This week in the Economist

- This week's Economist has a brief bit on California's impending budget implosion. California's never been a great place for politicos to hone their craft-- direct democracy, for better or worse, prevented property taxation as being an annual source of revenue, and the political divide between the two parties has grown along with the fiscal problems. Yet spending continues as if someone is going to eventually figure it all out. The article notes that the state will likely need to begin issuing IOUs next month. A fiscal crisis shocked Ireland towards a vastly reduced public sector, and in the end it was for the best. Will we be saying the same thing about California in 20 years?

- I hadn't heard this, but Sanjay Gupta is rumored to be the next surgeon general. Which begs the question-- if we were to rank surgeons general on the basis of general popularity (in the objective sense), how much more well-known would Gupta be than #2? 10x? 400x? 5,000x? Koop comes to mind, but how well known was he prior to holding the position? I know it's basically a figurehead post, but honestly-- without clicking here, could you name more than 3 previous surgeons general? Do you know who the surgeon general is right now?

The bit also notes that Gupta went after Michael Moore's "Sicko," in Paul Krugman's estimation. Excellent! He's my favorite surgeon general yet and he doesn't even hold the position.

- Business jets are sybols of corporate greed (and evidently corporate greed is a bad thing), so the number for sale have jumped significantly. The magazine notes that prices rose, though, leading some to believe that companies are simply putting their jets up for prices well above any takers. The number of used planes sold could solve that problem; the number of planes available for sale rose dramatically at the end of November compared to a year earlier, but that could signal a supply response to increased demand as much as excess inventory. They note that firms are cancelling orders for new planes; maybe used models are being substituted in for new? Probalby not, but the numbers aren't conclusive.

- There's a longer piece on the resurgence of Rolls-Royce, via the production of jet engines. Skim it for what you find interesting-- I didn't know that jet engines were worth their weight in silver, nor that their interior can reach nearly 3000 degrees Farenheit, nor that lightning hits a commercial plane a couple of times an hour-- though I will add that if you ever have the opportunity to pick up a book on the history of the evolution of the jet engine, you won't be disappointed. I can't remember the few books I've read on the topic, but they were both superb, but for their story value but also the technology involved in furthering the device throughout the years.

A reformed Mugabe?

Here's a piece in today's New York Times noting that Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe will be addressing the United Nations today. When was the last time time that happened? As one of the most oppressive dictators in the world, I'm not sure they smile upon leaders like that...then again, Iran's president has made a few addresses in the last few years, maybe I just haven't been paying close enough attention.

Mugabe is talking today, of course, due to the power sharing agreement he reached with Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change party. (Here's the Economist's take on the deal.) Many are very doubtful that this agreement will hold any water, but Mugabe is as much economic actor as any, and I think he's got decent reason to try, at least in the short term, for this to work. Aid is ready to flow like water from a broken dam into Zimbabwe, and we all know that aid intended for citizens more often than not ends up in the pocketbooks of leaders. Mugabe's got such a horrible track record that any action above slaughtering the opposition party's members-- his recourse for a March electoral loss, by the way-- will be viewed as an improvement by the development community as a whole. So if he could act only pretty bad, just not really bad, then he'll stand to gain quite a bit.

Clearly, the rule of law has been very minor in Zimbabwe, so the ability to back up this agreement with any sort of legitimacy is going to be tough. Nonetheless, I feel somewhat optimistic about this agreement. Zimbabwe could use better days.

The Economist: August 30th - September 5th

I'm a week behind with The Economist, but last week's had some fun topics that I ran across a few nights ago:

- A great bit on the tendency for the best strategic, less luck-driven "Eurogames" to come from Germany. The Economist describes them as "emphasis[ing] strategy over showiness, downplay luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than martial themes, and strive to keep all the players at the table until the game's end." Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan both hail from Germany, and two significant games awards as well.

- It's been mentioned before, though I don't think here at TPS, but restaurants must now post the caloric attributes of the foods they sell. Sweet crispy Christ, this outflanks smoking bans on every margin. It's your typical regulation-yields-competition-on-other-margins story, but don't let the crafty entrepreneurs stray your eyes from the big picture of loss here.

- I'd love to hear Dana's take on this one: Lawyers are going away from the billable hour. Understandably, the push is coming from clients-- incentives simply aren't there for the best service if each hour or fraction thereof is pay at value. That just encourages lawyers to bill more hours. (ABB! Always be billing!) Instead, companies are experimenting with flat fees and bonuses for tangible improvements on the legal end of things.