Links and Minifeatures 2008 05 02 Friday

Value of college tuition is called into question

The US ranks first in expenditure per student, and dead last in percentage of students completing their degree. I'd say that's prima facie evidence that the taxpayer is getting rooked. Even when I was first in college, it was very difficult for students to get the required courses to graduate in the presumptive time (four years), and it's getting worse.

Dude, Where's My Recession?

Before you declare a recession, as many economic pundits have, shouldn't the economy, well, actually recess a bit--if only for a quarter?

Fear and panic grab attention and sell news. Furthermore, making people believe there is a recession is as good electorally for the party out of power (that would be the Democrats, which constitute over 90% of all media related personnel), as an actual recession. In 1996, AP and the New York Times were favoring Bill Clinton, and trumpeting worse numbers than today's as being very good.

I have this mental image of your least favorite Democratic candidate intoning in a Marvin the Martian style whine: "The media promised me a recession. There should have been a large economy shattering recession."

Can't seem to find the relevant scene online, but here's a .wav file of the relevant phrase.

But case in point: Employers cut fewer jobs in April, jobless rate falls

Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless reveals strains in the nation's labor market.

When I took economics in college, we called this "expansion" or "growth" instead of "It's not as bad as we told you it was."

The unemployment rate, derived from a different statistical survey than the payroll figures, fell to 5 percent from 5.1 percent in March. That survey showed more people finding employment than those who didn't.

Translation: This good news helps people we don't want to help in the election, so watch us pull all the caveats we can out of our, er, hat!

buried way down in the article, more good news:

In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories rose a bigger-than-expected 1.4 percent in March, after two straight months of declines.

and

On the jobs front, construction companies slashed 61,000 positions in April. Manufacturers cut 46,000 and retailers got rid of 27,000. Those losses were eclipsed by job gains in education and health care, professional and business services, the government and elsewhere.

And then they close with all the insinuating rhetoric they can saying that things are awful. Textbook hit piece.

My opinion? The Fed should have held fast rather than cutting rates this week, and it's pretty likely that the need for rate cuts is past. Just try not raising things too far and too fast when it become obvious the economy has turned.

Yeah, Wright

So, was Obama sincere? Did he spent 20 years as an intimate of Wright and a parishioner of his church without ever having an inkling that the guy is a wacko hatemonger?

If so, can you think of anything more terrifying than sending such a naïf to the White House while there's a war on?

Read The Whole Thing

Why white Zimbabwean farmers plan to stay in Nigeria

Quite a commentary on Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe's failure, as well as a cautionary tale for would-be wealth confiscators here and elsewhere.

Getting to Know John McCain

More here.

HT Don Surber