The Liberal Order

Federal Expenditures Under Hoover

Frank Stephenson takes Jonathan Chait to task for arguing that Hoover exercised fiscal restraint during his four years in office despite the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. To back Frank's argument, I've graphed real government revenues and expenditures from 1925 to 1935. Nominal expenditures increased by 47% during Hoover's influence from 1929 to 1933. But since the price level fell nearly 26% during that time, real Hoover spending increased 98% between 1929 and 1933. 

So why is Hoover regarded as a "do-nothing" president? As David Kennedy explains, the Democrats and FDR hired a publicist to demonize Hoover and discredit his policies. Hoover's response was obviously ineffective. You gotta love politicians - they're so, like, honest and concerned about others.

 

A Cool Concept Garage

Garages on the front of homes looks pretty poor. Side-loading garages are a bit nicer looking, but you need more land to have an approach. Here is a novel idea of some Florida couple. Lot's of room, approachable from the road, and it looks nice.

 

Oh, please, please, please! Why couldn't I have been there?

It would be like watching your two evil and despised stepbrothers duking it out.

Among those counter-protesting at the cemetery's main entrance: About 10 members of a group that claims to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan from Virginia called the Knights of the Southern Cross. They were cordoned off separately in a nearby area, but drew little attention as they gave out small American flags behind a banner that read "POW-MIA."

They said they were there to object to the Westboro Baptist Church's anti-troop message.

"It's the soldier that fought and died and gave them that right to free speech," said Dennis LaBonte, the self-described "Imperial Wizard" of the KKK group that he said he formed several years ago.

"That's fine," said Abigail Phelps, the daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. "They have no moral authority on anything.

"People like them say it's white power ... white supremacy," Phelps said. "The Bible doesn't say anywhere that it's an abomination to be born of a certain gender or race."

 

Greed and Racism In the NFL

Mike Munger discusses the inconsistent arguments put forth by people who view business owners as driven by "greed," but then on the other hand disparage them for not building food stores in low-income areas. These people view the latter scenario as a short-sighted oversight of these greedy capitalists because these greedy demons are passing up on such profitable opportunities by not building grocery stores in low income areas that they allege is due to racism on the part of greedy entrepreneurs. Munger discredits their arguments and then discusses how greed is an antidote for racism. He uses Branch Rickey drafting Jackie Robinson as an example of self-interest trumping racism on the part of "beisbol" team owners. He then offers a few citations of self-interest and discrimination in Major League Baseball.

The same is true of football as well, but a little different.

Blacks were excluded from playing in the NFL beginning in 1926. This policy continued at the insistence largely of George Preston Marshall until after World War II when some teams realized the disadvantages of excluding great talent from their teams. They also didn't want to be left out if other teams began signing the best black players. 

George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, insisted that blacks be excluded from NFL rosters and continued his refusal to sign black players despite what other teams were doing. He once quipped, "We'll start signing Negroes when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites."

Marshall's racist stance continued until 1962, when then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Interior Secretary Morris Udall threatened to revoke the Redskins' lease granting them permission to play at the new D.C. Stadium (what is now named RFK Memorial Stadium). Only then, and forced to do so against his will, did Marshall draft a black player. In 1962 he drafted Ernie Davis out of Syracuse University, but Davis refused to play for a racist owner and demanded he be traded. Marshall acquiesced, trading Davis to the Cleveland Browns for Bobby Mitchell. The team never had many winning seasons, and this acquisition of Mitchell didn't change that much. But once Jack Kent Cooke began taking control of operations of the Redskins in 1969, a man who had no problem signing the best talent regardless of the color of their skin (i.e., his greed compelled him to do so), winning games and seasons happened more frequently.

Even still, blacks were excluded from playing quarterback in the NFL. The quarterback was usually the highest paid player on a team and he was considered the team's leader, neither of which were acceptable for whites. Marlin Briscoe broke the color barrier in 1968, quarterbacking the Denver Broncos for the remainder of the season following an injury to starting quarterback Steve Tensi. Denver released Briscoe before the start of the next season and he was signed by the Buffalo Bills. However, he was immediately converted to wide receiver. 

Warren Moon, an exceptional quarterback in high school, found that the only major college football programs willing to sign him would do so only if he agreed to switch positions to wide receiver. He refused to do so and chose to play his college freshman year at West Los Angeles College, a junior college. After a remarkable season at West L.A., he was recruited by a few colleges willing to allow him to quarterback their team, and eventually signed with the University of Washington. But this wasn't without warning that if he played quarterback in college, no NFL team was likely to draft him at the end of his college career. He held fast to his conviction and chose to play quarterback for the Huskies. After not being drafted by any NFL team in 1978 after his final season at Washington, Moon opted to play in the Canadian Football league where he proved himself an exceptional player.

After great success in the Canadian Football League, Moon decided to enter the NFL as a free agent in 1984. This created a bidding war for his services given his success in the CFL, and he signed with the Houston Oilers. 

In 1978, Hugh Culverhouse, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, did draft a black quarterback right out of college, Doug Williamw of Grambling State University. Doug had great success quarterbacking the Bucs, taking the previously losing franchise to the playoffs three out of his first four seasons with the team. However, he was the lowest paid starter in the NFL - actually paid less than a number of backups on other NFL teams - and demanded more money from the Bucs following the 1982 season. Culverhouse offered Williams more money, but refused to meet his salary demands. Consequently, in 1982 Williams signed with the Oklahama Outlaws of the newly created U.S. Football League.    

