EXCERPT from a statement by Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (representative from the territory of American Samoa in the United States Congress since 1989) in a response to an article by economist Walter Williams:
"...shame on Walter Williams for asking ‘Which is preferable for the Samoan worker – being employed at $3.25 an hour or being unemployed at $5.25?'
“What is preferable is to do right by poor people. Anything less, including ‘breathtakingly stupid’ comments which imply that poor people should be treated like second class citizens have no place in public debate.”
COMMENT:
I encourage you to read the entire statement posted by Congressman Faleomavaega, then read the article by Walter Williams that provoked the congressman's outrage.
Questions:
Is Williams suggesting that poor people should be treated like second-class citizens?
Why is Williams opposed to raising the minimum wage? Is it because he wants to help businesses and keep poor people poor, or is it because he believes that the consequences of raising the minimum wage will harm the poor people the congressman for whom he is professing concern?
For each of these writers, ask yourself, "is he giving me a thoughtful analysis of the consequences which can be expected to result from a higher minimum wage, or is he simply expressing a desire that poor people be better off without considering whether a higher minimum wage will actually make those people better off or worse off?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Every investor is a "speculator" - Donald J. Boudreaux
EXCERPTS:
"Just as every day is followed by a setting sun, every financial turmoil is followed by seething politicians blaming the economic woes on "speculators."
Of course, each investor -- from the 15-year-old who uses his paper-route earnings to buy a U.S. Savings Bond to Warren Buffett -- is a speculator. Each one assesses the future and puts his money (or money entrusted to him) in those assets that he believes promise the best ratio of return to risk.
And because risk there will always be -- because the future is never perfectly predictable -- every investor is a speculator.
So when the German government recently blamed "speculators" for the falling value of the euro, it, in fact, blamed investors.
But blaming investors sounds lame and uninteresting. So the word "speculators" is trotted out in an effort to fool voters into thinking that a special species of financial ghouls suddenly materialized to wreak unjustified financial havoc.
Such accusations, though, are always and everywhere excuses for politicians' harmful intrusions into the economy....
"Just as every day is followed by a setting sun, every financial turmoil is followed by seething politicians blaming the economic woes on "speculators."
Of course, each investor -- from the 15-year-old who uses his paper-route earnings to buy a U.S. Savings Bond to Warren Buffett -- is a speculator. Each one assesses the future and puts his money (or money entrusted to him) in those assets that he believes promise the best ratio of return to risk.
And because risk there will always be -- because the future is never perfectly predictable -- every investor is a speculator.
So when the German government recently blamed "speculators" for the falling value of the euro, it, in fact, blamed investors.
But blaming investors sounds lame and uninteresting. So the word "speculators" is trotted out in an effort to fool voters into thinking that a special species of financial ghouls suddenly materialized to wreak unjustified financial havoc.
Such accusations, though, are always and everywhere excuses for politicians' harmful intrusions into the economy....
Two-Year Notes Sold at Lowest-Ever Yield - WSJ.com
EXCERPT:
"The U.S. Treasury sold two-year notes with the lowest yield ever as global investors fled to the safety of U.S. government debt.
The $42 billion of notes were auctioned at a yield of 0.769%, beating the previous low of 0.804% in a November auction.
The low rates come at a fortuitous time for the U.S. government, which is seeking to fund a record deficit. Some investors are willing to overlook the new debt, preferring to buy Treasurys amid a growing crisis in Europe. Fears about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula also drove investors to Treasurys.
"The combination of another country being thrown into the alphabet soup of nations possibly hit by spreading Greece contagion combined with North Korean threats overnight all are forcing a bid to the Treasury market," said Christian Cooper, senior rates trader in New York at Jefferies & Co.
"The U.S. Treasury sold two-year notes with the lowest yield ever as global investors fled to the safety of U.S. government debt.
The $42 billion of notes were auctioned at a yield of 0.769%, beating the previous low of 0.804% in a November auction.
The low rates come at a fortuitous time for the U.S. government, which is seeking to fund a record deficit. Some investors are willing to overlook the new debt, preferring to buy Treasurys amid a growing crisis in Europe. Fears about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula also drove investors to Treasurys.
"The combination of another country being thrown into the alphabet soup of nations possibly hit by spreading Greece contagion combined with North Korean threats overnight all are forcing a bid to the Treasury market," said Christian Cooper, senior rates trader in New York at Jefferies & Co.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Two Theories of Change by David Brooks - NYTimes.com
EXCERPTS:
"...there wasn’t just one Enlightenment, headquartered in France. There was another, headquartered in Scotland and Britain and led by David Hume, Adam Smith and Edmund Burke.... If the members of the French Enlightenment focused on the power of reason, members of the British Enlightenment emphasized its limits. They put more emphasis on our sentiments. People are born with natural desires to be admired and to be worthy of admiration. They are born with moral emotions, a sense of fair play and benevolence. They are also born with darker passions, like self-love and tribalism, which mar rationalist enterprises. We are emotional creatures first and foremost, and politics should not forget that. These two views of human nature produced different attitudes toward political change....
"Burke, a participant in the British Enlightenment, had a different vision of change. He believed that each generation is a small part of a long chain of history. We serve as trustees for the wisdom of the ages and are obliged to pass it down, a little improved, to our descendents. That wisdom fills the gaps in our own reason, as age-old institutions implicitly contain more wisdom than any individual could have.
Burke was horrified at the thought that individuals would use abstract reason to sweep away arrangements that had stood the test of time. He believed in continual reform, but reform is not novelty. You don’t try to change the fundamental substance of an institution. You try to modify from within, keeping the good parts and adjusting the parts that aren’t working....
If you try to re-engineer society on the basis of abstract plans, Burke argued, you’ll end up causing all sorts of fresh difficulties, because the social organism is more complicated than you can possibly know. We could never get things right from scratch.
