A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus
but a molder of consensus.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Image of the Day
 |
| Via We the Individuals on FB |
The Illinois Pension Kerfuffle
Madigan (father of the state attorney general) is a powerful Democratic state legislator in Illinois. Illinois Policy Institute has an interesting analysis of the Madigan "you have to pass the bill to see what's in it" proposal: it doesn't make Rhode Island-like higher retirement age reforms, employee contributions are going in the wrong direction, it only makes a modest reduction of the unfunded liability, COLA's are not means-tested, and pension distributions are prioritized over state essential spending. Thumbs DOWN!
Facebook Corner
(Bastiat Institute). Socialist absurdity strikes again. Kmart decides to serve its customers and offer its employees overtime, and socialists outrage. What other silliness have you seen or heard about during the holidays? http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/05/pf/kmart-black-friday-customer-outrage/
As an IT professional, I've often had to work nights, weekends and holidays on straight salary, no overtime, no bonus (maintenance work, upgrades, etc. had to be done when users weren't on the database). It goes with the territory; lots of people work similar hours, e.g., some people eat out on Thanksgiving, other people may have a health emergency, others are serving in the military overseas. For a number of jobs, working holidays or odd hours pay extra, and in other cases, you sometimes get comp time off. Now personally I never shop on Black Friday because of the crowds, parking, etc.; as for Kmart opening on Thanksgiving, why not? I usually can't shop during business hours; I usually shop when I'm off--including Sunday, a day of rest for many Christians. That some people would try to impose their judgment over the preferences of other consumers is outrageous. Stores wouldn't be open if there wasn't a customer demand for it.
(Bastiat Institute). Capitalism for the win. Today is proof that capitalism is the winner of history. For evidence, check your newsfeed for the many images of feasts being enjoyed that were impossible for common people 200 years ago or even kings 500 years ago, and further consider that though we make a big deal out of this day, we actually eat better than the highest of the highest elites in ages past and we do this every day -- and think nothing of it. We've learned how to serve each other in peace, and astonishing prosperity is the result.
I had multiple comments here; if you've detected a pattern over the past posts, I'm increasingly annoyed by the obsession of the progressive trolls with corporations, bankers, etc. or even defensive free marketers will argue that the trolls aren't dealing with the free markets but with crony capitalists. There are some conceptual errors here; under a government-dominated economy, the government has the upper hand; the issue is more of a corrupt bargain set by the State
(Catholic Libertarians). Does "Thou shalt not steal" include copying intellectual 'property'? ~Mark
Yes, exploiting another person's work for your private gain without just compensation (e.g., licensing) is stealing property and morally reprehensible.
Copying is not theft. When one steals from me, I no longer have the thing that was stolen. When someone copies me, I still have my thing; someone else has it, too. There are now two of the thing. That said, is it morally okay to copy without permission? Maybe not, but it still isn't stealing.
That's a predictable, superficial rationalization for thieves. If someone steals a copy of my prototype, design, song, whatever, and profits from it, e.g., beats me to the marketplace with my own product, it is stealing. Saying that I still have my original copy is no consolation.
(Drudge Report). Boy with cancer loses coverage after Obamacare launch...Mike Tyson jabs rollout...
Lack of Doctors May Worsen... Some progressive troll falsely alleged that some Republicans voted for ObamaCare. I personally thought it was a troll trying to jerk the chains of conservatives, but at the end of the thread was an extended rant by another troll, whom basically argued that federal policy was necessary to address patient rights (as if healthcare was unregulated...), that Republicans didn't have an alternative plan, that Romney/ObamaCare is just policy from the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, and then starts "shouting" (in caps) for the rest of his rant.
[Discussant] is a "progressive" troll that just published pure crap; he's just repeating "progressive" propaganda and doesn't have the intellectual integrity to research the issue. First, healthcare was regulated by all 50 states. I believe that multiple states, including Massachusetts in 1996, passed the economically illiterate guaranteed issue and community rating policies that not only violate the very concept of insurance but made Massachusetts insurance plans among the highest costing in the country. Second, the idea that RomneyCare was the result of Heritage policy is a flat-out lie. It is true that conservatives proposed an alternative to HillaryCare, a nationalized healthcare system, but it was nothing like RomneyCare or ObamaCare. The conservative plan was for catastrophic care, not the centralized fusion of ordinary health expenses and special-interest mandates. (See Butler's discussion of this topic here: http://blog.heritage.org/.../dont-blame-heritage-for.../). I don't have the time or patience to debunk the rest of his economically illiterate rant.
(Reason Magazine) Rent control actually forces prices upward, especially over the long term, by diminishing the supply of available rental housing.
Across the bay from San Francisco, some towns have rent control and some don't. Guess which ones are having the same problem with rent inflation... That's right. All of them. People are getting priced out of the market because lots of people with money want to live there.
Well, obviously, a limited supply of non-rent control apartments, given supply/demand, upper-income are more willing and able to meet the market price. We would need to know other facts to know why non-rent control rents are rising (e.g., some people working in SF may be commuting from surrounding communities, competing for available rentals, property tax increases passed along to residents and/or upkeep inflation, zoning restrictions, etc.). I bet you'll find other government policies also contributing to rental inflation
(Catholic Libertarians). Another discussion on the pope's new exhortation, which criticizes capitalism.
Evangelii Gaudium actually does have some strong criticism on free markets and deep misunderstandings of what they are. Pope Francis goes beyond the idea of giving more, and in section 204 he claims we need programs and mechanisms to better distribute income. Now if he's talking about government programs then he truly is a statist, but if he's talking about voluntary programs he's advocating the very free market solutions he criticizes.
The fact is that in America, fraternal organizations and mutual aid societies flourished before our welfare state. I think the pontiff underestimates the "invisible hand" of charity; it's like he buys into "we (the State) can't afford to do nothing" Obama. The pope doesn't seem to grasp the concepts of unintended consequences or opportunity costs or the morally corrosive effects of government policies that promote dependence on government. He also lacks training in economics; for instance, on the bugaboo of income inequality, some of that reflects the deterioration of the family over the past few decades, e.g., single-parent households. (So, for example, if a couple divorces, the family becomes 2 households and drags down the average.) I do find it paradoxical that the pope would promote Statist policies (and I do think he is), given his Argentinian roots. In Heritage's index of economic freedom, Argentina is ranked #160, in the "repressed" category.
Via Cato Institute
(Here I'm responding to a thread where people are quibbling over the definition of democracy.) Don't make de Tocqueville out to be an idiot. In his "Democracy in America" he writes "Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul." He knows that we do not live in a democracy of mob role. But he does understand an oppressive majority, e.g., from 2009-2010, where Obama and Democratic super-majority in Congress marginalized the GOP.
 |
| Via LFC |
Oh my God, how much crap in this thread. Banking conspiracies. 9/11 conspiracies. No actionable information on the 9/11 attacks--you had a failure to connect the dots because of bureaucratic turf battles. Recall Bush ran AGAINST nation building. Bush and other Western intelligence sources had tragically flawed intelligence on Iraq. Keep in mind that on Obama's watch, at least two prominent terrorists (the underwear bomber and the elder Boston Marathon terrorist brother) went undetected because of misspelled names. Obama had more Afghanistan casualties in one term than Bush had in 2, and Obama just reupped us for a 10-year extension there. This is the same guy whom claimed to have the judgment not to get us into Iraq. I regret Bush's interventionist policies and unacceptable failure to control spending, but Obama is like Bush on steroids, even in drone policy.
Political Cartoon
 |
| Courtesy of Robert Ariail and Townhall |
Melissa Etheridge, "Christmas in America"
