‘The Economics of Ann Romney’

Democrats, Economy, Elections, Family, Feminism, Gender, Morality, Republicans

“Ann Romney is economically a hell of a lot smarter than Hilary Rosen,” concludes Kevin D. Williamson, in a neat column wherein, taking into account “scarcity of economic resources and scarcity of parental time,” and weighing these against the utmost top dollar the lovely Mrs. Romney might have commanded, Kevin calculates that Ann Romney would have been stark raving mad to have abandoned her gorgeous kids to the deprivations of daycare.

Not when the much-maligned Mr. Romney was bringing in “about $6,400 an hour at Bain Capital.”

Nice, if reductive, column, for after all, it is indeed likely that the Romneys would have made the same decisions were Mitt less successful. Values are irreducible.

“Democratic operative Hilary Rosen — who sneered that [Ann Romney] ‘has actually never worked a day in her life'”—wishes she were a quality babe who could attract a catch like Mitt Romney.

(Tinny ideologues should note that I do not support Romney, but this does not rob me of objectivity, as it does the robotic ideologue. I appreciate many of Mitt Romney’s qualities.)

‘The Cannibal’ Has Another Convert

Ilana Mercer, Ilana On Radio & TV, libertarianism, Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Private Property, South-Africa

In attendance at the New York Junto gathering, where I was the month of May’s featured speaker, was Jay Taylor, a New-York based investor and broadcaster who invests and broadcasts in the Austrian tradition.

I was delighted to hear that the topic of the talk—“Natural Rights in ‘Into the Cannibal’s Pot’: Abstractions or Facts of Life?”—resonated with Jay.

Here’s what the New York money and media man has written:

“It is most important your insights are aired as widely as possible so I was going to have my producer at Voice America track you down if I didn’t hear back from you. [I reply to every single inquiry I get. It may take time—a week or two, or more—but I answer all civilized, normal, sane interlocutors. Few are the people who get struck off my list of interlocutors. I can count 2 individuals in total in the last 5 years. And that took years of displays of incorrigible, maladaptive and manipulative irrationality, the kind that verges on malevolence.]
I really loved your talk and the following discussion. It was very enlightening. What I would most like to achieve in our discussion is to help people see how the loss of property rights is dangerous to liberty and even our safety. And I would like people to realize that applies to America as well as anywhere else.
Then I would like to have that point hammered home to my many “liberal” friends who may have their hearts in the right place but just don’t understand human nature.
You opened up a huge number of philosophical questions that I am personally struggling with, having come from a very religious Mennonite background in Ohio. Where do Natural Rights come from? “We hold these truths to be self evident. That we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (I think it was originally property?)”
I think you are actually quite good at addressing topics and questions when they are raised. I thought you did a great job at NY Junto. … I think you did a great job of explaining the connection between private property and liberty. I will do everything I can to promote your book and the ideas contained therein…

I will be on The Jay Taylor Radio Program sometime in June.

Americans Abroad ‘Banking Under the Mattress’

Media, Regulation, Taxation, The State

Is Big Media catching up with guerrilla writers? In “Planet IRS,” just over two weeks ago, I wrote that “[d]ue to the onerous burdens imposed by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, foreign banks, as well as hedge and private equity funds are closing American accounts. Barack Obama’s legislative baby (signed on March 18, 2010) is driving Americans abroad into banking under the mattress.”

Today Bloomberg caught up, in “U.S. Millionaires Told Go Away as Tax Evasion Rule Looms.”:

Go away, American millionaires.
That’s what some of the world’s largest wealth-management firms are saying ahead of Washington’s implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as Fatca, which seeks to prevent tax evasion by Americans with offshore accounts. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of Singapore Ltd. and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. (DBS) all say they have turned away business.
“I don’t open U.S. accounts, period,” said Su Shan Tan, head of private banking at Singapore-based DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest lender, who described regulatory attitudes toward U.S. clients as “Draconian.”

Oh dear. We’re usually years ahead of mainstream (as in this September 19, 2002, article).

The US Vs. The EU

Debt, Economy, EU, Europe, Labor

When broadcaster Lou Dobbs took to the blackboard, I got a bit of a fright. Flashbacks of Glenn Beck’s not-so-wonderful-mind moments, I suppose. But no. Mr. Dobbs drives home the severity of the situation stateside, by juxtaposing the American economy to certain Eurozone countries.

Take into account, however, that GDP measures the Brownian Motion of debt growth. The unreliability of the indices (unemployment, etc.) used, in general, means that matters are far worse.

Debt as a percentage of GDP:

France: 86%
Italy: 120% (“In a hot mess”)
Greece: 165% (“In a world of its own”)
US: 101%

Economic Growth (take into account, however, that GDP measures the Brownian Motion of debt growth):

France & the US: 1.7% growth
Greece: 7% contraction
Italy & Spain: 1/2% growth

Average age at retirement:

US: 65 years
France: 59
Italy: 60
Greece & Germany: 61
Spain: 62

Labor-Force Participation (this ought to shake you up):

US: 63.6% (“A thirty year low.”)
Greece: 71%
France: 72%
Italy: 75%
Spain & Germany: 76%

I would hazard a guess that the Europeans best us in workforce participation because they have more onerous labor regulations. This is cold comfort, of course.