THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS REVISITED-A FRACTURED FAIRY TALE

 There was a President, who newly elected, took a long journey from Chicago to Washington, D.C. He called his fellow Americans to tune in to his State of the Union speech that he might speak of all the bounty with which they had been blessed, but had squandered during the previous administration, through lack of government regulation and programs.

 One citizen was a white collar owner of a small family business, another was a blue collar worker trying to meet his family's needs, and yet another, though poor, was healthy and blessed with the opportunity to make something of his life.

 The small businessman invested wisely, worked diligently and became the owner of a Fortune 500 company. 

 The blue-collar worker scrimped and saved and worked overtime in order to start his own business. 

 The other man frittered away his opportunity and decided that society was mistreating him, the rich were taking advantage of him and government owed him a living, so he sat around and did nothing-except when he wanted to party, which he always seemed to have time and money to do.

 After many days and several trips to the golf course, the President had a press conference from the Oval Office. read more »

A new study was just concluded that took a look at how well people understood basic facts of economics, then asked them about their politics.  When the results of the economics quiz were cross-referenced with the politics of the respondents, the results seemed to bear out what conservatives have said about liberals for years - they just don't understand economics.

But now we have some researchers backing up our intuitions and
observations who hail from a place that's overwhelmed
with liberal thought - academia.

(via the Washington Times)

Americans describing themselves as conservative, very conservative and libertarian "do reasonably well" when asked about basic economic questions involving supply, demand and the effects of regulation, concluded Mr. Klein, an economics professor at George Mason University, and Ms. Buturovic, an associate researcher with the polling firm Zogby International.

"But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics," the two write. read more »