Licensing -- What's the Big Deal?

I have a new blog up at Young Americans for Liberty about licensing law in the United States. This is an issue that is very close to my heart, as I strongly feel that government licensure schemes hold many people back from earning a living for themselves and their families:

This is a big deal. Licensure makes it more difficult for people to obtain work and thus support themselves and their families. It also is more often than not a clear example of crony capitalism, where the wealthy and connected rig the system to protect themselves against the laws of competition. Finally, licensure is not only an important issue in and of itself, but it also permeates many other important national issues from healthcare to unemployment to the tuition bubble.

Read the rest here.

Update

I've been neglecting this blog for far too long, which is something I need to avoid.  I'll post more news about finishing up law school at Georgia and the impending move back to North Carolina soon, but for now you can check out my updated Linkedin profile with all of my most recent experiences and publications here.

Lessons from Nerddom -- Capitalism in Skyrim

If you don't know what Skyrim is, then we probably couldn't be friends.  For those of you who aren't as nerdy as me, I'm sorry.  Hopefully even without basic knowledge of Skyrim, some of the economics will still come through.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011, and is objectively one of the greatest games ever made.  To those who don't know what it is, you can basically think of Skyrim as a big medieval/fantasy themed roll playing game where you run around and fight dragons and stuff.  (Even though it's so much more than that).

A blacksmith's forge

One of the neatest things about Skyrim is that the player is often forced to actually manufacture weapons, armor, home materials, potions, and other items.  In this process of manufacturing goods, Skyrim reinforces one of the basic assumptions on which capitalism is based -- that being that the vast majority of human beings are capable of producing more value than they consume.  One way that individuals do this is by taking inputs and turning them into outputs.  For example, a bunch of silicon, plastic, and metal in my hands is just a bunch of fairly useless stuff, but in the right hands these things can be made into an iPod -- something very useful.

In Skyrim, one thing that a character can do is become a blacksmith.  As one specializes further and further in blacksmithing, one is able to use more and more complex inputs to produce more valuable outputs, using the same amount of overall labor as before.  Consider the following examples.

Skills, including the blacksmithing skill, range in level from 1-100.  A level 5 smith, being fairly low on the scale, can only forge iron armor.  We'll begin with the example of the iron shield.

The iron shield requires four pieces of iron ore and a leather strip.  These inputs, on their own, have a combined value of 11 gold.  However, in the hands of a smith can smelt the iron ore into iron ingots and then forge the ingots and strip together, these create an output with a value of 60 gold -- and iron shield.  This is because a smith can take these inputs, which have very limited uses, and turn them into something that is more useful, and therefore more in demand.  So the level 5 smith, adding his labor to these inputs, increases their value by 49 gold.

Ebony Armor is totally wizard.

More specialized labor can result in much greater increases in value.  Take the example of the level 80 smith, who can forge ebony armor.  Again, we will use the example of a shield -- in this case an ebony shield.  The ebony shield requires eight pieces of ebony ore and one leather strip.  These inputs, on their own, have a total value of 423 gold.  However, the level 80 smith can forge these into an ebony shield with a value of 750 gold -- an increase in value of 327 gold.
These principles hold true throughout Skyrim -- whether it be in making potions, forging armor, or creating enchanted items -- and they hold equally true in our world.  The reason that the average American today lives in more comfort than the kings of 500 years ago is because of people who have been able to take existing inputs and, by mixing in their skills and labor, create something much greater in value.

I think I'm going to pick this up again.  Unfortunately my summer got so busy that I sort of forgot about it.  I guess that's a good thing, because the entire time I was at Goldwater I was doing actual important work that needed to be done rather than grabbing coffee and stuff like that (not that I didn't do some mundane tasks sometimes).

Anyways, 3L is now underway.  I'm still figuring out the job situation, but my default plan is to take the North Carolina bar if I don't have any other prospects.  We'll see what happens with that.

I'm going to make another post in a few days with pictures of the rest of my summer out in Arizona.

Besides that, I had a new experience in Athens last night -- Bad Manor, which I guess is now known as "The Manor."  Regardless, it seems like a place that is good for a certain kind of crowd, but I'm just not part of that crowd.  Not that I'm better than them or anything like that, it's just a difference in taste.  It was also just a little bit too loud for me.  I guess I'm becoming an old man already.

Also, I watched Prometheus this weekend, and I thought it was really good.

I have a post coming up on YAL this week about lessons in capitalism that can be taken from Skyrim.  I'll link to it here.

