by Joe Kernen
25 “perennial gale”: Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (London, Allen & Unwin, 1976).
25 America had more than 100,000: Michael Cox and Richard Alm, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (Indianapolis, IN, Library of Economics and Liberty, 2008).
36 None of them is bigger: Daniel Michaels, “As Boeing Hits Turbulence, Uncle Sam Flies to Its Aid,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2009.
41 “What we want is not”: Robert Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992).
46 “lucky fools”: John V. C. Nye, “Lucky Fools and Cautious Businessmen: On Entrepreneurship and the Measurement of Entrepreneurial Failure,” Research in Economic History 6 (supp. 1991).
48 “incroaching on one another’s property”: Adam Smith, The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith: Lectures on Jurisprudence (London, Clarendon Press, 1976).
CHAPTER THREE: MAY 2009: THE PROPERTIES OF PROPERTY
60 North America’s bison population: Dale F. Lott, American Bison: A Natural History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).
CHAPTER FOUR: OCTOBER 2009: WHO MADE MY SHOELACES?
78 Only at the last stop: This description is taken from a Web site (http://www.enotes.com/how-products-encyclopedia/shoelace) that is a lifesaver for anyone with a curious nature or, more to the point, a curious child. The specifics come mostly from the Artur Mueller Company and the St. Louis Braid Company.
80 “the order brought about”: David Boaz, The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-tzu to Milton Friedman (New York: Free Press, 1997), citing Hayek, Law, Legislation, and Liberty, vol. 2.The Mirage of Social Justice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976).
81 “an invisible hand to promote”: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (New York: Knopf, 1991).
CHAPTER FIVE: DECEMBER 2009: WALL-E-CONOMIS
87 a lot of people had been: Daniel Engber of Slate.com points out quite a few: Daniel Engber, “The Underdog Effect: Why Do We Love a Loser?” Slate.com, April 30, 2010.
87 rooting for the team: Jimmy A. Frazier and Eldon E. Snyder, “The Underdog Concept in Sports,” Sociology of Sport Journal 8, no. 4 (December 1991).
87 underdogs have a bigger return: Ibid.
88 the same phenomenon caused them: Joseph A. Vandello, Nadav P. Goldschmied, and David A. R. Richards, “The Appeal of the Underdog,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 33, no. 12 (December 2007).
93 the dumbing down of American: I’m grateful to Gennady Stolyarov at the Ludwig von Mises Institute for his essay “WALL-E: Economic Ignorance and the War on Modernity,” Mises Daily, July 4, 2008.
97 Avatar is simply the most: James Bowman, “Avatar and the Flight from Reality,” New Atlantis no. 27 (Spring 2010).
98 the second-most-abundant element: Colby Cosh, “Oil’s Not Peaking. It’s Jumping the Shark,” Macleans, April 13, 2010.
99 “for purposes of convenience”: Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (London: Macmillan, 1890).
100 movies and TV shows that depict: For more, see Christina M. Cohn and Lawrence W. Reed, “Free-Market Movie Moments,” Mackinac Center for Public Policy, June 1, 2007.
CHAPTER SIX: MAY 2010: AMERICA VS. EUROPE
106 the measurable differences between: Denis Boyles, “Vive la Difference: A Review of The Narcissism of Minor Differences by Peter Baldwin,” Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2010.
109 the idea that the United States is less generous: Steven D. Levitt, “Who Spends More on Social Welfare: The United States or Sweden,” New York Times, May 10, 2010.
109–10 Even after spending fifty years: From the CIA’s World Factbook and author calculations; 2009 per capita GDP in terms of purchasing power parity puts France at $33,000, Germany at $34,000, and the United States at $46,000.
112 After a typical immigrant household: Olaf Gersemann, Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2004).
113 In Germany, for example: Ibid.
113 The one-time costs of setting: Ibid.
116 German courts even hold: Ibid.
116 In Italy, everyone employed: David Segal, “Is Italy Too Italian?,” New York Times, August 9, 2010.
116 “workers who can afford”: Gersemann, Cowboy Capitalism.
117 an article by the libertarian: Lee Harris, “The Spirit of Independence: The Social Psychology of Freedom,” The American: The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute, July 2, 2010.
117 In 2006, the Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Survey: Gersemann, Cowboy Capitalism.
121 “There is no sense”: Segal, “Is Italy Too Italian?.”
122 “One of the most important features”: Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.
