Crazy But Able

Exit of College Lenders Sets Off Scramble To Fill Breach
Most lenders rely on the securitization of debt to generate enough cash to issue student loans. This process turns ordinary loans into securities, just like stocks, so they can be bought and traded on the debt markets. But lenders have been unable to securitize any loan […]

You know, sometimes I start out to write a post for the weblog, and I take a couple links from here, and a couple from there, glue them together with some funny anecdotes (usually told at my expense), post it, and then I obsessively reload the page until someone comments on it. In other […]

When I first saw the Fair Price Energy site, my first thought was fair trade coffee. I like fair trade coffee: I think it’s great that people who have strong concerns about social justice are also willing to put their money where their mouth is and pay more for coffee. And the […]

Today had r. hand mole removed; typing w/one hand.
Pictures? Of course! See image 1 image 2. Note trail of specks on image two wall and ceiling: hot pixels. My poor coolpix. I got the extended warranty; I think I’ll send it in.
Got more fun pics, inc. pic of […]

So on Tuesday I went to the dentist. Dentist says “Ah, yes, good work on brushing your teeth and flossing, your gums are healthy, but it looks like you’ve got two cracked fillings we’ll have to fill, and one new cavity as well.” Oh, joy.
Today I went and got my cavities re-drilled and […]

Econ 101: What happens to the supply of guns when you increase demand? I’m not saying this is a bad idea, I’m just not convinced it will work.

Well, it makes sense in Africa at least:
The bigger push is coming from everyday Africans who are tired of waiting for politicians to address their needs and have begun spinning their own safety nets.
Plans in which neighbors come together and create their own makeshift health coverage are the rage in Africa, particularly in the […]

…for a bottle of the best beer in the world? It’s made by monks, and whatever you’re willing to pay, it won’t affect the supply:
… Mark Bode, co-ordinator of the claustrum, has agreed to speak to The Independent and leads the way to a spartan office where he explains the principle behind the brewery. […]

They don’t bother to work as hard at taking tests they don’t care about:
The dubiousness of these [voluntary, international] test results becomes clear when you compare them to the results of tests that actually do matter for teenagers: high-school exit exams and college boards. Nineteen states now require their students to pass assessments before […]

Ah, nothing gets me going and puts you all to sleep quite like an article on property rights. In case you don’t want to read the whole thing, it contains the best two sentence definition of property rights I have ever seen (emph. mine):
Property rights are human rights to use economic goods and services. […]