What is the use of running when we are on the wrong road?
Bavarian proverb
Blog Gets a Makeover
The first thing a faithful reader may notice is that the look of the blog has changed since yesterday: why did I change (and why now)? In short, I am in the process of starting a third blog (dealing with practical computing topics) and was making some tweaks to the template design. This blog is my oldest (nearly 3.5 years); there were some changes I wanted to make (and there were some gaps with blog statistics under the original template), but tweaking the template through the more recent blog software required an upgrade operation. I also modified the blog title to emphasize my recent focus on libertarian issues.
Obama As A Venture Capitalist? I Don't Think So...
IBD recently published an excellent editorial: "Obama's Electric Car Dream Short-Circuits". IBD recites in detail how Obama and the other spendthrift Dems "invested" through the massive 2009 stimulus bill subsidizing electric car technology, and we see the result: sales at target recipients well below projections, existing factories operating well below capacity, laid off workers, promised new factories and related hiring never happening, and other cash-poor companies desperately cutting prices at the expense of government-backed entities which had to respond in order to maintain market share. No explanation as to why "greedy" one-percenter venture capitalists took a pass, but Obama, based on his vast "business executive experience" as a professional politician, intuitively knew "better".
The issue is not whether or not investments in electric vehicles or green energy technology technologies may pay off one day: the more pertinent question is why the government versus the private sector takes on the risk of economic development then and there, with sharply reduced tax revenues and a bloated national debt. Pharmaceutical companies will tell you most of their candidate drugs never make it to market and even in the case of successful drugs, years of investment are necessary with costs front-loaded before they ever see any return on investment; wildcatters will mention that they drill a lot of dry wells.
Why do politicians think they have the moral right or responsibility to spend other people's money that, if anything, are needed to shore up existing government obligations? Let the private sector capitalists invest their own money instead of having ill-gotten taxes being wasted in the government's intrinsically inefficient version of "trickle-down Obamanomics", where bureaucrats grab their "fair share" of the money before it gets wasted on unworthy ideologically-determined targets of unsustainable industrial policy...
If taxpayers are going to hire a venture capitalist, there is a genuine one in the Presidential race: someone who has actually turned around organizations on the record, instead of bitching about his predecessors. Mitt Romney was not responsible for the sorry state of affairs at the Salt Lake City Olympics he inherited or for Bain Capital's parent company failing before he turned it around, too. If the country is looking for a REAL solution instead of Obama's toxic brew of tax, spend, and regulate, they should vote for REAL change, not another four years of demagoguery as usual.
Reflection on a Barry Goldwater Quote:
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. - The Conscience of a ConservativeAt the sake of angering my fellow conservatives, I am going to to edit Goldwater and put my own spin on the subject::
I propose to restore individual liberty and thus promote welfare: I intend to cap what the government can spend so that it will reduce its own size and become more efficient.Think in terms of the BP oil spill; one of the conventional conservative talking points is that if BP had been allowed to drill closer to shore, the accident would have been easier and cheaper to control. This may well be the case, but of course, BP knew about potential risks before it ever sought a permit to drill that deep. The bigger issue is that the Congress had earlier limited damages which shifted risk to taxpayers. (BP, of course, waived its legally entitled liability caps, as it should have.) But remember, that piece of work, Interior Department Secretary Salazar went about complaining that bureaucrats didn't have enough time under the law to properly evaluate permits. Most regulations are like squeezing a balloon; no sooner do you impose a new regulatory burden than workarounds are devised (never mind the fact that regulators often lack the necessary expertise to effectively regulate).
Talk about the Ultimate Hypocrisy: take, for instance, the fact that the House recently reviewed the status of "doc fixes" (conveniently left out of ObamaCare's kaleidoscope accounting). Recall that this results because Congress sought to fix prices and then force physicians to economize by automatically cutting prices (already below the market rate). NOW GET THIS: the President and Congress are full of anxiety about having workers go back to paying the 6.2% in social security contributions they've been paying for years (the 2-point current year reduction)--and in the meanwhile, the government has not even managed to scale back chronic overspending by 2% across-the-board. But the government has no problem continuing to cut more and more what it is willing to pay for medical service, despite rampant inflation in the sector (question for anyone with a background in economics: what happens when you artificially cut prices for services? What's the impact on demand? And what happens to supply when prices are insufficient to cover costs?)
