Some Things

1. I saw A.D. Vassallo and Deron Washington playing basketball in the gym. I quickly ran into the other gym. I would rather play in the MLB or NFL, but I would rather be causally good at basketball. They had a grace that you rarely see.

2. My Dad seems to be a Fidel Castro sympathizer. Instead of blaming high sugar, corn, and ethanol prices on tariffs and ignorant American policy, he blamed it on the embargo with Cuba. "All we have to do is admit we are wrong, apologize to Fidel, and open up trade. All Fidel wanted to do was feed his country. We have plenty of sugar 30 miles off the coast of Florida. Those people (Cubans) want to trade with us."

He went on to say his Grandmother's favorite saying, "America will starve with money in their pockets." And added: "There are no small farmers in America anymore. Everybody is big. Prices will stay high, and we will starve. We need more farms."

My sister who I have must have had some influence on asked him why he did not have a garden. He replied, "Well maybe not a garden, but I think greenhouses are the answer. We should get a greenhouse. We should grow something."

I love my Father. It was Father's Day. So I shut up and said nothing.

Notice I do not support the embargo against Cuba, and American sugar policy is a travesty. But Fidel Castro is no saint, and Castro's communism should not be glorified. America should apologize for any embargo but not to Fidel Castro.

3. Structured procrastination is a smart way to look at things.

My worst days come when I do nothing. Yes this blog is just me not working on the papers I am supposed to be working on, but I am doing something. I spent most of this morning looking at ESPN.com. Finally about 4 o'clock today, I decided that it was okay to not do the work I am supposed to be doing. But damn it, I have to do something. I lifted, shot basketball, paid some bills, fixed the air conditioner in the lab, and checked on some things.

Now I feel like working, but it is time to sleep.

Great Poetry

1. Duritz's "Mrs. Potter..."



2. Rudyard Kipling's "If"

"...If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two impostors just the same..."

They are impostors.

Three Of My Many Faults

1. I have to be in control.

My Dad's anti-alcohol anti-drug speech consisted of "I never liked being out of control." He quit smoking cigarettes when he lit another cigarette after having one already lit. He knew then he could not control his smoking, and he quit (and gained eighty pounds).

I have taken his message to heart. I cannot stand to be "out of control." I cannot stand to think my future or present is in someone else's hands. No matter if it is a simple party or meeting, I think I could organize it better.

2. I require others to boost my self-confidence.

This probably comes from my parents too. I define my worth by others' compliments and criticisms. I know this is stupid. But I still do it.

I am getting better. I think this is one of the things that age and perspective cures, but it takes time. And I might be wrong; it might get worse with age.

3. I believe in justice.

I care. I cannot let things go. I believe there is a proper way to act. There is right and not right.

I get involved in other people's struggles. Many times this involvement is a diversion from my own struggles.


These three things are really the same. But their sum leads to me being an angry and unfocused person.

It can also lead to perpetual unhappiness, but I can and will change.

It Is Put Or Shut Up Time For Junior

He will have the best equipment. We will see how good of a driver he really is.

Something Someone Said

I found this quote from Lord Kelvin in some old economics book "Whenever you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it. But when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind."

This illusion of objectivity, this myth of positivism, this faith in statistics was never meant to invade economics, but it has. The whole thing reminds of R.E.M's "Sad Professor":

R.E.M. - Sad Professor Lyrics

If we're talking about love
Then I have to tell you
Dear readers, I'm not sure where I'm headed.
I've gotten lost before.
I've woke up stone drunk
Face down in the floor.

Late afternoon, the house is hot.
I started, I jumped up.
Everyone hates a bore.
Everybody hates a drunk.

This may be a lit invention
Professors muddled in their intent
To try to rope in followers
To float their malcontent.
As for this reader,
I'm already spent.

Late afternoon, the house is hot.
I started, I jumped up.
Everyone hates a sad professor.
I hate where I wound up.

Dear readers, my apologies.
I'm drifting in and out of sleep.
Long silence presents the tragedies
Of love. Not the age. Get afraid.
The surface hazy with attendant thoughts.
A lazy eye metaphor on the rock.

Late afternoon, the house is hot.
I started, I jumped up.
Everyone hates a bore.
Everybody hates a drunk.
Everyone hates a sad professor.
I hate where I wound up.
I hate where I wound up.


By Kelvin's and the author of the book's logic, the most important things in life like love, liberty and happiness are unsatisfactory because they cannot be measured. This philosophy is doomed from the start.

Economists must recognize that there is a great amount of knowledge that is unmeasurable but very important and worthy of study.

The Difference II

When Dad used to complain about his boss, Granddad would say "Quit or buy the place." Knowing full well he could do neither, Dad would shut up and work harder.

Freedom is having the ability to "Quit or buy the place." That freedom is the way my Granddad lived, it is what Dad has finally achieved, and it is what I crave.

But how can I buy a public university?

So I can either quit, or shut up and work harder.

The Difference

My grandfather used to say "the difference between a landlord and a renter is that the landlord owns the place."

There is an article on the front page of the Collegiate Times (I cannot find the article on the website) about tenants complaining about a developer buying their apartments and renovating them into luxury condos. The former tenants are worried about finding another place. They want government to step in and help them. They want special privileges.

But the landlord owns the place.

The Wisdom Of Ozzie Guillen

"Guillen said he's "100 percent" against steroid use but added it's "not my business" if others take them.

"I really don't worry about it," he said. "I have three kids and those are the only three people I care about. Everybody else, you do what you want to do.""

From this article

I Know I Am Late On This One

But YouTube is absolutely awesome.

I would have paid a significant amount of money just for the Springsteen, U2, and R.E.M. clips.

I dare anyone to say that YouTube would have happened in a communist country. I dare anyone to say that government can do anything except get in the way of YouTube.

Stupid Things I Have Said

My sister's friend is getting married. Like my sister, she is twenty two years old. I asked my sister what the over/under was on her friend's marriage. My intended effect was to irk my sister. I achieved that goal.

But my 29 year old cousin was also a little irked. He half-jokingly asked what was the over/under was on his marriage. He could stand to make a few extra bucks.

I halfway apologized, and said that my joke was a poor way to think and not funny.

But my foolishness can also be used to teach an economic lesson.

In today's world divorce happens. There is significant chance that my sister's friend will be divorced. By me asking for an over/under I was implicitly claiming that my sister's friend's marriage was a risky proposition. Give me the average length of marriages between people with similar characteristics, and I will give you an over/under. I was implicitly assuming the length of marriages are a predictable stochastic process.

My cousin and sister felt that the length of any given marriage was uncertain. There were no stochastic process just chaotic randomness.

I do not know who is right. But people who see risk where others see uncertainty can make a lot of money.

But first they have to find the courage to bet, then they have to be lucky.

Sundays, Harleys, Death, Whores, And Pimps

Over Christmas my Dad commented that all businesses should be closed on Sunday. "That is the way it used to be with blue laws, and we still got everything done."

I retorted that motorcycles should be outlawed. I knew my Dad was an avid rider back in the day. I also knew his dream is to buy a big Harley and ride across the country. I also knew that one of my friends from high school and my Mom's co-worker's boyfriend had just died riding motorcycles too fast. "There are just too many unnecessary deaths from motorcycles."

We argued. He claimed that all I care about was money. This is his go-to argument. When he cannot defend his position with reason, or he gets flustered, then I am a greedy bastard who only cares about money. I said in a sarcastic tone, "What about my high school buddy? Don't you care about him?" The realization that I was using my friend's death as a semi-joke during an argument scared me and offended both of us. So we shut up, and the argument ended.

GGM called me a whore to a philosophy the other day. I said that we do not need collective planning, and that property rights take care of all of the problems that planners cannot and or refuse to see. If you do not want Wal-Mart, do not shop there. Do not zone them out or make them jump through hoops. Just do not shop there. GGM reasserted his faith in the collective, democracy, precedent, and all of those other things that do not impress me.

One of my favorite rhymes is: "I feel like a whore. I cannot do anything for free anymore." That rhyme sums up the transition between youth and adulthood. Children do not worry about salaries or opportunity costs. They just play. They just act.

But somehow most children learn to be adults. They learn to face the consequences of their actions. Some learn quicker than others. Some learn the hard way. Some die. Some hurt others. Good parents help, but bad parents do not doom. And in the end, most make it.

The fact that most people make it is why I think blue laws and planning is wrongheaded and futile. The fact that prohibition had to be repealed, that people back in the day still got drunk on Sunday, and that people still speed on motorcycles show that laws will never solve the perceived wrongs of society.

So Dad and GGM, liberty, property rights, and the right to choose are my pimps, are my masters. If that makes me a whore or slave, then so be it.

