A Gross error

PIMCO’s Bill Gross has recently switched from calling official US inflation figures a ‘con’ to betting the firm’s money that the CPI has ‘peaked’. He’s since been joined on this bandwagon by a number of less estimable pundits, all keen to rationalize the latest bond market rally post hoc and leading Bloomberg News to report that “Greenspan fights a war that bond traders say he has won”. Here is where you will find why we wholly disagree.

The Miracle of Air Conditioning Repair

It was as simple as this. On Saturday evening, at 7:30 pm, I noticed that the air coming from the vents in the house was not cool. Checking outside, I found that my compressor was not working. Browsing through the yellow pages, my wife located and called an air conditioning repairman, and put me on the phone. He did a brief Q&A with me, and determined that he was indeed needed. Soon, Mr. Dillon arrived. I talked to him and watched him work in the dark of my backyard.

Heck of a Lead

Who can imagine the following (true, really true: prove it to yourself by clicking) first paragraph in the Washington Post:

In the boisterous sea of green robes at George Mason University yesterday was Amir Azad, 18, who is looking forward to some light, summer reading: “Human Action,” by the economist Ludwig von Mises, and “Man, Economy and State,” by Murray Rothbard.

U.S. Federal Government now spends $4 billion/year on minor marijuana offenses

In a report [.PDF] that is being picked up by Janes Intelligence Group and others, Ryan King and Mark Mauer explain how the U.S. government now spends more on marijuana enforcement than ever before. More importantly, the report details the change in drug enforcement policy over the last 20 years, as well as the perceived effects of such policy on use of the drug.

Fadonomics

Bored with conventional applications of a traditional neoclassical theory, writes David Gordon, economists on the “cutting edge” have branched out. The trouble is that they keep repeating the same errors.