* Federal Spending By the Numbers 2008The Heritage Foundation has created an important economics lesson that is very instructive, very current and very do-able even for math dummies. As Brian M. Riedl puts it, "Before the nation can come together on federal budget solutions, it has to agree on the basic budget facts. This paper provides 12 pages of tables, charts, graphs, and bullet-point explanations of recent trends in federal spending. Updated with the most recent 2008 budget estimates, most of the underlying data come directly from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)."
* Cheers for Chile’s Chicago Boys
Guy Sorman, French journalist, economist, philosopher and author of many books (including Empire of Lies: The Truth About China in the Twenty-First Century due out next month) has written a fascinating article for City Journal describing how conservative and creative economic policies (the two are not antithetical, by the way) are transforming such South American nations as Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and especially, Chile. These countries are democratic, progressive and oriented to the free market philosophy Americans associate with Milton Friedman. On the other hand, other South American nations prove a tragic contrast, remaining stuck in the poverty, paranoia and repression of that so often marks the Marxist left.
The article represents an engaging success story which, like the first item I mentioned in this weekend's recommendations, can be understood and appreciated even by mere Liberal Arts majors like myself.
* Tributes to William F. BuckleyEarlier in the week I listed a few noteworthy tributes written after the passing of this great American. Many, many others have followed. You can find them all over the web this weekend but here are just a few sources I'd suggest trying: National Review Online; Claremont Institute; Weekly Standard; and this particular article at the Heritage Foundation.
