemisphere, where the this tradition only begun a few hundred years ago with the arrival of Europeans is home to Telescopium, Norma (Carpenter's Square), Octans (an aid in navigation), and Pyxis (Compass).
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2006
I welcome our robotic train overlords
Logic and Sanity reports that the MTA had its first tests of computer controlled subway cars. That will teach them to strike.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2006
Expensive, fancy crap
Johnnie Walker Blue Label 1805 Anniversary Pack is a blend of whiskies at least 45 years old and is expected to retail for $27,000.
Wow, don't spill a drop.
Or, for $32,000 and a 120 day wait, the guys at Savings and Clone will clone your cat or dog and promise it will resemble the original. I guess calico cats would look the least like their older twins.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 5:26 PM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2006
Does Dell stand by their rebates?
January 18, 2006
Mr. John Hamlin
Dell Inc.
One Dell Way
Round Rock, Texas 78682
United States
Dear Mr. Hamlin,
I ordered my grandmother a computer from your firm on 10/16/2005. My order number is 628488639 and the resulting machine has a service tag of 14MDN81. This is one purchase among that of a dozen or so computers and a few thousand dollars in accessories that my family or I have made from your firm. A few weeks after ordering, I sent in my mail in rebate form with the corresponding documents. Now it is thirteen weeks since the purchase and I have still not received my check. I then tried to use the online tools to check on my rebate but it could not find my records. I braced myself for the hassle of calling about my rebate form, but nothing could have prepared me for what ensued.
I have been on the phone since 11:56 am and it is now almost 4 PM. I borrowed someone else’s phone so that I might call and be escalated to someone else who could help me. The manager I spoke to was friendly but completely useless. The phone routing people could not assist me with my problem. They claimed that only the people I was waiting for could help me. Further, they claimed that only they could escalate my call. What a horrible catch-22. I do not have an unlimited amount of time to spend on chasing rebates. At this point I consider you to have lied to me about the rebate, having falsely marketed the price of your computer as $200 (was that even the rebate, it is three months ago now, so it is hard to remember) less than the true price. The true price of the machine is one at which I never would have purchased it in the first place.
I would like my rebate expressed to me with maximum haste, an apology for the unconscionable service I have received, and compensation for the enormous waste of time and energy that collection has entailed. Otherwise I will avoid dealings with your firm in the future and recommend that my coworkers, friends and family do likewise.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 3:49 PM | Comments (0)
Interesting site
Do Science is a website filled with mini science experiments you can do at home. One neat example is how you can use easily found plastic takeout containers to make your own shrinky-dinks. Those are the little plastic charms that you colored in the 80's then baked until they were colorful, small, hard little tchokeys.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 2:45 PM | Comments (0)
Religious democracy is better than secular fascism
Volokh has bit on Egyptian politics. A discussion with a prominent Egyptian blogger suggests that religious democracy (perhaps of the rightless or unlimited variety) is an inevitable stepping stone of countries in the middle east from secular fascism on the secular (mostly anyway), right based, democracies. They seem to see this a sad side effect, a two steps backwards to take 3 steps forward kind of thing.
But I don't buy it.
I agree that limited but democratic government is the political end game for every country, but true democracy in this case beats the mostly secular but undemocratic present. If Egypt could really have a religious, but pseudo-democratic government like that of Iran, they would be better off. Iranians may suffer political and economic repression, but at least they have forums for the peaceful revolution. North Korea, or Egypt for that matter is a profoundly unsafe place for critics of the regime. In Iran, elected officials can far more effectively and safely provide that criticism. In that sense, they are almost like the early role of the English Parliament, except instead of checking the power of a king, they are checking that of religious leaders.
For interesting profiles on the political freedom of various countries, check out the Freedom House survey. For similar measures of economic freedom, take a look at the 2006 index of economic freedom.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 8:47 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Travel writing parody
Check out this funny guide to writing like a travel writer.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 3:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2006
Top five Belligerati articles of 2005
Measured by page views, the 5 most popular articles of 2006 were:
5) What would happen if modern celebrities were the subjects of (slightly less) modern art
4) Personal Mantras, where I review my dad's 10 rules of consulting
3) I explore new tools to defend your intilectual property rights as a consumer in Until consumers want rights we'll keep giving them away
2) And introduction to the Japanese Hanko system of stamped signatures in The Hanko system of Japan
1) The number one article of the year covered my surprise that The Mexican government is actively subverting US immigration law
I'd love to hear about any articles you especially liked.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 6:08 PM | Comments (1)
January 12, 2006
Haven't tried it but it sounds useful
Latex is a text formatting program using that allows the user to format documents that make heavy use of formating and mathematical notation. It looks a bit like HTML and can be intimidating, especially to the economics, math, or physics student staring down a deadline. That's my excuse anyway for the unopened latex textbook on my bookshelf.
