A new paper by Dan A. Black, Natalia Kolesnikova and Lowell J. Taylor published by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis tracks the economic progress of blacks in the U.S. between 1970 and 2000. To put it frankly, they paint an ugly picture:

We present the evidence that significant racial disparities remain in education and labor market outcomes of black and white men….In addition, we show that there was no progress in a financial well-being of black children, relative to white children, between 1970 and 2000.

The authors find that the main reason for the discrepancy between the earnings of black men in 1970 and 2000 is “a labor force attachment of black men.” There has been a “significant decline” in the average number of weeks that black men work annually, adversely affecting their average annual earnings. This is illustrated below:

In contrast, the weekly hours of work by black men remained “remarkably stable between 1970 and 2000.”

“Stable families,” the authors note, “are one of the important indicators of healthy communities.” That is why it is a particular problem that marriage rates of black men “went down dramatically between 1970 and 2000.”

The study ends on a depressing note:

More than 35 years after the Civil Rights Act the economic status of black men is still much worse than those of white men. What is more, there appears to be virtually no progress of black men in the labor markets. Some important indicators, such as out of the labor force rates and relative annual earnings, have actually become worse. Social structure and families of black population are also negatively affected.

A new study by University of Tilburg economist Ben Vollaard finds that car thieves stay away from cars in unpopular colors because of their relatively low resale value. Vollaard finds “evidence that it is indeed the resale value rather than the fear of getting caught that is driving this difference.”

Differences in theft rates between cars in common and uncommon colour suggest that resale value is on the mind of car thieves. We find evidence If the aversion to driving a car in an offbeat colour is not too high – or if someone actually enjoys it – then buying deterrence through an uncommon car colour may be at least as good a deal as buying deterrence through an expensive car security device.

The figure below shows the average risk of car theft by car color between 2004 and 2008. Dark cars, primarily black, blue, and silver/gray, are the most stolen cars.

“Pink is the perfect deterrent.” Vollaard notes.

In 1992, Reason magazine conducted an interview with Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedrich Hayek:

I’ve always doubted that the socialists had a leg to stand on intellectually. They have improved their argument somehow, but once you begin to understand that prices are an instrument of communication and guidance which embody more information than we directly have, the whole idea that you can bring about the same order based on the division of labor by simple direction falls to the ground. Similarly, the idea [that] you can arrange for distributions of incomes which correspond to some conception of merit or need. If you need prices, including the prices of labor, to direct people to go where they are needed, you cannot have another distribution except the one from the market principle. I think that intellectually there is just nothing left of socialism.

Divorced from market forces, the concept of price is meaningless. Price is formed by the near-infinite decisions of producers and consumers working to further their individual interests. The result of this chaos is the constantly-changing prices that reflect the will of an economy’s members. The bottom line is that man and his world are governed not by wishes, but by merciless reality. Collectivist doctrine attempts to subvert realities such as pricing mechanisms with man’s depraved wish to force a utopia on his society. Such doctrines are intellectually vacuous and destined for failure. This failure will hopefully be brought about by the victory of individualism. But reality does not care if it is vindicated through the ascension or destruction of mankind – that choice is up to us.

Last weekend I picked up a copy of Mike Judge’s 2006 film Idiocracy. Though recent, the movie has only gained a cult-following due to its very limited release. The movie tells the story of Army private Joe Bauers, who is an average American used by the Army to test suspended animation technology. Instead of waking up in one year, as planned, Joe reawakens five hundred years later, to find a society on the brink of destruction due to the intellectual degradation of its population.

Idiocracy is a comedy that obviously exaggerates anything that a possible future could be. However, it launches harsh attacks on the intellectual decline of America. It serves as a stern warning against mindless entertainment, willful ignorance of proper speech, a lack of respect for the political process – in short, it serves as an early warning siren of the “dumbing-down” of our nation. Idiocracy will provide a bevy of laughter, followed by a lingering concern for humanity.

A poll conducted Sunday by Yedioth Ahronoth and the Dahaf Institute found that almost one-third of Israelis would like to see Germany win the World Cup.

According to the findings, 31.1% of the male population in Israel (27.7% of the general sample) would like to see Holland take the cup home. Germany, surprisingly, comes in second place, with 30.5% of the male population (25.1% of the general sample) hoping to see striker Miroslav Klose and his teammates win the international championship.