Links

1. If I ever teach, something I need to remember. Concentrate on key ideas.

2. Knocked Up Review

3. New Documentary

The Curse Of The Fan

I have a cubicle on the fourth floor of a building built before air conditioners. There are a few windows but many of the screens have disappeared and cannot be replaced. I still open these windows, but my colleagues do not like the possibility of birds, bugs and other creatures entering their humble “offices”.

It gets warm on the fourth floor in Virginia when there are no air conditioners. You really never get used to it. You are either always fighting sleep, drinking cold liquids, thinking about drinking intoxicating cold liquids, or wondering what would happen if you rubbed anti-perspent over your entire body. It is not a very productive situation.

As I was walking through my favorite department store, I had a brilliant idea. I needed a fan. I went to the fan section, and I was amazed that I had so many choices. I could only use a small desk fan, but I had several reasonable choices. I debated with myself for longer than I wanted, but I appreciated the air conditioned store. I finally chose a $6 Haier fan. It met all of my stringent requirements; it was cheap, small, quiet, and cheap. This fan would only be useful for two months, and it would be in my less than aesthetic workplace. I do not make enough money to spend a lot on a fan for my “cell”.

After putting my fan in the cart, I continued shopping. Most of my purchases consisted of beef and cheese. I also bought a few tomatoes and potatoes. As I was checking out, I was glad that the fan only cost $6. If it cost any more, I might have not purchased the expensive ice cream that cooled me so well after a long hot day in the office.

The fan works well. It makes my days more bearable. It is still hot, and I spend way too much time in the lounge, but on the whole I am really happy with my $6 fan.

I learned this morning that Haier is a Chinese company. A colleague chastised me for buying anything Chinese. I also read that politicians have called for trade barriers against China.

If we limit trade with China, who is really going to be hurt?

I certainly do not want to give up my fan.

A Proposition To The Blacksburg Town Council

All businesses under 5000 square feet should be required to gain a special operating permit.

Small businesses pollute Blacksburg. Many are dirty. Many give poor service and barely pay minimum wage without insurance. Many shut down in the matter of months. Many are frequented by dregs.

Small non-box stores have no place in Blacksburg. They destroy the character of this wonderful town.

The town council must save us from reverting to the 20th century. They must require a special permit for small business.

Two Kinds Of Work

There is deadline work. One finishes something because it has to be done. One gives his best effort, but the final product is recognized to be a compromise.

There is masterpiece work. One takes his time. One concerns himself only with quality. A man could be standing with a gun demanding the work, and he would not give it up until it was truly finished.

Most work is deadline work. Most people never do masterpiece work. Some masterpiece work can only appreciated by its creator. Some people do not have the wherewithal to finish masterpiece work. Most successful people quickly learn that in the end it is all deadline work.

But the most successful people only know masterpiece work.

Calories Per Dollar

I eat like an economist. I maximize calories per dollar. Given my budget I try to eat as much as possible.

For example, I went to Arby's. They have this magnificent 5 for $5.95 promotion. When making my decision, I immediately gave up on a diet drink for mozzarella sticks. I can get something to drink anywhere. I ended with two Roast Beef Melts, a curly fry, an apple turnover and the mozzarella sticks. I would have been just as happy getting a chicken sandwich combo for a similar price. But I had to maximize the mythical "value" function. I had to indirectly maximize my calories per dollar.

ML likes to use red and yellow peppers. Red and yellow peppers are expensive. I could never justify using them. But last night I tried them. I was pleasantly surprised. They do add something special to a meal. Something that increases the quality without increasing the calories.

My eating behavior is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I have to do something different. I can eat well and eat less at the same time. I need to add yellow and red peppers. I need to add flavor in lieu of calories to my diet.

I want to write some goals or some proclamations about what I am going to do, but that would be foolish.

No matter how much I try to change, I cannot escape my family roots. I will always get much pleasure out of eating. Like my grandfather and father, I will always live scared of not having enough to eat. I will always maximize my calories per dollar.

But I can try to get better.

Congressman Lantos Should Take His Actions Seriously And Resign

This shit makes me sick.

I love my dog. I would hate to see him suffer. I hate to see any living thing suffer. I would never participate in any type of animal fighting. I am not going to attempt to justify Vick's involvement with dog fighting. I do not think it should be illegal, but that is not what makes me sick.

This congressman's letter was a threat. It was a little man wielding power that he neither deserves nor can handle. I wish I could write a letter to him telling him that if he continues to pursue stupid shit like this, I would fire (not vote) for him. I wish he was informed on what liberty means and what government is supposed to do. This is how fascism starts. This is how Big Brother starts.

If I wrote on this blog that if the congressman Lantos had better resign or sanction himself or else I would take matters into my own hand, it would be considered (an empty) threat. I might even be thrown in jail. But he does it and, it is fine and fucking dandy.

It is almost time for another civil war. No let us just annex California.

In the end, the Vick brothers continue to disappoint. But government disappoints more.

Maybe This Will Help

I am trying to write a paper from my masters' thesis. Writing papers from masters' theses is never a good idea. The quality of the work is just not there. But I have to write a paper. It is my job.

My thesis is about the value people place on the environmental benefits from biotechnology. I come to some masters' level conclusions about practical issues concerning non-market valuation, the public good nature of biotechnology, and some behavioral issues with Filipinos.

I have two paper ideas that I cannot seem to expand upon.

The first paper idea concerns the valuation of research. Previous papers have concentrated on finished products, but I got values for research. Since much biotechnology is directly or indirectly funded by public dollars, it is interesting to see what values people place on research that will produce uncertain results.

The second paper idea concerns the practical issues of valuing environmental benefits especially in developing countries. The technique I develop addresses some of the major concerns of the valuation of environmental benefits from biotechnologies. This paper would be interesting because most previous studies use complex and expensive techniques, but I think my guesses are just as good if not better than their guesses.

I guess guessing makes the world go around. I guess I will write something.

Links

1. What do idiots, Hugo Chavez, and the future of authortarian socialism have in common?

2. "Science will become politics."

3. Nothing is as simple as you think especially counter-terrorism.

Resistance

Sam and I have been studying resistance, specifically insecticide resistance and antibiotic resistance. It is really a classic problem. It is the law of diminishing returns. You use something more, and it becomes worth less. When mosquitoes become resistant to the insecticides, Africans die of malaria. The same is true with antibiotics and bacteria except Westerners die too.

But I keep thinking that resistance is a wonderful problem to have. There has to be an effective product before resistance becomes worrisome. When there was no penicillin there was no resistance worries, and more people died.

I doubt if Sam or I can really contribute much to the resistance "problem." We certainly will not create the next drug that makes reisistance insignificant again.

But honestly I am not worried. It will work out.

Extra Thought
Sam has been reading about Black Swans. He is fascinated by them. I hope to comment later in the week.

Carole King's "Beautiful"

You've got to get up every morning
With a smile in your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
The people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes you will
That you're beautiful as you feel

Waiting at the station with a workday wind a-blowing
I've got nothing to do but watch the passers-by
Mirrored in their faces I see frustration growing
And they don't see it showing, why do I?

You've got to get up every morning
With a smile in your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
The people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes you will
That you're beautiful as you feel

I have often asked myself for reason for sadness
In a world where tears are just a lullaby
If there's any answer, maybe love can end the madness
Maybe not, oh, but we can only try

You've got to get up every morning
With a smile in your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
The people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes you will
That you're beautiful as you feel



I have not turned into an optimist. I liked "Mirrored in their faces I see frustration growing, And they don't see it showing, why do I?"

Shit, maybe she has a point.

I Find This Incredibly Sad

Junior is leaving.

I guess we will see how good a driver Junior really is. He is always complaining about his car. I do not know. He will always be fighting his father's shadow.

Time will tell.

Another Dopeless Hope Fiend 2

This post builds on this one.

GGM says he looks at what I am eating then buys it at the store because he knows it was on sale. This statement made it on my compliments I care about list.

I am a smart shopper. I worked in a grocery store too long to not be one.

A key to smart shopping is to never be hampered by cash flow issues. If the 24 pack of soothing aloe vera toilet paper is on sale for $6, do not buy the generic 4 pack for $1.50 because it is "cheaper" and "my roommate's fat ass uses half of it anyway." A smart shopper can eat and live well while also being cheap.

Also never buy fresh berries, melons, or corn in the winter. They are the definition of a waste of money. They have no flavor and are expensive. It is better to go frozen in the winter. But in the summer, fresh fruit is heavenly.

Good luck to everyone and thank you GGM.

Yeah, I am still another dopeless hope fiend.

In my first post, I sugarcoated the first compliment. The guy called me simple. And that is okay.

One Of Those Mornings

I wake up early, but get out of bed late. My Internet connection crawls. I miss the bus. I try to fix breakfast. I forgot to seal the cheese package yesterday. I eat it anyway. I wait for the next bus. I forget my MP3 player, my backpack, and half of my lunch.