CHAPTER SEVEN: JUNE 2010: 99.985 PERCENT PURE: THE PRICE OF REGULATION
126 twenty-six states and dozens: Steven K. Happel and Marianne M. Jennings, “The Folly of Anti-Scalping Laws,” Cato Journal 15, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 1995).
134 As reported by the invaluable: John Stossel, “Good Intentions Gone Bad: The Problem with the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Reason, September 2, 2010.
134 “The Coast Guard is not”: Patrik Jansson, “Top Five Bottlenecks in the Gulf Oil Spill Response,” Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 2010.
136 In Detroit, however: Louise Radnofsky, “A Stimulus Project Gets All Caulked Up,” Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2010.
137 designed to get rid of: Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanion, “How Government Prolonged the Depression,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2009.
141 “all of this is about food”: William Neuman, “Group Seeks Food Label That Highlights Harmful Ingredients,” New York Times, October 13, 2010.
142 “to convince consumers to buy”: Timothy Gardner, “Cars to Be Graded on Fuel Mileage, Emissions Standards,” Reuters, August 31, 2010.
142 “charged with an electric power”: Ibid.
142 the cost of federal regulations: Olaf Gersemann, Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2004).
143 President Reagan presided over: Ibid.
CHAPTER EIGHT: AUGUST 2010: THE $40 OSTRICH EGG
146 the current average U.S. hourly wage: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Average Hourly Earnings for All Employees and for Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, by Industry, 2009” (available at http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2010/ted_20100408_data.htm ).
146 the average U.S. family: Actually, 10.6 cents. USDA Economic Research Service, “Food CPI and Expenditures” (available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/CPIFoodandExpenditures/Data/table7.htm).
146 Today that family spends: Ibid.
147 By 1947, when supermarkets were still a curiosity: Ibid.
149 organic food offers no nutritional: Robert Paarlberg, “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers,” Foreign Policy, May/June 2010.
149 E. coli—whose incidence: Ibid.
149 food-borne illnesses are responsible: Paul S. Mead, et al. “Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States,” Emerging Infectious Diseases 5, no. 5, September/October 1999, and CDC Morbidity and Mortality Report.
151 If Europe tried to feed: Paarlberg, “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers.”
154 every one of the fair-trade licensing organizations: Andrew Chambers, “Not So Fair Trade,” Guardian, December 12, 2009.
154 not permitted to employ: Ibid.
154 “after paying for the co-operative’s”: Ibid.
155 Fair trade sets a minimum: Jacob Grier, “Libertarians and Fair Trade Coffee,” Liquidity Preferences, April 13, 2010 (available at http://www.jacobgrier.com/blog/archives/3773.html ).
155 “the parts of the world”: David Rieff, “Abused by Hope,” The New Republic, October 19, 2010.
159 (more than 70 percent of African): Paarlberg, “Attention Whole Foods Shoppers.”
&n
bsp; CHAPTER NINE: SEPTEMBER 2010: LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL: YOU’RE PAYING FOR IT
170 so modest that you have: For example, studies have shown small positive effects in the cement industry, negative effects in construction, and negative effects on mining and sawmills. Gerald Mayer, Union Membership Trends in the United States (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2004).
172 the curious fact that thousands: Walt Bogdanovich, et al. “A Disability Epidemic Among a Railroad’s Retirees,” New York Times, September 20, 2008.
172 More than two-thirds of the highest-ranking officials: Steven Greenhut, “Class War: How Public Servants Became Our Masters,” Reason, February 2010.
173 one FDNY lieutenant retired: Daniel Foster, “Cops and Robbers,” National Review, August 30, 2010.
CHAPTER TEN: DECEMBER 2010: LIES, D***ED LIES, AND THE OPINION PAGES
190 estimated to cost a bit more: Numbers for the cost of climate change in 2200 are from William D. Nordhaus, A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008). Under Nordhaus’s formulas, the cost of capping carbon dioxide at 420 parts per million is between $14 and $20 trillion in current dollars (Jim Manzi, “Conservatives, Climate Change, and the Carbon Tax,” New Atlantis, summer 2008).
200 Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank “Barney Frank: Fannie and Freddie Must Go,” Investor’s Business Daily, August 19, 2010.
