Some Economics of Interest

The Ace of Spades blog has two posts of interest on economics. The first notes that our system isn't really so capitalist as it ought to be, since we live in a world where Goldman Sachs can make billions of dollars from shipping aluminum back and forth between two (or more) warehouses. Here's hoping that the markets respond accordingly. Essentially, Goldman Sachs is wasting resources by doing this (in non-productive man-hours and in terms of fuel and repairs to the trucks used to make these shipments), all while causing the price of the aluminum in question to rise (reflected in higher soda prices). It's technically legal, but that doesn't make it right, and I hope this comes back to bite them in the end.

The second is Ace's summary of what makes for (upward) economic mobility. He lists four things:

1. Coming from an intact, two-parent family
2. Good schools
3. Civic engagement with churches and other social organizations 

Um... this study is obviously racist because it just recapitulates every racist Republican presidential platform since 1984. 

There's also a fourth: 

4. Living in neighborhoods containing a mix of higher-income people 

I think that fourth one is about keeping the idea of aspiration and betterment alive in kids' minds-- you sort of need to see that people who play by the rules prosper by the rules.
This completely damns Blue State Welfarism. As if Detroit, where 47% of the population is functionally illiterate, didn't establish that case already. You will therefore not hear of this again.

He ties some of these things to Detroit, which basically has a dearth of all four.