APOLOGY

I must apologize for my continued absence, but it's not my fault. It's her fault. I'm off again for a romantic weekend get-a-way. Hopefully I will be more active upon returning.

JUST WAR THEORY

Doesn't just war theory completely fall apart if you don't belive in the legitimacy of government? I was thinking about this while reading a David Gordon book review here. Show me a legitimate government and then we can talk about just war.

By the way, David Gordon is an absolute treasure. I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading his reviews and following his citations into other works. I wish he'd put together an entire list of books to read (with his reviews attached, of course) -- like an Educated Mind book or something -- and I think I'd bet set for a lifetime of self-education.

IRAQ AND CONSERVATIVE IDIOTS

Call me crazy but I thought the US military went to Iraq to get rid the country of WMDs? Now we are told this:

Our goal in Iraq is a simple one. We want to help the country stand on its feet, provide for its own security and give its citizens a chance to vote for the government of their own choosing (something the Iraqi people have been doing with diligence and enthusiasm, I might add). When these goals are achieved, we want to fulfill one more. We want to withdraw.

A simple one! As far as I'm concerned the post just gets worse form there.

POLITICS AND DATING

A gentleman doesn't discuss politics at dinner.

ON SOLDIERS

"If my soldiers started thinking, not a single soldier would remain in my army." -- Frederick II

PATRIOTISM is not a virtue. Nor is it sufficient reason to kill other human beings.

Property, Not Prices

Bob Murphy nails it:

To pick a more "economic" example, it is not true that laborers always sell their services to the highest bidder. Someone may give up the stressful (yet highly paid) life of corporate law and opt to be a librarian.

As these examples illustrate, the function of market prices is not to dictate how resources are deployed, but rather to let the owners make an informed decision. If there is a tremendous housing shortage, then the rising rental rates will let the parents know just how much someone else would like to use their child's room. And the best trial lawyer in the world will probably not end up as a librarian, because of the outrageous salary he or she would be turning down. Again, the market price of his or her services signals how much others value them.

MARCUS AURELIUS

MARCUS AURELIUS:

The vulgar confine their admiration chiefly to things of an elementary order, which exist by virtue of mere inorganic cohesion or processes of nature: things of timber and stone, for example, or groves of figs and vines and olives. Minds of a somewhat higher degree of enlightenment are attracted by things that have animation, such as flocks and herds. A further step in refinment leads to admiration of the rational soul: rational, however, not yet in the sense of being part of the universal. Reason, but simply as posssessing certain skills in handicraft or other such talents -- or even merely as owning large numbers of slaves. But the man who values a soul that is rational and universal and social no longer cares for anything else, but aims solely at keeping the temper of his own soul and all its activities rational and social, and works together with his fellows to this end.

TOLSTOY: "The State is only a temporary thing and in no way a permanent feature of human life." From The Law of Love and the Law of Violence.

"WHEN THERE IS PLENTY OF WINE, sorrow and worry take wing."

"I KNOW WHAT GIRLS WANT, I KNOW WHAT THEY LIKE, they want to stay up and party all night." Quote of the week from a beautiful lady: "You guys were buying bottles of champagne and sharing it with everyone in the restaurant like it was a public good. I just had to
find out who you are..."

A public good! I didn't bother explaining to her that such things (public goods) don't exist. She has plenty to think about already just being gorgeous.

Like I always say, "Life is too short to drink cheap champagne."

Shout out to P on this, since he was the one with the champagne tab.

Pete Carroll Is Brilliant

He exposes one of the fallacies inherent in "sports statistics":

SEC adherents are particularly proud that the conference boasts seven of the nation's top-26 defenses in scoring and yards allowed.

Ah, but here we enter the whole defensive chicken-and-egg debate, and Carroll can't resist a brief observation.

He notes that six Pac-10 teams rank in the nation's top 20 in scoring. Only one SEC team and two Big 12 teams rank in the top 25.

"That statement alone -- it's ridiculous that the [Pac-10] offenses are that good," Carroll said. "It isn't about the defenses. It's the offenses that are so proficient."

Ergo: USC's defense looks vulnerable because it plays in the Pac-10, and Alabama and Texas' defenses look good because they don't.

COMPETITION There's no such thing as economic competition between countries.

