Book Report 1

While en-route from Midland to Naples yesterday I read The Science of Success by Charles Koch. Koch is Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, now the largest privately held company in the world. The book is his management model that caused such success in the last 40 years. He recommends "market based management", using principles that societies need to prosper and implementing them into the organization, a mini-society. These are things like property rights, decision rights, incentives, subjective value and more. It was a good read and a book I will continue to refer back to over the years. I would only recommend it to those in management or leadership positions.

Helvetica, Trebuchet, Times New Roman...

Hit pause for a moment and consider how greatly we – people in the digital age – are indebted to typographers. Almost all of our visual communication is delivered using the products of their craft: newspapers, SMSes, instant messages, emails, web pages, signs, posters, billboards; the list of purposes is endless.

In these days where looping strokes have been replaced by keyboard clickety-clack, typographers define the style and tone of our missives. Would you like to be elegant, modern, childish or ... disturbed? Then you can choose between Garamond, Montag, Comic Sans, Zebraflesh, and a thousand more.

There's great power in a typeface, but what's always interested me more than the typeface is the designer behind it – why did they create the typeface? Where did their inspiration come from? How did they start?

Very interesting write-up here.

UM Hockey

This was taken last February at the Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor. U of M just scored a goal.

Economics for the layperson

Today I was asked to give a number of book reviews to people wanting to know what some good books on economics are. The man I just spoke to from Oregon is doing an independent study with a high school senior and asked for four books that would both be at her level, yet still may be a challenge. Here are the books I recommended to him and which I also commend to you.




1) Basic Economics; Thomas Sowell.This one is a bigger book but Sowell is one of the best people to learn about economics from because of his memorable analogies and illustrations. You will not find confusing math or charts in his text, just a clear and comprehensive overview of economics.










2) The Road to Serfdom; F. A. Hayek
This is one of the all-time classic free market economics works. It is also the only difficult read I usually recommend to those who just want a couple books. Hayek's arguments are especially prescient given the massive expansion of government today. When Hayek first wrote this, Readers' Digest had him write a version for their magazine! Hayek argues most often using examples of Russia, Germany, and Italy that were relevant in his day but no so much ours. Nevertheless, his arguments are timeless.









3) New Deal or Raw Deal; Burton Folsom.
This book is much less an economics text than it is a historical work. This is the story of what happens to a country when it chooses massive government expansion. This book is also full new information only recently dug up at the National Archives. It's an easy and aggravating read - finding out everything you thought you knew about the new deal or FDR was wrong.

4) Free to Choose; Milton Friedman.
Many, many middle-aged free marketers today look at this book as the one pivotal in changing the way they see the world. Friedman looks at a slew of government program and critiques them from a free market perspective. The only thing I differ with him on is his advocacy for school vouchers, as opposed to tax-credits. Ultimately, his book is well-reasoned argument, anyone can understand, pleading that man ought to be left "free to choose."

Parents and their (perceived) trophy children

One of the assignments I had at work this week was to find a group of high school students to appear on a national television show in a couple months.

When looking for students and groups, it's been amusing to see how the parents of these kids are sometimes far more enthusiastic about the opportunity than the kids themselves. Parents sent me their kid's reading lists, their debate accomplishments and report cards hoping I would see how much of a qualified trophy child they are. Parents would even want to talk to me personally on the phone to vouch that their child would be an excellent candidate for this interview or show (as if they know...)

What's funny is that none of that really matters to me; I have my own private set of criteria I looked for.

Wealth is not Money

One of the greatest causes of economic misunderstanding today is that people think wealth is money. If this were true, Zimbabwe would be the richest country in the world. Wealth is much more than money, and cannot be measured monetarily and often goes quite unnoticed.

For example, the WSJ has an article titled: Backup System Helped Pilot Control Jet. Such advancements in technology are only the result of freedom in a society - freedom to innovate, freedom to hire and fire, freedom keep the income one has earned. Every time the government creates a new regulation, whether it be a wage law, labor law, or more taxes, it decreases the speed at which wealth and it's many life-saving effects will be produced.

Granted, the back-up systems were also combined with good judgment by the pilot. But the back-up system is just one example of the many unnoticed examples of the growth of wealth.

I wonder how many people are right now without a job, paid poorly, going without needed medicine, or walking through a maze of some bureaucracy thanks in part to government intervention.

