Day: July 15, 2015

A brief look at the Obama-Kerry disaster

It’s f-word Israel today in America, thanks to President Nitwit and his legacy-hunting. Hell, it’s f-word America in America. Day of infamy, anyone, when the hand that holds the pen (and has a phone) has stabbed Israel in the back, and America too.

Details below, excerpted from Frederick Kagan’s op-ed in Wall St. Journal. Read them and weep.

* The document [signed and sealed, Sun-Times headlines] doesn’t mention the 60-day window for review by the U.S. Congress, and the language in this section suggests that action in the U.N. will not await any congressional vote.

. . . .

It is again noteworthy [after the proviso: “pending ratification by . . . the Iranian parliament”] that no mention is made of any action to be taken by the U.S. Congress, despite the nod to Iran’s legislature.

Noteworthy and damnable. F-word Congress.

Nothing in the text of the agreement itself supports President Obama’s assertion that the [international arms] embargo will last for another five years, although he may have that time frame in mind.

He can afford to toss that out, safe in knowing how little will be made of it by the Third Estate.

The U.S. is not in a very strong position to engage the Russians on [the arms embargo], since the Obama administration must get the resolution through the Security Council quickly or risk having the entire nuclear deal fall apart.

Hurry, hurry, ignoring Congress.

Read the rest of it here: Why They’re Cheering in Tehran – WSJ.

From destruction economic benefits? Not on your tintype.

Break something, pay to have it fixed, fixer uses fee to buy things, etc.? Not quite.

The Broken Window Fallacy and “Blessings” of Destruction in the Real World

  • Mises Daily July 14 2015
JULY 15, 2015

TAGS Booms and BustsHistory of the Austrian School of EconomicsPhilosophy and Methodology

In the early nineteenth century, Bastiat posed the story of a young man who throws a brick through the window of a baker’s shop. We’re told that this may have a bright side — that the baker must now pay a glazier to fix the window, who will then use that income to spend elsewhere, creating a ripple effect that benefits many.

Such thinking is reminiscent of what would later be used to justify the logic behind the Keynesian multiplier. Keynes would later write in the General Theory, “Pyramid building, earthquakes, even wars may serve to increase wealth.”

The Opportunity Cost of Fixing Things

As many readers already know, such logic fails to take into account the opportunity cost of the broken window. Had the window not been broken, the baker wouldn’t have paid the glazier, but maybe he would’ve spent the money on a pair of shoes instead. The shoemaker would then have income to spend elsewhere, and the same multiplier would take place — but society would be better off by exactly one window.

Read all about it here.