Reuters has a report about research being done on the in-game economies of MMOs like EverQuest II and World of Warcraft to better understand much larger economic situations in the real world. The games are used as case studies where researchers can do controlled experiments that they couldn’t necessarily attempt if real money or goods were involved.

After studying 314 million transactions within the fantasy world of Norrath in EverQuest II, including trading in-game goods like armor, shields, leather, herbs and food, the researchers were able to calculate the GDP of one of the game servers (the back-end computer that hosts thousands of players in one world). As more people opened accounts and flocked to Norrath, spending money on new items, researchers saw inflation spike more than 50 percent in five months. ‘We have seen that kind of volatility during times of war and in developing nations in the real world,’ said [Dmitri Williams, assistant professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication]. ‘Our own economy has turned out to be less stable than we’d all assumed.’

(via Slashdot)

First quick story comparison: A new military drone robot has been developed to be energetically autonomous (emphasis added):

The system obtains its energy by foraging – engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable.

Trust Fox News to put a neat twist to the story: Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed On Dead Bodies.

In more important news, Stephen Harper said in an interview with the Globe And Mail:

You know, there’s two schools in economics on this. One is that there are some good taxes and the other is that no taxes are good taxes. I’m in the latter category. I don’t believe that any taxes are good taxes.

The author of the article, Jeffery Simpson, proceeds to vilify the PM for what he said. Even making the link that only “libertarian anarchists” think that way:

Only libertarian anarchists believe that all taxes are bad, and that society can get along without them. But who will pay, if not citizens, for the military on which the Harper government is lavishing billions of dollars? Who will pay for the police, the courts?

[...]

Indeed, the comment hearkens back to Mr. Harper’s days shilling for the National Citizens Coalition and early years with the Reform Party, when he believed that just about everything governments were doing was bad and wasteful and led to huge deficits. Since then, and especially as Prime Minister, Mr. Harper has shelved many of those views, since a distinguishing characteristic of his government has been a reluctance to cut government spending.

It didn’t take long for The National Post’s Terence Corcoran to respond:

But what is really going on here is a mounting Liberal campaign to set the state for tax increases to cover future deficits. Liberals cannot officially plant this idea, and they would much rather have Mr. Harper bear the burden by forcing him to raise taxes. As Rev. Simpson says, donning his economic hat, “economic growth alone will not restore Canada’s balanced budget.”

If that’s true, then the real alternative is is to cut spending. Now that, in Rev. Simpson’s Liberal church, is really, really scary, scary.

Can you guess what do the articles have in common? It’s just as much about ad homiem attacks as policy debate. I want to see an intelligent discussion on taxation, it’s benefits and shortcomings.

(More below the fold)
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What do Jon Stewart, The Simpsons, South Park, and Rick Mercer have in common? The fact that they seem to be the only ones clarifying the obvious in current affairs.

It sucks that we have to get perspective and news from comedy, but at least we have such venues. Here’s an awesome (but long) article on today’s satire in the American Journalism Review. From the article:

When Hub Brown’s students first told him they loved “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and sometimes even relied on it for news, he was, as any responsible journalism professor would be, appalled.

Now he’s a “Daily Show” convert.

[...]

Stewart and his fake correspondents are freed from the media’s preoccupation with balance, the fixation with fairness. They have no obligation to deliver the day’s most important news, if that news is too depressing, too complicated or too boring. Their sole allegiance is to comedy.

As reported by WCBS NewsRadio 880:

This is an unreal article. Thanks to Jean-Marc Allain for sending it to me. It’s from Monday’s Globe and Mail

Watch this clip (Canada Only, sorry) of Stewart completely embarrassing one of MSNBC’s financial hotheads, Rick Santelli. In all the times I’ve watched this show, this is one of the most scathing rants I’ve seen.

I really do believe that satire is one of the best mediums out there.

Last summer, I read a Newsweek article on how the world’s wealthy were unwavering in their luxury spending, even in the face of a looming recession. There I was, volunteering in Costa Rica, living with and being influenced by the most liberal people you’ve ever met in your life. My blood boiled while flipping the pages (the magazine was mailed to one of our group leaders from their family back home).

Fast forward to today, the Economist runs a story on the decrease in demand for luxury goods. Before expressing sarcastic sympathy for consumers of said goods, I’ll point out that this new trend may actually reflect it’s satirical title, as christened by Jon Stewart. If the rich are starting to panic, you know the shit’s hitting the fan.

Nevertheless, this is a good thing. It’ll hopefully push the rich decision-makers to make more sound choices. Or at least I’d like to think that.