Why is it that we expect more from doctors than we expect from the government or workers? Why isn't the government budget automatically cut in the same way the government automatically cuts doctor payments? Why is it that social security recipients aren't taking a haircut commensurate with payroll tax holidays? (Now, granted, I agree with my conservative allies we shouldn't have government dominating about half of the sector's costs to begin with and senior citizen benefits, in theory, should be privatized. But until we transition to a more solvent business model, the point remains..)
Christmas Gift Giving and Deadweight Loss
(A tip of the hat to MJ Perry's Carpe Diem blog for discussing the topic.)
Neerav Blatt recently talked about the economic inefficiency of Christmas gift giving. In his discussion he references a Seinfeld episode (which I haven't seen). I believe I've found a video clip (embedded below: available on the date of this post) from the show in question; the basic story is that Seinfeld gift-wrapped $182 to old/current flame Elaine; Elaine seems turned off by the lack of thought Jerry put into the gift but is ecstatic over Kramer's significantly less costly gift which she sees as much more considerate. (I think this clip shows at least the second part of the story and refers to the first.)
We intuitively realize the inefficiency of gift giving: the legendary dried-out fruitcake, the re-gifting phenomenon, duplicate gifts, after-Christmas returns/exchanges, etc. I've had mixed results with my own gifts, although I think I've been good at it. For example, I'll never forget my third sister's reaction to my giving her a Cat Stevens compilation. She was stunned; she insisted she had discussed liking his music in just one of our conversations together. I think the real gift to her was that I had listened to what she said and remembered it. On the other hand, my Dad was always talking about brewing beer at home so while I lived in Houston, I found this shop in the Village (near Rice University) that specialized in relevant kits; I also bought supplies, including capping accessories and bottles. I think Dad tried it once or twice, but it was clear by my next visit the equipment was not in plain sight.
On the other hand, without mentioning names, I was once asked about by family members about possible gift ideas. I sometimes would put certain things I was considering buying for myself on hold and include the general ideas on wishlists. In particular, I remember mentioning I was thinking about buying an old-fashioned, self-winding watch; I hated with a passion the hassle of replacing batteries (or having them replaced) and specifically mentioned that. So, of course, I got a battery-operated one from the other party, intentionally rejecting my preference, insisting battery replacement was no big deal. I was stunned that someone would explicitly disregard my wishes in buying me a gift. I leave it to the reader to decide what became of that gift.
(I can think of other notorious cases of paternalism. Some fast food places (maybe McDonald's) at one point went along with the frozen yogurt craze over ice cream. I have never purchased dairy treats that frequently, but I preferred the taste of ice cream. It reminds me of some food establishment in Texas that ultimately failed, but they sold Blue Bell ice cream. I usually don't promote ice cream brands, but Blue Bell is a treat. My folks know to stock plenty of Blue Bell for relatives visiting from out of state. Anyway, I recall when that restaurant failed, a Blue Bell executive commented that he was sorry to see them go because they sold a boatload of ice cream... And then there was the notorious case of New Coke, with the intention of retiring the classic soda formula, later rebranded Coca Cola Classic. I remember being stunned at the time; people were attempting to stockpile original Coke before it was withdrawn from the market.)
Political Humor
"If there is a shutdown, 800,000 nonessential federal employees will be suspended. You know, maybe that's our budget problem right there. We have 800,000 nonessential federal employees." - Jay Leno
[I know the first 537 federal employees whom should be on that list...]
"Here's why American voters are turning to Ron Paul. A team of doctors has determined that Ron Paul is physically incapable of having a sex scandal." - David Letterman
[At least Ron Paul is old enough to remember what the Founding Fathers said. Gingrich is a history professor, and he can't remember...]
Musical Interlude: Nostalgic/Instrumental Christmas
"What Child Is This?". For several selections in this series, I've composed certain musical/video collages (e.g., "O Holy Night", "Silent Night", and yesterday's "Adeste Fideles"); this is another in that limited series.
Andrea Bocelli & Mary J Blige. I was introduced to the brilliant tenor Andrea Bocelli in his definitive duet with Céline Dion, "The Prayer", one of my favorite all-time songs. How does one freshen up a traditional Christmas carol and make it one's own? This is a textbook example: MAGNIFIQUE!
The Moody Blues. For those whom didn't catch this version in last year's series or my interlude series this year featuring my favorite art rock band, this is an encore performance.
David Venue (instrumental: "Greensleeves").
Bing Crosby. (Medley with "The Holly and the Ivy"). I haven't counted the number of hit Christmas singles the classic crooner has had, but I never missed a Bing Crosby holiday special since my early childhood through the last one...
Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Nice video clip...
