In January, we had the “Fear the Boom & Bust” rap video that pitted John Maynard Keynes v. Friedrich Hayek rapping about their respective approaches to monetary and fiscal policy, and theories of the business cycle. Now Pantless Knights (a web comic team) offers a terrific spoof of the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys video “Empire State” of mind rap video—instead of “New York,” the video celebrates the “New Dork” and the “Entrepreneur State of Mind.”

PantlessKnights describes the video as a “tribute to our favorite entrepreneurs (who are all ‘new dorks’).” The lyrics offer a short introduction to start-up capitalism:

Now I’m in the blogosphere, Now I’m in the twitterverse
Fans get so immersed, But I’m a nerd forever
I’m the new Zuckerberg, And since my website
I been cookin’ dough like a chef servin’ killa-bytes
Used to be the basement, Back at my mom’s place
Buildin’ web traffic so that we could sell an ad space
Make way for the, One man businesses
Bail outs finished with, White collar criminals
New sega genesis, Entrepreneur time
Makin big plans, To dominate the online
Yeah, I’m on YouTube, this is one man
Sharin’ google revenue, With songs on my webcam
Science is the new art, Databases day to day
Geeks spreadin’ sheet smarts, Hustle, make the data pay…

Check out the rest of the lyrics here. Good thing advertising revenue is out there to fund all the New Dorks!

The folks over at radicalcartography.net have just made available the Statistical Atlas of the 9th US Census (1870) as a bulk download. It's great that this amazing government publication is finding interest by the public -- and that the radical cartographers are doing lots of cool projects like Census Demographics.

However, it should be noted that it's been available online for a while from both the Library of Congress and the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER). And of course it's also available in paper from Federal Depository Libraries across the US. I'd recommend that all you radical cartographers, cartographer wanna be's, history buffs, data geeks etc get thee to your local Federal Depository Library to see what the Federal govt has published over the last 200+ years and also check out what your libraries are digitizing and putting online. You'll be glad you did.

Presented here are all of the maps and charts from the first statistical atlas of the US Census, widely praised in its time and still a wonderful example of sophisticated graphics, the out-of-date racial/psychological nomenclature notwithstanding. The atlas is available page-by-page from the Library of Congress, but you can download it in bulk here.

[Thanks BoingBoing!]

Two area lawmakers are part of state Senate Democratic push to establish a state-run bank they believe would make it easier for individuals and small businesses to borrow money. Supporters say the bank would stimulate the economy and create jobs.

Start-up money would come from a economic development bond that voters would have to approve.

It would be similar to a traditional bank, but would focus on economic development rather than profits, Democrats said.

It would be modeled after a similar bank in North Dakota.

The Michigan bank would offer small-business loans, low-interest student loans, low-interest credit cards and agricultural loan programs.

So far, no legislation has been introduced on the idea.

For the full article, see David Harris, "Senate Democrats propose state-owned bank", Flint Journal via MLive, March 13, 2010.

The media reported on a 0.3 percent rise in retail sales in February, which was described as a surprisingly strong result compared with the consensus expectation of a 0.2 percent decline. However, the news was not as good as this may appear, since January's sales data was revised down by 0.4 percent. In other words, the sales volume reported for February was almost exactly in line with the consensus estimate, even though the January number is less than had previously been believed. (There does appear to be some upward movement in non-auto sales.)

--Dean Baker

NEWSMAKER FRIDAY: DISTRICT SAYS FOUR DAY WEEK SAVES, IMPROVES LEARNING

In the face of almost certain drastic cuts to education funding, one tiny, rural school district in Montmorency County made a proactive decision this winter to lower its costs any way it could, which included trimming a school day. But while the four-day week started as a cost saving measure for Atlanta Community Schools, officials quickly realized the intangible benefits of giving students longer class times and Fridays off far outnumbered the estimated $50,000 a year the district could save, said Superintendent and Principal Teresa Stauffer.

READING, MOST MATH SCORES UP ON M.E.AP.

A growing proportion of Michigan students are proficient in reading and mathematics, according to scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests released Friday.

A.F.L.-C.I.O ENDORSES BERNERO FOR DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION

The largest coalition of unions in Michigan has endorsed Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero for the Democratic nomination for governor, saying he was the candidate who best represented traditional Democratic values.

