Two Tidbits this morning.

Two little tidbits of news and ideas. The first, “Congress sets new records for futility,” is from Lou Dobbs. The second, “Lot’s crime and punishment," is from Walter Williams.

Congress Sets New Record for Futility
The Democrats swept into Congress in 2006 promising reform and improvement on the do-nothing legacy of its predecessor. But the 110th Congress is now on the verge of setting a dubious record. In the past 20 years, no Congress has seen fewer measures become public law. However, the closely divided House and Senate have excelled at legislative back-slapping with close to 2,000 meaningless resolutions, ranging from “American Cowboy Day” to one hailing soil as “an essential national resource.” Just another example of your government at “work.”

Lott's "Crime and Punishment" chapter has a lot of interesting tidbits. It starts off stating a fundamental principle of economics: the higher the cost of something, the less people will do of it. To demonstrate the generality of this principle, Lott says that when the number of referees were increased from two to three in the Atlantic Coast Basketball Conference, fouls fell by 34 percent; fouling became more costly. The American League has more hit batsmen than the National League, but the difference only appeared after 1973 when the American League removed its pitchers from the batting lineup in favor of designated hitters. Not being afraid of being hit themselves, American League pitchers threw more bean balls; bean balls became cheaper. The same principle applies to the U.S. crime rate that fell after the death penalty was reinstated, more prisons were built and concealed-weapon carry laws were enacted. The higher the cost of a crime, the less people will do of it.

Just some points that interested me.

Mervi