Money Management

It's exponentially difficult to improve something if you're not tracking it. This applies to most anything. Book reading for instance - One is more likely to reach his goals and be a consistent reader if he sets out a plan and marks down what he has accomplished and know where he has to go. This applies to time management (it must be explicitly managed to be used well) and the one that may be most obvious to all of us is money.

I'm always looking for better ways to explicitly manage money. Mint.com looks like a great program and it's FREE! I already bought and use some software on my mac, but shouldn't worry about it since it's a sunk cost.

I might write a review of this later if I start using it.

Defiance

Defy tyranny, save people...I'm down with that.

This looks like a sweet video. Comes out this coming fall.

Prospective...

I hope I can start blogging more than I've been the past couple months - mainly on things I'm reading and a little bit of my own writing.

My current long term reading projects are two read through the entire ESV Study Bible and Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion in a year. Both are phenomenal so far.

My smaller current reading projects are:
The Last Lecture - perfect for this little spare moments one has throughout the day. It's addicting though: I find that eating dinner takes much longer if I'm reading this at the same time.

The Road to Serfdom - This book is on the easier side only after 4 years of Economics at Hillsdale. I highly recommend it, though. The truths in here are for all time and are especially important given the times we are living in - government nationalization and bailouts. I'll give you a hint: Government control of and interference in the economy is the road to serfdom.

Retrospective...

I decided at the start of the new year here I would take a look back at the past 7 months - not through words, through pictures. God gave me a wonderful summer and fall after graduation, filled with trips to various places with many wonderful people. I will start with one year ago today then zip ahead to May.

One year ago today I was at the southernmost point of the continental U.S. It was cool and windy.

Cuba happens to be on the short list of countries I'd like to visit soon. Here's the sunset from Key West on the previous evening:

First "house" project...

This morning my gas stove wouldn't turn on so I had to resort to an eggless breakfast. Thanks to a helpful Readers Digest article, toothbrush, safety pin, and match we are back in working order. This was my first real house project (other than moving in). I wish all projects were this easy!

2012 Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition

This is hilarious (and frightening!).

"We've subsidized the features you want and taxed away the rest"

"Made right here in the USA by fully card-checked unionized workers and Detroit's famous visionary jet set managers. Even if you don't own one you can enjoy the patriotic satisfaction that you're supporting the high wages, good benefits and generous political donations that are once again making the American car industry the envy of the world."

"But why not buy one anyway?"

"Plus, easy pay financing programs from Fannie Mae"

Cardinal

Here's a cardinal cleaning up post-Christmas left overs of bird seed.

Christmas 2008

The Economy in Common Language

Fred Thompson lays out in easy to understand language what happened in the economy and what needs to be done.



"Ask not what your country can spend for you you. Ask what you can spend for your country."

Similar to Peter Schiff, Thompson lays blame on over consumption and borrowing.

Lack of money corrupts?

I sent this letter to the Detroit Free Press today:

In "Why do these guys want to kill the Deal?" (Free Press 12/11) the authors fail to examine senators’ arguments in opposition to bailout.

Their answer to the question stated in the title is that the prominent leaders opposing the bailout do so precisely because they did not receive UAW money, and their opponents in the recent election did. No longer does money corrupt, or raise suspicion of corruption (I haven't seen a front page story yet entitled, "Why do these guys want to pass the deal?"), but now the lack of money corrupts!

Assuming the worst in politicians may not be a bad place to start, but why not critique those politicians who are taking the popular stand and were paid to do so? Some politicians believe in core, unchanging principles which lead them to oppose the bailout - the Free Press should hear them out.

Sincerely,
Benjamin Stafford

Boudreaux on the bailout

Don Boudreaux has a superb Op-Ed in the WSJ today on the bailout.

The popular and politically convenient myth has matters backwards: The bigger the unprofitable firm, the more vital it is that it be allowed to fail.

Not that I'm a cheerleader for failure, I'm not - I would hate to see the unemployment figure in this state (9.3%) go higher than it already is. But I would hate more this state becoming full of unprofitable, propped-up firms, and that epidemic spreading throughout the country.

Check it out.

