Comments on: Score One for Obama

By: M. Hodak

M. Hodak — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:01:44 +0000

I thought the formal doctrine was “fraud on the market,” from which this blog derived its ironic, less serious title?

Anyway, Obama’s resistance to this populist claptrap was a defining moment for a number of people, myself included, in our evaluation of the man. It may have been his “Sister Souljah moment” in this race.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:52:54 +0000

I thought this was a serious blog about law and economics; not rambling punditry. You do know where “truth on the market” comes from, right? Its a serious doctrine of securities law. Never mind.

By: Thom

Thom — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:33:37 +0000

You’re right, Kip. And that’s the point I should have made. (Though I do believe some level of gasoline tax makes sense for Pigouvian reasons — Coasean bargaining’s not an option here.)

What really drives me nuts is the silliness of subsidizing biofuels, etc. while at the same time making heroic efforts to drive down the price of gasoline. If we want alternative fuels to develop, then let’s let gas prices rise.

By: KipEsquire

KipEsquire — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:53:13 +0000

You’re confusing opposing the gas tax with opposing the gas tax holiday.

Maybe a gas tax is a legitimate externality-correcting Pigou tax. Maybe it isn’t. Reasonable people can disagree on that.

What reasonable people cannot disagree on is that a gas tax cannot possibly be a legitimate externality-correcting Pigou tax on Thanksgiving Day but not on Independence Day. It’s facially absurd.

To that extent — and only to that extent — do I agree with you that it’s “advantage Obama.”