Yearly Archives: 2003

Over Paying Jobs?

This entry was posted in Economics on by

I’ve often wondered about this one:

For a 35-hour workweek, orthodontists earn a median $350,000 a year, according to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. General dentists, meanwhile, earn about half as much working 39 hours a week on average, in a much dirtier job.
The difference in their training isn’t like that of a heart surgeon vs. a family-practice doctor. It’s a mere two years, and a vastly rewarding investment if you’re among the chosen: U.S. dental schools have long been criticized for keeping orthodontists in artificially low supply to keep their income up.
This isn’t brain surgery: Orthodontists simply manipulate teeth in a growing child’s mouth — and often leave adjustment work to assistants whose handiwork they merely sign off on. What makes their windfall egregious is that they stick parents with most of the inflated bill, since orthodontia insurance benefits cover nowhere near as large a percentage as for general dentistry.

From this list of the most overpaid jobs. Your mileage may vary on the accuracy of this list.
Via Barry Briggs.

Questions to be Answered

This entry was posted in bush Constitution Democracy Domestic Terrorism Drug Laws Law US Foreign Policy War on Terrorism on by

Mark Kleiman asks a couple questions that I’d also like to see some good answers to. First:

I don’t really want to see Rush Limbaugh spend the next twenty-five years of his life in prison, which is what would happen if the laws of the State of Florida were enforced. But I really do want to see the politicians and pundits who support both Limbaugh and the drug war explain why that particular law shouldn’t be enforced in this case, and why it shouldn’t be repealed.

Second:

Now that George W. Bush has expressed his support for democracy in the Middle East, can we expect some indication of concern on his part about the evident intention of his friend Pooty-Poot to put an end to it in Russia?

There is more context for both questions in Mark’s posts.

Words, Logic and Current Debate

This entry was posted in Information Journalism Language US Politics on by

Some items that may not be in the OED or the Devil’s Dictionary can be found at Ethel the Blog’s Wingnut Debate Dictionary.
An example:

O’Reillyus Interruptus (v): being cut off from making a really good point or argument by a radio or cable TV talk show host. Usually involves being loudly shouted down, having one’s mic cut (if in a studio), or being “potted down” (if calling in to a radio program). Odds of this happening are greatly increased the closer one gets to the truth

Via the Happy Furry Puppy Story.

Cut off the Money!

This entry was posted in War on Terrorism on by

Parapundit argues that the correct strategy to turn back Islamist terrorism is to reduce the demand for oil, that is cut off their funds:

The US economy is over $10 trillion per year. The total cost of the 9/11 attack is in the ballpark of about $100 billion. Another larger attack could cost far more. Isn’t it time we started to take some large steps toward developing technologies that will reduce world demand for oil as a way to reduce the amount of money available to the Islamists to make trouble for the rest of the world?

He points out that at current price and production levels $654 billion/year is being spent on oil. About 30% of that flows into the middle east and the middle east has about 55% of the world’s known reserves. This is a large number and it will take a long time to reduce it especially if oil prices are driven up by increasing demand from China.
Read the entire post.
NB: I have revised the last paragraph of this post. The original misquoted Parapundit on the size of the dollar flow to the middle east.