Vocabulary Lesson

OK class here's today's vocabulary lesson. I want to know if the following two words are equivalent:

"witch" and "which"

It's been a few years since English 101 and 102 so I'm not quite sure anymore.

Any guess on where I encountered such a thing?

Potholes and Gased Up Schools

The Waco Trib advocates the passage of Proposition 12 which would allow the Texas Transportation Commission to issue $5 billion in general obligation bonds for highway improvement. Most of use who regularly drive Texas roads would agree that improvement are badly needed in many locations.

However, here is one of the state's filthiest little secrets: according to chapter 162, section 503 of the Texas Tax Code, one-fourth of the tax collected on gasoline "shall be deposited to the credit of the available school fund." So a quarter of gasoline taxes are going into the school system, primarily for the purpose of school buses.

The rational behind gasoline taxes is to fund roads. It tends to work fairly well (not great, but good enough although I have major questions about the system as a whole). You buy gas, you pay the tax which then goes to fund roads. So there is a direct connection between the amount of driving and the construction and maintenance of roads. It doesn't work half bad, until of course you sever part of that connection by diverting a substantial chunk of that tax revenue for other purposes, no matter how high minded the cause.

Recreating the connection between gas taxation and road funding would be a nice first step in improving Texas roads. If you want to increase school funding, look elsewhere.

Up in Smoke

Given the wildfires in California, it is worthwhile to take a look at U.S. Forest Service Fire Policy. Here is a good summary of that policy. You can also access the complete paper there, which is well worth reading.

The U.S. Forest Service fire suppression policy is a one size fits all policy, but forests vary by regions. Some forests need to have vegetation burnt back in order to thrive and some trees will only release seeds when exposed to intense heat.

On top of that, disposing of the underbrush, either by burning or physical removal, creates an environment where fires are much easier to control.

The primary way to facilitate a more rational fire policy is to move toward more local control of forest lands. Then maybe policies that fit the particular forest will be adopted and more controlled burning will be allowed.

Utility Function

I had my Intro class write down their utility functions this morning. A utility function is a bundle of goods and/or services from which you derive satisfaction. It is written as U=f(A, B, C...) or Utility is a function of A,B,C, etc. The best utility function a student provided just for the sheer variety of products is:

U=f(whiskey, beer, snuff, cheddar cheese)

I keep picturing this person sitting around with a dip of snuff, a beer in one hand and a chunk of cheese in the other.

This Morning's Krugman

I'm never quite sure what to make of Paul Krugman. He's a bright man who used to do (maybe he still does) good economic research. I disagree with his political conclusions at least 80 percent of the time, but as an economist I don't see how he comes to some conclusions. Take this morning's column.

He discusses the downfall of the Republican Party and the flow of corporate donations away from the Republicans and toward the Democrats. I get the impression that he believes this is happening because Corporate America is tired of the Bush administration's "amateurishness." Has Krugman never heard of rent seeking? Businesses see that Democrats are in power and have the potential to increase their majorities in the House and Senate and win the White House. If you're rent seeking, seeking economic favors from those in a political position to grant such favors, why would you support a party that is out of power?

He ends the column by discussing a Hillary Clinton event sponsored by Monsanto and Krugman sees a potential conflict of interest here. He fears that the next Democratic president, instead of being another F.D.R., will be another Grover Cleveland. If only! I wish there was a serious Republican candidate like Cleveland. Here's a nice article on Cleveland.

Sad News

Laissez Faire Books is going out of business. LFB may have been my favorite place to buy books. Unfortunately, a niche book seller such as LFB could no longer remain competitive.

Long live LFB! You will be missed.

The NFL and Hip-Hop Culture

Jason Whitlock has an excellent column everyone should check out. He points out that the Indianapolis Colts have a 47 percent non-black roster while the New England Patriots have a 43 percent non-black roster. He lays the blame on the infusion of hip-hop culture into the NFL.

Just contrast such gentlemen as Gale Sayers, Mike Singletary, Kellen Winslow, Warren Moon, and Walter Payton with numb skulls as T.O., Pacman Jones, Larry Johnson, Travis Henry, Ray Lewis, and Chad Johnson. Whitlock claims that the NFL owners are trying to distance themselves from such nonsense because it's hurting business. The Patriots and Colts don't put up with such garbage and they're the leagues best teams far and away.

Excellent and thought provoking column.