I cannot stand the silence. I have spent the last thirty minutes debating whether to print the papers in my backpack again.

The rest of the day has to be better. I guess.

Sports

I hate the Yankees. I hate the Red Sox. I do not care about Roger Clemens, but this quote from a Bill Simmon's reader is funny: "This is historic ... who ever heard of a rat jumping ON a sinking ship?"

I am a Braves fan which means I have been tortured over the past 15 years more than any Cubs fan. Oh yeah, I do not like the Cubs either.

I wish I had the talent to write about sports for a living.

How To Read

After observing that others read more than I do and wanting to correct this imbalance, I have decided to not only buy and collect books but also read them.

The problem I have is if I really read a book, it takes time. I write in the book. I critique every page. There is no way I can do this with every book, and I have improved with my "before bed" books. I do not even have a pen near the bed. But I think I have to get more books through the "before bed" queue.

Currently my bedtime book is Stuart Evey's ESPN. I have read the first couple of chapters. It flows, but I think I have already got the deepest insights. Should I move on to something else? Should I finish it or skim it? Does ESPN have anything to contribute to my life? What would I be missing if I put it down now? What am I missing if I continue to read it?

The easy solution is to read more. But the theme of this blog comes out again: I don't know. And no one knows. It is foolish to search for answers to questions that do not matter.

Yesterday a preacher said, "We will always have doubts." I disagreed with his context, but he has a point.

I Am Not A Communist

The following statements are positive ideas. They do not reflect my normative opinions even though I use "should" too much.

(The following is mostly GGM's idea. I just expanded on it.)

The minimum wage "should" be tied to other factors like age and number of dependents. A minimum wage is supposed to help people eat. It is supposed to give them a "living wage." Because of their parents, teen aged lifeguards and burger flippers need less pay to eat and "live" than single mothers trying to support their children. It is ridiculous that both teenagers and single mothers face the same minimum wage. An individuals' minimum wage "should" depend on their situation.

Now of course, this leads to perverse incentives for businesses. They will only hire low wage teenagers. So there would also have to be tax breaks for employers that hire single mothers. This system could aide welfare reform also.

I am pretty sure that other countries already have a variable minimum wage. (This is mostly GGM's idea, but I just expanded on it.)


(The following idea comes from "100 Calorie Snack Packs".)

Instead of regulating individual foods, government could mandate container sizes. For example soda "should" only come in containers that held less than 200 calories. No 2 liter bottles or 24oz Big Shooters, people could only buy 10 ounce (200 calorie) cans.

Container regulation would help some people count calories and control their caloric intake. It would also raise the cost of food and effectively tax caloric intake by not allowing any economies of package size.

I am not a communist.

The Point

I am avoiding work. But as my What It Takes post sums up, I do not know what I am avoiding. My last two posts show what I have been listening to. I have a single hair in my eyebrow that is over two inches long. I keep forgetting to cut it. It looks horrible. I do not give a damn. I have a roommate that will not voluntarily pay his rent. I have the right to exist. I am getting fatter by the minute. I want to exercise. But I have excuses. People tell me that I need to seek counseling. I do not have the time. I want to be great. I really do. But I am a realist. I am also an existentialist and a libertarian. I am twenty five years old. I dream of a time when happiness comes easy. I dream of linearity. But I see in three dimensional scatter diagrams. I have no idea what a 3-D scatter diagram is. I have always wanted to know the proper use of the ellipsis...

Well, "I will meet you at Mary's place," and I will "be the best I can."

"Tell Me, How Do You Live Broken-Hearted?"

Bruce Springsteen's "Mary's Place"

"Mary's Place"

I got seven pictures of Buddha
The prophet's on my tongue
Eleven angels of mercy
Sighin' over that black hole in the sun
My heart's dark but it's risin'
I'm pullin' all the faith I can see
From that black hole on the horizon
I hear your voice calling me

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Tell me how do we get this thing started
Meet me at Mary's place

Familiar faces around me
Laughter fills the air
Your loving grace surrounds me
Everybody's here
Furniture's out on the front porch
Music's up loud
I dream of you in my arms
I lose myself in the crowd

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Tell me how do you live broken-hearted
Meet me at Mary's place

I got a picture of you in my locket
I keep it close to my heart
A light shining in my breast
Leading me through the dark
Seven days, seven candles
In my window light your way
Your favorite record's on the turntable
I drop the needle and pray
Band's countin' out midnight
Floor's rumblin' loud
Singer's callin' up daylight
And waitin' for that shout from the crowd
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd

Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, turn it up

Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Tell me how do we get this thing started
Meet me at Mary's place

Meet me at Mary's place
Meet me at Mary's place

"My Family And Friends Are The Best Thing I've Known"

John Cougar Mellencamp's "Minutes To Memories"

On a Greyhound thirty miles beyond Jamestown
He saw the sun set on the Tennessee line
He looked at the young man who was riding beside him
He said "I'm old kind of worn out inside
I worked my whole life in the steel mills near Gary
And (like) my father before me I helped build this land
Now I'm seventy-seven and with God as my witness
I earned every dollar that passed through my hands
My family and friends are the best thing I've known
Through the eye of the needle I'll carry them home"

Chorus:
Days turn to minutes
And minutes to memories
Life sweeps away the dreams
That we have planned
You are young and you are the future
So suck it up and tough it out
And be the best you can

The rain hit the old dog in the twilights last gleaming
He said "Son it sounds like rattling old bones
This highway is long but I know some that are longer
By sunup tomorrow I guess I'll be home"
Through the hills of Kentucky cross the Ohio River
The old man kept talking bout his life and his times
He fell asleep with his head against the window
He said "An honest man's pillow is his peace of mind
This world offers riches and riches will grow wings
I don't take stock in those uncertain things"

Chorus:
Days turn to minutes
And minutes to memories
Life sweeps away the dreams
That we have planned
You are young and you are the future
So suck it up and tough it out
And be the best you can

The old man had a vision but it was hard for me to follow
I do things my way and I pay a high price
When I think back on the old man and the bus ride
Now that I'm older I can see he was right

Another hot one out on highway eleven
This is my life its what I've chosen to do
There are no free rides no one said it'd be easy
The old man told me this my son Im telling it to you

Chorus:
Days turn to minutes
And minutes to memories
Life sweeps away the dreams
That we have planned
You are young and you are the future
So suck it up and tough it out
And be the best you can

Morning Reads

1. Russ Roberts is long but sharp.

2. Bridgewater will rule the ODAC once again.

3. Here is one of my professors' paper on "sex offender" stigma. I have not went over it carefully, and I am always skeptical of the inferential statistics. But I think the implication that people cannot separate between a sexual predator and sex offender is an interesting suggestion. This stigma effect has implications for health and other facets of life also. For example genetically modified products have fell under a stigma.

4. Jason Whitlock does it again. The thing I appreciate about Whitlock is that he is not afraid to question. I do not always agree with him, but I always finish his articles.

What It Takes

I have been in graduate school for four years.

I have no idea what it takes to succeed at being a graduate student. I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing. I have no idea what I am supposed to be learning. I have no idea what I will be doing in the future. I have no idea of what it takes.

I have a bunch of clues. But they do not fit together. Do we strive to get good grades? Do we strive to do publishable research? Do we strive to finish for finishing's sake?

When I was playing football winning was the goal. When I was in the video or the grocery store profits were the goal. Of course there were gray areas. Of course achieving the objective was difficult and somewhat complex. But at the end of the day I came away with a better understanding of what it takes.

It is the end of the day, and I still have no better idea of what it takes then when I came here four years ago.

An Unappreciated Subject In Economics

Pricing rules, no individual stores create their own prices. Everything is a suggested retail price (SRP) that most retailers follow. These SRPs are usually set up through some mark-up rule. A certain department or product line should generate this amount of profit and this percentage is multiplied by the cost of the product. There might be some demand estimation in the determination of the mark-up level, but at the store level and the individual product level no one worries about demand and only considers the cost.

The prevalence of mark-up rules help demonstrate how competitive United States markets are.

When I Was A Kid

When I was around 10 to 12 years old I created this fictitious band called The Organic Mangoes.

The name The Organic Mangoes was a mix between box of mangoes my Dad received at the store and U2's original name The Virgin Prunes.

The band was completely fictitious. Its only reality was in my head and on a few pieces of paper where I wrote The Organic Mangoes' song titles.

The Organic Mangoes' guitarist's name was Ghost and always wore a ski mask. I imagined myself being Ghost.

The Organic Mangoes' greatest hits included Psychedelic Castle (a tribute to Hendrix's Spanish Castle Magic) and Riverboat Gambler (I was reading Twain and I was into Rush's Tom Sawyer).

