A Whole New Speedo

With the Olympics right around the corner, have you heard about the controversy concerning Speedo's LZR Racer Suits? The suits themselves are an amazing concept and product of intensive research and development.

Speedo says:

The ultimate suit offering a fabric with the lowest friction drag, constructed to compress the swimmer into the smoothest, streamlined shape and designed to ensure the full range of movement to win.
The LZR RACER concept was developed by Aqualab, Speedo's global research and development facility. Aqualab works with world class experts from diverse industries including aerospace, engineering and medicine.

I think it's amazing. How cool are these? There are no seams, and it takes 20 minutes to get into one. I think we should all pat Speedo on the back, not demonize them.

The idea of controversy goes something like this: For one, people are saying that the suit is making the sport more about 'technology' than talent. Secondly, people are upset that Speedo has a monopoly on the suits, making it nearly impossible for other corporations to compete and unfair for athletes in countries with other brand contracts.

Popular thought seems to be that swimmers can't win gold medals without the LZR suit. The Economist says:

Speedo's LZR swimsuit, which was introduced in February. Fully 38 of the 42 world swimming records that have been broken since then have fallen to swimmers wearing LZRs.

And Gizmodo says:

Known as "doping on a hangar" and the "Speedo surfboard," the LZR has hugged the bodies of 30 record-breaking swimmers since its introduction in February. Rivals complained about fairness, and the International Swimming Federation (aka FINA) scheduled a meeting with Speedo to discuss the seamless, ultrasonically bonded suit. The meeting went swimmingly, for Speedo. Not only did FINA dismiss rivals' claims, they also turned around and endorsed the suit for future pro swimming events.

I think it is ridiculous that people are getting so upset over a swimsuit. The athletes who wear them are simply the best. They train hard and they break records. If a piece of material can make swimmers glide through the water at marginally faster rate and give psychosomatic confidence, why not let them wear it? As for other corporations, they have just as much of a chance of making the same type of suit, and I am sure that in no time, they will. The Speedo brand has just risen in authority but hardly by "unethical" means. Lay off naysayers. The suit doesn't hurt the integrity of the sport.

My Inner Economist Says...

My latest read was Tyler Cowen's Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist. Although I am a self-professed skeptic of self-help books, this book is great. I learned endless 'useless' information from how to write an attractive personal ad to how to resist torture if suspected of being a CIA agent while really vacationing in Lebanon. I also learned more practical information like how to find tasty ethnic food and how to give to charities with maximized benefit. I really liked being exposed to the world of markets in everything (such as in services to find misspelled eBay listings or animal penis restaurants). Cowen's insights and data collection are impressive. The book was largely amusing and, at the very least, helpful.

I am willing to admit that I may (or may not) have an infatuation with the works of Tyler Cowen. I'd probably recommend anything he publishes, because he's just so darn interesting. But that is not to discredit his latest book; I flew through it in about two days because I couldn't put it down.

Here's my favorite quote:

I am a strong believer in an ethic of individual responsibility, so I do not think we can or that we should look primarily to the law to prevent our moral mistakes. In many area of life, people need to be free to fail if their lives are to have meaning, or if virtue is to be possible. Often paternalistic laws cannot be adequately enforced, or those laws create harmful and counterproductive black markets. No matter what options market offer, social regulation has to start at the level of the rationally prudent self.

Also check out Dr. Cowen's blog. His co-authorship of Marginal Revolution is by far my favorite daily read and strong personal impetus for hunting down new and exciting blogging inspiration. I really am a big fan of Tyler Cowen.

Fair tax? Give me a break

Ever since Huckabee was on Jay Leno's first show back despite the writers strike and explained his "Fair Tax" plan to America I've written him off my list of plausible presidential candidates. That is a horrible idea and the NY Times agrees with me, as does every sound economist out there. Here's a link to Huckabee's explanation of it if you haven't been keeping up with the political scene.

Some insist that no income tax sounds like heaven (and believe me I'm a conservative so I dislike burgeoning governments), but come on now. Who is going to suffer from this wacky idea to tax almost 30% on every purchase? Middle to lower America, that's right. Reverting back to a flat taxation system is preposterous. Let me reference Megan McArdle, Kriston Capps, and Matthew Yglesias as a few among the many economist bloggers who scoff at the fairness of the fair tax.

And on Clinton winning the New Hampshire primary for the democrats... I expected it anyway. I'm telling you, my prognostication is that she will win the next presidency. I've been calling this ever since about 2002.

More Proof of McDonald's World Domination

Ok, so in my terribly boring class, Conservation of Natural Resources, (ahem for Tami if you should read this) I had my amusement for the day. We are doing population studies and have to use this particular website to download information.

NationMaster lists tons of data about countries. Really more info than you could ever want to know. One statistic jumped out to me. THE BIG MAC INDEX. Can you imagine? Among important, legitimate, valid information there rests stats about the price of a Big Mac across the world? I am telling you, McDonald's owns the world. They are corporate geniuses.

Of course I'm extraordinarily intrigued.
A Big Mac costs (from the most expensive to the least):
$6.67 in Iceland
$3.15 in the US
$.68 in Qatar

Qatar for hamburgers anyone?