"...there wasn’t just one Enlightenment, headquartered in France. There was another, headquartered in Scotland and Britain and led by David Hume, Adam Smith and Edmund Burke.... If the members of the French Enlightenment focused on the power of reason, members of the British Enlightenment emphasized its limits. They put more emphasis on our sentiments. People are born with natural desires to be admired and to be worthy of admiration. They are born with moral emotions, a sense of fair play and benevolence. They are also born with darker passions, like self-love and tribalism, which mar rationalist enterprises. We are emotional creatures first and foremost, and politics should not forget that. These two views of human nature produced different attitudes toward political change....
"Burke, a participant in the British Enlightenment, had a different vision of change. He believed that each generation is a small part of a long chain of history. We serve as trustees for the wisdom of the ages and are obliged to pass it down, a little improved, to our descendents. That wisdom fills the gaps in our own reason, as age-old institutions implicitly contain more wisdom than any individual could have.
Burke was horrified at the thought that individuals would use abstract reason to sweep away arrangements that had stood the test of time. He believed in continual reform, but reform is not novelty. You don’t try to change the fundamental substance of an institution. You try to modify from within, keeping the good parts and adjusting the parts that aren’t working....
If you try to re-engineer society on the basis of abstract plans, Burke argued, you’ll end up causing all sorts of fresh difficulties, because the social organism is more complicated than you can possibly know. We could never get things right from scratch.
Alvin Plantinga Retirement Celebration
EXCERPT:
"It would be difficult to overestimate the hostility towards theism among professional philosophers over the past seventy years. The swell of empiricism was thought to sound the death knell of religious belief. From the 1930s to the 1960s religious philosophers went into hiding. What happened from the 1960s to the 1980s to so radically transform the face of philosophy? Few philosophers today fail to recognize the courageous, original and powerful work of Alvin Plantinga as the impetus behind this revolution in philosophy. His first book, God and Other Minds, was an astonishing and potent defense of the rationality of religious belief. His next two major works, The Nature of Necessity and God, Freedom and Evil, included an original argument for the existence of God and a novel and universally recognized solution to the problem of evil.
Plantinga, who taught for twenty years at Calvin College, was one of the co-founders of the Society of Christian Philosophers in April 1978. The society has since grown to over 1,100 members and is the largest single-interest group among American philosophers. In 1984 the society initiated its own scholarly journal, Faith and Philosophy. His inaugural lecture for the O'Brien Chair of Philosophy, 'How to Be a Christian Philosopher', was published as the lead article in the premier issue of Faith and Philosophy and changed the course of Christian philosophy. Philosophers from such leading universities as Yale, Harvard, Rutgers, UCLA, Princeton, and Oxford attribute their subsequent scholarly projects in Christian philosophy to that lecture.
He has lectured around the world and has been admirable in his devotion to furthering philosophical research in developing countries, such as China, Russia, Romania, and Poland.
Plantinga has helped make religious belief once again a rationally acceptable option.
"It would be difficult to overestimate the hostility towards theism among professional philosophers over the past seventy years. The swell of empiricism was thought to sound the death knell of religious belief. From the 1930s to the 1960s religious philosophers went into hiding. What happened from the 1960s to the 1980s to so radically transform the face of philosophy? Few philosophers today fail to recognize the courageous, original and powerful work of Alvin Plantinga as the impetus behind this revolution in philosophy. His first book, God and Other Minds, was an astonishing and potent defense of the rationality of religious belief. His next two major works, The Nature of Necessity and God, Freedom and Evil, included an original argument for the existence of God and a novel and universally recognized solution to the problem of evil.
Plantinga, who taught for twenty years at Calvin College, was one of the co-founders of the Society of Christian Philosophers in April 1978. The society has since grown to over 1,100 members and is the largest single-interest group among American philosophers. In 1984 the society initiated its own scholarly journal, Faith and Philosophy. His inaugural lecture for the O'Brien Chair of Philosophy, 'How to Be a Christian Philosopher', was published as the lead article in the premier issue of Faith and Philosophy and changed the course of Christian philosophy. Philosophers from such leading universities as Yale, Harvard, Rutgers, UCLA, Princeton, and Oxford attribute their subsequent scholarly projects in Christian philosophy to that lecture.
He has lectured around the world and has been admirable in his devotion to furthering philosophical research in developing countries, such as China, Russia, Romania, and Poland.
Plantinga has helped make religious belief once again a rationally acceptable option.
Capitalism, Slavery, and the State
EXCERPTS:
"Slavery was common throughout history until the age of industrial capitalism. Only then did this heinous institution disappear. Slavery was killed by capitalism because that institution puts a premium on creativity, initiative, and good judgment (which even the mightiest slave-master’s whip cannot extract from its victims), and because the ethos that gives life to capitalism – free-market liberalism – is hostile to the ownership of man by man. That the first-to-industrialize English were the first abolitionists is no coincidence.
In North America, pressure brought by capitalism to end slavery was countered by the very agency that you praise as slaves’ liberator: government. From 17th and 18th century slave codes to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and of 1850, government in America actively deployed force on behalf of slaveholders. Without this force, slavery would never have taken root as deeply as it did in the U.S. and would have died away sooner and with less bloodshed.
"Slavery was common throughout history until the age of industrial capitalism. Only then did this heinous institution disappear. Slavery was killed by capitalism because that institution puts a premium on creativity, initiative, and good judgment (which even the mightiest slave-master’s whip cannot extract from its victims), and because the ethos that gives life to capitalism – free-market liberalism – is hostile to the ownership of man by man. That the first-to-industrialize English were the first abolitionists is no coincidence.
In North America, pressure brought by capitalism to end slavery was countered by the very agency that you praise as slaves’ liberator: government. From 17th and 18th century slave codes to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and of 1850, government in America actively deployed force on behalf of slaveholders. Without this force, slavery would never have taken root as deeply as it did in the U.S. and would have died away sooner and with less bloodshed.
