How is Vegas treating jugglers?

A few months back The Long Run blog’s founder Brett Spurr was in Vegas and observed an interesting economic phenomenon: while hotel room prices were at all-time lows, food was now pricier. So a hotel room at a major hotel might run you $50 a night but the Coke machine on your floor is now charging double. The old “if you can’t make it in popcorn, make it in peanuts” strategy.

Brett cautioned his observations were purely anecdotal. I thought I’d follow up on Brett’s intriguing observation by wrangling my connection¹ with Vegas local Michael Goudeau (former co-host of the Penn Jillette Radio Show and an occasional panelist for the yearly The Amazing Meeting) and get his observations about how the down economy is affecting what is surely one of the most interesting local economies on earth.

Brett on Conspiracy Skeptic

Brett is probably too shy to toot his own, but I interviewed him about China, money, the gold standard, and trade on my podcast The Conspiracy Skeptic. Not much conspiracy talk, just some econ 101 stuff:

My Favorite EconTalk podcasts

Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk, occasionally makes the point economics is referred to as the “dismal science“. Those who refer to economics that way have never listened to Russ’ podcast. Listening to EconTalk always leaves me feeling a little bit better about the world.

The media and politicians like to spin economics in a way that makes you scared and favorable to whatever solution they happen to offer. Russ in his podcast frequently examines these claims and exposes them either as false or highly misleading. For example, Russ many times points out it’s a myth America doesn’t make anything anymore, that its manufacturing base is being hollowed out. America is the world’s largest manufacturer. America just becomes increasingly efficient over time. America can make more with less people. When your economy can make more with fewer resources (be it iron or human resources) that’s actually a good thing for your economy.

Tax it out of existence

I was thinking about scotch the other day. My brother recently got married and during the reception my brother came by our table and mentioned to my father and my uncle that the open bar was offering a single malt scotch. My father and uncle seemed to be very much into this beverage, given the rapidity with which they made their way to the bar. If two of my kindred are heading in a direction quickly, as a middle child, I find it hard not to follow. I’m not much of a drinker, enjoying the occasional beer, but I decided in the sprit of the event I would imbibe this spirit along side my father and uncle. That’s what the scotch ads tell me to do, in any regard. The bartender immediately handed them a glass with scotch poured over top ice cubes. “Scotch on the rocks” might be the term. My father and uncle were aghast and they requested their scotch with only a bit of water. Since I had no experience with scotch, this scotch-on-the-rocks offering couldn’t have offended me so I volunteered to take that glass and not let it go to waste.

Keynesian economics wrap up

A few days ago Brett and Julio sparred over Keynesian economics in our Second Great The Long Run Great Debate II. (Not to give a lot away but we’re thinking of having the third as a pay-per-view event in Lagos.) Now lest you think my job in this debate was walking into the ring in a bikini with the title card, you stand corrected. Actually, I thought that was my job but Brett and Julio pointed out that in The First Great The Long Run Great Debate 1.0, Brett did a postmortem q&a. Right. So that duty now befalls me.

The Great Long Run Blog Debate #2: Keynesian Economics

Keynes has been a popular topic lately. By Keynes I mean both John Maynard and his economic theory of government intervention into the free market. To quote wiki:

Metric System, Kinda

There’s a lot of talk about this cash for clunkers program. Canada had something similar but it wrapped up last year. If you bought a certain fuel efficient new car you got a rebate from Transport Canada. You could get up to $2000. Which ain’t bad.

I guess the cash for clunker intent is get older fuel inefficient cars off the road, get people to drive new fuel efficient cars, save the environment, save jobs, save the cheerleader, save the world. You know the drill.

Who could have been first on the moon?

A few years ago when I was teaching in Seoul, I visited the Seoul science museum. It was mostly geared to kids. Lots of buttons you push that have unexpected results like a bolt of electricity arcs between two wires or you find out what Karen Carpenter’s weight would be on the surface of a neutron star. Kids love that sort of thing. There was also a space exhibit. Part of the exhibit was a little diorama model of the moon with your classic LEM and two astronauts exploring the moon. I’ve included the picture below the fold. Tell me if you see something rather odd in the photo.

Max out your friends, not your credit card

A guy I worked with years ago (circa 1991, a time when a young Victoria Jackson was teaching America to laugh and Sergeant Slaughter finally defeated Ultimate Warrior for the WWF championship belt) told me about how when his father was a young salesman he was part of a “suit financing ring”. Each ring would have, say, 10 friends or coworkers. Basically each person put in $5 a month. At the end of each month, one person would get a new business suit (10 people putting in $5 a month would give the fund $50 a month and I guess back then a good business suit would run you about $50). After 10 months, everyone had a new business suit and the cycle would continue.

Pirates

Anyone notice we’re about to go through a whole summer with out a Pirates of the Caribbean movie? I have. But this posting isn’t about that. Pirates, of course, are in the news. They’re the new big enemy, the crazier-than-Hitler types we love to read about and wish our governments would squash.