Web Site for Professor Brad Hobbs

ECONOMICS MAJOR established at FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY!	For more information - click here!
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?” "Oh, sublime writers! Please remember sometimes that this clay, this sand, and this manure which you so arbitrarily dispose of, are men! They are your equals! They are intelligent and free human beings like yourselves! As you have, they too have received from God the faculty to observe, to plan ahead, to think, and to judge for themselves!" - Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Pictures from the Mont Pelerin Society meetings in Stockholm, Sweden. August 2009.

“Take our politicians: they're a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of cliches the first prize.”
Saul Bellow

 

Who's dancing with Timmy? or Tim's "Friends and Family Circle" or The Aristocracy of Pull New York Times , Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press   Number of Mention's in Tim Geithner's Calendar As tracked by the Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request from January 2009 - July 2009. Here is Timmy's Dance Card! Here is a quote fom the original Associated Press article linked above. "They are a small cadre of businessmen who have known and worked with Geithner for years, whose multibillion-dollar companies all survived the economic crisis with help from U.S. taxpayers. When they call, Geithner answers. He has spoken with them immediately after hanging up with President Barack Obama and before heading up to Capitol Hill, between phone calls with senators and after talking with the Federal Reserve chairman, according to a review by The Associated Press of seven months of his appointment calendars." (1) Mr. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO—22 (2) Mr. Richard Parsons, Citigroup Chairman—17 (3) Mr. Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO— 13 (4) Mr. James Dimon, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO— 10 (5) Mr. Robert Wolf, UBS (North America) CEO —5 (6) Mr. Jeff Immelt, General Electric CEO—4 For my upset Republican Friends: During the first five years of the Bush presidency, non-defense discretionary spending rose 27.9% while the number of “pork barrel” projects in FY 2005 rose to ten times the level that existed in 1994, to a total of nearly 14,000 pork barrel projects (Chisholm, 2006). The most recent data available from lobbyinginfo.org shows that that combined federal and state lobbying expenditures rose 69.4% between 1998 ($1.44 billion) and 2006 ($2.44 billion).

In honor of Bastiat and truth here is a running list of political scandals. I cannot vouch for it being up to date - it is very difficult to keep up with the skulduggery of our political class.
Are you interested in the Current Scoop? Go here and search "Political+Scandals"
Are you interested in the history? Wikipedia's Account

Welcome to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK ) Let's play - "Who's that tyrant?"

Kim Jong-il Upside? Kim Jong-il has a keen fashion sense and certainly knows how to stand out in a crowd. The CIA Fact book describes the form of government as: "Communist state one-man dictatorship." I would note it is one where the quest for equality yields President for Life Kim seventeen palaces and residences and over 20,000 video tapes in his personal library. His favorites are James Bond, Godzilla movies and, of course, anything with Elizabeth Taylor in it. Some quick insight: After WWII Korea split into North Korea (The Democratic People's Republic of Korea - hence, the large oppressive army and guns) and South Korea (The Republic of Korea). Kim's Daddy got most of the natural resources in Korea as part of the deal. Today, Kim's people suffer in starvation with a per capita GDP of $1,700 while those lucky enough to have been on the southern side of the split earn a per capita GDP of $26,000. I guess freedom does matter. BTW - To the left we see South Korea in the bottom of the picture and North Korea in the top of the picture. Note that the "Communist state one-man dictatorship" has at least one light bulb (it's at Kim's house.)

Data - 2007 South Korea North Korea population 48.46 million 23.78 million GDP ($US, PPP) $1.335 trillion $40 billion per capita income ($US, PPP) $26,000 $1,700 (estimate) life expectancy at birth 79 years 67 years fertility rate (births/1000) 1.3 1.9 mortality rate, under 5 (per 1000 live births) 5 55 internet users per 1000 people 75.9 0 Sources: World Bank Report and CIA Publication

Power Point Enthusiast's - Please read this link

Economics Blogs

Econtalk	Cafe Hayek	Econoblog
Division of Labor	The Marginal Revolution	The Austrian Economists