Friday, May 21, 2010
A "Duty to Die"? - Thomas Sowell
EXCERPTS:
"One of the many fashionable notions that have caught on among some of the intelligentsia is that old people have "a duty to die," rather than become a burden to others.... Already the government-run medical system in Britain is restricting what medications or treatments it will authorize for the elderly. Moreover, it seems almost certain that similar attempts to contain runaway costs will lead to similar policies when American medical care is taken over by the government.
Make no mistake about it, letting old people die is a lot cheaper than spending the kind of money required to keep them alive and well. If a government-run medical system is going to save any serious amount of money, it is almost certain to do so by sacrificing the elderly.
"One of the many fashionable notions that have caught on among some of the intelligentsia is that old people have "a duty to die," rather than become a burden to others.... Already the government-run medical system in Britain is restricting what medications or treatments it will authorize for the elderly. Moreover, it seems almost certain that similar attempts to contain runaway costs will lead to similar policies when American medical care is taken over by the government.
Make no mistake about it, letting old people die is a lot cheaper than spending the kind of money required to keep them alive and well. If a government-run medical system is going to save any serious amount of money, it is almost certain to do so by sacrificing the elderly.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Economists Without Borders
Eleven states import much of the coal that they use from other states. Is this a problem for which a solution should be sought? This short letter makes an important point that applies to many issues, such as the foreign trade deficit the U.S. has with China and many other countries.
EXCERPT:
"It’s wholly unscientific to treat political borders as defining any relevant or meaningful boundaries for economic transactions.
EXCERPT:
"It’s wholly unscientific to treat political borders as defining any relevant or meaningful boundaries for economic transactions.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Filtering History - Thomas Sowell
EXCERPT:
"Those who mine history for sins are not searching for truth but for opportunities to denigrate their own society, or for grievances that can be cashed in today, at the expense of people who were not even born when the sins of the past were committed.
"Those who mine history for sins are not searching for truth but for opportunities to denigrate their own society, or for grievances that can be cashed in today, at the expense of people who were not even born when the sins of the past were committed.
Volcker Says Time Is Running Out for U.S. to Tackle Fiscal Woes - Bloomberg.com
EXCERPTS:
May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, a top outside adviser to President Barack Obama, said time is “growing short” for the U.S. to address problems ranging from its budget deficit to Social Security obligations.
“We better get started,” the 82-year-old former central banker said in a speech yesterday in Stanford, California. “Today’s concerns may soon become tomorrow’s existential crises.”
Volcker, speaking hours after the euro fell to a four-year low against the dollar, said Europe demonstrates for the U.S. the hazards of “uncontrolled borrowing....”
“Little has happened to allay my concerns” raised five years ago that “dangerous and intractable” problems were rising in the U.S., said Volcker, chairman of the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
“Intractable not just because of the combination of complicated issues, but because there seemed to be so little willingness or capacity to do much about it,” he said during a dinner at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, a top outside adviser to President Barack Obama, said time is “growing short” for the U.S. to address problems ranging from its budget deficit to Social Security obligations.
“We better get started,” the 82-year-old former central banker said in a speech yesterday in Stanford, California. “Today’s concerns may soon become tomorrow’s existential crises.”
Volcker, speaking hours after the euro fell to a four-year low against the dollar, said Europe demonstrates for the U.S. the hazards of “uncontrolled borrowing....”
“Little has happened to allay my concerns” raised five years ago that “dangerous and intractable” problems were rising in the U.S., said Volcker, chairman of the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
“Intractable not just because of the combination of complicated issues, but because there seemed to be so little willingness or capacity to do much about it,” he said during a dinner at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
The "time horizon" of government decision-makers
EXCERPT:
"The chance that the [Congress] will pass a budget this year is “fading,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Tuesday.
He is pessimistic because House [members] don’t know whether they want to pass a resolution that would officially acknowledge the certainty of big deficits. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and other Democrats have indicated that would be a tough vote in an election year.
QUESTIONS:
Think about what this excerpt suggests about the "time horizon" of government decision-makers. In the short run, who benefits from their reluctance to deal with the deficit problem? In the long run, who bears the cost?
"The chance that the [Congress] will pass a budget this year is “fading,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Tuesday.
He is pessimistic because House [members] don’t know whether they want to pass a resolution that would officially acknowledge the certainty of big deficits. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and other Democrats have indicated that would be a tough vote in an election year.
QUESTIONS:
Think about what this excerpt suggests about the "time horizon" of government decision-makers. In the short run, who benefits from their reluctance to deal with the deficit problem? In the long run, who bears the cost?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Health-Insurance Agents Can Expect Reduced Commissions - WSJ.com
EXCERPTS:
"Among the first to feel the effects of the nation's health-care system overhaul are insurance salespeople, whose commissions for selling policies are themselves getting overhauled.
The new law requires that insurers use at least 80% of the premiums to pay for medical care for patients rather than administrative costs and profit-taking. But many companies that sell health insurance to individuals and small businesses maintain a lower "medical loss ratio" because they use more of the premium to cover administrative expenses, including sales commissions.
The commissions typically run between 4% and 6% of a policy's premium, but can be as high as 30% for the first year.
A recent Senate report found that companies targeting the market for individual policies paid only 74% of their premiums for medical expenses in 2009, while firms that target large employers generally met the law's required ratio.
"Among the first to feel the effects of the nation's health-care system overhaul are insurance salespeople, whose commissions for selling policies are themselves getting overhauled.
The new law requires that insurers use at least 80% of the premiums to pay for medical care for patients rather than administrative costs and profit-taking. But many companies that sell health insurance to individuals and small businesses maintain a lower "medical loss ratio" because they use more of the premium to cover administrative expenses, including sales commissions.
The commissions typically run between 4% and 6% of a policy's premium, but can be as high as 30% for the first year.
A recent Senate report found that companies targeting the market for individual policies paid only 74% of their premiums for medical expenses in 2009, while firms that target large employers generally met the law's required ratio.
Remarks by the President, April 28, on Wall Street Reform in Quincy, Illinois | The White House
EXCERPT:
"Now, what we’re doing -- I want to be clear, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. (Laughter.) But part of the American way is you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you’re providing a good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy.
