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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (95342)	1/15/2005 4:00:56 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793955

I'm Marginal Cafe Hayek By Don Boudreaux on The Economy Here’s a paragraph from an e-mail that I received last night: I like Café Hayek. But you’re too uncritical of market outcomes. Markets are not perfect. One fault with them is skewed salaries. Why does Carlos Beltran [the baseball player who just signed a $119-million contract with the New York Mets] get paid so much more than you, professor? You contribute more good to society than he does, but I know that you aren’t paid a salary as large as his…. I’m not complaining about income inequality. I’m complaining about an injustice. Ball players get paid tens of millions of dollars while scholars and educators get paid much much less. That makes no sense. Fair question. Why are Carlos Beltran and other superstar athletes and entertainers paid so very much more than dedicated scholars, researchers, educators, even physicians? The reason this sort of question resonates with so many people is that the very asking of it seems to indict the market. After all, who doubts that scientific research, teaching, and medical-care provision are worth much more to society than entertaining the masses with athletic prowess and good looks? And yet athletes and entertainers are paid fortunes while researchers and teachers are not. The resolution of this apparent paradox is the margin. Here’s what I mean. Let’s all agree (because it’s likely true) that if all collegiate education were wiped out today, in a single stroke, the loss to society would be far larger than the loss would be if, instead, all professional baseball were wiped out in a single stroke. But thankfully, such situations are not those confronting us. What does confront us is a situation in which many high-quality and accomplished or promising scholars are now serving the market by teaching and researching. Many others, who are working elsewhere, are willing to move into teaching and research if salaries there were just a bit higher. Therefore, when George Mason University determines the maximum annual salary that it offers to pay to me, it figures out (1) how much value I will add to the university (given the large number of people already teaching and researching here), and (2) how much it must pay someone else to do my job. Because not filling my job will not bring university education to a halt – in fact, the effect would be little noticed – the value that anyone in my job adds is far, far less than the value of university teaching and research on the whole. Moreover, because many other people with my skills are willing to work at my job, GMU will (sensibly) refuse to pay me more than it would have to pay another equally qualified candidate for my job. The economics of professional sports is the same. The total value to society of professional sports is higher than is the pay that any one superstar player receives. Nevertheless, the value to any team that a visible, popular, skilled superstar adds is in the millions. In part this is because the skills necessary to perform at the level of a Carlos Beltran or a Peyton Manning are far rarer than are the skills needed to perform as a even a superstar teacher or researcher. (Isn't this fact worthy of long and loud applause?!) …. Some people will object that Americans ‘over-value’ professional sports. That might be, but it’s a value judgment – and it’s one that I suspect is arrived at through faulty reasoning. The total value that Americans place on professional sports is impossible to determine by looking at the salaries of professional athletes. These salaries reveal only the value to each team of each athlete. Likewise, it's a gross mistake to conclude that, because professional athletes are paid more than even Nobel Prize winning scientists, society values sports more than it values research and education. Finally, isn’t it wonderful that we are so very wealthy – that the masses of Americans earn such high incomes and have so much leisure – that as consumers we support very lucrative enterprises that entertain us so thoroughly?

To: LindyBill who wrote (95342)	1/18/2005 9:49:29 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793955

Aiding and Abetting the Enemy: the Media in Iraq More about Lt Col Tim Ryan....Top link has his picture, 2nd link shows a project his Unit did for the kids of Iraq, and the third link is on Drudge tonight...It certainly will be seen there. Wonder how long it will be till MSM decides to "print" it....and what they will leave out. I see the blogs have had it like we have...for several days. pao.hood.army.mil thunderhorse2-12.com worldtribune.com Lieutenant Colonel JOHN T. RYAN 2-12 Cavalry Battalion 1st Cavalry Division Lieutenant Colonel John T. “Tim” Ryan hails from Glenville, North Carolina. He attended Western Carolina University where he was designated as a Distinguished Military Graduate and commissioned in Armor in 1983. After serving two years as a tank platoon leader in 2-252 Armor, North Carolina Army National Guard, he entered onto active duty in 1985 and attended the Armor Officer Basic Course and Ranger School. 2LT Ryan was subsequently assigned to Fort Hood and 3-66 Armor, 2d Armored Division where he served as a tank platoon leader, scout platoon leader and Delta Company XO. 1LT Ryan then attended the Armor Officer Advanced Course in 1988 and rejoined 3-66 Armor then forward deployed in Garlstedt, Federal Republic of Germany and assigned to 2d Armored Division (Forward) as part of the COHORT unit rotation program. While in 2AD (Forward), Captain Ryan served as 3-66 Armor S3 (Air), Headquarters and Headquarters Company Commander and Delta Company Commander, including command during Operation DESERT STORM. Captain Ryan then entered the Project Warrior program and had successive assignments as an Observer Controller on the “Scorpion” Team at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, CA and as a Tactics Instructor at the Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, GA. Following attendance at the Command and General Staff Officer’s Course and the School of Advanced Military Studies, Major Ryan was assigned to Fort Stewart, GA and served as the 3d Infantry Division Chief of Plans, 3-69 Armor Executive Officer, and 1st Brigade, 3d Infantry Division Operations Officer (S3). LTC Ryan’s most recent assignment was as a Joint Plans Officer for the United States Joint Forces Command’s Standing Joint Force Headquarters in Suffolk, VA. He holds bachelors degree in Industrial Arts Education from Western Carolina University and a Masters in Military Arts and Sciences from the School of Advanced Military Studies at the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS. LTC Ryan’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (w/3 olc), the Army Commendation Medal, and Army Achievement Medal (w/ 2 olc), parachute badge and ranger tab.