Not A Savings Glut

It's global excess liquidity:

According to our calculations, global excess liquidity has been on a steep upward trend since about 1995. Between 1995 and 2005, the credit-to-GDP ratio has risen by 25%, broad money-to-GDP by 32%, and narrow money to GDP by no less than 55%. The steep rise especially in narrow money reflects the fact that this aggregate is particularly sensitive to short-term interest rates, which were reduced sharply following the bursting of the equity bubble in 2000. Thus, monetary easing has produced an unprecedented amount of liquidity not needed to finance transactions in the real economy and available to chase bond, equity and other asset prices higher. Moreover, despite the Fed’s rate hikes since June 2004, which have led to a slight decline in excess liquidity in the US and China this year (on the narrow money-to-GDP measure) global excess liquidity has become even more abundant this year. Global narrow money growth outpaced global nominal GDP growth by 1.4 percentage points (pp), broad money growth outpaced GDP by 2.7 pp, and credit growth outpaced GDP by 3.6 pp. The main reason was a significant increase in excess liquidity in the euro area on all three measures. Thus, it is fair to say that the ECB has become the main financier of global asset price inflation this year.

Toll Brothers Change Sales Forecast

Is this the start of the bust? Were we right or were we right, huh?

"WE USED TO USE UMBRELLAS TO FIGHT THE BAD WEATHER, now we travel first-class to change the forecast." Just got off a flight. I was in a wedding over the weekend. Spectular moment. Beautiful ceremony -- I took notes in preparation for my own wedding. And I've never seen two people more ready to get married.

I flew out last week at 6:50am. Arrived at the airport at 6:20am or so. Long story. Accompanied by a lady friend, I boarded the plane and told her I wanted to apologize to the rest of the passengers for delaying take-off.

Lady: "J, just sit down. They don't want to hear it from you.
J: "I'm just going to apologize for the situation . . . "
Lady: "Gawd, here we go."
J: [Stepping out of the first-class cabin into the main cabin]: "Ladies and gentleman, I just want to apologize for being late and holding up departure. The little lady left her flat-iron at the house and we had to go back for it! It wasn't my fault, I assure you. Irish Coffees are on me in San Francisco!
Lady: [Head hidden by her hands] "You've got to be kidding me . . . "

AGAINST PHIL JACKSON? He favors the NBA dresscode. Most of these idiots are lucky to get a paycheck as it is. Stop the crying and put on a suit.

I just got home from a Clippers game actually. All the guys not in uniform were wearing suits. They still manage to look ridiculous because apparently they can't figure out how a suit is supposed to fit.

RISING PRICES + HIGHER INTEREST RATES = middle-class misery.

So Sick Of Love Songs

Why do I love this song?

And I'm so sick of love songs
So tired of tears
So done with wishing
You were still here
Said I'm so sick of love songs
So sad and slow
So why can't I turn off the radio?

Gotta fix that calender I had
That's marked July 15th
Cuz since there's no more you
There's no more anniversery
I'm so fed up of my thoughts of you
And your memories
And now every song reminds me
Of what used to be

PRODUCT ENDORSEMENT Oil of Olay Moisturinse. Just a wonderful product for moisturizing and softening your skin. I also recommend: Exfoliating Shower Gloves.

MEMO TO THE MAYOR OF VEGAS: your city is already a dump. Cleaning the graffiti won't help. You know what's really bad about Vegas (setting aside the property boom, which will soon impoverish many): the traffic congestion. Have you been there lately? Just the limo ride from the airport to N9NE is awful...

America'S Finest?

J.H. Huebert has a post on LRC on Jarhead. I think I've told this story here before, but it's worth a second. My brother and I ran into a high school friend (now in the Marines) outside a retail store about a year ago. When asked whether he was concerned about being shipped off to Iraq, he replied: "No, I want to go. I volunteered to go immediately. I can't wait to shoot some f*cking people in the face and bring home a few ears as souvenirs."

JIMMY CARTER: "I have a commitment to worship the prince of peace not the prince of pre-emptive war."

Beautiful. And he finds abortion disgusting. Then again, don't all decent human beings?

MARCUS AURELIUS: "You should live your life as if you are ready to say good-bye to it at any moment, as if the time left you is some pleasant surprise."