Links for 2011-04-15 [del.icio.us]

• Fixing entitlements: The cash solution | The Economist
  I think the left would be, rightly, confident that genuine privatised cash would not be attractive to most seniors, but that’s not a good reason not to offer them this choice. A better reason to think twice about offering it is that the government can’t credibly promise to respect it. America is not very good at letting people die on the cheap. Neither is it currently prepared to allow emergency rooms to turn away uninsured patients. The cash and casts plan is a good one right up to the point at which society is unable to tolerate preventable deaths on the sidewalk outside of the hospital for those who took it.
• Kissinger on Bismarck « ThinkMarkets
  Nevertheless, Bismarck’s actions led to those catastrophes. Free of principle, ideology, moral scruple or even a minimal sense of honesty, he was the great manipulator. He created war hysteria to take Germans into battles they were not originally inclined to fight. He destroyed checks and balances every way he could. When parliament opposed a looming military adventure, he told the House: “Let me assure you and also the world, that if we find it necessary to carry on a war we shall do so with or without your consent.” To control those who did not consent, he built a police state.
• Regulations Aren’t What They Used to Be – Megan McArdle – Business – The Atlantic
  McArdle explains why growth was still high during high taxes.
• Greenspan the Regulator, Born the Deregulator, David Henderson | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
  On Greenspans lack of deregulation record.
• Tax Facts – NYTimes.com
  Taxes vs country and effective tax rates of the rich.
• Austerity, Here and There – Megan McArdle – Business – The Atlantic
  I agree with the first paragraph, but the second illustrates exactly the peril of viewing Britain’s cuts through an American lens. Even if you think that stimulus is a good idea for America, that wouldn’t mean that it was a good idea for the Brits. Britain has a much smaller, much more open economy than we do. That means that the country is more vulnerable to a run on its currency or its debt than we are. The ruling coalition would say that it also means that stimulus is less effective–stimulus dollars spent in Britain will “leak” more readily into other countries.
• Atlas Winced – Megan McArdle – Entertainment – The Atlantic
  McArdle on Atlas Shrugged, the movie.

Read more at Hispanic Pundit