I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that
one had to explain nothing.
Katherine Mansfield
Epic Rant of the Day
Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.)... Thumbs UP!
Detroit Is Now in the State of
The city of Detroit today officially became the largest municipality in U.S. history to enter Chapter 9 bankruptcy after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes declared it met the specific legal criteria required to receive protection from its creditors.
The landmark ruling ends more than four months of uncertainty over the fate of the case and sets the stage for a fierce clash over how to slash an estimated $18 billion in debt and long-term liabilities that have hampered Detroit from attacking pervasive blight and violent crime.
Rhodes — in a surprise decision this morning — also said he’ll allow pension cuts in Detroit's bankruptcy. Rhodes emphasized that he won’t necessarily agree to pension cuts in the city’s final reorganization plan unless the entire plan is fair and equitable.
“Resolving this issue now will likely expedite the resolution of this bankruptcy case,” he said.As Reason noted after the above quote from the Detroit Free Press:
The judge said that pensions are no different from other contracts under federal bankruptcy laws and "not entitled to any heightened protection in bankruptcy."Yes, Virginia, there is the rule of law. It seems to be a rare judge whom actually makes the only logical ruling. The idea that unions think that their retirement benefits are more equal than other obligations, including bondholders whom lent the city money in good faith, is morally bankrupt. The city's situation has deteriorated for decades, and the unions had to know the cash-strapped city wasn't properly funding its worker obligations.
Facebook Corner
(LFC). (Re: Oregon tween selling mistletoe in a part to raise money for her braces stopped by city law enforcement). When I was a kid and we had to raise money for our sports teams or our schools, they sent us out and had us sell things like candy and gift wrap or car washes to raise the money. Almost every week, I see kids in their football or basketball uniforms standing on the street corners asking for money--not selling anything, not offering to wash cars, just begging for money. This is a terrible message to send to kids: you dont have to work to achieve your goals. You dont have to give people something of value in order to receive something of value, you just need to learn to beg. ~PH
Why am I not surprised that Left Coast Statists don't understand the concept of economic liberty? No doubt they feel threatened by child entrepreneurs; it doesn't fit into the culture of government dependency. (What--they didn't think of adding on a violation of child labor laws?) I delivered newspapers in my teens, and I don't recall getting hassled. Really, is this the best use of the city's public safety professionals--busting 11-year-old girls selling mistletoe? Don't sweat the small stuff, people; she is not in business full-time; it was a part-time fundraising effort.
She was not impeded. Read the story. She was told she could not sell at the spot she chose. She could get a permit or sell elsewhere.
Yeah, right. Try to understand what you are reading, and apply some common sense. If she was successful at selling the mistletoe, it wouldn't matter where she sold if she was successful--the State thugs would have stopped her. For the State to try to profit off a young girl's attempt to raise funds for her braces, to crush her spirit, is utterly pathetic. It's alright for her to beg (First Amendment) but not to transact (economic liberty)? Apparently some liberty is more equal. I wonder what the Statist thug would have said if the girl said the mistletoe was a bonus if someone gave her a donation.
(Bastiat Institute.) http://washingtonexaminer.com/how-d.c.s-effort-to-raise-the-minimum-wage-helps-walmart/article/2540045
I don't buy the columnist's spin that Walmart wants to use the minimum wage as an anti-competitive weapon. (This seems to be based on a former Walmart CEO's suggestion of a higher national minimum wage.) I know this has been suggested by Lew Rockwell (cf. his 2005 essay on Mises.org) and others, but there are other reasons: for example, if a number of Walmart customers are lower-income, it would benefit from boosted income for those customers. It could also be a PR measure to counter "progressive" charges it is "anti-labor". In fact, it already competes in a competitive market for low-skill, inexperienced or young workers. Advocating a minimum wage boost can be a double-edged sword. The bottom line is that when you raise the price of labor out of line with labor productivity, you get less of it: fewer jobs and/or work hours. Employers will be more selective in hiring, and more people will get locked out of the job market.
Reason Magazine did a similar thread/perspective here.
I don't buy this as "crony" Walmart "win"; I commented in a different thread on the same column. First, I don't really think the small mom-and-pop shops constitute a serious threat to Walmart. Second, any kind of wage policy is a double-edged sword. Third, it's possible Walmart sees the higher wage as good for its lower-income customers. Fourth, it could be more of a PR move seeking to counter leftist anti-company propaganda. But let's face it: the leftists pushing minimum wage increases were not motivated by a crony relationship with Walmart. Walmart serves as a useful idiot to show how utterly "unfair" those of us whom oppose economically illiterate wage/price fixing are...
 |
| Via the Libertarian Republic |
He's not that good at peddling Statist snake oil to "cure" healthcare.
