How to ask for a raise

from NY Times:

1. For starters, know your worth in the marketplace. Consult the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Labor Department or check salary survey Web sites like salaryexpert.com or payscale.com to find out the salary range for your job.
2. Next, write a list of your accomplishments since the last evaluation.
   
3. Then put yourself in the boss’s shoes

Iowa primary futures prices: Republicans

from intrade.com. Anyone who wins this primary has likely sold out to the ethanol lobby.

	REP.IOWA.HUCKABEE Mike Huckabee to Win	50.0
	REP.IOWA.ROMNEY Mitt Romney to Win	50.0
	REP.IOWA.THOMPSON(F) Fred Thompson to Win	1.6
	REP.IOWA.MCCAIN John McCain to Win	2.0
	REP.IOWA.GIULIANI Rudy Giuliani to Win	0.1

Iowa primary futures prices: Democrats

from intrade.com. To win this primary, you have to sell out to the ethanol lobby.

	DEM.IOWA.OBAMA Barack Obama to Win	40.5
	DEM.IOWA.CLINTON Hillary Clinton to Win	35.1
	DEM.IOWA.EDWARDS John Edwards to Win	23.0

Can blogging help your business?

From NY Times:

But some companies are suited to blogging. The most obvious candidates, said Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of “The Everything Blogging Book” (Adams Media 2006), are consultants. “They are experts in their fields and are in the business of telling people what to do.”

Presidential futures prices: Democratic nomination

From intrade.com:

	2008DEM.NOM.CLINTON Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic Presidential Nominee in 2008	66.6
	2008DEM.NOM.OBAMA Barack Obama to be Democratic Presidential Nominee in 2008	26.2
	2008DEM.NOM.EDWARDS John Edwards to be the Democratic Presidential Nominee in 2008	5.7

Presidential futures prices: Republican nomination

With only 7 days before the Iowa caucuses, the prices become more volatile. From intrade.com:

	2008.GOP.NOM.GIULIANI Rudy Giuliani to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008	32.7
	2008.GOP.NOM.ROMNEY Mitt Romney to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008	23.3
	2008.GOP.NOM.MCCAIN John McCain to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008	19.1
	2008.GOP.NOM.HUCKABEE Mike Huckabee to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008	15.0

Aligning incentives of media consultants with goals of candidates

From NY Times:

The old approach allowed the fees to shoot up with increases in advertising in hotly contested races. Critics say it also provided a built-in incentive for the consultants to run more ads — a concern that has led to infighting in many races.

In interviews, aides said Ms. Clinton, of New York, and Mr. Edwards, of North Carolina, had negotiated flat fees with their top consultants. And Mr. Obama, of Illinois, has capped what his consultants can earn, which will convert their more traditional percentage deal into a flat fee once his ad spending passes a certain threshold, his aides say.

How an Economist Views A Christmas Carol

Here's a column to warm the hearts of any little economist who might be in a holiday funk over the deadweight loss of Christmas.

Poor Scrooge - he's just a misunderstood creator of value. (HT: Peter Klein at O&M)

If you pay doctors for treatment, you get more treatments

From NY Times:

One study found that a group of Medicare patients admitted to high-spending hospitals were 2 to 6 percent more likely to die than a group admitted to more conservative hospitals.

Why is this happening, then?

Above all, it’s the natural outgrowth of our fee-for-service health care system. It turns doctors into pieceworkers, as Ms. Brownlee puts it, “paid for how much they do, not how well they care for their patients.” Doctors and hospitals typically depend on the volume of work for their income, and they are the gatekeepers who decide when work needs to be done. They also worry about being sued if they do too little. So they err on the side of overtreatment.

Just when you thought the government couldn't get any bigger

My friend who sent this to me thought it was a clumsy parody of Senator Clinton sponsored by the vast right wing conspiracy. The idea the government is like Santa Claus, handing out presents, is taken from PJ O'Rourke's famous essay, "God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat." But truth is better than satire. From PJ O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores:

I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.

God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God's heavenly country club.

Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's nonthreatening. He's always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who's been naughty and who's been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without the thought of quid pro quo. He works hard for charities, and he's famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus.