DISQUS

Those underwhelmed by Sunstein & Thaler should also check out Mario Rizzo's latest anti-Nudged paper on SSRN, regarding the problem of soft paternalism and "slippery slopes."

"J.P.Morgan, a commercial bank, to buy out the condemned company. Under Glass-Steagall, that simply wouldn't have been an option."

You can take that a further step back and note that the company itself, JPMorganChase, would have been impossible under Glass-Steagall (JPMorgan was an investment bank; Chase was a commercial bank).

Iceland has (well, had) its own ongoing Marshall Plan throughout the NATO years. The Icelandic economy's dependence on (mostly U.S.) military personnel spending their money in Reykjavik was all-encompassing and supplemented only by tourism (which, unsurprisingly, Iceland is now pushing heavily as its strategic role wanes).

(A secondary effect of the NATO factor, incidentally, was that English became the de facto second language on the island -- EVERYONE in Iceland speaks absolutely fluent English. This too has ripple effects on economic growth, etc.)

Just as it is invalid to compare continental European (or Japanese) economic performance in the mid- to late 20th Century to that of the U.S. without adjusting for who was paying for whose defense for 50 years, so too is it invalid to analyze Iceland without adjusting for its symbiotic relationship with the NATO generally and the U.S. specifically, even if it is now winding down in post-Cold-War world.

"if, say, more women spend more time in the kitchen, pregnant, rather than competing for social esteem on an equal footing with men, then the state is ready with its managerial tools to reshape our incentives"
Yup.

The hypothetical President Paul would not end the War on Drugs -- only the federal War on Drugs.

RICO and the Coast Guard and block grants and such notwithstanding, the WonD consists mostly of state & local undertakings, and Paul, as a radical neoconfederalist, would as a matter of policy not interfere with such efforts. Indeed, there's no evidence to suggest that he wouldn't eagerly embrace them.

Interesting how the fact that the girl was in a vegetative state "for some time" is being conveniently omitted from the more indignant commentaries. Perhaps CIGNA should have paid for a facelift for Terri Schiavo too.

Mouse's comment, meanwhile, is sophomoric. Insurance companies are, as you say, paid to live up to contracts, not to "provide coverage for these proceedures" [sic]. Pesky little difference, that.

Our country was founded by men and women who realized their dependence on God and were humbled by His providence and grace.

Actually those men (how many of the women had a say in the matter?) were fleeing religious persecution, came here -- and promptly established the cruellest, most bloodthirsty theocracy the Western world has ever seen.

How praiseworthy of them.

"Dubai's royal family is 'furious' about US bigotry..."

But what about the Dubai people -- what do they think?

Oh, right, there are no elections of any kind in the UAE, so who cares...