"Now, what we’re doing -- I want to be clear, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. (Laughter.) But part of the American way is you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you’re providing a good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy.
"Enough Money" - Thomas Sowell
EXCERPTS:
"Once you buy the argument that some segment of the citizenry should lose their rights, just because they are envied or resented, you are putting your own rights in jeopardy-- quite aside from undermining any moral basis for respecting anybody's rights. You are opening the floodgates to arbitrary power. And once you open the floodgates, you can't tell the water where to go.
The moral bankruptcy of the notion that third parties can decide when somebody else has "enough" money is matched by its economic illiteracy. The rest of the country is not poorer by the amount of Bill Gates' fortune today and was not poorer by the amount of John D. Rockefeller's fortune a century ago.
Both men were selling a product that others were also selling, but more people chose to buy theirs. Those people would not have voluntarily continued to pay their hard-earned money for Rockefeller's oil or Gates' software if what they received was not worth more to them than what they paid.
The fortunes that the sellers amassed were not a deduction from the buyers' wealth. Buyers and sellers both gained from these transactions or the transactions wouldn't have continued.... Rockefeller's improvements in the oil industry brought down the price of oil to a fraction of what it had been before.
"Once you buy the argument that some segment of the citizenry should lose their rights, just because they are envied or resented, you are putting your own rights in jeopardy-- quite aside from undermining any moral basis for respecting anybody's rights. You are opening the floodgates to arbitrary power. And once you open the floodgates, you can't tell the water where to go.
The moral bankruptcy of the notion that third parties can decide when somebody else has "enough" money is matched by its economic illiteracy. The rest of the country is not poorer by the amount of Bill Gates' fortune today and was not poorer by the amount of John D. Rockefeller's fortune a century ago.
Both men were selling a product that others were also selling, but more people chose to buy theirs. Those people would not have voluntarily continued to pay their hard-earned money for Rockefeller's oil or Gates' software if what they received was not worth more to them than what they paid.
The fortunes that the sellers amassed were not a deduction from the buyers' wealth. Buyers and sellers both gained from these transactions or the transactions wouldn't have continued.... Rockefeller's improvements in the oil industry brought down the price of oil to a fraction of what it had been before.
Monday, May 17, 2010
The Limits of Power, Hayek - Thomas Sowell
EXCERPTS:
"...when even slaves had to be paid to get certain kinds of work done, this shows the limits of what can be accomplished by power alone. Yet so much of what is said and done by those who rely on the power of government to direct ever more sweeping areas of our life seem to have no sense of the limits of what can be accomplished that way....
Even the totalitarian governments of the 20th century eventually learned the hard way the limits of what could be accomplished by power alone. China still has a totalitarian government today but, after the death of Mao, the Chinese government began to loosen its controls on some parts of the economy, in order to reap the economic benefits of freer markets....
"Ironically, the United States is moving in the direction of the kind of economy that China has been forced to move away from. China once had complete government control of medical care, but eventually gave it up as the disaster that it was.
The current leadership in Washington operates as if they can just set arbitrary goals, whether "affordable housing" or "universal health care" or anything else -- and not concern themselves with the repercussions -- since they have the power to simply force individuals, businesses, doctors or anyone else to knuckle under and follow their dictates.
Friedrich Hayek called this mindset "the road to serfdom." But, even under serfdom and slavery, experience forced those with power to recognize the limits of their power. What this administration -- and especially the President -- does not have is experience.
Barack Obama had no experience running even the most modest business, and personally paying the consequences of his mistakes, before becoming President of the United States. He can believe that his heady new power is the answer to all things.
"...when even slaves had to be paid to get certain kinds of work done, this shows the limits of what can be accomplished by power alone. Yet so much of what is said and done by those who rely on the power of government to direct ever more sweeping areas of our life seem to have no sense of the limits of what can be accomplished that way....
Even the totalitarian governments of the 20th century eventually learned the hard way the limits of what could be accomplished by power alone. China still has a totalitarian government today but, after the death of Mao, the Chinese government began to loosen its controls on some parts of the economy, in order to reap the economic benefits of freer markets....
"Ironically, the United States is moving in the direction of the kind of economy that China has been forced to move away from. China once had complete government control of medical care, but eventually gave it up as the disaster that it was.
The current leadership in Washington operates as if they can just set arbitrary goals, whether "affordable housing" or "universal health care" or anything else -- and not concern themselves with the repercussions -- since they have the power to simply force individuals, businesses, doctors or anyone else to knuckle under and follow their dictates.
Friedrich Hayek called this mindset "the road to serfdom." But, even under serfdom and slavery, experience forced those with power to recognize the limits of their power. What this administration -- and especially the President -- does not have is experience.
Barack Obama had no experience running even the most modest business, and personally paying the consequences of his mistakes, before becoming President of the United States. He can believe that his heady new power is the answer to all things.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
One Vital Tool in Cleanup Has its Day - WSJ.com
EXCERPTS:
"As the giant oil slick creeps toward the Gulf coast, sales of boom are booming.
Companies that make and distribute boom—barriers laid in water to help protect the coast —are seeing huge increases in demand.
Sales have shot up, prices have risen and manufacturers are adding shifts as boom makers field demand from the oil companies involved in the spill, environmental cleanup contractors and government agencies.
The boom scenario played out as British oil major BP lowered a second, smaller containment box into the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night to try to capture oil leaking from the well, according to the Associated Press....
"Demand's gone crazy," said Sean Geary, sales manager at American Boom & Barrier, a boom manufacturer located on Cape Canaveral, Fla. Boom sales have "easily tripled," he said.
Before the spill, the firm made about 1,500 feet of boom a day; now it makes about 5,000 feet a day and has a wait time on new orders of six to eight weeks. Prices have risen to $8.50 a foot from $7.35 since the spill.
"I had a guy call me yesterday, wants a million feet of boom," said Mr. Geary, adding that his customer was exaggerating for effect. The firm is running two 10-hour shifts instead of the usual one eight-hour shift, Mr. Geary said.