In 1986, Williams signed with the . . . wait for it . . . Washington Redskins, led by Cooke and coached by Joe Gibbs. In 1988, Williams became the first black quarterback to not only play in the Super Bowl, but to lead the team to victory as well, and also winning the game's MVP award.

The success of Moon and Williams on two different NFL teams blazed the path for the modern-era of black quarterbacks in the NFL. The two players both proved that not only were blacks capable of leading an NFL team to victory, they could also bring home the Lombardi Trophy. There are currently 17 black quarterbacks playing in the NFL.

UPDATE: I am always proud to have been affiliated with Hillsdale College, for no reason more than its history of racial equality. Of interest, the 1956 football team was invited to play in the Tangerine Bowl, with one caveat: "Leave your black players at home." The team voted and decided for that reason they would refuse the invitation. As one former player told me a few years ago, it wasn't even a vote; nobody wanted to accept the invitation if "their friends" couldn't come along and play as well.  

Auctionair and Income Taxes

Suppose I go to Las Vegas and win, say, $30,000 on a slot machine. I have to pay taxes to both state and federal governments in the U.S.

Now, suppose I see a painting for sale on eBay that I believe is worth $30,000, but have the high bid, which allows me to purchase the painting for just $130. I'm not required to pay taxes on this purchase. (However, I would have to pay taxes on whatever profit I earnd were I to sell it. But let's say that I keep it. No taxes.)

Now, suppose I submit the winning bid on Auction Air for a $28,000 Mini Cooper, allowing me to pay just $130 for it. Is this gambling earnings like the Vegas example or simply a lot of consumer surplus that is tax free like the eBay example? 

Sex Sells

Did the title get you to look?

Some Facebook facts:

Facebook confirms the adage: Sex sells. From February until May 2010, social media scientist Dan Zarrella processed 12,000 links to news sites and blogs. He discovered that links about sex were 90% more likely to be shared on Facebook than any other subject matter.

He also discovered that links with positive sentiment were more likely to be shared on Facebook than those with negative viewpoints.

I also am surprised by this one:

The same study stated that "Twenty-six percent of Facebook users with children had potentially exposed them to predators by posting the children's photos and names."

I would never ever link to a picture of Pat.

 

IJ and NACDL Join Forces to Combat Asset Forfeiture Laws

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the preeminent organization in the United States ensuring justice for persons accused of crimes, and the Institute for Justice, the nation’s premier public interest law firm defending property rights, have jointly written and will support model state legislation that replaces civil forfeiture with criminal forfeiture.  Further, the legislation would redirect the proceeds of seized assets away from the law enforcement unit making the arrest.

Story here.

The Story of Economics

A very good video on economics.

HT: Tyler Cowen

The Story of Economics from Kate Burn on Vimeo.

 

Tornado Activity Has Increased In The U.S. Since 1950

Pete Boettke asks:

So objectively, are we experiencing more severe weather in 2011 than we did in say 1951?  Or, do we just see and hear more about the storms because of the ease of communication across the country?

Prior to 1950, records on tornadic activity were not well kept, but we can look at the change over that time period. The following graph shows the number of recorded tonadoes by year in the U.S. (Actual data taken from here.)

The number of tornadoes touching down each year is one thing, how many people died from a given tornado is another. This chart shows that far more deaths from any given tornado occurred in earlier years (beginning in 1950), but that's likely due to better forecasting and warning systems available today relative to earlier time periods.

More to the point, this chart reports deaths from any given weather-related source over the past 70 years. Deaths from tornadic activity decreased in more recent years relative to earlier years, but again, that's due mostly to better forecasting and warning systems in place today relative to years prior to 1980. Since 1980, deaths from tornadic activity have remained relatively stable.

Deaths from all other weather-related activity also appear relatively stable, notwithstanding the ten-year average for hurricanes nearly doubling the 30-year average. That data is skewed by one outlier: the 1,016 deaths from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 

Below are the total number of hurricanes per year beginning in 1851. As noted on the site:

This shows quite pronounced year-to-year variations with as many as 7 hurricane strikes in 1886 and 6 in both 2004 and 2005 and as few as none occurring many years, the most recent being 2009. No significant long term up or down trend is apparent in this record.

 

So hurricane activity in the U.S. has not increased, and the number of hurricane deaths, minus Katrina, has remained stable. 

UPDATE: Patrick Michaels explains the increase in tornados to better detection (i.e., Doppler radar) and reporting systems in place since 1950s. 

Dynamic Nature of Income Mobility

From the Federal Reserve Bank:

A recent study examined income mobility in the United States from 1996 to 2005. Using data from individual tax returns, the study documented household movement along the distribution of real income over the 10-year period. As shown in the upper panel of the chart (MS: see below), nearly 58 percent of the households in the lowest income quintile (lowest 20 percent) in 1996 moved to a higher income quintile by 2005. Similarly, nearly 50 percent of the households in the second-lowest quintile in 1996 moved to a higher income quintile by 2005. Even a significant number of households in the third and fourth income quintiles in 1996 moved to a higher quintile by 2005.

The study also documented declines in household income. Of particular note are the findings regarding the wealthiest households. As shown in the lower panel of the chart, more than 57 percent of the wealthiest 1 percent of households in 1996 fell out of that category by 2005. Similarly, more than 45 percent of the wealthiest 5 percent ofhouseholds in 1996 fell out of that category by 2005.

HT: Jeremy Winters