The Organic Mangoes did not tour much. In fact they did not like their own music. They were disinterested in fame, but they were incredibly rich because they sold more albums than anyone else and their few shows always sold out (the disinterested founding fathers and stoicism infatuated me).

The Organic Mangoes were never happy. They were always searching for a perfection that did and could not exist. But they were rich and famous.

Fat And Stupid

I ate two pork barbecue sandwiches, a spicy hot dog, chips, and cookies for dinner. I came home and ate a Nutella (which is heavenly) bagel. I am dehydrated from drinking diet soda all day.

These have been stressful times, but as my old coach used to say, "Push away from the table, you fat ass, push away from the table."

Poor Attempt At Getting Back To Normal

What I Am Reading

1. My bedtime book is Chuck Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction. I thought his first few stories were very slow. I almost put it down. Now I cannot wait to finish it. Here is an interesting site about Chuck. Here is an interesting essay.

2. My shitter book is Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom. I am having a hard time with it and might switch to Buchanan's Cost and Choice.

I do not have a bus book right now.

I hope the following quote does not offend anyone, but I just remembered Springsteen's "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive." I mourn the dead. I am saddened by their tragic deaths. I hope I can find the strength to do better.

Jeff emailed me yesterday about how the event has motivated him. I hope it motivates me also. "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive"as long as you live like you're glad to be alive.

Wishes

1. I wish they had put a moratorium on non-essential Emails for a few days.

2. I wish NBC would have destroyed the video and pictures. Or at the very least, I wish they never let them go public. Finding out about them last night hurt me.

3. I wish they had canceled activities for next Monday also. Next Monday is going to be a rough day.

4. I wish I knew what to do. I see people going back to their normal lives, and part of me wants to follow their lead. Another part wants to sleep and play video games all day.

Going Through Emotions

This morning all I could think about was the robots, professors and students who could not grasp the situation. People who would bury themselves in their meaningless work just to do something. Everyone grieves in different ways, but I know some people who will use this time to further themselves. I am afraid of a professor taking me or another student to task for not have some assignment done. I do not like the feeling that I have to be working during these next few days to compete with classmates. I do not like the feeling that I have to keep pushing to further my career. We have to reflect on the events of the day. We have to stay awake. We have to feel. I am afraid many of the people that surround me have trained themselves not to feel.

By midday with the help of GGM, ML, Sam, and Jeff, I started to see that my post from yesterday written before I knew exactly what happened still held some relevance. There is no use to drown in grief. You have to recognize it, but that does not mean it can conquer you.

The convocation and vigil helped put more things in perspective. It is okay to be angry. It is okay to be hurting. But it is also okay to be alive. It is okay to worry about myself. It is okay for life to slowly but surely move forward.

But it is and will be hard.

Age Of Terror

Some kid decided to play terrorist.

And I am locked down in an office as one hundred police look for a possible second shooter. Beside me is a Chinese colleague studying statistics. American undergraduate students are worrying about food. I am here asking myself what the hell I am doing with my life.

I am not scared, but I am not productive either. Maybe that is what terrorists want.

Whitlock Does It Again

Read this.

"A man who doesn’t respect himself wastes his breath demanding that others respect him."

Whitlock is the only sports writer willing to talk about anything of importance. ESPN's Page 2 has gone to hell since he left.

Little Children Review

I went home this weekend. For 36 hours, I was content, not overly happy, but satisfied.

We were playing Wiffle Ball. I was enjoying life. Then a fly ball was hit my way. I misjudged it and it ended up rolling off my fingertips. I dropped it. What really bothered me was I could not move. I was scared to run, scared to go full speed. Now there are a multitude of reasons for this impediment. I am fat. The yard is not level. There is a big ditch. My shoes gave me no support. I am slow. I have not played Wiffle Ball for five years. I almost tore my achilles on an earlier play. I have a rod in my leg, etc.

But I could not go full speed. It is a metaphor for my life. But I am too content to dwell on my inadequacies. So I am going to review Little Children.

Every character in Little Children is screwed up. The convicted felon cannot stop playing with his dick in front of people . The adulterer is a law school graduate who wants to play football, forget about the bar exam, and not be hen pecked. The adulteress (Kate Winslet) is the house mom who wants to be a writer. The adulterer's wife cares more about money than her husband's manhood. The adulteress' husband cares more about a niche porn star than his wife. Their children are not in school yet but have multiple personality issues.

Everybody in America is screwed up. I do not know if it has to do with wealth. Maybe hunters-gatherers never had time to allow themselves to be screwed up. I do not know.

But the characters are all like me on the Wiffle Ball field. They are scared to run full speed. At the end, something happens to each of them and they go balls to the wall for a few minutes.

And the end gives the audience hope, but I wonder if that hope lasts.

This Isn't Bad

We were going to run away
To a place
Where only we could find ourselves
You and I

But no more

I don't believe in love
Never have
Now I never will

Purity like virginity like innonence
Cannot last

Sometimes it is lost in haste
We cry that it was a waste

Sometimes time takes it away
That is no better

It is still gone
Forever

Playing The Game

I saw two con men today. Both got their PhDs in economics from MIT. Both were incredibly smart. Both had given up on a better world.

One was Paul Krugman.

Maybe they were right. But I am still going to do whatever I want.

I am not going to be scared.

Jeff, Academia, And Life

Yesterday Jeff sent me one of those Emails. One of those Emails that arrive at the exact right time. He spelled out what was important in life then asked me why I was doing what I was doing. If it was out of fear of failure, then I needed to change. If I was a zombie then I needed to live.

Most everyone in academia is scared, scared of not getting tenure, scared of not getting grants, scared of society seeing their unimportance. It is a real sad place. I have never had anyone in academia spell out what success entails like Jeff did in his Email. Most academics say success is not failing. Getting tenure is meaningless, but not getting tenure is devastating. Publishing articles no reads is meaningless, but not publishing articles is something much worse.

I admit I can and have gotten trapped by this fear from time to time..

But I am not going to be afraid to fail anymore. I can do the work I want, and if it does not pan out then so be it. I am going to be my own boss, no matter if I have to answer to others who get a big thrill out of being other people's boss.

The three most liberating things I have done in my life are pissing on a trash barrel full of burning trash (oh the sizzle), pissing off the front porch when my Mom wasn't looking, and pissing in a sink at a UVA game when the urinals were full. From now on, I am going to feel like that everyday.

Days Without Decisions

There are days when everything is easy
Days without decisions
Rainy days when all you need is an umbrella

But then there are other days
Sunny days
Shorts or jeans
Jacket or not
Sun-block or chance it

I wonder what I live for:
That beautiful couple standing in line
Were they really wasting their youth?
Or am I?

I know what I have to believe
I know it is right
I know I will never see that blond beauty
Naked

But maybe I already have
I have seen beauty
Beauty that boyfriend has given up
That is True
I am one of the lucky few

But those sunny days
Those fucking bright and sunny days
They make me wonder:
What if I had gone the other way?

Wow

Jason Whitlock tells it like it is.

Be Happy

1. Some people want to be treated like crap. Be happy that you are not one of those people.

2. Most people have a lot of flaws. Some people do not want to admit them. Be happy that you are not one of these people, and be happier that you are not in relationships with people like this.

3. Most people have a lot of good qualities. Concentrating on the good qualities helps one get through life without unnecessary suffering. This is the most important thing I have learned from my Filipino colleagues.

4. Most people have difficulty balancing their flaws and good qualities. The key is recognizing these flaws and these good qualities and striving for balance, because the flaws will not go away.
The take-home point here is that you can spend your whole life asking why and never finding any answers, but you still have to live. It is just as well to be happy.

You Cannot Make A Zombie Live

When I first went to college I had a chip on my shoulder. I was so scared of failing, so scared of having to beg my father for forgiveness that I studied all of the time. I went to practices and studied. In the summer I wage labored. Studying, practicing, and laboring was the extent of my life.

The first year and half of my Masters' program was the same. My parents came down to move me into a dorm (yes a dorm) at the beginning of my second year, and I got them lost trying to find an off-campus place to eat.

I was a zombie. I was walking dead. I had created my reality that centered on studying, eating on campus, fantasizing about female undergraduates, and Internet porn.

It was a sad state of affairs. But I was dead and could not realize how sad it was.

I then got slapped in the face by the ignorance, lies, fear, and ego that surrounds PhD programs and academia in general. I got deeply depressed when I saw the insignificance of my existence. I saw that I was never going to be great at anything, and decided it was finally time to wake up and live. I also met people (like ML and Jeff) who saw the same things I saw but had decided that life was better when you were awake instead of asleep.

Sometimes I want to return to who I was. It was an easy way to live. I was less depressed. My emotional sanity did not go up and down like it does now. But I would rather know that I was miserable than be too dumb to realize it.