The firm has hired temporary help to bolster its work force, and is asking customers in northern Africa and Alaska, who have boom on reserve, if they can spare some boom now in exchange for new ones after the spill demand is met.
1. Explain what is happening in terms of changes in supply, demand, price, quantity demanded, and quantity supplied.
2. Think about these producers who are aggressively taking steps to produce more. Do you think their primary motivation is to help protect the coast, or to make profit for their businesses?
3. Some people would say that, by raising prices, these producers are trying to take advantage of this bad situation in order to make more profit for themselves. If the government decided to "protect" the buyers of this product by keeping the price down at a low level, and told producers they should expand production, not to make more profit, but out of a desire to protect the coast and to help "society," what consequences would likely follow?
"As the giant oil slick creeps toward the Gulf coast, sales of boom are booming.
Companies that make and distribute boom—barriers laid in water to help protect the coast —are seeing huge increases in demand.
Sales have shot up, prices have risen and manufacturers are adding shifts as boom makers field demand from the oil companies involved in the spill, environmental cleanup contractors and government agencies.
The boom scenario played out as British oil major BP lowered a second, smaller containment box into the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night to try to capture oil leaking from the well, according to the Associated Press....
"Demand's gone crazy," said Sean Geary, sales manager at American Boom & Barrier, a boom manufacturer located on Cape Canaveral, Fla. Boom sales have "easily tripled," he said.
Before the spill, the firm made about 1,500 feet of boom a day; now it makes about 5,000 feet a day and has a wait time on new orders of six to eight weeks. Prices have risen to $8.50 a foot from $7.35 since the spill.
"I had a guy call me yesterday, wants a million feet of boom," said Mr. Geary, adding that his customer was exaggerating for effect. The firm is running two 10-hour shifts instead of the usual one eight-hour shift, Mr. Geary said.
The firm has hired temporary help to bolster its work force, and is asking customers in northern Africa and Alaska, who have boom on reserve, if they can spare some boom now in exchange for new ones after the spill demand is met.
QUESTIONS:
1. Explain what is happening in terms of changes in supply, demand, price, quantity demanded, and quantity supplied.
2. Think about these producers who are aggressively taking steps to produce more. Do you think their primary motivation is to help protect the coast, or to make profit for their businesses?
3. Some people would say that, by raising prices, these producers are trying to take advantage of this bad situation in order to make more profit for themselves. If the government decided to "protect" the buyers of this product by keeping the price down at a low level, and told producers they should expand production, not to make more profit, but out of a desire to protect the coast and to help "society," what consequences would likely follow?
$45,000 speaking fee attacked - Minneapolis / St. Paul News - The Blotter
EXCERPTS:
"Sandman author Neil Gaiman is under attack by the Minneapolis Star Tribune for charging $45,000 for a recent speaking engagement at a Stillwater public library. The story was originally broken by Politics in Minnesota, which quoted one angry librarian wagging his or her tongue, but only after demanding anonymity. "I am a librarian and on the library side, supposedly, but this makes my blood boil," the librarian said. "This is ridiculous. There are people who need food and who have lost their homes, and this is just plain disgusting."
"Sandman author Neil Gaiman is under attack by the Minneapolis Star Tribune for charging $45,000 for a recent speaking engagement at a Stillwater public library. The story was originally broken by Politics in Minnesota, which quoted one angry librarian wagging his or her tongue, but only after demanding anonymity. "I am a librarian and on the library side, supposedly, but this makes my blood boil," the librarian said. "This is ridiculous. There are people who need food and who have lost their homes, and this is just plain disgusting."
The Welfare State's Death Spiral - Robert Samuelson
EXCERPTS:
"What we're seeing in Greece is the death spiral of the welfare state. This isn't Greece's problem alone, and that's why its crisis has rattled global stock markets and threatens economic recovery. Virtually every advanced nation, including the United States, faces the same prospect. Aging populations have been promised huge health and retirement benefits, which countries haven't fully covered with taxes. The reckoning has arrived in Greece, but it awaits most wealthy societies.
"What we're seeing in Greece is the death spiral of the welfare state. This isn't Greece's problem alone, and that's why its crisis has rattled global stock markets and threatens economic recovery. Virtually every advanced nation, including the United States, faces the same prospect. Aging populations have been promised huge health and retirement benefits, which countries haven't fully covered with taxes. The reckoning has arrived in Greece, but it awaits most wealthy societies.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Accenture: $40 at 2:47 p.m., a Penny at 2:48 p.m. - MarketBeat - WSJ
"You think the action in Procter & Gamble was weird, check out the nosedive on Accenture, which plummeted from above $40 at 2:47 p.m. to $0.01 at 2:48 p.m. Had demand for consulting services declined so sharply in that one minute?
Obviously there was some sort of technical snafu out there. Still, it seems that the worries in Greece were seriously worsening Thursday. So how much of that scare was robots gone wild and how much was sensible worry from flesh and blood investors? We’ll have to wait and see, though we did close down more than 3% on the Dow.
The Dark Side of Algorithms - WSJ.com
This is a great example of how a simple act by government can, on the surface, seem fair and beneficial. But if we take the time to look beyond the immediately obvious effects, to the less obvious, to the indirect effects, and to the way in which the act alters incentives for behavior in the future, we find that it has effects which are significant, harmful, and unfair.
EXCERPTS:
"... the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 600 points in less than 15 minutes, baffling and unnerving investors. Amid the chaos, algorithmic trading shops, or algos, that rely on rapid, computer-based automated trading in theory could have provided much-needed liquidity. Instead, they stayed largely on the sidelines....
And even those traders who waded into the selloff to provide liquidity may have found themselves penalized as a result. Trades subsequently deemed erroneous were later broken, potentially creating money-losing positions at high-frequency trading shops.
Late Thursday, the exchanges decided to cancel all trades involving swings greater than 60% of a stock's consolidated 2:40 p.m. price. That erased all orders made when a stock dipped to irrationally low prices. But it didn't erase the trades that occurred when the market rebounded. The New York Stock Exchange said that about 4,000 trades were broken Thursday after being identified as clearly erroneous as per exchange rules.
A trader who stepped in and bought a stock that was tumbling could be left unexpectedly owing shares in what is known as a short position. For example, if a stock was trading at $60 a share, but was sold for $10, the trader who bought it at $10 and then sold it later for $50 when the market rebounded would be left holding the shares short at $50, with his previous profit wiped out.
That put those who might have stepped into mitigate the freefall in a bind and left the market open to its rapid descent.
"If in fact they're responding to a true economic disaster, they will buy stock and it will continue to go lower. But if they're responding to a mistake or an overreaction and they buy, they mitigate the freefall," but end up getting penalized for it, said Dick Rosenblatt, chief executive of Rosenblatt Securities. "In this case, the stock rallies and they sell out their position for what they believe to be a profit. In fact after the trade is broken, they end up with a short position and they will again lose money. In either case, in a fully automated market, we have disincentivized liquidity providers from entering the market to limit volatility when we need them most."
EXCERPTS:
"... the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 600 points in less than 15 minutes, baffling and unnerving investors. Amid the chaos, algorithmic trading shops, or algos, that rely on rapid, computer-based automated trading in theory could have provided much-needed liquidity. Instead, they stayed largely on the sidelines....
And even those traders who waded into the selloff to provide liquidity may have found themselves penalized as a result. Trades subsequently deemed erroneous were later broken, potentially creating money-losing positions at high-frequency trading shops.
Late Thursday, the exchanges decided to cancel all trades involving swings greater than 60% of a stock's consolidated 2:40 p.m. price. That erased all orders made when a stock dipped to irrationally low prices. But it didn't erase the trades that occurred when the market rebounded. The New York Stock Exchange said that about 4,000 trades were broken Thursday after being identified as clearly erroneous as per exchange rules.
A trader who stepped in and bought a stock that was tumbling could be left unexpectedly owing shares in what is known as a short position. For example, if a stock was trading at $60 a share, but was sold for $10, the trader who bought it at $10 and then sold it later for $50 when the market rebounded would be left holding the shares short at $50, with his previous profit wiped out.
That put those who might have stepped into mitigate the freefall in a bind and left the market open to its rapid descent.
"If in fact they're responding to a true economic disaster, they will buy stock and it will continue to go lower. But if they're responding to a mistake or an overreaction and they buy, they mitigate the freefall," but end up getting penalized for it, said Dick Rosenblatt, chief executive of Rosenblatt Securities. "In this case, the stock rallies and they sell out their position for what they believe to be a profit. In fact after the trade is broken, they end up with a short position and they will again lose money. In either case, in a fully automated market, we have disincentivized liquidity providers from entering the market to limit volatility when we need them most."
Broader U-6 Unemployment Rate Increases to 17.1% in April - Real Time Economics - WSJ
EXCERPTS:
"The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs. Though the rate is still 0.3 percentage point below its high of 17.4% in October, its continuing divergence from the official number (the “U-3″ unemployment measure) indicates the job market has a long way to go before growth in the economy translates into relief for workers.
The 9.9% unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks. The “actively looking for work” definition is fairly broad, including people who contacted an employer, employment agency, job center or friends; sent out resumes or filled out applications; or answered or placed ads, among other things. The number ticked up this month as more people came back into the labor force to look for jobs. (Read a more in-depth explanation for the rise in the unemployment rate.)
The U-6 figure includes everyone in the official rate plus “marginally attached workers” — those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that’s all they could find.
"The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs. Though the rate is still 0.3 percentage point below its high of 17.4% in October, its continuing divergence from the official number (the “U-3″ unemployment measure) indicates the job market has a long way to go before growth in the economy translates into relief for workers.
The 9.9% unemployment rate is calculated based on people who are without jobs, who are available to work and who have actively sought work in the prior four weeks. The “actively looking for work” definition is fairly broad, including people who contacted an employer, employment agency, job center or friends; sent out resumes or filled out applications; or answered or placed ads, among other things. The number ticked up this month as more people came back into the labor force to look for jobs. (Read a more in-depth explanation for the rise in the unemployment rate.)
The U-6 figure includes everyone in the official rate plus “marginally attached workers” — those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that’s all they could find.
Greek protesters: Ready to face reality about the debt crisis? - CSMonitor.com
I encourage you to read this entire article on the situation Greece has gotten itself into. Then, read it again but replace "Greece" with "United States."
EXCERPTS:
"Dear Angry Greek Protesters:
Screaming in the streets, waving banners, and tossing homemade explosive devices at the police do absolutely nothing to address the very real problem your country faces. That problem is that your country is not as wealthy as you would like it to be. Nor is it as wealthy as your government led you (and others) to believe it was.
In short, your economic pie is too small to satisfy all of your demands. Railing madly against this reality, however, does nothing to increase that pie’s size. Resources and wealth are produced neither by angry sloganeering nor by simplistic denials of the facts. Quite the contrary.
For decades your country has lived well beyond its means. Thirty years ago, your government’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 34.5 percent. Today that figure stands at 115 percent. In other words, for decades your government borrowed money to provide you with goods and services that you couldn’t afford.
Living on credit is fun while it lasts. But reason tells us that it cannot last forever. Now that the bills are coming due, you must somehow pay them. This requirement is unavoidable.
... Your only reasonable course of action, then, is to work harder, save more, and adopt wiser public policies that promote wealth creation. Chief among these policy changes is to reject the socialism that you have been infatuated with for too long now. You need greater respect for private property. You need entrepreneurship. You need competition. In short, you need free markets. Without these, you will never become more prosperous.
EXCERPTS:
"Dear Angry Greek Protesters:
Screaming in the streets, waving banners, and tossing homemade explosive devices at the police do absolutely nothing to address the very real problem your country faces. That problem is that your country is not as wealthy as you would like it to be. Nor is it as wealthy as your government led you (and others) to believe it was.
In short, your economic pie is too small to satisfy all of your demands. Railing madly against this reality, however, does nothing to increase that pie’s size. Resources and wealth are produced neither by angry sloganeering nor by simplistic denials of the facts. Quite the contrary.
For decades your country has lived well beyond its means. Thirty years ago, your government’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 34.5 percent. Today that figure stands at 115 percent. In other words, for decades your government borrowed money to provide you with goods and services that you couldn’t afford.
Living on credit is fun while it lasts. But reason tells us that it cannot last forever. Now that the bills are coming due, you must somehow pay them. This requirement is unavoidable.
... Your only reasonable course of action, then, is to work harder, save more, and adopt wiser public policies that promote wealth creation. Chief among these policy changes is to reject the socialism that you have been infatuated with for too long now. You need greater respect for private property. You need entrepreneurship. You need competition. In short, you need free markets. Without these, you will never become more prosperous.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Why did the unemployment rate rise if more people were working? - Real Time Economics - WSJ
An increase in the unemployment rate is a bad thing - right? Not always. See below.
EXCERPTS:
"Why would the unemployment rate increase in April if payrolls increased so sharply? The short answer: more people are looking for jobs.
The two figures, of course, come from different government surveys. The payroll numbers are based on surveys of employers, while the unemployment rate is drawn from surveys of households. The 290,000 payroll gain in April was far above the monthly gain of 100,000 or so that’s needed in normal times to keep the unemployment rate steady. Consistent gains of April’s size — even after excluding the 66,000 Census workers hired — would be key to bringing the jobless rate down.
The reported increase in the jobless rate to 9.9% from 9.7% wasn’t quite as sharp as it appeared on the surface... The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the total number of unemployed people by the number of people in the labor force. When people re-enter the market to begin a job hunt again, they boost the number of the unemployed until they find a new position, boosting the overall unemployment rate.
In April, the civilian labor force rose 805,000 as more people joined the work force. That was the fourth straight monthly increase, amounting to a gain of almost 1.7 million people since the beginning of the year. Of the people added to the labor force in April, according to the household survey, 550,000 found jobs and 255,000 didn’t.
So, the rise in the unemployment rate was due to more people feeling that the economy is good enough to restart their job searches. That’s a good sign, even though it means more active competition for job-seekers.
EXCERPTS:
"Why would the unemployment rate increase in April if payrolls increased so sharply? The short answer: more people are looking for jobs.
The two figures, of course, come from different government surveys. The payroll numbers are based on surveys of employers, while the unemployment rate is drawn from surveys of households. The 290,000 payroll gain in April was far above the monthly gain of 100,000 or so that’s needed in normal times to keep the unemployment rate steady. Consistent gains of April’s size — even after excluding the 66,000 Census workers hired — would be key to bringing the jobless rate down.
The reported increase in the jobless rate to 9.9% from 9.7% wasn’t quite as sharp as it appeared on the surface... The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the total number of unemployed people by the number of people in the labor force. When people re-enter the market to begin a job hunt again, they boost the number of the unemployed until they find a new position, boosting the overall unemployment rate.
In April, the civilian labor force rose 805,000 as more people joined the work force. That was the fourth straight monthly increase, amounting to a gain of almost 1.7 million people since the beginning of the year. Of the people added to the labor force in April, according to the household survey, 550,000 found jobs and 255,000 didn’t.
So, the rise in the unemployment rate was due to more people feeling that the economy is good enough to restart their job searches. That’s a good sign, even though it means more active competition for job-seekers.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Summer Schedule
NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
SUMMER 2010 ACADEMIC CALENDARS BY SESSION
EARLY REGISTRATION (ALL SESSIONS)
Internet (According to Schedule) March 22 – July 20
Departmental March 26 – April 1
1ST 3-WEEK SESSION
MAY 17 – JUNE 4
Residence Halls Open May 13, Thurs
Advising/Registration May 14, Fri
Session 1 Begins May 17, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 1 May 18, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office May 19, Wed
Memorial Day Holiday May 31, Mon
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit June 1, Tues
Session 1 Ends June 4, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. June 8, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
May 18, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
May 20, Thursday
Advising/Registration June 4, Fri
Session 2 Begins June 7, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 2 June 8, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 9, Wed
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit June 21, Mon
Session 2 Ends June 25, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. June 29, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 8, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
June 10, Thursday
Advising/Registration June 25, Fri
Session 3 Begins June 28, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 3 June 29, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 30, Wed
Final Day for Undergraduate
Students to apply for
Summer 2010 graduation July 1, Thurs
Independence Day Holiday July 5, Mon
Final Day for Removal of "I" Grades
from Spring 2010 July 9, Fri
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or change from
Credit to Audit July 12, Mon
Session 3 Ends July 16, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. July 20, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 29, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
July 1, Thursday
Advising/Registration July 16, Fri
Session 4 Begins July 19, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 4 July 20, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office July 21, Wed
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit August 2, Mon
Session 4 Ends August 6, Fri
Residence Halls Close August 6, Fri
All Grades Due by Noon/Semester Ends August 9, Mon
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
July 20, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
July 22, Thursday SUMMER 2010 NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY PAGE 3
1ST 4 1/2-WEEK SESSION
JUNE 7 - JULY 7
Advising/Registration June 4, Fri
Classes Begin June 7, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes June 8, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 9, Wed
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit June 22, Tues
Final Day for Undergraduate
Students to apply for
Summer 2010 graduation July 1, Thurs
Independence Day Holiday July 5, Mon
Final Exams July 7, Wed
1st 4 1/2-Week Session Ends July 7, Wed
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. July 9, Fri
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 8, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
