Written by Neil Kelty on February 18th, 2009
This morning I found out that the total compensation package for the postmaster general was nearly $800,000. I have no problem with paying him that amount if that is what the market demands for his services. However, if the Democrats are going to play their silly CEO pay game, then it’s time we play that game with these types of agencies.
I realize that the postal service is and has been an independent agency for a long time now, but its starting to roll in huge deficits and if the problem doesn’t get corrected soon I can see the Obama administration stepping in with taxpayer support for one of the oldest institutions in America.
Nevertheless, since we are going to walk down …
Written by Neil Kelty on October 27th, 2008
Since it’s inception in 1804, the Twelfth Amendment has governed every presidential election since, but the clause regarding ties in the electoral college has been used just once. In 1824, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay all ran for the highest office in the land. Not a single candidate received a majority of the electoral votes.
The process was riddled with corruption and resulted in John Quincy Adams claiming the highest office in the land, leaving the leading candidate Andrew Jackson shortchanged. Jackson had expected the House to vote for him given that he had won a plurality of the electoral vote, but after some bargaining between Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, Adams was elected.
It’s …
Written by Neil Kelty on October 15th, 2008
This post is a part of Blog Action Day 2008, which attempts to change the conversation for one day to an important subject that affects our world. In 2008, that subject is poverty.
Every 3.5 Seconds…
…a person somewhere around the world dies of hunger. That adds up to more than 25,000 people every year, that like killing the entire crowd at the Wizards stadium for 2 weeks. However, hunger is not the real core problem here, it is simply the symptom. We’ve got to hit the root cause, which happens to be poverty.
There are plenty of great organizations around the world already doing this and I think it’s best left …
Written by Neil Kelty on October 8th, 2008
Last Thursday evening I had the honor of witnessing an intriguing lecture by St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard who received his PhD is Economics from Indiana University.
Bullard spoke specifically on the topic of the recent financial crisis focusing on systemic risk, which he defined as “the possibility that the failure of one firm will lead to the failure of other firms.” However, Bullard said the difficulty lies in defining when there is adequate systemic risk to call for government intervention.
Three Pillars of Systemic Risk
Interconnectedness – Recent examples of systemic risk has focused on investment banks interconnecting themselves with complex financial instruments. For example’s sake, suppose Bank A purchases an option from Bank B to hedge risk, if …
Written by Neil Kelty on August 20th, 2008
Last week Republican Governor Mitch Daniels proposed privatizing the state lottery to pay for his proposed Hoosier College Promise scholarship program. The program offers Indiana residents two years free tution at Ivy Tech Community College or $6,000 to attend another college. Of course, we can’t afford to give this offer to everyone so the program will only be available to those who earn less than $60,000. Sounds great, right?
I’m all for helping people who are on the lower rung of the economic spectrum get ahead and become highly successful individuals (not saying success is measured by an income lesser or greater than $60,000, but I think you get my point). However, Daniels program of privatizing the lottery to pay for …