How to beat liberals on the economy. (Rebuttal Oped) | The Libertarian Republic http://bit.ly/1jh6yUB
I disagree, although libertarians do seem to squabble over orthodoxy (particularly the AnCaps towards minarchists). I think, though, a bigger issue is trying to explain the paradox of a libertarian seeking public office; the "progressives" portray us as being "anti-government" and all we hope to achieve is to sabotage; we need more of a constructive approach, e.g., show how government suppresses private-sector charity, and set up reform priorities. We need to address concerns with uncertainty over, say, reforms of senior entitlements or the social welfare net, to generations which have grown up with these systems and whom are counting on them during hard times and for their retirement.
(Tom Woods). My friend and co-author Kevin Gutzman writes:
"Colonial New England Puritans banned celebration of Christmas. Today, my university sent me this notice:
"'Please join us from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5, in the Science Building Atrium on the Midtown campus for a University Holiday Reception. Immediately following, there will be a Western Holiday Tree Lighting, Menorah Lighting & Kwanza Kinara Lighting, also on the Midtown campus.'"
Political correctness run amok. I've had friends from other faiths (Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc.) and I've never heard one of them complain about being intimidated by Christian symbols, holidays. What is it about academia (I'm a former business school professor)? You know, in universities, we are supposed to have our best and brightest there; I never met knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. And you have the "progressives" running around, writing pathetic rules and regulations to force their ideology down student throats as if they didn't, universities would lapse back into the days of segregation and Jim Crow laws, KKK rallies, etc.
(Bastiat Institute). "Rent seeking" or "privilege seeking" is typically defined as those [people or businesses] who use the state to gain an advantage over competition in some way, or use the state as its main source of revenue.
An example of rent seeking are those firms that provide the state with goods and services that might not be in demand if it were not for the state's diversion of capital through extortion ie (the government's special word for it) "taxation". Some examples might be those firms that get contracts from the Pentagon, Congress, and those institutions that lobby the Fed to create more money.
What specific examples of rent seeking can you think of?
Occupational licensing cartels. the Export-Import Bank, various mercantilist policies (e.g., industry tariffs, import quotas)...
(Reason). If charity is the balm for poverty, capitalism is the cure. Cf. opinion on the Pope's anti-capitalist rant.
Speaking as a Catholic libertarian, it's very embarrassing to read derivative secular humanist rhetoric in the exhortation like "trickle down" economics, for him to explicitly reference the invisible hand in disparaging terms, discuss political ambitions as a noble profession, etc. There are people in a state of denial, but he knew that he was stirring the pot. To be fair, the popes have all criticized capitalism for more than a century.
(Bastiat Institute). Would American, Chinese, Russian, British, or any other nation-state’s nuclear submarines exist in a free society absent the political manipulation and diversion of productive capital through the extortion of the state?
China and Russia rank in the bottom half of economic freedom indexes, and it's hard to see them being free anytime soon. If you look at how rogue states like North Korea and/or Iran have pursued nuclear weapons/technology (for whatever reason, including economic blackmail), I suspect the genie is out of the bottle, and you'll always need some form of deterrence. However, given free markets and free trade, one generally wants to make trade, not war, and I would expect the nature and extent of the military would be much differ and smaller than the status quo.
(Tom Woods). ‘MAINSTREAM’ IOWA REPUBLICANS WANT ROMNEY CLONE IN ’16
2nd December 2013'.
With all due respect, you seem to forget that the Dems and the mainstream media blamed the handful of Tea Party Republicans for the politically radioactive shutdown: the Dems gained about 9 points in subsequent polls. Recall Iowa is a state that has reelected hyper-"progressive" Harkin multiple times. The moderates feel that a pragmatic conservative like Christie has a shot at purple states and the red states will follow, just as they did for McCain and Romney. Romney had special problems involving his wealth, his flip-flopping record, and nagging doubts about RomneyCare. Philosophically I would like to see Rand Paul, but the GOP has a deep bench of governors, including Jindal, and I think Paul Ryan could be the sleeper candidate of 2016. I'm pretty sure that whoever is nominated will not be another Bush, McCain or Romney and will fashion a pro-liberty message.
Political Cartoon
 |
| Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall |
Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, "Once Upon a Christmas"
Bonus Performance: A friend recommended this Christmas medley performance...very cool.
