I (Heart) Mickey

A tribute to internet pioneer Mickey Kaus, now at the Daily Caller.

Human Capital Bonds

One of the promising ideas for redesigning government goes under the clunky heading "human capital bonds."  In this era of scarce public resources, the concept is to capitalize the human capital we create through our public sector human services efforts.  My local state representative, Keith Downey, is leading the charge.

The Protean Future of Cities

From New Geography, Joel Kotkin looks at the fresh data from the U.S. Census and divines the future of cities.  Hint, if you've been look at the label, below, you know where this is headed.

(via Forbes.com)

Niall Ferguson: why the West is now in decline

Mentioned by Rush on his program today is this series by historian Niall Ferguson on the UK's Channel 4.  I have found Professor Ferguson to be someone worth listening to.

Professor Ferguson gets right to the point in the Daily Telegraph,

"I argue that what distinguished the West from the Rest – the mainsprings of global power – were six identifiably novel complexes of institutions and associated ideas and behaviours. For the sake of simplicity, I summarise them under six headings: 1. Competition 2. Science 3. Property rights 4. Medicine 5. The consumer society 6. The work ethic.

"To use the language of today’s computerised, synchronised world, these were the six killer applications – the killer apps – that allowed a minority of mankind originating on the western edge of Eurasia to dominate the world for the better part of 500 years....

"....My conclusion is that we are already living through the twilight of Western predominance. But that is not just because most of the Rest have now downloaded all or nearly all of our killer apps. It is also because we ourselves have lost faith in our own civilisation."

Here's the link to the Channel 4 website.

Bring Back the Hanseatic League

Yes, I am aware of how silly that sounds in this modern age of global trade.  This evening, I was watching a travel show on Tallinn, Estonia--the northernmost member of the medieval Hanseatic League--and was inspired by the story of how this isolated backwater grew wealthy from free trade and independence.

We have much to learn from this early example of the "Charter Cities" movement.  For example, the original Hanseatic cities fought pirates.  How quaint.

The Wall Street Journal-Europe writes about the efforts of new-ish Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands to create a new free-trade zone within Europe.

Green Dreams Meet Reality

This LA Times investigation of clean energy at the Los Angeles Community College District ranks as a “must read”.  It perfectly captures the Clean Energy ethos and what happens when green dreams meet physics, economics, and simple reality. 

Sometimes, I get bogged down with the sheer mathematics of it all.  Proponents of the clean energy program at the community colleges estimated it would cost up to $975 million to install.  They also claimed that private sector investment, along with government and utility subsidies would reduce the colleges' cost by 90 percent.  That still leaves $97.5 million for the college to finance, while they pay annual electric bills of less than $8 million.  Assuming no operating costs and all electric production offsets purchases on a 1 to 1 basis, that still leaves the colleges with a 12-year payback.

In the event, outside contributions were much less than 90 percent and the colleges have gone ahead with only a fraction of the proposed projects.  Still, the colleges are out at least $10 million.  Kudos to the LA Times for getting to the bottom of this.

Steven Hayward blogs about the article over at Power Line.

If your interested in more, the Times article is part of a week-long series on the District and its $6 billion construction budget.

It Shines for All

The New York Sun newspaper was a short-lived effort last decade to start a new, daily, general interest newspaper in New York City.  (Motto:  "It Shines for All").  The paper, founded by Seth Lipsky, had the unfortunate timing to get underway just months after 9/11.  The Sun resurrected a newspaper name that ceased publishing in the 1950's. The reincarnated title was finally done in by the general financial collapse of September 2008.

The Sun lives on as a website, and today it carries a column written by Conrad Black on the West's feeble response to the revolution in Libya.  Drudge is making a similar point on his site, leading with two headlines about UK preparations to help in Libya, followed by the headline "Obama goes golfing".

I'm not sure we should do anything in Libya.  But it would be nice to think we still have that ability.

Latest Legislative Update

Here is my latest legislative update on energy and environmental issues for the Minnesota Free Market Institute.  Lots of activity this week.

"Time" is on the Declinist Bandwagon

The "venerable" Time magazine has joined the declinist bandwagon.  A long piece by Fareed Zakaria asks the question "Are America's Best Days Behind Us?"

Now here, I could be glib and say, "to ask the question is to answer it."  But instead, I'll note the passive construction of the question.  The real answer is "only if we decide so" as decline is a choice.

The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

That is the subtitle to The Starfish and the Spider [see link at "Required Reading" on the right].  I frequently hear or read that we [conservatives/Republicans/tea party-types] need someone to step forward as a leader.  I disagree.  I believe that the power that our movement--an in particular, the Tea Party--has enjoyed the past two years is because we do not have a single person that the opposition and the media can tear down.

Since Mikey Kaus moved to The Daily Caller, I have been paying more attention to that site.  So see Adam Salmon for a different view on the issue.