I just may have found a motivation to crack open that textbook. Tex Point is a plug-in for Microsoft PowerPoint that allows the user to use Latex syntax, shortcuts and symbols in PowerPoint presentations. The resulting presentations can be shown on any computer with PowerPoint.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 3:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2006
Yeah but it still sucks
Boing Boing reports on a web site filled with variant Monopoly rules. They go far beyond the free parking bonuses I grew up with. Some look interesting, although little to shake my feeling that the board game is a miserable and boring time waster where you turn friends into enemies by bankrupting them.
This cool Monopoly website has tons of information about the odds of landing on squares and the expected value of various playing strategies.
If you are one of the 7 people in the developed world lacking this game, amazon can sell you one cheap. But don't play it, loot it for parts to play a cheapass game.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:16 AM | Comments (2)
So that's where that comes from
Apple computers derives its name from the following story
Jobs had recently worked at an organic apple orchard, and liked the name because "he thought of the apple as the perfect fruit--it has a high nutritional content, it comes in a nice package, it doesn't damage easily--and he wanted Apple to be the perfect company. Besides, they couldn't come up with a better name.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2006
How to store one's data?
Slashdot has an an unusually good conversation on how to store data for the long haul given that sprouted from an assertion that CDs may only last a few years. Of course Linus Torvalds once said that
"Only wimps use tape backup: real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it.", but for the rest of us, what are we to do?
Me? I view backups as something you do to protect you from disaster, not a long term way of storing data. With cheap storage bigger every day, I backup may data to CDs and DVDs, then whenever I upgrade my computer, I move all the data onto my new computer. That way, it is always available on recent tech.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 8:17 PM | Comments (0)
January 9, 2006
Demographics might just be destiny
Will multiculturalism, failures of assimilation, minuscule fertility rates, and smug cultural relativism condemn a secular, rich, and tolerant Europe to the dustbin of history? The pessimists have much evidence in their corner, but with considerable technology, wealth, and nationalist ideology in their corner, the rich world could likely repair their demographic and economic policy as quickly as they broke it. Tax cuts for breeders, reduction in the scope and generocity of the welfare state, the fetility drugs, enmployment opportunities for the young, social stigma again cohabitation, and even a national sense that 3 children is what a free Euorpe demands could turn the place around in a couple of generations.
If they don't want to? Well that's another story.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 5:06 PM | Comments (0)
Forget utility curves, the secret is in the signal
Jane Galt has an accessable look at how retailers use small differences in quality tied to large differences in price to lure wealthly and merely price insensitive customers our of hiding.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)
Ewww
A bizarre and a little bit scary article about books bound in human skin. The college of College of Physicians of Philadelphia, which runs the Mutters Museum that I visited a while months back, owns four.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 6, 2006
Libertarian war on terror quiz
Reason has an interesting quiz where they ask "what wouldn't you do to win the war on terror?" I'll try to answer, with my reasons, and I'd like to see reader responses.
1) Should the National Security Agency or CIA have the ability to monitor domestic phone calls or e-mails without obtaining judicial approval?
Yes, if any evidence so gathered is prejudiced for criminal prosecution purposes, otherwise no.
2) Should the government have the ability to hold an American citizen without charge, indefinitely, without access to a lawyer, if he is believed to be part of a terrorist cell?
Nope, but if captured on a field of battle, held indefinitely with access to a lawyer.
3) Can you imagine a situation in which the government would be justified in waterboarding an American citizen?
Yes, I'd be Okay with torture warrants, as long as the methods left no lasting physical harm, and were unlikely to leave
permanent mental harm
4) Are there American journalists who should be investigated for possible treason? Should Sedition laws be re-introduced?
No
5) Should the CIA be able to legally assassinate people in countries with which the U.S. is not at war?