June 10, Thursday
2ND 4 1/2-WEEK SESSION
JULY 8 - AUGUST 6
Advising/Registration July 7, Wed
Classes Begin July 8, Thurs
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes July 9, Fri
Final Day for Removal of "I" Grades
from Spring 2010 July 9, Fri
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office July 12, Mon
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit July 23, Fri
Final Exams August 6, Fri
2nd 4 1/2-Week Session Ends August 6, Fri
Residence Halls Close August 6, Fri
All Grades Due by Noon/Semester Ends August 9, Mon
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
July 9, Friday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
July 13, Tuesday
1ST 6-WEEK SESSION
MAY 17 - JUNE 25
Advising/Registration - Departmental May 14, Fri
Classes Begin May 17, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes May 18, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office May 19, Wed
Memorial Day Holiday May 31, Mon
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with a Grade of "W" or to Change
from Credit to Audit June 11, Fri
Final Exams June 25, Fri
1st 6-Week Session Ends June 25, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. June 29, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
May 18, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
May 20, Thursday
Advising/Registration - Departmental June 25, Fri
First Day of Classes June 28, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes June 29, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 30, Wed
Final Day for Undergraduate
Students to apply for
Summer 2010 graduation July 1, Thurs
Independence Day Holiday July 5, Mon
Final Day for Removal of "I" Grades
from Spring 2010 July 9, Fri
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with a Grade of "W" or to Change
from Credit to Audit July 23, Fri
Final Exams August 6, Fri
2nd 6-Week Session Ends August 6, Fri
Residence Halls Close August 6, Fri
All Grades Due by Noon/Semester Ends August 9, Mon
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 29, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with
SUMMER 2010 ACADEMIC CALENDARS BY SESSION
EARLY REGISTRATION (ALL SESSIONS)
Internet (According to Schedule) March 22 – July 20
Departmental March 26 – April 1
1ST 3-WEEK SESSION
MAY 17 – JUNE 4
Residence Halls Open May 13, Thurs
Advising/Registration May 14, Fri
Session 1 Begins May 17, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 1 May 18, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office May 19, Wed
Memorial Day Holiday May 31, Mon
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit June 1, Tues
Session 1 Ends June 4, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. June 8, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
May 18, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
May 20, Thursday
2ND 3-WEEK SESSION
JUNE 7 – JUNE 25 Advising/Registration June 4, Fri
Session 2 Begins June 7, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 2 June 8, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 9, Wed
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit June 21, Mon
Session 2 Ends June 25, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. June 29, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 8, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
June 10, Thursday
3RD 3-WEEK SESSION
JUNE 28 – JULY 16 Advising/Registration June 25, Fri
Session 3 Begins June 28, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 3 June 29, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 30, Wed
Final Day for Undergraduate
Students to apply for
Summer 2010 graduation July 1, Thurs
Independence Day Holiday July 5, Mon
Final Day for Removal of "I" Grades
from Spring 2010 July 9, Fri
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or change from
Credit to Audit July 12, Mon
Session 3 Ends July 16, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. July 20, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 29, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
July 1, Thursday
4TH 3-WEEK SESSION
JULY 19 – AUGUST 6 Advising/Registration July 16, Fri
Session 4 Begins July 19, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes for
Session 4 July 20, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office July 21, Wed
Final Day to Drop Courses with a
Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit August 2, Mon
Session 4 Ends August 6, Fri
Residence Halls Close August 6, Fri
All Grades Due by Noon/Semester Ends August 9, Mon
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
July 20, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
July 22, Thursday SUMMER 2010 NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY PAGE 3
1ST 4 1/2-WEEK SESSION
JUNE 7 - JULY 7
Advising/Registration June 4, Fri
Classes Begin June 7, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes June 8, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 9, Wed
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit June 22, Tues
Final Day for Undergraduate
Students to apply for
Summer 2010 graduation July 1, Thurs
Independence Day Holiday July 5, Mon
Final Exams July 7, Wed
1st 4 1/2-Week Session Ends July 7, Wed
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. July 9, Fri
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 8, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
June 10, Thursday
2ND 4 1/2-WEEK SESSION
JULY 8 - AUGUST 6
Advising/Registration July 7, Wed
Classes Begin July 8, Thurs
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes July 9, Fri
Final Day for Removal of "I" Grades
from Spring 2010 July 9, Fri
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office July 12, Mon
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with Grade of "W" or Change from
Credit to Audit July 23, Fri
Final Exams August 6, Fri
2nd 4 1/2-Week Session Ends August 6, Fri
Residence Halls Close August 6, Fri
All Grades Due by Noon/Semester Ends August 9, Mon
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
July 9, Friday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
July 13, Tuesday
1ST 6-WEEK SESSION
MAY 17 - JUNE 25
Advising/Registration - Departmental May 14, Fri
Classes Begin May 17, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes May 18, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office May 19, Wed
Memorial Day Holiday May 31, Mon
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with a Grade of "W" or to Change
from Credit to Audit June 11, Fri
Final Exams June 25, Fri
1st 6-Week Session Ends June 25, Fri
All Grades Due by 8:00 p.m. June 29, Tues
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
May 18, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with 50% refund:
May 20, Thursday
2ND 6-WEEK SESSION
JUNE 28 - AUGUST 6 Advising/Registration - Departmental June 25, Fri
First Day of Classes June 28, Mon
Final Day to Register, Add Courses,
or Make Schedule Changes June 29, Tues
Dropping Classes with a Grade of “W”
begins by Internet and in the
Registrar’s Office June 30, Wed
Final Day for Undergraduate
Students to apply for
Summer 2010 graduation July 1, Thurs
Independence Day Holiday July 5, Mon
Final Day for Removal of "I" Grades
from Spring 2010 July 9, Fri
Final Day to Resign or Drop Courses
with a Grade of "W" or to Change
from Credit to Audit July 23, Fri
Final Exams August 6, Fri
2nd 6-Week Session Ends August 6, Fri
Residence Halls Close August 6, Fri
All Grades Due by Noon/Semester Ends August 9, Mon
RESIGNATION WITH REFUND
Students receiving Title IV Assistance (Federal Financial Aid) will be refunded according to revised Federal Regulations.
STANDARD REFUND POLICY
Last day to resign from all classes with 100% refund:
June 29, Tuesday
Last day to resign from all classes with
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