Recommended reading

• Dog bites man: construction of California's high-speed choo-choo is already over budget.

• Interesting stats: George Will says that the UK welfare state results in an "unemployed single mother with two children [having] more disposable income than a postal worker" while The Economist reports that "open-heart surgery that would set you back $100,000 in America costs only about $10,000 in Penang." Inefficiency anyone?

• Alex Tabarrok notes some interesting, yet unsurprising, findings about lottery winners and bankruptcy. It's almost as though one's financial situation is more a product of behavior/decision-making rather than random luck. 

• Paul Roderick Gregory says the Tea Party has a better grasp of economics than President Obama. Well, yeah.

• Chris Edwards proposes a new approach towards unemployment benefits.