Miscellany: 1/31/14

Quote of the Day

Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity
George Bernard Shaw

Yes, Another Missing Daily Post

I had PC problems which I'm still working through. On a brighter note, this is my first Friday in weeks I haven't had to do an interstate commute....

Legal Plunderers Spend Their Ill-Gotten Loot...



We Are NOT the Masses



But the Trolls Ask: Who Will Save Us From 'Evil Businesses'? NOT Who Will Save Us From 'Evil Monopoly  of Force Government'



Lemonade, Hot Dogs, and Now Cupcakes: "Progressives" Crushing the American Spirit

Chloe Stirling, an 11-year-old sweetie from Illinois, had her entrepreneurial dreams crushed for making life a little sweeter for her cupcake customers by pencil-pushing bureaucrats enforcing Draconian licensing requirements and business mandates, essentially shutting down her dream business.

Public School Administrators Worship the god of Diversity, Throw Gifted Kids Under the Bus

I mentioned this personal experience in a past post. One day my high school biology teacher talked to me after class and told me that I didn't have to attend class anymore. He explained that if he taught to my level, he would lose the rest of the class. He knew I could find a more productive use of my time than sitting in a class where I would pick up little beyond what I already knew.

In this case, a New Yoek principal has deemed a gifted young kids' program insufficiently "diverse" and hence is canceling future enrollments. How does our economy improve if we do not invest in our best and brightest?

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville, "I Don't Know Much".  In my opinion, one of the best duets ever, introducing me to Aaron Neville's mad vocals. During a recent interstate weekend commute, I had a hits compilation from Ronstadt on heavy rotation. (Still, I wish it included "Dreams to Dream", my favorite Ronstadt tune.)

Miscellany: 1/29/14

Quote of the Day

Any man who can drive safely 
while kissing a pretty girl 
is simply not giving the kiss 
the attention it deserves.
Albert Einstein

Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day

Via the Independent Institute

Image of the Day

Via Patriot Post

In last night's SOTU address,

The narcissist in chief referred to himself a whopping 74 times during the speech (“I” x 50, “my” x 11, “me” x 11,“ and "as president” twice). 

The Myth of Stagnant Wages

I remember the first serious PC I bought, a no-name clone for just under $3000, as a young professor. Even though the dollar has declined in purchasing power significantly over the last 2 decades, I recently bought a new desktop with vastly more memory, CPU power and speed, hard drive, and functionality at nearly a tenth of that cost even though my professional compensation has been significantly more than I ever made as a junior professor. The point is I don't have to work as many hours to buy a desktop today; I'm able to spend money not spent on the new computer buying up other goods and services, which makes me better off.

Businesses don't simply aim at the upper 1%, whom only need so much food, shelter, clothing, etc. Without economies of scale, prices would be much higher. Mark Perry of Carpe Diem points out that the average American household spends less than 7% of income on meals prepared at home, a third of the average household around the world. His current post compares the work-equivalent price of household appliances over the past 5 decades-plus:

Courtesy of Carpe Diem

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

The Motels, "Suddenly Last Summer"

Miscellany: 1/28/14

Quote of the Day

Man is least himself when he talks 
in his own person. 
Give him a mask, 
and he will tell you the truth.
Oscar Wilde

The State of the Union Is Sluggish

A dull speech, most of which we've heard before. Just a few notes:

• Obama likes to have his cake and eat it, too. To give an example: he took credit for increasing domestic production of oil and gas, but he also plugged ending tax subsidies for the (the mostly small, independents) oil and gas industry and boosting them for alternative energy subsidies. "Climate change is a fact." Climate change, if it exists, may reflect factors beyond our control, and it's difficult to envision a real solution from a policy perspective.
•  He continued to stubbornly maintain what this blog calls the "77-centers", claiming there is widespread discrimination against women in compensation. I've discussed this allegation many times; when you control for factors like experience, hours, occupation, marital status, etc., this all but disappears. In fact, with women largely dominating college graduations and the higher income associated with college education, in a number of cities, single college-educated women actually have a comparative advantage.
• More income inequality rhetoric, plugging away on the economically-illiterate minimum wage, increases to unemployment compensation. More economic populist nonsense bashing corporate greed, the fact that he wants to take away money from corporations which would prefer to invest in more productive technology and their employees and "invest" it in government-administered training programs, etc.
• Obama is still pushing for the same policy focuses from his first year in office: "investments" in infrastructure, green energy, and education.