Derek Kidner (1913-2008)

I just read that Derek Kidner has died. Kidner has been my favorite scholar from which to learn about the Old Testament. I am currently working through his commentaries on the Psalms. Below is a quotation from his commentary on Chapter 37: 16-20

While verse 16 could stand on its own, as a purely moral judgement like that of Proverbs 28:6, the righteous man, however poor he is, has better porspects as well as a better concience than the godless. The Gospel sayings, like those of 17-19, take full account of temporal needs (e.g. Mt. 6:31ff.; 19:29); and in the psalm as in the New Testament the real security and wealth lie not 'in uncertain riches, but in the living God' (I Tim. 6:17). The general assurance, the Lord upholds (17), is heartening enough; still more the intimate exactness of the Lord knows the days . . . (18; cf. 31:15), which include all the days of famine (19).

Kidner's commentaries have both the depth and detail of a scholar for a scholar, and the devotional style of a teacher to a student.

Freedom and the Bailout

I sent this letter to the Midland Daily News today:

To the Editor:

It is a shame our country’s legislators and our state’s automakers are considering a bailout for the Big 3. On one side of the coin, any bailout saves a lot of jobs for a little while. On the flipside, a bailout reduces everyone’s standard of living. This second consequence economists often call the unintended consequence.

Here are some of the effects of a bailout from the powers that be: The failing business stays in business, even though it’s competitors deliver the product more efficiently. The workers keep their jobs, perhaps at above-market wages, even though this situation is not sustainable by the free market. The people footing the bill (the taxpayers) don’t have that money available to us to purchase the products we truly want. Finally, We all lose because the resources have been re-allocated inefficiently by force (the government), against what we, the customers, have already said we want. We instead get more of the failing business’s products and less of the succeeding business’s products. And what’s more? We have to pay for this situation to boot!

By ‘free market’, I do not refer to that dream of some economists in which there is perfect efficiency and all their supply & demand graphs are in equilibrium. I envision a society whose members are free to enjoy the fruits of their labor as they please.

Benjamin Stafford

License to Monopolize

I sent this letter in to the Jackson Citizen Patriot today.

Of the many ills people blame the free market for producing is the existence of monopolies. I was reminded of this myth on Thanksgiving and of the real culprit responsible for monopolies – the government.

I know some people who, a few years ago acquired a small piece of land on which they started planting a number of trees, Christmas trees among them. This year they wanted to sell some trees to folks just to make a little money on the side, but more for the satisfaction of having nurtured a plant, see it grow, then serve their fellow man by making an exchange – tree for money.

Unfortunately, voluntary transactions that would have otherwise occurred now cannot. The state of Michigan requires Christmas tree sellers to have a license. The tree farm is too small and the cost to get a license too great for these people to worry about the hassle. This is where true monopolies come from: the government forcing them on the economy. The only people in favor of such draconian regulations are the current Christmas tree sellers. The logic is simple: more sellers increase their competition.

Of course, this regulation and others like it are the least of this state’s problems. But only a government with a bureaucracy so invasive and with its tentacles reaching to nearly every part of the average citizen’s life and work can produce such strange regulations. Regulations from a central authority do not improve the standard of living for the masses; but each individual pursuing his own interests without being coerced or regulated always helps create a better life for the whole community.

Luxuries & Rights: one and the same?

I sent the following letter to the Midland Daily News on Thursday:

Dear Editor,

In response to: “Our view: A Changing Country” 11/6/08, I would like
to submit that smaller margins for Republican candidates and split
ticket ballots do not indicate independent thinking on the part of the
voter.

In general, voters today vote much the same way they eat, shop, and
sell: out of their own self-interest. If a politician promises more
subsidies, more healthcare, more stimulus checks and more of that god-
fearing, American oil, instead of that evil terrorist oil from other
countries, they will win the day. We live in an entitlement society
where luxuries have become wants, wants have become needs, and needs
have become rights.

Independent thinkers live independently, rejecting the use of force to
spend other people’s money on their own interests. Unfortunately,
independent thinkers today are few and far between. They are
generally not heard in the ballot box or at a stump speech, but
pursuing the good of society in the private sector: working compassion
for the poor using their own time and money, working a forty hour week
and generally minding their own business.

The moral of the story for both major political parties is not, as the
Daily News states: “Don't take voters for granted”, but rather to take
true, and unchanging principles of governance seriously. The
voluminous wisdom of America’s founding fathers would be a good place
to start.