TEA PARTY MOVEMENT GETTING ITS SEA LEGS

The Tea Party movement is comprised of more than 50 different groups across Michigan, has no leadership hierarchy and isn't interested in endorsing any gubernatorial candidates and that's exactly how Common Sense In Government President Wendy Day wants to keep it.

SWITALSKI TAKES OVER AS HOUSE DEM CAMPAIGN CHAIR

The House Democratic Caucus recently went through another shakeup in its campaign structure as Rep. Tim Melton stepped down as chair and has been replaced by freshman Rep. Jon Switalski.

HOUSE COULD BE FIRST TO TAKE UP GRANHOLM RETIREMENT PACKAGE

While Governor Jennifer Granholm couldn't get a Democrat to sponsor her worker retirement package, it looks like the Democratically-controlled House could be the first to take up the bills.

MICH. FIFTH IN FORECLOSURES FOR FEBRUARY

More than 20,025 properties in Michigan received some type of foreclosure filing in February, ranking the state fifth in terms of activity, according to RealtyTrac.

C.M.H. OFFICIALS BLAST SENATE BUDGET

A proposed Department of Community Health 2010-11 budget that would cut $54 million from community mental health would put the state on the "brink of eliminating a comprehensive system of mental health care," CMH supporters said.

CAMPAIGN NOTE: CHERRY NOT GETTING BACK IN

Lt. Governor John Cherry Jr. was flattered by the interest, but sources said the logistics made it impossible for him to consider getting back into the race for governor.

Source : Gongwer News Service : Michigan Report, Volume #49, Report 48, March 12, 2010. Full access requires a subscription or a visit to a subscribing library such as the Michigan State University Main Library.

Statewide math and reading scores are up, while science and social studies scores show a slight dip, according to MEAP test results released today.

The results also show that more African-American and Hispanic students, as well as students with disabilities, are closing the gap when compared to their peers in third-, sixth- and eighth-grade reading and third-, fourth- and fifth-grade math.

For the full article, see Peggy Sarnecki-Walsh, "Statewide MEAP gains made by minorities, those with disabilities; English, math improvements may be at expense of science, social studies", Detroit Free Press, March 12, 2010.

For another, see Peggy Sarnecki-Walsh and Kristi Tanner, "Achievement gap narrows on MEAP; Clearer academic goals credited for helping students", Detroit Free Press, March 13, 2010.

New online tools come days before the release of the National Broadband Plan.

The Fox News Channel boasts that it takes a different approach to news coverage than, say, CBS, NBC, or NPR. But it appears Fox takes the same approach as its competitors when it comes to fair uses of its news coverage in political advertisements: to try to shut them down using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's rapid-fire notice and takedown process.

Ben Smith at Politico reports that the Fox news network has used a copyright claim to cause YouTube to disable access to a Democratic National Committee advertisement less than 24 hours after it was posted. The ad, which accuses Senate candidates competing in the Republican primary of focusing on trivial issues, excerpted less than a minute of a Fox interview with one of the candidates.

The DNC has fought back, firing off a letter to Fox explaining the "DNC's use of the clip is squarely within the bounds of fair use" and demanding that Fox effectively withdraw the claim. The DNC also implicitly threatens to sue Fox under Section 512(f) if it continues to maintain the copyright allegations, and name checks EFF's Lenz case in the process.

As a news organization, and so presumably familiar with the concepts and application of fair use, Fox should know better. Let's hope Fox will take this chance to distinguish itself from its rivals and show its support for free speech by withdrawing its spurious copyright claim.

Under Michigan's Workers' Disability Compensation Act, injured workers are entitled to 80 percent of their normal after-tax earnings for a specified period -- unless the employee cannot work because of imprisonment or commission of a crime.

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) on Thursday introduced legislation that would extend workers' compensation rights to illegal immigrants in Michigan. It would require additional language that "commission of a crime" does not include "an alien's working without employment authorization or an alien's use of false documents."

The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates Michigan had an illegal alien population of 125,000 as of 2008. Many undocumented workers pay social security and real-estate taxes, but Tlaib said they're not afforded the right to compensation if they're injured on the job.

For the full article, see Jonathon Oosting, "Workers' compensation for illegal immigrants? State Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduces bill", MLive, March 12, 2010.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell seeks to invest $352 million to renovate aging UConn hospital, among other initiatives, in landmark partnership.