In case you missed it over the weekend, Rep. Paul Ryan had a review in the Wall Street Journal of Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs's new book, The Price of Civilization. Professor Sachs has answered Mr. Ryan (or attempted to) in the Huffington Post. Earlier coverage of Professor Sachs at FutureOfCapitalism.com is here.

The actress calls for beheading the wealthy:

Anyone laboring under the misconception that foreign-born workers in America are all migrant farmworkers or restaurant dishwashers or others engaged in low-wage or supposedly low-skilled occupations may want to check out this morning's announcement of the Nobel Prize in Medicine. One of the winners is Ralph Steinman of Rockefeller University in New York, who was born in Canada. He reportedly died of cancer shortly before the prize was announced.

The Associated Press has a solid piece on the case of an American citizen, Hu Zhicheng, that China is refusing to allow home to America.

The November issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine unloads a much-anticipated and long-awaited attack on Koch Industries, under the headline, "The Secret Sins of Koch Industries." The Web site Kochfacts.com has a response from Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden.

A few points that Mr. Holden omits from his response: The Bloomberg article says, "Koch Industries is obsessed with secrecy, to the point that it discloses only an approximation of its annual revenue -- $100 billion a year -- and says nothing about its profits." It's a private company. It doesn't have to disclose its revenue or its profits to anyone other than its owners or maybe the IRS. You'd think that Bloomberg, of all places, might comprehend this because Bloomberg itself is a private company that doesn't regularly publicly disclose its own profits, either.

My weekly column from this past week, which is about the government-backed solar energy company Solyndra and its ties to Republicans, is up at Reason.com. The link is here.

From a direct mail fundraising letter from Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who is running for president. The letter is dated September 9, 2011: "My father never graduated from college. He apprenticed as a lath and plaster carpenter. Dad always believed in America; and that in America, a lath and plaster man could work his way up to running a car company called American Motors and end up a three-term Governor."

It's one of those things about America that even Mr. Romney, the wealthy former private equity executive who is the son of a car company CEO who served three terms as governor of Michigan, feels the need to tell voters about his blue-collar, non-college-graduate family background. Whether one thinks this comes off as phony or as endearing probably depends on what one thinks of Mr. Romney.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 5772 to all those celebrating Rosh Hashanah, and also to those who are not. Posting here will be lighter than usual today and tomorrow on account of the holiday. We'll pick up with cost-free job-creating idea no. 15 on Monday.

Back on April 9, when the Red Sox began the baseball season winning just one of their first eight games, I wrote:

at the moment. it's not looking so good for the "experts." Sports Illustrated predicted the Red Sox would win 100 games and win the World Series. At ESPN, 33 of its 45 pundits predicted the Red Sox would win the World Series.

As of last night, it became certain that the Red Sox will not win the World Series. They had already lost the American League East division to the Yankees, and last night, they were eliminated from the race for a wild card spot in the playoffs. So again, not only did the Red Sox not win the World Series, they didn't even make the playoffs. It's a chance to repeat the point made here back in April.

End state and local blue laws that keep retailers closed, or restrict sales of certain items, on Sundays. If individual store owners or employees do not wish to work on their Sabbath, that is their right. But when the government forces the stores closed, that prevents those owners and employees who want to work from doing so. I often drive by shopping malls in Bergen County, N.J. that are closed on Sundays. If they were open, there would be plenty of people working, and shopping, there.

Earlier:

Cost-Free Job-Creating Idea No. 13: Eliminate requirements for legal ads in print newspapers in connection with business formation.

Cost-Free Job-Creating Idea No. 12: Tort reform.

Cost-Free Job-Creating Idea No. 11: "Allow all 50 states to experiment at the state level with developing a mandatory training component of unemployment compensation."

Someone should run a poll that asks, "If the three candidates for president of the united states in 2012 were Rick Perry, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton, which would you choose?" and also asks, "If the three candidates for president of the United States in 2012 were Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton, which would you choose?"

The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution would have to be repealed to make a Clinton run feasible, but stranger things have happened. People react when I float this idea by saying, "How could he do that to Hillary?" But that question has never really stopped Bill Clinton in the past.

For Mr. Clinton, it would be a post-Monica redemption from the American people whose approval he still craves.

For the Democratic Party, it could be a path out of the high-unemployment, slow-to-no-growth swamp into which it has been led by President Obama.

Those hoping that Governor Christie is going to enter the Republican presidential race, or wondering if he will, will be interested in his speech at the Reagan Library. Here are the prepared remarks, as provided by the governor's office:

Mrs. Reagan, distinguished guests. It is an honor for me to be here at the Reagan Library to speak to you today. I want to thank Mrs. Reagan for her gracious invitation. I am thrilled to be here.

Ronald Reagan believed in this country. He embodied the strength, perseverance and faith that has propelled immigrants for centuries to embark on dangerous journeys to come here, to give up all that was familiar for all that was possible.

He judged that as good as things were and had been for many Americans, they could and would be better for more Americans in the future.

It is this vision for our country that guided his administration over the course of eight years. His commitment to making America stronger, better and more resilient is what allowed him the freedom to challenge conventional wisdom, reach across party lines and dare to put results ahead of political opportunism.

This one is from New York Times columnist David Brooks, someone I don't always agree with, who writes today: "Reduce the barriers to business formation."

The Financial Times is generating some buzz with an interview with Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, in which Mr. Kent says that China is "in many respects" an easier place to do business than America and said the U.S. "owes itself to architect or create or a 21st century tax policy for both individuals as well as for businesses."

I couldn't quite tell from the FT article if Mr. Kent is agreeing or disagreeing with Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway is Coke's largest institutional shareholder, with 200 million shares, $13.4 billion worth, or nearly 9% of the company at last report. Mr. Buffett is a former Coke director, and his son Howard G. Buffett now sits on the Coke board.

From the Wisconsin State Constitution, Article I, Section 22, "Maintenance of Free Government":

The blessings of a free government can only be maintained by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.