What do you mean war? The United States has declared ware only a few times (four times, I think), but many police actions and other such things have public approval. Subject to this caveat, and that of chasing people in countries within which we have permission to hunt them, No.
6) Should anti-terrorism cops be given every single law-enforcement tool available in non-terrorist cases?
Well, I'd like to reduce the number of rights that the regular cops get, but then I'd like to have the anti-terrorism cops have the same ones. The spooks on the other hand, should have a totally different set of tools.
7) Should law enforcement be able to seize the property of a suspected (though not charged) American terrorist, and then sell it?
No
8) Should the U.S. military be tasked with enforcing domestic crime?
No, at least without a governor declaring martial law.
9) Should there be a national I.D. card, and should it be made available to law enforcement on demand?
No, although perhaps ID can be required to access Federal buildings not typically interacting with the public. and for one adult member of a party for air travel
10) Should a higher percentage of national security-related activities and documents be made classified, and kept from the eyes of the Congress, the courts, and the public?
No, it doesn't seem that our enemies see that as our weak spot, but if they did, this is conceivable
Posted by OneEyedMan at 8:58 AM | Comments (1)
January 5, 2006
What what they do more than what they say
Why is it that if the US is as awful as some suggest, others have not risen in alliance to oppose her?
Michael Mandelbaum argue in the most recent issue of Foreign Policy Magazine that this is because they'd rather bash us us for cheap points but doing something about it would mean giving up the benefits of a benevolent super power.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 5:01 PM | Comments (0)
Reveiwing the evidence
The Chicago Tribune, a reluctant supporter of the Second Iraqi War, has revisited the evidence available before the invasion of Iraq. They sought to determine if Bush intentionally mislead the people of the US and their allies into war. Balanced, interesting, and thorough.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 2:40 PM | Comments (0)
On the internet no one know you are a dog
Apple fritter has a neat article on the amazing powers of database mining for personal information using your Amazon Wish list. Which proves that on the Internet, not only do people know you are a dog, they know what kind of biscuits you like.
Sort of makes Google peaking into your mail to advertise pale by comparison.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 4, 2006
She said yes!
The Baltimore lady and I are engaged!
We spent the last week in San Juan, Puerto Rico with my extended family and last Tuesday we took a night off from my family to have a date. We went out for Habbachi at a place called Cherry Blossom, and she had her first experience with theatrical cooking and enjoyed it immensely. We took a cab back to the hotel, and it started to rain on the way home. I had been telling her about this illuminated pier by the hotel where you could see the fish swim at night, and she wanted a walk on the beach. I was concerned as we walked out of the hotel because, despite the rain, I saw several people hanging out on the pier. But the rain drove them off, and by the time we got to the pier the rain had stopped and we had it to ourselves. While she looked out over the mini-reef and fish-gazed into the night's ocean, I got my ring out of my backpack. I got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife. She said yes, went went for a long, joyous, and romantic walk on the beach and started to call our families. We ended up dancing with my family, sharing tears of joy with my grandmother and her mother and sisters, and celebrating the creation of a new third thing out of belligerati's alter ego and the Baltimore girl.
Other highlights of the trip included jet skiing twice (including once with Richard Dreyfuss and his family), visiting one of the largest cave systems in the world, El Yunque rain forest, the Bacardi distillery, Old San Juan, finding beer in a all Spanish language supermarket, and lots of swimming in the ocean and pool (the ocean was warmer!).
Posted by OneEyedMan at 8:04 AM | Comments (4)
January 3, 2006
Why are so many Jews big government liberals
Some insight at Volokh here . Does it all come down to a fond rememberence of good governments past?
Posted by OneEyedMan at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)
Were New Yorkers robbed by the TWU?
Happy New Year! Happy New Year, along with Happy Thanksgiving, are the only holidays you can universally wish Americans, without resorting to generics like happy holidays. I spent the last bits of the year in Puerto Rico, and I should have a longer post about that later in the day.
Henry J. Stern, civil watchdog and expert in New York politics, has a advocate, writes articles on the same for his organization and mailing list New York Civic.
He had two post-mortum articles on the strike, the first concerns if
where is no right to strike against the public safety of anybody, anywhere, anytime. The other if more serious penalties then the three million dollar fine should be inflicted on the union.
Posted by OneEyedMan at 9:07 AM | Comments (0)