Student, regional and local organizations of interest

Reason TV	Students for Liberty	Journal of Liberty and Society
Koch Associates Program	Institute for Humane Studies	Foundation for Economic Education
CATO on Campus
The James Madison Institute	The Liberty Fund	The Ayn Rand Institute

“What separates science from all other human activities is its belief in the provisional nature of all conclusions.”
Michael Shermer

Music and Art, Art and Music

www.kexp.org - "You are what you listen to..." Real college radio from the University of Washington, Seattle Le Parkour In Honor of Kurt Vonnegut - Read this very short but insightful story - Harrison Bergeron Local SW Florida Photography and more from Peter Marquis Slidell http://www.elchulo.net/Honda/ - Idle minds are a dangerous thing. All ukulele Nirvana cover - Here we are now, entertain us... Early Video of the Beatles " Please Please Me ." BBQ - YES, BBQ is an art. The People of Walmart

In Veritatis Amore
There are crucial differences between conservative, (modern) liberal and classical liberal positions. Being a classical liberal hinges upon the defense of individual rights - the omnipresent concern for protection of the minority against the majority. Classical liberals are a far cry from reactionaries against change. In fact, they promote changes that many will consider quite radical in nature. To learn more, read this: Why I am Not A Conservative by F. A. Hayek

Audio Files out the wazoo on Economics

Local Activism in Southwest Florida Can Work - The Sprinkler Inspector Story

You are going to need this - The U.S. Inflation Calculator

The Original IRS 1040 Tax Form from 1913 - Use the calcuator above! Note those marginal tax rates!

The ruins of Detroit

A listing of Free Market Think Tanks from the ATLAS Economics Research Foundation

The Drew Carey Project - Reason Magazine

School Choice - How revolutionary!

Who is paying for a Florida student's education? (BTW - You will get to pay this taxpayer back through hard and diligent work in my classes!)

The Museum of Communism

The People's Cube (presented by the Karl Marx Treatment Center)

World Development Data in a wonderfully fun visual format: http://tools.google.com/gapminder
Property Rights at Work: Farming Success in Niger
Advocates for Self Government - Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz
AMERICAN.COM - A Magazine of Ideas - Online
Live Video Stream of Free to Choose
Read - I, Pencil the classic story by Henry Hazlitt
Get Your Very Own Pencil Kit!
Thanks to Suzy! http://www.eco-imperialism.com/main.php
www.slate.com - search Everyday Economics to get Stephen Landsburg's commentary - good stuff!
Do your part to rebel against the Kelo Ruling! What the heck happened to property rights?
Politopia - The land of custom-made government: Take the quiz - where do you stand on your relationship with the state?
Nice short tutorial on basic microeconomics
The Commanding Heights Web Guide - Hayek on PBS?!?! The fine PBS series on globalization.
Ladies Night?
The World is on FIRE
Trade Deficit got you Worried?
On Ronald Coase
Great Advice from the Acton MBA Program

Amendment of the Semester (See them all!)
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Want to think about why you are in college? Read this link.
Want to know how to thrive in college? Read this link.

Fall 2009

Keeper of this Site
Professor / Webmaster: Bradley K. Hobbs, Ph.D.
Office Location: Lutgert Hall - Office 3351
Office Hours: See syllabus.
Phone: (239) 590-7162 [voice mail available at all hours]

Vitae and Publications List

Course Tools - General
Course Tools - Setting up your email . Choose "Student Accounts" to activate your account, forward email, etc.
Library Materials
Course Tools - Writing
Course Tools - Student Assessment and Evaluation
Course Tools - Handouts
Hot Topics from FTE - Neat Little articles from the Foundation for Teaching Economics
Job Skill Sites - Interview Tips and More!
General Economics References
Current Issues in Economics and Politics
Economic History
Economics as a Major
Non-Profit Think Tanks
Federal (US) Agencies
International Organizations
Interested in a particular Country? Try these sites!
Money and Capital Market Information

© FGCU 1997 for the images, logos, and background; they are the property of FGCU.

© Bradley K. Hobbs, Ph.D. 2001. All written portions of this work are those of Bradley K. Hobbs and his alone.
Intellectual property rights are hereby claimed over my intellectual product (Read "Capitalism" by Ayn Rand.)

Florida Gulf Coast University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.
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