Now I see people who refuse to live, people like my former self, and it angers me. I want them to get it.

But you cannot make a zombie live. You cannot make the blind see. I am the only one who can live my life, and that has to be good enough.

Why Do I Continue To Discuss Topics I Know Nothing About?

This is a follow-up to this post.

Any discussion on development must start from the admission of ignorance. We do not know why the rich are rich. We do not know why the poor are poor. But the United Nations and most development agencies refuse to accept that there are no silver bullets for poverty alleviation. There are no easy solutions.

Development agencies want to save people. But the poor do not want to be saved. Poor people are like me. They have made some bad decisions. They have had some bad luck. And at the end of the day, they, like me, want to face the consequences of their decisions and luck. They do not want "free" money thrown at them. They want opportunity. They want a chance to succeed. These are difficult things to give.

Development agencies do not bother to understand the poor. All they do is pity the poor. This pity makes the poor bitter. It makes the poor angry. It makes the poor poorer. The poor do not want to be saved, and just like with me, the things they do want cannot be achieved through monetary contributions from foreign donors.

My Dad has been in the microfinance business for years. He has lent thousands of dollars to poor people in our community. He gets most of his money back. He says his secret is that he screens wisely, and he always treats the borrowers with respect. He calls it treating "men like men."

Ivy League economists, Bono, and all the others calling for greater aide to the developing world do not have enough respect for the poor to treat "men like men." Instead of admitting their ignorance, they cling to Utopian dreams. They cling to their arrogance.

For The Record

I showed ML my review of The Last King Of Scotland.

She thought it was vulgar.

But I still think it is a great summary of the movie. "It is like eating the vending machine honey bun. When you finish all you want is more, more, more."

I hope to write a review of Little Children soon.

Maybe Hate Is Too Strong Of A Word

I hate econometrics. I hate the use of numbers and chance to explain human action. I hate the aggregation and averaging econometrics require. I hate econometrics.

And that is why I want to write an econometrics textbook. Introductory econometric texts ignores that econometrics is statistics. Statistics is chance, but economics is not about chance. It is about human action.

My textbook would clearly separate economics and statistics. It would not allow students to get confused between association and causation. It would allow students to see that averages say nothing about individuals.

(I readily admit this is a shitty post.)

John Steinbeck To John Kenneth Galbraith

Steinbeck wants to be ambassador to Oz:

"Now Oz has another secret weapon we could well use on all levels of government and diplomacy. The Wizard of Oz is a fraud who admits he is a fraud. Can you think what this would do if it got into chancelleries and general staffs. There would be a major breakthrough. I can think of a dozen other advantages and rewards of my Embassy to Oz, but I think these two would justify it. The simple expedient of dyeing different countries different colors so we would know whether we were for or against them would be worth any outlay by our government. It is even possible that a discreet traffic in emeralds could make my Embassy self-supporting if not profitable."

I am a fraud. Economists are frauds. Am I and are they willing to admit it?

Three Topics On My Mind

I have at least three things on my mind.

First we had a prospective student visit who was an institutionalist and thought most economics was a bunch of shit. We shared many of the same views, but she was focused and somewhat optimistic. She also has not been through economics PhD courses yet. I cannot say if she motivated me or sunk me into another depression.

Second Sam wanted me to discuss the research him and I are supposed to be doing. Honestly he has done a lot of work. I have not. But it is an interesting problem. Basically African farmers are in between a rock and a hard place. They can spray their cotton and make money. But by spraying they also increase their chances for malaria. Nobody has a handle on the situation or exactly what is going on. This is where we step in and save the day.

Third I want to talk religion. My two or three readers and myself all have different views on the subject. But at the core, all of us are pretty much the same.

I do not feel like expanding on these subjects. I have to start a presentation that I have to give in less than twelve hours. But four things must be said:

1. I am not an institutionalist. JKG was an institutionalist . The final goal has to be individuals making decisions for themselves. Some institutions allow for this better than others. But the final goal is a society without institutions.

2. I am sure that the African farmers have a much better handle on the situation than either Sam or I do.

3. No matter what some say, religion is personal. This might be semantics, but anybody who gets out of the bed in the morning has some religion.

4. Pussy drives 95 percent of my actions. This is a conservative estimate. It is like with this blog. I want people to read me, and say, "Wow, that is an intelligent guy." "He is smart, philosophical (whatever the hell that means), and thought provoking." I want to get thousands of hits a day. This is not a bad thing, but I do not delude myself, it is not a good thing either. Blogging gets me no closer to happiness. Yeah it relieves some stress but so does masturbation.

Yeah, I Am One Of Those Guys

Who walks around with headphones and a MP3 player in his pocket, looking like he is in his own world and does not give a damn about you or society.

Maybe that is not a bad guy to be.

I Am Not A Libertarian, Republican Or A Democrat

But I am a libertarian, republican, and a democrat (the last two in the sense that democratic republics are the best form of a government if there has to be government).

Here is a great article by Virginia Postrel that showed me the light.

Quick Question

Isn't anyone who uses generated (fake) data missing the point of statistics?

As I Travel Down The Road To Mediocrity

Great things I heard and read today:

"...many have said of Jane Austen's novels that although the reader knows nothing will happen, he can't wait to find out." ~ From John Kenneth Galbraith's essay on Ed O'Connor

JKG was a pompous asshole who would have liked to see everyone ride horse and buggies (except himself).

But he can write.

An older colleague told me that she read Galbraith and Friedman in undergraduate economics courses. I did not. Maybe that is my problem. I am a PhD student reading undergraduate material.

But every economist needs to read JKG (and Friedman). They help remind the profession that articles can be written about issues that are discussed in the barbershop, articles that discuss ideas and not mathematical bullshit.



"Well I could have been a famous singer
If I had some one else's voice
But failures always sounded better
Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise!"

From Bright Eyes' "Road To Joy"

My Dad jokes, "All I needed was a ride to Nashville."

I could have been a great option quarterback, if I could run or pass.

I could have been a great, if...



"...I'm happy just because...
I found out I am really no one"

From Bright Eyes' "At The Bottom of Everything"

Things I Want From Graduate School

I tried to write a list of objectives for a graduate of a graduate school. I started with the skills to critically analyze different problems in multiple ways. (Basically I want to be intelligently critical. I want to know the whys and hows.) Then I wanted to have better written and oral communication skills. But after that, I am stumped.

Well this reinforces that graduate school is pointless.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

A Plan For Development

Give any willing developed country citizen a plane ticket to Sub-Saharan Africa, $1500 in the local currency, and the inability to leave Sub-Saharan Africa for six months. I would increase the payment to $4000 for anyone willing to stay a year. If someone comes back before their term is up, they would have to pay the whole sum plus interest back. Notice the plan does not provide a plane ticket back to the citizen's home country.

At worst, the citizen spends something on six months worth of tourist activities. This should satisfy the Keynesians who believe multiplier effects cause economic growth.

At best, entrepreneurs use the $1500 and connections in the developing world to start business activities, increase African productivity, and really create growth.

The plan uses adverse selection to get different people involved in development. I suspect the people who join the program will not be the best of society. I suspect that most willing people would be looking to make a quick dollar and get a free vacation. I also suspect some risk-loving entrepreneurs would sign up quickly.

Considering the failures of everyone else involved in African development, these types of people deserve a chance. I am confident my plan would do more for Africa than anything the current establishment is doing.

The Last King Of Scotland

Men lust for pussy. Pussy is all those things that men want but their Mamas told them not to want. Pussy does not have anything to do with love or ideals. It has to do with getting your dick hard and wet. It has to do with getting high.

Nick Garrigan left Scotland and a father who loved him in search of African pussy. He found it. He found a lot of it. And in the end, he faced the consequences of pussy. He learned why his Mama was right.

Idi Amin discovered pussy from the British. They gave him a taste, and he could never get enough of it. He destroyed his own country for pussy, to show the British an African man could eat pussy with the best of them.

Now pussy is not all bad. Pussy makes men great. It puts a fire in their belly. The United States was built on life, liberty, and the pursuit of pussy. I mean property. I mean happiness. The greatest men, the men who accomplish the most, all love pussy. They cannot get enough of it. Pussy is why Garrigan was a great doctor. The lack of lust for pussy is why the Ugandan doctor and the health minister could never lead Uganda.

But the thing about pussy is it never satisfies you. It is like eating the vending machine honey bun. When you finish all you want is more, more, more.

Development And Honesty

When I was in kindergarten we played with blocks. The teacher would demonstrate: "Blue, green, yellow, blue, green, yellow, what comes next in the pattern?"

I would always yell "red." The teacher was not amused.

Much life can be described by patterns. The sun comes up every morning. The sun goes down every evening. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall comes every year. Every evening I do homework.

But patterns break. The sun does not come up and go down at the same time each day. Harsh winters are followed by mild ones. I graduate from one school so I can suffer at another.

The problem with poverty and development economists are that they are looking for a pattern that does not exist. There are no magical elixirs. There are not mathematical models or surefire governmental policies that can get a country out of poverty.

Four years ago, I was working with my Dad. I hated it. I was working sixty to seventy hours a week so I could save pennies.

Tonight I am staring at a computer screen looking for diversions from homework and meaningless paper writing. Four years ago, no one could have convinced me that I would be sitting here tonight. No one could have "saved" me from this predicament. And I would not and still do not want "saving."

Development is a classic the chicken or the egg problem. Do you have to be rich to get rich? Does good governance and success precede wealth? Or does wealth precede good governance? I do not know, and no economist knows.

Unlike many of my Ivy League trained colleagues, I am willing to admit my ignorance. I do not know if this makes me better, but at least I am honest.

What I Have Been Thinking

Daniel Klein writes what I have been thinking.

I meant to post on this last week, but I did not. As a professor tells me when I am late for the gym, "Get your priorities straight."

I better get my priorities straight (and not be posting at midnight) before I am forced to have different priorities.

400th Post

Since this is the 400th post on Why?, I wanted to write something positive.

If I stay in academia, I would like to model my career after Russell Roberts. He consistently writes quality posts at Cafe Hayek. He wrote a wonderful book about free trade. He sounds passionate and down-to-earth on his podcasts. He was even a gentleman when Tyler Cowen sounded like John Kenneth Galbraith for a few minutes. He once replied to a thank you Email I sent him. He also likes sports. All in all, He seems to be a good man.

Like most people, he probably has some flaws once you get to know him. But I am going to remain positive (at least for this post).

Black And Brown

1. Black and brown do not match. My Dad always told me black goes with everything. He was wrong. It does not go with brown. When I was a child I thought like a child. Now I know black and brown do not match, but I still think like a child.

2. I do not work hard enough. I blame my laziness on boredom. But boredom is self-inflicted. I have to make my work more interesting or stop worrying about being lazy. I will probably stop worrying about being lazy.

3. I now officially have a Masters' degree and a diploma to prove it. I feel no different.

4. I have multiple accounts with Google, but I have never paid Google a dime. I like my relationship with Google. Some politician or wannabe politician will eventually go after Google for its monopolistic behavior, and good things rarely last. But I am happy now.

I also wonder if Google will eventually have to charge. Eventually cable television and pay-per-view was invented. I can imagine premium Email services like the ability to withdraw poorly written Emails and automatic replys.

It should be an interesting next ten years.

Statistics Everyone Should Know Especially Poor People

1. The lottery is a scam. I have heard a thousand commericials about how the lottery gives so much money to education. I am sure they do but at the expense of people who are bad at math and probably had a poor quality education. It is okay to play once in a while, but never bet your present and future on a one in a 4.7 million chance.

2. Knocking a woman up really has a low probablility. But if you have a lot of sex, then the odds that you impregnate a female increases. So have has much sex as possible, but remember to cover up.

3. An average or a percentage says nothing about an indivdual. Just because five percent of the population is unemployed, does not mean I am unemployed. Just because half of the country thinks something is true does not mean I think it is true, or that it is really true.

So to summarize:

1. Don't continuously bet on long shots.

2. Don't press your luck.

3. Statistics are crap.

Sometimes I Forget How Great Mark Twain Was

Then I read something like this.

What Is Value?

I went to a seminar yesterday. A government funded group had compiled tons of GIS (geograhpical information system basically high quality maps), environmental, and land usage data and people to know about it. The overriding question from the presenters (and the audience) was what do we do with this information to ensure Virginia's environmental sustainability?

One professor made the comment that state agency, environmental groups, and citizen preferences had to be balanced. (I did not ask how could a state agency have preferences, but I should have.) Basically the discussion kept going in circles. Some wanted the preferences of farmers to have the highest weight. Others wanted the ecologist and environmental groups preferences. In the end, nothing was solved. The conclusion was "it is complicated."

But nobody cared about the private owner. No one questioned whether the state had the right to own property.

Positivism cannot answer the fundamental questions of governance. But positivists will try.

The Pagentry Of It All

I watched the Oscars last night. I was torn between the intense jealously from seeing beautiful people and the intense joy from seeing beautiful women. I did not agree with all of the winners, but I really did not give a damn about who won. Well, I did care for video store purposes.

But the hypocrisy of Hollywood and the Left iritated me. The global warming film won numberous awards. Many Hollywoodites considered themselves activists, but they were wearing $10,000 suits and $50,000 dresses. (I actually have no idea what their dresses and suits cost.) How can you claim to care about the poor, global warming, or any other issue that requires sacrifice and be wearing $100,000 worth of jewlry.

I am a libertarian. Hollywoodites should make as much money as they can. They should buy as expensive clothes as they want. But do not stand on a million dollar stage and tell me to sacrifice.

They once had a global warming conference in Japan. American and European scientists jumped on hundreds of planes, burnt tons of jet fuel, and went to Japan for a conference on how to limit global warming.

Non-profit directors and employees get paid huge salaries. Sam says that non-profits need good people, and you get good people by paying them. Again that is fine, but do not fake moral superiority and ask me to sacrifice.

If Al Gore spends $50,000 on a suit and after-parties, then I should be able to spend my $50,000 on a carbon emitting Cheverolet 3500 pick-up truck without his interference.

I comes before you.

Things To Do Today

My Dad has this saying on his wall: "Things to do today: My best."

I could never determine what "my best" entails. I always thought it was a meaningless statement. He and I always do our best given the constraints of the situation. And he and I always think we could do better if we could change the constraints.

But I am begining to understand why he likes that saying. It is easy to sit around in fear. Many people live in fear. Academia, bureaucracy, and goverment survives by fear. Everyone is afraid, afaid to fail, afraid to live, afraid to say fuck it.

When you do your best, you do not worry about what "my best" entails. You do not worry about failure. You give a big "fuck you" to fear and all of those who are afraid.

You probably have to be my Dad's age before you can understand "my best." But I can appreicate the sentiment.

Things I Have Learned

1. I shaved my full beard. The people who noticed and commented are the people who I want to be like.

2. Ayn Rand said "There are no contradictions." She is right. One cannot avoid all contradictions, but he should recongize and rectify them.

3. Google Calendar is a wonderful thing, if you use it right.

4. A secret in life is to never let anyone offend you. An offended man has no courage. (Hat tip to Jeff on this one.)

5. You can dream. You can read all the books you want. But eventually, you have to wake up and realize everyone has had a shitty asshole and the ability to wipe. You cannot let the people who refuse to wipe bother you.

6. I have not comitted suicide yet. I do not know what that exactly means, but it says something.

Unilateralism Or I Comes Before You

GGM irked me a few weeks ago. He criticized a mutual organization that I (involuntarily) control. He had legitimate points. But he refused to do a damn thing to change the direction of the organization. He was given ample opportunities but refused to participate and enact his ideas.

I idly bitch and complain much more than GGM, but sometimes you have to see someone else making an ass of themselves before you see how asinine your own actions are. One can complain, but eventually, he has to shut up or put up.

Sam called the police on some boy who was walking on a frozen pond earlier this week. I made some comment like "I thought you were a libertarian." He came back with some Christian ethic that requires us to help our fellow man. I came back with: "Why did you call the police? Why didn't you stop and talk to him?" He eventually admitted that his real reason was personal guilt. He was afraid the boy would fall through, die, and he would have to read about it the next morning. He was afraid that the boy's mother's grief would haunt him for the rest of his life.

I do this type of thing all the time. I delegate personal problems and responsiblities to someone else.

Within this discussion lies a problem with our society. We expect someone else or the collective to do something for us. Someone said if I were a true libertarian, I would quit my government job. As long as I work for the government, I cannot complain about the government. I hate it, but she has a point (see note at end).

Sometimes you have to go out on a limb. The United States should do this with free trade and forget the WTO. Successful economists and professionals always do this. They do what they think is right, accept the consequences, and make no apologies. You cannot live a life waiting for others to see the light.

I comes before you.

[Note at end: Don Boudreaux (and I think I have to) has addressed this issue before, and there are arguments (rationalizations) against her proposition. I am not scared to find a non-governmental job, but as long as government handouts exist, why should I deny them. There is a positive and a normative world, and I can separate between them. Like with GGM, I disapproved of her presentation more than her idea.]

