Crowding out in financial aid

Article on how increased financial aid from government crowds out private aid and also raises tuition, with references.

Here.

JP Morgan Chase discusses cost structure vs regulation

Check this out: some numbers for profitability by customer. Very interesting.

Some serious food for thought on the NASA plate

Check out this article about the host of the updated Cosmos series and his views on the value of space exploration and the implausibility of privatization's success.

Federal aid drives up tuition for everyone? No way!

SmartMoney has a report today about several studies that find that Pell Grants, etc. drive up the cost of tuition for everyone. Which is exactly the economic outcome you'd expect, similar to Freddie and Fannie's subsidies of subprime lending and securitizations driving up the cost of housing in some otherwise undistinguished markets.

It seems that bubbles driven by federal spending are all the rage. I read yesterday that a GE unit was requiring their folks to drive Chevy Volts instead of real cars. I wonder when that deal was cut. From Google, it looks like it was cut way back in 2010.

I wonder if government involvement in rescues of GM and Chrysler have artificially inflated salaries of line workers there? That's another question that should be asked I guess. We certainly didn't see that effect on Wall Street, where layoff after layoff has occurred in the last three years.

Trouble in DC

It appears that 2012 is a watershed year for violent crime in the nation's capital (note that we have to distinguish violent crime from good old fashioned crime, which goes on every time Congress is in session. But I digress...)

The best part of the article is this quote

“People are beginning to not feel safe,” Ms. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat, said last week after a news conference at 2nd District headquarters to discuss the increase in robberies.

Bwah-hahaha. Lady, people have felt "not safe" since I can remember in most of DC, that's the problem. Wow.

If you wonder how the recent court ruling regarding individual ownership of guns is working out, you can read all about it starting here, although it gets really fun about here. Turns out there's only one source for guns in DC (approved guns, that is). The journalist reviews her steps to ownership (legal ownership) here.

No wonder violent crime abounds there.

Long-term unemployment is now a disability

I've heard rumors of this in the past few years, but this is the first I've seen it in print that I recall. Turns out that folks are rolling off of the unemployment rolls and into the arms of Social Security disability.

It certainly sounds like a short-term political solution to a long-term economic problem.

John Stossel on the deficit: Common sense isn't common

I remember growing up when Stossel was the consumer reporter for ABC's 20/20. I was always amazed at how he and Hugh Downs put up with Babba WaWa - they never even flinched.

Stossel has a piece on his show blog, a promo for his show, that discusses the current federal debt and deficit in responsible, easy-to-understand terms (which, as we all know, is important).

Imagine this situation (from his numbers):

Family Budget

Income $24,700

Expenses $37,900

New Credit Card Debt $13,300

Existing Credit Card Debt $153,500

Recent belt-tightening $385

Add 8 zeros to the end of these figures and you have the national situation.

This is what's wrong, folks. To follow up from yesterday, we're spending a whole lot more than we're taking in. Something's got to change fundamentally in this country, and it probably doesn't involve the government getting BIGGER.

Before I get any comments asking "What do you MEAN? You're suggesting that (Group X or Y) must feel the pain because they take the most from government spending!" Nope, I'm just pointing out that we're approaching a tipping point on taxes - those of us who earn and pay taxes are less and less able to keep up with the folks who don't earn and don't pay net taxes. And if productivity tanks, we're all in trouble again.

As I mentioned yesterday, the excess purchasing power to repay the gov'mint debt must come from somewhere, and must be taken from someone. It's who gets "taken" that's important.

Here's another Stossel piece along the same lines. "The Road to Bankruptcy" echos the title of Hayek's book "The Road to Serfdom."

Finally, a link to a story about the Food Police, where the actual food police are not identified - they took a 4-year-old girl's lunch away (the lunch Mommy made for her) and made her eat (and pay for) chicken nuggets. Be afraid, be very afraid...