Ed Lazear's Excellent Piece on Jobs and Unemployment

Every paragraph in this article is great and I find myself mumbling "uh, yeah..." at the end of each. But I'll excerpt my two favorites.

One final fact is worth noting. Healthy labor markets are characterized not only by high levels of hiring, but also by high levels of separations. Although it is true that the importance of quits relative to layoffs rises during good times, even the number of layoffs was greater in the strong labor market of 2006-07 than it is now. No one would suggest that layoffs are good for workers, but what is good is a fluid labor market, where workers and firms constantly seek to produce better products and to find more efficient ways to produce them. High labor market churn is a characteristic of a strong economy. It generally means that workers are moving to better jobs in growing sectors that pay higher wages and away from declining sectors that pay lower wages.

Allowing maximum flexibility encourages fluidity and means that employers are willing to hire workers who lose their jobs elsewhere. Many European countries have restricted mobility by imposing severance pay penalties on employers that lay workers off. More than reducing layoffs, these rigidities make employers reluctant to hire because of the penalties that they will later incur if a layoff is necessary. Such restrictions are in large part responsible for the chronically high rates of unemployment that have been prevalent in many European countries.

The impact of the practice of making it difficult to lay people off on hiring cannot be understated. Businesses are already making a big commitment when they hire a person, and making it more difficult to let people go will raise the scrutiny given to applicants at the hiring end. Another instance of unintended consequences released by do-gooders and politicians who use attacks on business to score easy points with their base. And you're not going to solve the problem by scolding businesses for not hiring either.

C'est l'éruption de la fin!!

It's the final struggle, baby.

Please don't tell me you don't find this tremedously funny. This reminds me of reading all those old Zombietime photo diaries of nutzoid Frisco rallies, etc. It's a bit more sanitized, but no more sane, and just as socialist.

At first I thought AFP should have used the Internationale as the soundtrack since it's more over the top. But this works fine; you can almost smell the Vodka on the singers' breath.

23 Skidoo

There are so many pathetic things being said by people in this town about LeBron James leaving that it would take a book the size of the real King James Bible to record it all. HuffPo lists 13 tweets that pretty much make Cleveland sports fans seem like complete idiots. Well, that's accurate, even though the point is that they are angry. Like they didn't see this train coming down the track. If you thought that LeBron was going to stay in Cleveland then (1) you probably live in greater Cleveland and (2) you are an idiot.

This morning a chick calls into WTAM and says something like "I was telling a guy I work with that an American soldier can't just join the Iranian army because he feels like it. I mean, our country might end up going to war with Iran someday.... but LeBron James doesn't understand that that is exactly what he would be doing if he leaves Cleveland because sooner or later he's going to have to play the Cavs!" Uh huh. Planet?

Here's my choice for silliest tweet listed in the HuffPo piece: "lebron james is a coward and should get nothing but misery. cleveland forever hates you, i know i do." Oh, yeah, moving to Miami is really cowardly. Would have been real brave to stay in Cleveland, yup. So we should wish him misery--that seems to be the proper respons to cowardice. It reminds me of the line in "King of Comedy" where the crazy lady shouts at Jerry Lewis's late-show host character: "I hope you get CANCER! You should only get CANCER!!" when he won't talk to her friend on a pay phone.

Question: has any sports figure ever done this before? In history?? Left the team he played for to play for another team? Is LeBron James the VERY FIRST SPORTS FIGURE TO EVER DO THIS?!

I remember the main message people took from LeBron wearing a Yankees cap to the 2007 ALDS Cleveland vs. New York game was that "Oh, maybe LeBron wants to play for NYC." No, the main message to take home was that he doesn't care about Clevelanders. Then tonight what was his big line? "I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James." I've been right all along. The guy is good, he's professional, he makes a lot of money... good for him. Maybe someday he'll get some class and much needed work on those verbal skills. And maybe someday Cleveland sports fans will get some freaking self-respect back....


If you really thought this guy was some kind of Messiah, then I've got some of Lassie's dog-shit to sell to you.

Biden: "This would end tomorrow if Hamas agreed..."

"... to form a government with the Palestinian Authority on the conditions the international community has set up." This is Joe Biden on the Charlie Rose show talking about the so-called "peace flotilla" incident.

Readers know that we've taken shots at Joe Biden plenty of times here at Est Quod Est, but he is speaking the truth with so much clarity in this interview with Charlie Rose that he must be praised. He rightly points out that there are so many ways in which Hamas could deliver relief supplies that it is ludicrous to suppose that they have to sail through the Israeli's blockade. He also affirms Israel's right to search the ships based on common sense and mentions twice the 3,000 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Twice―that's probably more times than the mainstream media has mentioned it in the last year. I never thought I'd say I was proud of our Vice President, but I must confess that I am while listening to his proper defense of Israel. It's a welcome break from the regular talking points which comprise the tide against which he is swimming.