Counting Crow's "A Murder Of One"

A Murder Of One

Blue morning Blue morning
Wrapped in strands of fist and bone
Curiosity, Kitten,
Doesn't have to mean you're on your own
You can look outside your window
He doesn't have to know
We can talk awhile, baby
We can take it nice and slow
All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream
Are you happy where you're sleeping?
Does he keep you safe and warm?
Does he tell you when you're sorry?
Does he tell you when you're wrong?
I've been watching you for hours
It's been years since we were born
We were perfect when we started
I've been wondering where we've gone
All your life is such a shame shame shame
All your love is just a dream dream dream
I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow
Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there
counting crows
One for sorrow Two for joy
Three for girls and four for boys
Five for silver Six for gold and
Seven for a secret never to be told
There's a bird that nests inside you
Sleeping underneath your skin
When you open up your wings to speak
I wish you'd let me in
All your life is such a shame shame shame
All your love is just a dream dream dream
Open up your eyes
You can see the flames flames flames of your wasted life
You should be ashamed
You don't want to waste your life baby
I walk along these hillsides in the summer 'neath the sunshine
I am feathered by the moonlight falling down on me
Change, change, change

Reactionaries

I do not know if I am using the political science definition of reactionaries, but my definition concerns people who think in the short-run. People who do not bother to take the time to fully think out the consequences of their opinions and decisions. People who over-react to situations and immediately call for collective action. We are all reactionaries at times.

Politics is based on reactionaries. Government is influenced and run by people who suddenly care about something that has been going on for years. Something that will work itself out given time. This country has survived years without universal health care or assisted suicide laws. But something happened, and the reactionaries made them political issues.

I could not watch the State of the Union address. I cringed thinking about it. I got sick to my stomach thinking about hearing Bush discuss Iraq, energy, and health care. I got even more sick thinking about the Democratic Congress' response to the State of the Union.

Most things do not matter. It kills people to admit this fact, but when you take a step back, it is all small stuff. Neither Bush nor Congress can do anything about energy or health care. As it has for the past thousands of years, individuals will act and face the consequences of their action.

These actions and consequences will extinguish the need for reactionaries, but I am afraid they will not go away.

Time

I started the year with the goal to write more intelligent and regular blog posts. So far, I have failed. And that is okay.

But I have been reading Thomas Jefferson. The man must have written constantly. And when he was not writing, he must have been reading. He is an excellent example of what one can do without TV. He knew about everything. He wrote about everything.

My Granddad used to buy at big fruit markets. He would get there at about 4:00AM and walk up and down the market until 9:00AM. Anyone whoever went with him used to complain that they "wore out their shoes" following him. No matter what was at the market, he would look at everything. "Walking the market" maximized profits or at least his utility (whatever the hell that means).

But my favorite professor once told me "everyone must specialize, specialize, specialize!"

Specialization scares me. It scares the Office Space generation. I grew up watching Headline News, Sportscenter, and Jeopardy. I know a lot of useless information. I cannot let it go to waste.

Now the best guys know a little about everything. But to get to be one of the best guys in academia or any professional career, you have to specialize and separate yourself. A dissertation that takes on a big subject does not get approved. A young professor who knows a little about a lot does not get any papers published.

But fuck it. I am going to keep "walking the market."

Lessons From A Mediocre Seminar

1. Most people are nice. They keep their mouths shut. Other people are not. If the not nice people refuse to shut their mouth, then the presenter should not shut his or her mouth. Or, give the not nice people a stare that reminds them that you can whip their ass.

2. Proofread your presentations. Small errors make the presenter look like an idiot.

3. Do not overwrite or overgraph. Do not do what everyone else does on slides. Too much information is worse than too little. Use the presentation to go beyond the slides.

4. Study, teach, and talk about what you know. I cannot teach an effective class on ballet, menopause, or India. I should not even try.

My Goals For The First Half Of The Year

By July 1st, 2007,

I will weigh 250 or less pounds. This means I need to drop about 15 pounds. I should be able to do this relatively quickly, but maintaining is the difficult part. It means I must change my diet. Right now, I just need to eat less.

I will bench 275 pounds three sets of eight. In October, I was doing three sets of five. Right now, I am probably at threes or fours. So I should be able to do this relatively quickly also.

I will bench 225 pounds three sets of fifteen. In October, I was doing sets of ten. This will be more of a mental challenge than anything else. I expect this will take a while.

I will be able to walk up the stairs to my office without being winded. I have been doing cardio exercise in small doses, but I must find the time to do more for more extended periods of time.

I will live an active lifestyle. I will walk up stairs instead of using the elevator. I will ride the bus or walk instead of driving. I will take walks instead of napping. I will participate in more recreational sports.

I wish myself good luck.

Gladwell and Hayek

I finally finished Hayek's The Counter-Revolution of Science. It is a great introduction to what is wrong with social sciences and social scientists. It is deep, and maybe even over researched, but Hayek admits that the only objective observer of mankind is God. A PhD does not qualify you as an objective observer of men. Most people with PhDs do not understand this point.

Bill Simmons at ESPN.com pointed me to Malcolm Gladwell's new article in the New Yorker about mysteries and puzzles. The article is also deep and a little overwritten, but it hits in a similar vein as Hayek. We cannot know everything.

Life is a mystery, so is economics.

I suggest people read Gladwell's article. I might comment more later.

Sad Men

I am trying to change in the lockeroom. I am trying to keep my eyes up as the old men parade around naked. I am so sore from squatting that I want to cry. I am afraid I am going to cramp while I am naked.

Then this guy whose skin is blood red sneaks up to this other guy who has a locker near mine. Red Guy says "I have new favorite exercise."

My Neighbor replies "Oh, what is it?" He asks it in a way that demonstrates that he is a little scared of this conversation's potential.

"Oh, the sauna. You know, last weekend, I talked to my wife. We might be able to reconcile." Red guy breaks the code of the lockeroom. If he had had sex, then this would be a fine conversation, but they just took a walk and talked.

My Neighbor placates Red Guy, and gives some words of encouragement. Red Guy could not find the courage to even say "thank you."

The story has no real point, but I am going to bullshit for another few paragraphs.

I felt sorry for Red Guy, but he also scared the hell out of me.

I know women can turn men into whipped dogs. I know love is a powerful thing. I know losing love is a devastating thing. But you cannot dump your feelings on a guy in the lockeroom when he is half-dressed. Somethings you have to discuss in private.

This is stupid. I am scared, because I do not want to be Red Guy. I am scared, because things do not always work out the way according to plans.

It is okay to be scared, but you have to find confidence in your ability to survive and adapt.

Today, I am confident in my ability to survive and adapt.

I do not know about tomorrow. But that is okay.

A Potential Health Care Study

Some colleges and high schools require "wellness" or health classes. Other colleges and high schools do not. It would be interesting to compare health data for graduates for these competing schools (controlling for other possible effects). Basically you run a dummy variable in your regression telling whether the person had a class emphasizing health or not.

My and GGM's hypothesis is those students who went through organized classes on "wellness" are no better off than those students who did not.

I am curious to hear Sam's and Jeff's thoughts about this idea and their hypotheses. I am also curious to know if someone has already done this study.

Notice I understand that measuring health is complicated. I think BMI is a poor measure. To measure health correctly, you have to look at a variety of features, but this post represents an idea not a master plan. Also everyone knows my distrust of statistics and regression equations, but I am curious.

A Conversation Between Sam And I

The conversation started with this article.

Sam starts off:

However, the more I read about the subjective theory of value the less convincing and satisfactory it seems.

While I don't mean to get engaged in too great a debate about what makes for a "good" theory this seems to punt on every aspect of market price. As James Buchanan once put, "The result of the market process is the result of the market process." What about Frank Knight's idea of all costs being opportunity costs? If with an hour's worth of effort a man can obtain one deer or two beavers, the price ratio of beavers to deer should be 2 to 1. Not because it is some whimsical happenstance but because there exists an opportunity for arbitrage. The neoclassical ideas of production cost and utility being the two edges of a pair of scissors hemming in the price makes more intuitive sense if you ask me.

Certainly there are exceptions where the Austrian story fits better, rare art work leaps to mind, but the price of nails, chicken or gasoline fits the neoclassical story much better than the subjective theory of value. I have no love for gasoline, I do however enjoy seeing my family during the holidays.

--Sam

The scissors of demand and supply is a great teaching tool. Most people think prices are given by God or decided by evil corporations. Demand and supply is a much better explanation than these mystical interpretations of price, but demand and supply functions do not exist in any tractable form.

The Buchanan example works better when you only have beavers and deer and identical consumers, but add microwaves, toasters, prostitutes, and people with varying preferences. This is why Buchanan could not get his point across. I have no idea my value for a cook until a cook exists. Neo-classicals and their prevalent methodology cannot incorporate new cooks into their models.

The real problem with objective theories of value is the paternalism and socialism they suggest. Once you say nails should cost $X, then you are suggesting that if they do not then it requires collective action.

