Decision 2008, and My Vote Goes to…

Attention, St. Anthony Villagers, your sample ballots are here (Hennepin | Ramsey) My votes; Presidential & Vice Presidential: Barak Obama & Joe Biden U.S. Senator: Dean Barkley U.S. Representative District 5: Keith Ellison U.S. State Representative District 54a: Mindy Greiling Constitutional Amendment: Clean Water, Wildlife, Cultural Heritage and Natural Area: Yes. Overall, the decisions were …

McCain & Obama Tax Plans: Small Change

Viveka Weiley redrew Washington Post’s chart of Obama’s and McCain’s respective tax plans. First off, a caveat: Basing a vote on potential personal financial changes is as one-sided as basing a vote on gender, skin pigment, or hair color. It’s one factor and one that I hope to argue it is a wash to vast …

Now That It’s Either Obama or McCain….

The 2 parties have a 6-month opportunity to show the American public how serious they are about solving this country’s problems. “…Spend 1/4 of the money [raised by the campaign] telling everyone how you’re using 1/2 of the money to help people. This proves that your Presidency will be about solving problems, because you’re not …

Lazy Libertarianism

A couple of conversations about Libertarian Paternalism came up on the iTunes this week, centered around Thaler and Sunstein’s book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. The most enjoyable being the EconTalk with Richard Thaler, where Thaler does an amazing job of challenging Roberts. Not there’s enough of that on EconTalk. 😉 I …

Garrick Balances the Minnesota State Budget

My pass at MPR’s Minnesota Budget Balancer with the differences from Gov. Pawlenty’s budget. Numbers in $$ millions. Spending Garrick Pawlenty Difference K-12 Education 685 685 Same Pre-school 200 38 -162 Healthcare 300 48 -252 Long-Term Care 76 76 Same Welfare & Other 48 48 Same Local Aid 300 65 -235 Property Tax Relief 40 …