The ten most popular FutureOfCapitalism posts of 2010, according to Google Analytics:

From a Wall Street Journal review of the best and worst investments of 2010: "Only 9 equity ETFs were down more than 10% for the year, and 7 of them focus on solar power, wind power, or alternative energy."

Mark Perry's Carpe Diem blog has an item fact-checking Paul Krugman's recent New York Times column about rising commodities prices. Professor Perry writes:

Over a very long period of time (76 years), there has been a significant downward trend in the real prices of commodities (see red trend line in graph), and the decline in commodity prices has taken place during a period when the world population increased by more than three times, from 2 billion in 1934 to the current population of 7 billion in 2010.

I'd like to know a little more about the inflation adjuster that Professor Perry is using, but it's a nifty little post.

The declinists are as wrong now as they have been in the past when they predicted America would be surpassed by other powers, writes Victor Davis Hanson: "A temporarily ill-seeming America is nevertheless still growing, stable, multiethnic, transparent, individualistic, self-critical and meritocratic; almost all of its apparently healthy rivals in fact are not."

The Supreme Court of Ohio has ruled that it's constitutional for the state to impose a sales tax on satellite television service that it does not impose on cable television service, the New York Post reports. I'm not sure about the constitutional aspect of it, but, as a practical matter, these sorts of fine distinctions are perfect for politicians seeking campaign contributions from one interest group or another, from lobbyists (former politicians or government officials) seeking lucrative work, and from businesses seeking advantage over their competitors not because of the inherent value proposition of their product but because of assistance or protection from the government.

The Manhattan Institute's Nicole Gelinas has a piece blaming privatization for snow-related delays at Britain's Heathrow airport. She writes, "Heathrow's Spanish-owned private-sector operator, BAA, has skimped on its capital investments....BAA had no motive to over-invest for a predictable emergency."

She doesn't mention that New York City's non-privatized government roads are in pretty terrible shape. She writes of Heathrow: "The episode shows that government should view an international airport as more of a public-sector loss leader, a role that outweighs its standing as a potential profit center in the eyes of private-sector concessionaires."

I disagree. Wal-Mart does a pretty good job of clearing snow from its parking lots. Obviously, not everything that's privately run is perfect. But not everything publicly run is perfect, either.

ESPN, of all places, has some interesting policy commentary on recycling policy, prompted by a report that New York is cracking down on "thieves" who pick up discarded items before government contractors do:

Bloomberg News carries a pretty interesting profile of John Sperling, the founder of the for-profit University of Phoenix:

In one meeting with Congressional staff members, Sperling, leaning on a cane, railed against the Obama administration, saying it was manipulated by investors betting against higher- education stocks, according to an aide who attended.

Truth is, interaction between the Obama administration and those "investors betting against higher- education stocks" would be a fine subject for some congressional or press inquiry.

The article also quotes Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate education committee:

"I've been accused of being against private enterprise," Harkin said. "This is not private enterprise. Ninety percent of their money is coming from the taxpayer."

John F. Kennedy sure is getting a lot of play on the Wall Street Journal editorial page in the last couple of days. Yesterday, an editorial praised him for his efforts on youth physical fitness. Today, there's a piece by Fouad Ajami about President Obama:

Now and then Mr. Obama's devotees nodded to American history with evocations of FDR's New Deal and superficial parallels to JFK—the good looks, the glamour, the young children. But Kennedy had seen combat, was a Cold Warrior, and believed in the burdens of American power. Yes, he charmed Parisians and Berliners—but as the standard-bearer of an American empire of liberty. He never journeyed abroad to apologize on behalf of his country.

National Public Radio has an article picking up an article from another press outlet that "that 'sources with Taiwan-based component suppliers' say Apple now plans to ship between 20 and 21 million iPhones in first-quarter 2011, up from an earlier goal of 19 million, and that 5 to 6 million of the units will be 'CDMA iPhones,'" compatible with the Verizon Wireless network.

If a reporter gets sources to provide this information for the purpose of making money by selling advertising or subscriptions, the government seems to have no problem with it — in fact, the government even provides some funding to National Public Radio to distribute the information. But if an investor gets sources to provide this information for the purpose of making money by trading in Apple stock, it's "insider trading," at least according to the FBI. The NPR article makes no mention of the "insider trading" aspect.

New York state officials draw some awfully fine distinctions about what products are subject to sales tax and what products are exempt, my former New York Sun colleague Jacob Gershman reports in the Wall Street Journal:

the 4% sales tax does apply to graphic novels. The reason is that the state classifies them as books, not periodicals, like magazines, which are exempt. For a comic book to escape the clutches of the tax collector, it must be published at "stated intervals at least four times a year"

And:

Months before Halloween, the state opined on haunted houses and whether tickets sales are subject to sales tax.

"While an admission charge for just a dramatic or musical performance is not subject to sales tax," the tax department stated, a haunted house is not exempted and is taxed as a place of amusement. That's the case even if the haunted house also provides musical entertainment.

By the end of 2010, Allstar Products will have sold 25 million "Snuggie" blankets, the equivalent of one for about every 12 residents of the United States, the New York Times reported the other day. It occurred to me that, by allowing people to turn down the heat in their homes, this one private company, without any government help, has probably done more for carbon emissions reduction and energy conservation than a lot of the heavily subsidized alternative energy programs into which Washington is pouring billions of taxpayer dollars.

Glenn Greenwald isn't someone I agree with particularly often, but he makes some interesting points in this piece about Wikileaks: "what always strikes me is how indistinguishable -- identical -- are the political figures and the journalists. There's just no difference in how they think, what their values and priorities are....They don't even bother any longer with the pretense that they're distinct or play different assigned roles."

That's not always true, but it's often true, particularly in Washington, and it's worth noticing when it is true.

HSBC and H&R Block had a dispute over "refund anticipation loans" that has now been resolved by the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates HSBC, essentially siding with HSBC and ordering the bank not issue any more of the loans. Bloomberg has a news article on shares of H&R Block dropping more than 8% in response to the decision, and H&R Block has a press release in which the tax preparation firm's CEO, Alan Bennett, said, "As a result of the OCC's decision, millions of taxpayers will be deprived of credit, or they will be forced to use higher-priced alternatives, without the slightest benefit to the solvency of HSBC or the banking system in general." Mr. Bennett said, "The OCC's 11th hour timing will make it difficult for us to put alternative products in place at all of our locations in time for the early part of the 2011 tax season, but we will spare no effort to do so."

"Wal-Mart Opponents in New York Include Its Shoppers," is the headline The New York Times runs over a strange article today quoting shoppers at a Wal-Mart in New Jersey explaining why they think the retailer should not open a store in New York.

"I don't believe Wal-Mart should be in the city," Ms. Clark, 29, said. "All the local mom-and-pop stores would lose business. And it's already congested. I mean, can you just imagine?"

More: "there are New Yorkers who would be happy to have a Wal-Mart in their city. Of the dozen residents interviewed while shopping in Secaucus on a recent afternoon, half said they would oppose the retailer, while half said they would welcome it."