Answer this, why do nails have different prices at the local hardware store than they do at Lowe's or Home Depot? It is not by transaction costs alone. There is a little subjective theory of value there.

You do love what gasoline can do for you. We (like the Austrians and Neo-classicals) are arguing trivialities, but that is what academics do.

~WB

I think you have asked just the right question. Why is it that nails atone store are cheaper than another?

The economist jobs is to be able to explain, and hopefully predict, the answer to questions like this. I stick by my original answer that the economists role is to help society understand trade offs between policies and look for ways to reduce transactions costs. The subjective theory of value is useless on this front. We might as well just throw our hands up in the air and say we have no idea how any of it works and aren't especially interested in figuring it out. Why might one store have cheaper nails than another. Perhaps they have economies of scale and can out compete their neighbor. Maybe its just a gimmick to get people in their store so they buy other higher margin items.

As economists I think we should be looking at our theories and working on developing new ones, game theory sounds like a good choice for modeling gimmicks, to explain and understand our world. The world will never fit neatly into any theory but that doesn't let us off the hook to continue looking.

--Sam

This is where we disagree. I agree that economists illuminate tradeoffs, but you automatically jump into policy, society, and"reducing transaction costs."

The subjective theory of value tells economists exactly what to do. Let people do whatever the hell they please. I listened to Walter Williams for three hours going down to Raleigh, and he kept saying the same thing over and over again, limited government, limited government. I think it is a worthy claim to make.

You go to Small Town Hardware Store and ask Rick why he prices the nails the way he does, and then go to Medium Sized Hardware and ask Bob why he prices nails the way he does. I am sure they both have reasons, but they are different and based on competing rationales. And you will never be able to formalize these differences. And it would be foolish and a waste of money to try. Now if Rick or Bob is willing to pay you to figure out the optimal price for nails then that is okay. But if Senator Joe pays with my Dad's tax dollars, then I have a problem.

~WB

Morning Slumps Turn Into Afternoon Slumps Turn Into Day Slumps Turn Into Week Slumps Turn Into Year Slumps

I had a football coach who said their were three stages of football programs. First, programs hoped to win. Second, programs wanted to win. Third, programs expected to win.

I have a colleague who talks about loneliness and how intelligence makes you lonely. She says you have to shut up and stop paying attention to the voices in your head. You have to work. You have to make yourself not lonely.

The Filipinos say you can make yourself happy. Happiness is a state of mind. If you want to be happy, just make yourself happy.

Like I said in a previous post, I focus on unimportant things. I get caught up in something and, I fall into a depression. I am unable to make myself happy. I am unable to make myself not lonely. I am unable to work. These are issues I will have to work through for the rest of my life. But the important thing is to keep expecting to win.

The biggest problem I have with my Dad is when he slips into depression, he forgets that he has been there before and gotten through it, and he will get through it again.

I will get through it. I might be crazy. I might have to admit my weaknesses. I might have to work all night, but I will get through. I expect to win.

Great Sentences I Read In The Past 24 Hours

From J.K. Galbraith's "The Proper Purpose of Economic Development" in Economics, Peace and Laughter:

"One of the generally amiable idiosyncrasies of man is his ability to expend a great deal of effort without much inquiry as to why. Most of the descriptions and pictures of the moon I have seen make it out to be a rather questionable piece of property. The absence of atmosphere would seem to be a real handicap. Likewise of water. The climate is predictable, if poor. In northern Canada and Alaska, agriculture suffers from a very short growing season. The moon presents the limiting case of none. Settlement will almost be certainly be slow. Yet these and similar shortcomings show no signs of deterring man in his enthusiasm to get there..."

Galbraith was no fool. He could write, and he understood human nature. His conclusions were wrongheaded and shortsighted, but he needs to be read.


From F.A. Hayek's The Counter-Revolution of Science:

"...But in the general atmosphere in which Quetelet's work became known the belief was bound to arise that the statistical methods, which he had so successfully applied to some problems of social life, were destined to become the the sole method of study. And Quetelet himself contributed not a little to create that belief."

Economics has been dealing with the same problems for fifty years. The question all young economists must ask, what do I have to contribute? I am not talking about meaningless papers or conference presentations. I am talking about what can we say about the big questions early economists set out to answer.

This begs the question, what are the big questions. I think "how do we enrich Africa and the world's poor?" is still relevant. I also think "how do we balance the incentives to innovate (in health care) with providing these new innovations to people (everyone) who can benefit from these innovations (the uninsured poor)?" is relevant.

What I am trying to say is that Hayek and Galbraith are still relevant. How do I remain relevant?

New Year's Resolutions

My Mom (Santa) gave me a pair of jeans for Christmas. For the first time since I was twelve, the jeans are not "loose fit" but regular fit. They are tight and my balls fill compressed, but these jeans feel the same way jeans felt when I was twelve. It makes me nostalgic. It makes me ask where my life is going. And it is almost a New Year so...

My dream is to write a book concerning my economic experiments throughout the world. Each chapter could explain something learned that had nothing to do with the experiment. The book could teach economics without boring people. My first chapter could tell the story of being hit on by both a Filipina and a Filipino during my first experiment in the Philippines. This book would require me conducting economic experiments throughout the world and learning how to write, but we have to have dreams.

I want to become more professional. This resolution requires me to care about what I am doing or quitting. It also requires not doing anything menial until 2:00PM. Take care of my the duties I am getting paid for, then worry about the little things that need attention. It also requires not overthinking things. I have to learn how to distinguish between what is important and what is not important. I have been trying to do this for two years, but it is something I cannot learn from books or other people. It is something I have to figure out for myself.

Also part of being more professional is getting in decent shape. I am fat and will soon lose my ability to beat my younger cousins in sports. Losing is unacceptable. I should try and do something physical everyday. If that means push-ups, sit-ups, walking, running, or lifting weights. I should do something physical.

I have to keep expressing my ideas in written form. This blog is part of this process. I also need to a better job of writing for my job.

I might add, adjust, or give more details before the actual New Year, but I think this post is a good start at creating a better WB.

(Yeah, I am full of shit. My sister, GGM, ML, Jeff, Sam and others remind me of this continuously. At least I know it.)

People Disappoint

Yesterday the preacher discussed how unfulfilled expectations can ruin a person's zest for life. Bono once wrote "when you want something so badly, you have already lost it." I do not know what the preacher or Bono's point was, but the old saying "when you don't expect much, you don't get disappointed" comes to mind.

People disappoint. Life disappoints. When I was a kid I wanted to be a professional ball player. Now I want to be a professor who does not have to work. I have spent half my life redefining greatness. I have spent half of my life wanting a reality that cannot exist.

There are two ways to approach this problem. I can either not expect much and be a perfect stoic. I can take what life gives. Or I can make my own reality.

Of course, making reality sounds good, but the truth is most people who make reality are crazy or spend most of their days in their own mind. Unfortunately or fortunately, we have to work with other people. We are social beings.

The trick is learning how to deal with the bullshit. People will disappoint, but you cannot pay much attention to them. Sometimes you have stick with your definition of success. Other times you have to compromise. Like most everything else it is an in-between.

Rich Rodriguez, What The Hell Are You Doing?

You are going to leave your Division I alma mater where you have a lifetime contract, not to go to the NFL, but to take over an Alabama program doomed to mediocrity where you will be fired within five years.

You are going to leave the Big East and its guaranteed 7 wins to go to the SEC and its guaranteed 4 losses. Haven't you learned anything from Frank Beamer? Get your 7 or 8 wins, get your bowls, and every four or five years finish in the top ten.

You cannot do that in the SEC, especially at Alabama. You think Pennsylvania or Ohio boys are going to come down to 'Bama. Do you think Florida boys are going to pick Alabama over any other SEC school or ACC or Big East school for that matter.

Do you think you are going to be the next Bear Bryant? Nothing short of Bear and national championships will make them 'Bama boys happy.

Quite frankly, you have never won anything at West Virginia. You flubbed the Big East and chance at the national championship this season. Last year, the best team in the ACC (not the champions but the best team), Virginia Tech, beat you in Moutaineer Stadium. I know you jumped a Georgia team in a BCS bowl, but they would have beat you seven out of ten times. Really, West Virginia has become the Notre Dame of the east, always overrated and always beatable.

Really Rich, that is the kind of coach you have become, overrated and very beatable. I just hope you do not get fired in the first year. I just hope the next coach at West Virginia will be willing to hire you as an offensive coordinator.

I Am Not Trying To Explain Behavior

I am trying to better observe it.

This is my new motto. Economics is about human action. You cannot truly observe human action ex post. We cannot make inferences from, "he told us his income is $X and he bought a TV." Much less from, "Best Buy sold a thousand TVs at $X, and the county's average income is $Y." You just ignore too much.