Contributing Editor, TCS
Arnold Kling is a TCS Contributing Editor and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an economist with the Federal Reserve Board and later with Freddie Mac. In 1994, he founded Homefair.com, one of the first commercial sites on the World Wide Web. After Homefair was sold, he wrote "Under the Radar: Starting Your Net Business Without Venture Capital," published by Perseus in 2001. He has also written "Learning Economics," a collection of essays on economic issues. Kling 's personal web site is http://arnoldkling.com. His blog (with Bryan Caplan) is at http://econlog.econlib.org. He teaches high school on a volunteer basis near his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is married, with three daughters.
Arnold Kling is a TCS Contributing Editor and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute.
He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an economist with the Federal Reserve Board and later with Freddie Mac. In 1994, he founded Homefair.com, one of the first commercial sites on the World Wide Web. After Homefair was sold, he wrote "Under the Radar: Starting Your Net Business Without Venture Capital," published by Perseus in 2001. He has also written "Learning Economics," a collection of essays on economic issues. Kling 's personal web site is http://arnoldkling.com. His blog (with Bryan Caplan) is at http://econlog.econlib.org. He teaches high school on a volunteer basis near his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is married, with three daughters.
I think of myself as wealthy and successful. But Bill Clinton made more than twice as much in one year as I made my entire life. To me, that seems excessive. But the point of this essay is not to berate rich people. Instead of harping about American excess in terms of incomes, I want to focus on American excess in terms of political power.
Over the past eight weeks, I have been spending a lot of time with my father, who has developed some acute medical problems. For the most part, my focus is day-to-day (or hour-to-hour) on the issues and stresses that arise. But I have also come around to some different points of view about our health care system. I no longer think of Medicare and health care regulation as inefficient. I now think of them as pure evil.
Does the U.S. economy in early 2008 need a stimulus? If so, will tax cuts or attempts by the Fed to lower interest rates do the trick? I used to be able to answer such questions with confidence. Now I cannot.
I do not know Ron Paul. He may be wise. He may be decent. But to dismiss all doubts about his judgment and his character would be to succumb to a cult. Let me hasten to add that I do not think of the Paul cult as unique. I am equally loathe to join the Clinton cult, the Obama cult, the Guiliani cult...you name it.
I am urban. I am white-collar. I am tolerant on social issues. I am Jewish. In Mike Huckabee's "us-vs.-them" identity politics, I am a poster child for "them." Nonetheless, when it comes to evaluating Huckabee's signature domestic proposal, the FairTax, I want to try to be, well, fair. Neither its supporters nor its detractors are providing a clear perspective on the concept. Here is a better idea: a semi-Fair Tax.
I am not a skeptic about the rise in average temperatures. Nor am I skeptical that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing. However, I remain skeptical about the connection between the two. My question is this: what are the most persuasive reasons for believing that the rise in temperature is due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide?
In the 1990's, when my daughter was in middle school, her principal created a remedial math class for a handful of students. All of them turned out to be African-American. The local chapter of the NAACP took offense, and the principal was dismissed. (This being the public school system, she was not fired. She was given a meaningless job somewhere in the central administration.) This incident helps to illustrate the three contentious issues caught up in the IQ-race controversy.
In 1962, few people knew that the future of popular music was to be found in Liverpool, England. In the early 1970's, few people knew that the future of information processing was to be found at the Homebrew Computer Club. In 1993, few people knew that the future of online software was in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Years from now, perhaps people will be saying that something big got started recently at the George Mason University department of economics.