Facebook Corner

(Illinois Policy Institute).  Defenders of public-sector unionism argue that it reduces costs and improves quality by ensuring “labor peace” — or, avoiding strikes and creating a happier, better-trained workforce

It seems that some people don't understand that unions and union membership is necessary in our society... otherwise there would be nobody in the middle class.. at all. The wealthy corporations would pay only the minimum wage to everyone so as to pay higher profits to their stockholders. There would be no limits to work hours, no overtime pay, no vacation days, no holidays, no sick days, no pension for anyone. If you don't have those benefits, then brother (or sister) you NEED to join a union! And in the case of government employees, the same situation would exist... without unions and the ability to collectively bargain with the legislature and govenor.

 Lets keep in mind that Union members represent only about 17% of the workers (taxpayers) in Illinois. It's hard to picture the unions controlling the other 83% of the taxpayers in the state. Those state employees that have been targeted by certain political groups are also taxpayers. Some of us also forget that the state employee unions represent taxpayers (their members) in meetings with the administration that wouldn't give a raise or benfit to anybody except themselves without pressure from the collective power of union members. If non-union labor activity was "the way to go" then why are more and more groups of workers choosing to establish unions to represent them? The bulk of the problem in our state is the legislature... where instead of taking care of their existing obligations, they have time and time again "borrowed" money from the state pension system so as to fund the various pet projects of the legislature. IF the legislature had not borrowed all that money, the state pension system would never have gotten off the track. I know I've drifted from the original topic to pensions, but to me, they are interconnected. A pension is an important part of a worker's compensation... when one has been agreed upon in advance. Without the collective power of the unions, what do you suppose would have happened to state employee pensions last year. What we need is more collective bargaining, not less!

Libertarians accept the concept of voluntary associations, including unions, but not the kind of crony Big Unions protected by the government.

[Discussant] is an ineffective apologist for special-interest unions. First, unions and collective bargaining had nothing to do with the rising middle class. DiLorenzo and others point out that unions are laying claim to advances afforded by the investment of capitalism, including a higher standard of living (e.g., families relied less on child labor for survival as household income rose with productivity; legislation simply locked in some reform already taking place in the private markets). If you look at any rapidly developing economies, e.g., China and India, the rapidly growing middle class during our lifetimes has had more to do with liberalizing their economies than emerging power of unions.

Second, union memberships are declining across the board and at the lowest ratio in decades. Third, for most of the populace, pensions are a thing of the past; most of my past employers have offered 401K's. Not too many private-sector workers have the generous benefits or job security in public sector employment; the fact that the tax and spenders unions support didn't squirrel away enough money for public sector pensions shifted the burden on future taxpayers unfairly. The unions didn't service their members well by letting their legislative cronies fail to protect pensions through inadequate funding on an ongoing basis. The idea that the 1 in 6 workers are public-sector taxpayers are paying their fair share is laughable. The other workers produce real goods and services, and the taxes paid by public workers don't begin to pay the freight; the fact they have a vested interest in public policy expenditures speaks for itself.

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Glenn Foden and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Roy Orbison, "You Got It"

Miscellany: 1/27/14

Quote of the Day

In spite of warnings,
nothing much happens until 
the status quo becomes more painful than change.
Laurence J. Peterdge

I'm Back Live--With a Rant

For the second time in January I was  helped by a Good Samaritan. I was driving a moving van towing my car when I took an early West Virginia exit to get some gas. You get some sage advice about not driving on snow and not to put the van in reverse. Somehow I must have overshot the gas station and found myself in effectively a single snowy lane with no turnaround. My cellphone was running low, and most calls were out of range, it was growing darker, cold and windy, I didn't know where I was, I was behind someone getting rescued, but soon I was the one needing a rescue. I managed to get one estimate of over an hour wait (apparently one tow driver in the area, and he already had a gig).

What is remarkable is how a handful of local residents helped me out, never asking for a penny. (There were a couple of fellow motorists not happy with the fact I was blocking their way--one guy cursed me with his high beams, but most  people were empathetic. I'll never forget being on the Southwest Freeway in Houston during Friday evening rush, and unknown to me, I was losing coolant fluid, and my car was overheating. One motorist was delighted to say a break in the traffic behind me and filled the gap. He started honking his horn and cursing at me, as if that did any good.)