Busy busy

It's a pretty crazy time at work right now.  Of course, I'm too nervous about saying something I shouldn't to make it more specific than that.  However, I can say that I worked most of the day Saturday because of this:

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The conservative watchdog group Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Glendale City Council’s vote to approve a lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena with a potential buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court on behalf of Glendale taxpayers Ken Jones and Joe Cobb, claiming last week’s vote violated a 2009 court order requiring Glendale to provide all documents in negotiations between the city and a prospective owner to Goldwater in a timely manner.

It's definitely an interesting case; I'm looking forward to the hearing tomorrow.

This weekend I'm going to go hiking at Saguaro Lake, which is just a little bit outside of Phoenix but far enough out that there will be some nice views of the mountains and desert.  I'll definitely post some pictures.

Coyotes and Rattlers

So since I can't talk specifically about what I've been doing at work as I'm sure it would violate some confidentiality rule or other, I'll tell the story of what's been happening at Goldwater in the past few days in the words of reporters who wrote their stories based on public information.

One case that is particularly interesting is the one involving the Phoenix Coyotes.  The lead attorney on that project is Carrie-Ann Sitren, for whom it has been great to work.  Last week ESPN reported:

PHOENIX -- A conservative watchdog group plans to ask a judge for a temporary restraining order Friday to prevent a Glendale City Council vote on a lease agreement that would clear the way for the sale of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes. 

The Goldwater Institute said Thursday that its request will be filed at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The institute bases its request on its contention that the city violated the Arizona open meetings law by failing to make public all documents related to the lease.

However, the next day:

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Phoenix Coyotes' long wait for an owner might finally be over.

Glendale's City Council approved a 20-year lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena on Friday, clearing the last major hurdle in the sale of the Coyotes to a group led by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison. 

The council ratified the 20-year, nearly $325 million agreement by a 4-2 vote after a sometimes-contentious six-hour meeting attended by Jamison, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.

But the Goldwater Institute has made very clear that the fight isn't over yet, as the Phoenix Business Journal reported today:

Lawyers at the Goldwater Institute    are working on their next jab at Glendale’s deal with prospective Phoenix Coyotes buyer Greg Jamison. 

The watchdog group promises to be back in court soon as it fights the city’s approval of a 20-year, $300 million arena management fee plan to pay Jamison to run Jobing.com Arena if he buys the hockey team. 

“We are definitely pursuing this and are working on the next court filing now,” said Goldwater executive vice president Starlee Rhoades.

Aside from this kind of stuff that is public knowledge, I probably shouldn't say anything more for fear of saying something I shouldn't.  Suffice it to say, working at the Institute right now is a pretty awesome experience.  At this point all of the clerks and interns have arrived, and it's a pretty awesome group.

During my lunch break I'm usually able to catch some of the Euro 2012 matches.  I always DVR the games too and then watch them when I get home, but I'm usually able to time my lunch so that I can see the last 20 minutes or so of one of the games.  Today I was able to watch the end of France v. England while eating my subway sandwich.

Catching France v. England during
my lunch break.

Outside of work, just hanging out in Phoenix has been pretty fun.  I went to an Arizona Rattlers game the other night with one of the other guys working at Goldwater this summer.  They're the arena football team from around here.  While the arena obviously wasn't that crowded, it was still a halfway decent turnout.  We checked out a few bars in the area too.  Afterwards I was able to meet up with a girl I knew at Wake and some of her friends, and we went to The Devil's Advocate, a bar in Tempe.

This week is going to be really busy, but really interesting.  I'll try to update this thing more often throughout the week.

Arena football!

Becoming a local

It's weird that a couple weeks ago this place was another strange city and now it already feels like home.  I pretty much already know my way around the Phoenix area.  Granted, when the roads are laid out in giant grids it's not that hard to figure out how to get from one place to another.

Mill Avenue at night

Work has been good.  I've definitely been busy.  Most of what I've been doing is evaluating potential cases for the institute.  I've been getting to use a lot of the stuff I learned in state and local government with Prof. Ringhand.  One of the main rules I've been working off of is Dillon's Rule, a rule that states that a municipality only has the power that is granted by the state.  It's definitely interesting stuff; it's nice to enjoy my work.

I went out on Mill Avenue last night with a few guys from work.  It's a really cool area to walk around, lots of nice bars and restaurants.  My plan is to check out at least one new place each weekend.  Last night we went to Fuzzy's and had a few beers.  I know there is one in Athens, but I have never been to that one, so I still think it qualifies as new.

I've already have a favorite local beer -- the kilt lifter from Four Peaks Brewery.  I'll be curious to see if I can find it anywhere in the southeast.

I'll also be trying to find some good places to watch soccer.  The US has some world cup qualifiers coming up, plus Euro 2012 starts next week.  Should be good.