Index
absolute advantage
advertising
Altomonte, Carlo
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Americans with Disabilities Act
American vs. European economies
economic freedom index and
elites hostility to American free market ideals
entrepreneurship in
immigration and
internal vs. external locus of control
labor relations and
per capita GDP growth
protest movements
similarities between
state socialism
U.S. subsidization of European economies
welfare spending
antiscalping regulation
A&P (Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company)
AT&T
Austrian School economists
Avatar (movie)
Aviator, The (movie)
bailout
Baldwin, Peter
bankruptcy
banks
bankruptcy and
financial regulatory reform
Battle for Terra, The (movie)
Becker, Craig
Best Buy
Beverly Hillbillies, The (TV show)
Bismarck, Otto von
bison, property rights in
Bloomberg Business Week
Boeing
Borlaug, Norman
Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction plan
BP (British Petroleum)
Brassel, Robert
Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system
bridges to nowhere
broadcasting channels, property rights in
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
Bt cotton
Bureau of Consumer Financial Reform
Burton, Tim
Bush, George W.
Bush administration
“buy American” provisions
California Highway Patrol
Cameron, James
cap and trade
capitalism. See free-market capitalism
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (Schumpeter)
Capital (Marx)
Capuano, Michael
carbon dioxide
argument underlying climate change
endangerment finding, by EPA
card check
catallaxy. See price signals
CDOs (collateralized debt obligations)
Center for Food Safety
Chaplin, Charlie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (movie)
chief executive officers (CEOs)
as Hollywood villains
salaries of
Chimpanzee Politics (de Waal)
choice
Christie, Chris
cigarette smoking
ban on
labeling requirements
Cincinnati Reds
climate change
argument underlying
carbon dioxide
Climategate
endangerment finding for CO2
Climategate
Climate Research Unit (CRU)
Clinton, Bill
Coase, Ronald
coffee
collective bargaining
collectivism
command economies
commodities
Communications Act of 1934
comparative advantage
compensation
banks receiving federal loans, restrictions on
of CEOs
prevailing wages
union’s effect on
competition
confirmation bias
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
Conrail
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Consumer Reports
consumption
cosmetology licenses
cost
Costner, Kevin
cotton gin
craft unions
creative destruction
credit
Crisis and Leviathan (Higgs)
Croly, Herbert
CSI (TV show)
Cullen, Michael
Dahl, Roald
Dances with Wolves (movie)
Dancing with the Stars (TV show)
Davis-Bacon Act of 1931
Davis Polk
debasement
debt
Deepwater Horizon (drilling rig)
defense
deficit reduction plan
deflation
deforestation
demand curve
Democracy in America (Tocqueville)
Department of Agriculture
Department of Transportation
deregulation
derivatives
Detroit, stimulus money and
de Waal, Frans
Dickens, Charles
Disney
Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill
Dr. Doolittle 2 (movie)
DuPont
Easterly, William
economic freedom index
economy
American vs. European
defined
union’s impact on
editorials of New York Times and Wall Street Journal compared
on climate change
on financial regulatory reform
on health-care reform
on midterm elections of 2010
efficiencies
Ehrlich, Paul
Employee Free Choice Act
endangerment finding for CO2 by EPA
“End of Capitalism, The” ( Time)
entrepreneurship
immigration and
environmentalism
climate change
environmental romanticism, in movies
property rights and
in schools
Environmental Performance Index
Environmental Protection Agency
European vs. American economies. See American vs. European economies
Export-Import Bank
external locus of control
externalities
Exxon Valdez (ship)
fairness doctrine
fair trade
Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association)
Federal Express
feudalism
F
ey, Tina
fiat money
financial regulatory reform
Bureau of Consumer Financial Reform
compensation restrictions on banks receiving federal loans
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not included in
objectives of
Finding Nemo (movie)
fiscal stimulus
flat income tax
floating dollar
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
food and food production
comparative advantage and
cost in terms of disposable income
fair trade and
organic and health foods
supermarkets and
Ford Motor Company
Frank, Barney
Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation)
free-market capitalism
American vs. European
critics of
defined
efficiency of
Gekko problem and
price signals and
substitution principle and
television/movie industry’s negative view of
virtues promoted by
free markets. See free-market capitalism
Free to Choose (Friedman)
“Free Trade a Casualty of Economic Crisis” (Washington Post)
Friedman, Milton
Friedman, Rose
Frum, David
gas-mileage estimates
GDP (gross domestic product) per capita GDP
Gekko problem
General Theory of Employment (Keynes)
genetically modified crops
Gillespie, Nick
Global Attitudes Survey
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
global warming. See climate change
GNH (gross national happiness)
gold
Gore, Al
GPI (genuine progress indicator)
Great Depression
Great Recession
Greece, protests in
greed
Green, William
guilds, history of
Habib, Barry
Happy Feet (movie)
Happy Planet Index