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Category: Current Events
Iraq Update
To some, defeat implies a victor. North Vietnam and its allies in the South defeated us thirty years ago. Nothing like that has occurred in Iraq. The collapse of Iraq has no obvious victors. Even Iran might suffer if the instability spreads across the Middle East’s porous borders.
But there are other ways to lose. We’ve found one.
Top 10 2006 Books via the NYT Book Review
Fiction & Non-Fiction. The list includes Rory Stewart’s excellent: The Places in Between:
You are the first tourist in Afghanistan,” Stewart, a young Scotsman, was warned by an Afghan official before commencing the journey recounted in this splendid book. “It is mid-winter – there are three meters of snow on the high passes, there are wolves, and this is a war. You will die, I can guarantee.” Stewart, thankfully, did not die, and his report on his adventures – walking across Afghanistan in January of 2002, shortly after the fall of the Taliban – belongs with the masterpieces of the travel genre. Stewart may be foolhardy, but on the page he is a terrific companion: smart, compassionate and human. His book cracks open a fascinating, blasted world miles away from the newspaper headlines.
A Few Words With Jerry Brown
Then how would you describe yourself politically?
I’m very independent. There’s a great line from Friedrich Nietzsche: A thinking man can never be a party man.
Becker & Posner on Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman died this past week. He was the most influential economist of the 20th century when one combines his contributions to both economic science and to public policy. I knew him for many decades starting first when I was a graduate student at Chicago, and then as a colleague, mentor, and very close friend.
I will not dwell here on what a remarkable colleague he was. However, I do want to describe my first exposure to him as a teacher since he enormously changed my approach to economics, and to life itself. After my first class with him a half-century ago, I recognized that I was fortunate to have an extraordinary economist as a teacher. During that class he asked a question, and I shot up my hand and was called on to provide an answer. I still remember what he said, “That is no answer, for you are only restating the question in other words.” I sat down humiliated, but I knew he was right. I decided on my way home after a very stimulating class that despite all the economics I had studied at Princeton, and the two economics articles I was in the process of publishing, I had to relearn economics from the ground up. I sat at Friedman’s feet for the next six years– three as an Assistant Professor at Chicago– learning economics from a fresh perspective. It was the most exciting intellectual period of my life. Further reflections on Friedman as a teacher can be found in my essay on him in the collection edited by Edward Shils, Remembering the University of Chicago: Teachers, Scientists, and Scholars, 1991, University of Chicago Press.
Feingold on the Long War
Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold addressed the Madison Civics Club yesterday. His speech addressed the Long War. Adam Malecek was there:
Feingold said that Africa also presents a number of critical issues related to terrorism, and that it is a growing haven for many terrorist operatives. He noted that terrorists blew up American embassies in Africa, not in Afghanistan or Iraq, and that the culprits went to South Africa to hide.
He said even though he was well-educated and studied abroad, at 39 years old he didn’t know anything about Africa — and he was on the Foreign Relations committee.
“And I spent 15 years since learning about (Africa). But I offer that as a commentary on how prepared this country was on 9/11,” he said.
Feingold pointed out the fact that the northern part of Africa is only about 20 miles from the Middle East.
“But we don’t think of them that way. We think of them as separate,” he said, adding that the United States needs to work on determining the complicated interrelationships between various nations and terrorist groups.
Useful sites on the Long War:
Andy Hall has more as does Douglas Schuette.
Third Quarter Real Estate Market Data
Dave Stark [PDF]:
We are currently witnessing a phenomenon that I have not
seen in my nearly 30 years in real estate brokerage. For the first
time in anyone’s memory, we are seeing a noticeable slowdown in sales despite continuing record low interest rates. I’ve experienced many soft markets before; most (1980 – 1982 particularly) were far more severe than this. But all of those were precipitated by rapidly rising interest rates. This one seems to be occurring even though rates have actually fallen (that’s right, fallen) over the past 60 to 90 days by nearly two thirds of a percentage point, remaining near all time lows. At this writing, 30 year rates are around 6.375%. What’s going on?I’ve heard many explanations offered, and many have some validity. For starters, the Federal Reserve has raised short term interest rates steadily over the last two years. This has probably led many consumers to assume that mortgage rates were rising too. They did rise a little, but not much… they’re still within a percentage point or so of their lows. It’s also true, as you see below and on the following pages, that inventories have continued to rise, leading many to assume that the market is “slow,” since they see more for sale signs than they’re used to. Perhaps most importantly, the media has been relentlessly predicting a “bursting real estate bubble” for two years now, and they’ve seized on any evidence of a slowdown to fuel the gloomy predictions. While fears of a bursting bubble are utterly unfounded, especially here (see page 2), we’re hearing that many buyers are afraid to buy, thinking that real estate has become a bad investment on which they’ll lose money. A self fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one. Add in the fact that the fall is normally the slowest time of year anyway, and the market appears just plain tired after a sizzling 5 year run.
Election Litigation Website
As lawyers look for close races to contest, it is important to remember that just because the result of an election is challenged in court, it does not necessarily mean that the public should view the result as tainted or the electoral process broken. Instead, if the litigation ends with the losing side acknowledging that ultimately the votes weren’t there, then this kind of delayed concession speech should be accepted as evidence of the system working successfully, just as if the concession speech is delivered tonight.
Election Day Links
- Dane County Fall Election Results
- WisPolitics Election Blog
- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Election Page
- Wall Street Journal on “Wisconsin’s Cheesy Reformers“
- Pollster.com
- Channel3000.com
- WKOW-TV
- Wisconsin Public Radio
- Mankiw on “Why Some People Shouldn’t Vote“
I had a conversation with a young 4th grader this morning while queueing up at the poll. We clearly need to improve our civics awareness and interest.
Kristian Knutsen is live blogging today’s election.
Dane County Register of Deeds Race
I’m happy that we actually have a choice in tomorrow’s Dane County Register of Deeds race. This is unusual. I contacted both candidates recently and asked them for their views on Open Records and the Register of Deeds office.
I’ve been concerned over the years that some government agencies don’t follow (ignore?) the Open Records laws. Rather, they take the opportunity to charge taxpayers twice, once via taxes and a second time via various access fees for public information. There are no shortage of arguments over these questions.
Peter Ellestad responded via email (I’ve not heard from his opponent, Kristi Chlebowski). Peter’s response follows:
Sorry to take so long in responding — I’ve been driving around the county a great deal. Regarding my philosophy about records: I think priority should be given to maintaining and enhancing free access to all real estate records. At present, anyone who comes in to the register of deeds office may search all of these records at no charge, and will receive help from staff to find what they are looking for. I’ve been startled when I’ve been helping someone find something to be asked “Is there a charge for that?” and I think they’ve been surprised to hear “No, anyone can search these records for free.” I think that free access is appropriate and is the responsibility of our office to provide.