AMITY SHLAES: 2013 Looks a Lot Like 1937 in Four Fearsome Ways. “It’s hard to imagine stock indexes dropping by half today, or unemployment rising past 15 percent, as they did in the ‘depression within the Depression.’ But the parallels are visible enough to be worth tracing. They have to do with the danger of big government, and can be captured in a few categories.”

MY EARLIER MENTION OF BARKEEPER’S FRIEND produced this email from reader Robert Ethan Hahn: “Barkeeper’s Friend? Nonsense – that sh*t’s Barkeeper’s LOVER. Amazing what it does with our All Clad roaster…” It’s pretty awesome.

WHEN PUBLIC GOES PRIVATE: Privately run unions have ruined public schools, critics say.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats have portrayed themselves as supporters of public education, but their policies have turned public schools into strongholds for powerful private groups of teachers unions, critics say.

“The union is not some branch of public government—they’re just a private corporation,” said James Sayler, a 20-year public school teacher and founder of Colorado Educators for Bush in 2000 and 2004.

“Should a school district give away public authority to a private organization?” Sayler asked. “The unions, with the blessing and cooperation of the Democratic Party, have privatized education.”

That’s an interesting way of looking at things — and a correct one.

IN A SOCIETY THAT DEVALUES MEN, should men join the military?

HERE’S MY RECIPE FOR Thanksgiving Leg of Lamb. I’ve bought my two legs of lamb already, and I notice that once again they were more than last year.

UPDATE: Rod Dreher’s recipe for the “World’s Best Cornbread Dressing” has succumbed to link rot. But this link works.

“REOPEN SESAME:” Elmo Sex Abuse Accuser Recants His Recantation. Given that the original recantation came at the price of $125,000 I think it’s fair to say this whole thing stinks.

COMPETENCE: Clueless Bloomberg on Sandy 911 Chaos: “The technology functioned perfectly.”

UPDATE: Reader Bob Young writes: “It’s not cluelessness or incompetence; it’s the Big Lie…and it is now pervasive in our government and media. They know the failings full well. They’ve just decided it’s easier to whitewash/ignore them than do anything serious about them. Besides, working on real problems would take resources away from the ‘transforming America’ agenda.”

WELL, NO. HARRIET MIERS NEVER LIED TO CONGRESS AND THE NATION: Is Susan Rice Obama’s Harriet Miers? Though I do recall a few Bush operatives trying to claim that criticizing Miers was somehow sexist, so you’ve got that parallel.

A FRUITFUL FIELD FOR REGULATION: Making Sure Nonprofits Aren’t All About Profit.

The fastest-growing part of the U.S. economy is not business, at least not the commercial kind. It’s the nonprofit sector. In the past decade, the number of nonprofit groups has grown by 25 percent to 1.6 million. They now account for 5.4 percent of gross domestic product and 10 percent of jobs.

As the sector has boomed, however, government resources devoted to overseeing it have either declined or stayed the same. That has left considerable room for questionable practices. In recent reports, Bloomberg Markets has explored nonprofits’ use of dishonest solicitations by professional fundraisers whose efforts primarily benefit themselves, the issue of high executive compensation, and the matter of whether groups even deserve to be tax exempt.

The American Bureau of Shipping, for instance, functions like other companies that certify ships as seaworthy but enjoys a tax exemption because it’s registered as a nonprofit trade association. With $605.3 million in profits since 2004, it paid its chief executive officer $21.5 million over seven years.

Nonprofits fall under the jurisdiction of both the Internal Revenue Service and state authorities, notably the attorneys general. One barrier to effective oversight is that AGs lack access to IRS information about ongoing investigations. An amendment to the federal tax law lifting that proscription would improve coordination.

When nonprofits basically ran orphanages and hospitals, the lack of scrutiny was reasonable. Now they handle huge amounts of money without much in the way of accountability. It’s time for nonprofits — including colleges and universities — to face a lot more scrutiny on how they spend the money.

I’ve written about this before on several different occasions. And check out this investigative report from the Boston Globe.

It’s been nearly 10 years, and not much has been done. Increased nonprofit accountability — including pay caps for administrators — might be a good addition to any new tax bills coming out of Congress. As I’ve suggested elsewhere, Congress might want to cap pay at tax-exempt organizations at the level of a member of Congress, or a Supreme Court Justice. At some point, after all, you’ve made enough money.

IRON DOME: Israel and the world have become one dysfunctional family, with the crazy member being the Gaza Palestinians. “Back in mid-June, during the great Paris weapons show, the Rafael pavilion was absolutely the busiest around, and everybody wanted to look at the new, exciting, Iron Dome system, the greatest achievement in rocket defense ever. But by the end of the show, Rafael hadn’t made a single sale. The Arrow sold well, other systems did great – Iron Dome wasn’t moving. So they contacted their big clients, the serious ones, and asked what gives. And those clients told them no one except Israel has any use for these things. Because in any normal, sane country, if some hooligans were to start targeting civilians with rockets – the army would go and kill them.”

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Too Few Oppressors, Too Many Victims.

VIDEO: AP reporter clashes with State Dep’t spokesman over Turkey calling Israel a terrorist state. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reporter take a tone with a government functionary at a press conference quite like this. And it’s not the first time he’s done it, either. How does this guy not have his own cable news show already? Or better yet, an assignment as a White House beat reporter?”

LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Do We Really Need More Teachers Who Have Kids Draw on Slow Readers’ Faces With Permanent Markers?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: 51% of Law Schools Cut 1L Enrollment. “The Kaplan survey also finds that 68% of law schools have already revamped their curriculum to make their students more ‘practice ready.'”

ED DRISCOLL: Jim Geraghty On The 2012 Election.

WELL, I DO THE GROCERY SHOPPING in our household most of the time. I like it; the Insta-Wife not so much.

Plus, from the comments:

Wait, so both sexes overestimate inflation with women overestimating it more, but somehow the headline to the post is that women “notice” inflation more? Wouldn’t it be that women exaggerate inflation more? Or how about “men more accurately perceive inflation”? But we’re not supposed to draw that conclusion are we? We’re supposed to assume that women are more practical and worldly the their out of touch, boorish, men that they have to put up with.

Indeed. Here’s the rule: “If you do scientific research into the differences between men and women, you must portray whatever you find to be true of women as superior.”

MICKEY KAUS: Here’s A Poll The MSM Won’t Hype: “62% say stopping illegal immigration is ‘extremely/very important.’ That handily beats ‘taking major steps to address global warming’ as well as ‘[increasing] taxes on those with household incomes above $250,000.’ … Providing a ‘path to citizenship for illegal immigrants’ got only 37%. … Note: According to the 2012 exit poll, 10% of the electorate was Latino.”

CALIFORNIA, FAILING: “For a century or so, guided by brilliant private sector leadership, California was a beacon to the world, a land of opportunity such as never had existed in human history. Unimaginable wealth was created. Yet it required only 40 years of liberal governance to bring the whole thing crashing down. Today, California is the most spectacular failure of our time. Its government is broke. Productive citizens have been fleeing for some years now, selling their homes at inflated prices (until recently) and moving to Colorado, Arizona, Texas and even Minnesota, like one of my neighbors. The results of California’s improvident liberalism have been tragically easy to predict: absurd public sector wage and benefit packages, a declining tax base, surging welfare enrollment, falling economic production, ever-increasing deficits. Soon, California politicians will be looking to less glamorous states for bailout money. Things have now devolved to the point where California leads the nation in poverty.”

AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF success leading to self-destruction. Just remember: The so-called Dark Ages were a period of great creativity. Though scribes and bureaucrats recorded the fall of Rome with horror — because it was terrible for scribes and bureaucrats — the average person’s caloric intake went up. I recommend reading Joseph Tainter’s The Collapse of Complex Societies.

UPDATE: Jim Bennett disagrees: “I read Ward-Perkins’ book a few years ago. He has some interesting data, such as the archeological evidence that not only were cattle in Dark Age Europe smaller than those in the Roman Empire, they were smaller than those in Iron Age Europe a thousand years before. He also has some amusing comments about how the European Union has been anxious to promote the idea that the ‘transition’ of Rome was a peaceful affair of mutual cooperation between Germanic and Latin peoples, just like today.”

AT AMAZON, Black Friday deals are already here.

Plus: $25 off $100 Bosch tool orders.

Just a reminder: InstaPundit is an Amazon affiliate. When you do your Christmas/Hanukkah shopping — or any other shopping — through the Amazon links on this page, including the “Shop Amazon” tab at the top or the searchbox in the right sidebar, you support the blog at no cost to yourself. It’s much appreciated!

OKAY, YEAH, IT IS kind of creepy.

THEY’RE AFRAID: Bryan Preston: The Project To Destroy Marco Rubio Has Begun.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: We’re Doomed Again. “As for the moaning and keening Republicans, you’ve got an amazing number of governors, and some of them are doing spectacularly well. The Dems are stuck with New York, Massachusetts, and California, who incarnate true blue doctrines, and are in a mess. Events are likely to demonstrate the failure of blueness in this country, as they have abroad. So stick to your principles and don’t try to be ‘more like them.’ Nobody needs pseudo-blues, if people want to vote left, they’ll vote for the real thing, not you-pretending-to-be-them-except-cuter.”

And when it comes to American doom, remember what Walt Whitman said about the Europeans.

CONSTITUTION? WHAT’S THAT?

Each member of the House has had to attach a Constitutional Authority Statement (CAS) to every proposed bill since Jan. 5, 2011.

However, one group of Republicans is unimpressed by the offered justifications for constitutionality.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC) analyzes each statement—3,865 in the first year alone—and in response to some of the more questionable justifications began emailing every congressional office a “Questionable Constitutional Authority Statement of the Week.”

“We started highlighting horrible Constitutional Authority Statements because there were so many of them,” said Brian Straessle, RSC spokesman. “Think of it as a shaming mechanism to get people to think seriously and carefully about the intended limits of the federal government’s power.”

Assuming, of course, that they’re capable of shame, which is doubtful at this point.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MITT ROMNEY, THE BRITS WOULD BE MOCKING OUR PRESIDENT AS HE BLUNDERED ON THE WORLD STAGE.

AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Telegraph: Barack Obama blunders again on the world stage. “It is rather embarrassing, as well as sad, that the leader of the free world can’t even pronounce the name of the most famous human rights activist on the planet. Or that he is so quick to appease Burma’s authoritarian regime by calling it ‘Myanmar’. Barack Obama’s gaffes demonstrate not only a marked lack of attention to detail and a high degree of amateurishness on the part of the White House, but also a disturbing willingness to curry favour with unsavoury regimes. Hardly a good omen for Obama’s second term.”