The Economics of Feminism

The Captain has a very interesting post on how feminism has negatively affected our economy.  Well worth a read, even if you don't agree with his conclusions, you will have to think about whether there is anything to his argument.

http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-communism-killed-american-muse.html

Freedom Manifesto

New book from Steve Forbes.  Basic premise, the free market acts efficiently.  Do a good job, you get rewarded.  Government promotes favoritism. Invest most effectively in lobbying efforts and you get rewarded.  Not a new concept but presumably Forbes feels he either has new insights or can explain it better than past efforts.

I'm going to check it out and will report back later but if you want your own copy now you can get it from Amazon.

Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets are Moral and Government Isn't

Living Like the King of Spain

"one in seven Americans the government categorizes as poor in the United States enjoys nutrition, leisure, entertainment, and health care superior to those available to the king of Spain in the 16th century"

What is poverty in the United States today?

Here is a direct link to the .pdf article on the Heritage Foundation website.

And here are the highlights if you don't want to read the whole article. Reading is so time consuming, after all.

• The typical poor household, as defined by the
  government, has a car and air conditioning,
  two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a
  DVD player, and a VCR. If there are children,
  especially boys, the family has a game system,
  such as an Xbox or PlayStation.
• In the kitchen, the household has a refrigerator,
  an oven and stove, and a microwave.
  Other household conveniences include a
  clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a
  cordless phone, and a coffee maker.
• The home of the typical poor family is in
  good repair and is not overcrowded. In fact,
  the typical average poor American has more
  living space in his home than the average
  (non-poor) European has.
• By its own report, the typical poor family was
  not hungry, was able to obtain medical care
  when needed, and had sufficient funds during
  the past year to meet all essential needs.

So is it possible that the whole "Occupy" movement doesn't really care about income equality as a means of alleviating poverty, but instead wants to advance their ideological preferences of socialism and radical egalitarianism?

Income Inequality Explained

I wasn't familiar with Richard Epstein until I stumbled across this video on PBS. Turns out he is a law professor at New York University School of Law and a libertarian. In this video he makes a compelling case that income inequality is beneficial when it occurs naturally in a free society.

Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

I'm ordering his book Simple Rules for a Complex World from Amazon because I want to read more of what he has to say. The synopsis of his book says it is about simplifying the legal code since complex rules create excessive costs. Should be interesting.