On the other hand, the moving van company seriously annoyed me. Their roadside assistance program pointed out how they didn't cover snow incidents and didn't seem that interested in helping me out. The target manager said  that he closed shop at  7 PM, regardless of my predicament (the fact I'm doing business with them in a different line of business didn't sway his judgment). Their customer service laughed when I pointed out my GM car doesn't stop in neutral but in park. What are they trying to do--imitate the federal government?

Towards Competition in Education



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of the original artist via Patriot Post

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Michael Bolton, "Steel Bars"

Miscellany: 1/26/14

Quote of the Day

Start with good people, 
lay out the rules, 
communicate with your employees, 
motivate them and reward them. 
If you do all those things effectively, 
you can’t miss.
Lee Iacocca

Hall of Shame



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Glenn Foden and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Marc Cohn, "Walking in Memphis"

c

Miscellany: 1/25/14

Quote of the Day

Life is not the way it's supposed to be.
It's the way it is.
The way you cope with it is
what makes the difference.
Virginia Satir

NOTE: Pre-scheduled posts may be published Sunday and/or Monday.

The Voting Rights Amendment Act: Thumbs DOWN!

The Fifteenth Amendment was intended to ensure equitable access for voting for all US citizens and to regulate government-based election discrimination policies. The Old South, which resented federal micromanagement over its affairs led by the GOP after the Civil War, was a vital part of the Democrat coalition and basically blocked putting teeth into voting regulation. SCOTUS had basically interpreted the amendment narrowly but had started to chip away at some of the onerous abuses when LBJ finally muscled through the Voting Rights Act in the mid-1960's. The Voting Rights Act included some heavy-handed oversight with certain states that had engaged in a series of gimmicks intended to discourage minority voting. In particular, certain states, with historic low minority voting patterns, had to pre-clear (in Section 5) even modest changes in elections (e.g., changing a voting place) through the feds; this did not mean that the other sections didn't apply to any or all localities, but this was an additional burden, extra scrutiny, presumably to head off at the pass any mischief to rollback electoral reforms. And in fact, the Voting Rights Act worked as intended; within a generation we not only had record minority turnouts, but significant numbers of local elected officials of color.

The problem is that long after discriminatory policies had been abolished, the Congress has re-upped what was supposed to have been a temporary extraordinary measure in the form of Section 5. This is not like being put on probation for 5 years and at the end of probation, they add another 25 years to your probation simply as tyranny of the majority. It didn't matter than the old practices are a thing of the fading past, what you did or didn't do under probation; unlike most other states, you are still under the scrutiny of the Justice Department.

This is a manifest violation of equal protection on the state level, which is why Section 5 was struck down by SCOTUS last year. You had an extraordinary remedy which was now becoming standard operating procedure. What SCOTUS said in effect is you can have a pre-clearance process, but it has to be based on a current substantive record of abuse and it has to be impartially administered. So the Voting Rights Amendment Act is all about trying to reintroduce pre-clearance under those guidelines. Cato has a good analysis of the problems with the act. I definitely don't like the idea, say, just because a particular group of voters doesn't participate as much as others, it implies discrimination. Take, for example, the super-turnouts among blacks for the Presidential elections of Obama. It would not be surprising to see some drop in black voting, say reverting to an historical average, in a subsequent election between non-black candidates. It does not mean the states have enacted restrictive policies against voting. We must not confuse correlation with causation. For example, I have drastically reduced my watching of televised sports. It's not that the games are less entertaining; I just have other priorities on my time.

What may be just as bad as arbitrary policies against voting is wasting one's vote on bad or corrupt politicians, particularly "progressives" whom enact counterproductive economic regulations and morally hazardous policies promoting undue dependence on the government.

Facebook Corner

(Libertarian Republic). Kill the New Deal?
And the Great Society and the Fed's second mandate... We have to stop this megalomaniac delusion that government solves problems, vs. exacerbates them. Trickle-down government exists for the benefit of the parasitic class. The idea that government can make rules for others when they can't even govern themselves is astounding.
[The New Deal created the Welfare State.]  And also the middle class. Doh!
Progressive trolls think the middle class was invented by government intervention. Bad economics, bad history and bad politics.

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of the original artist via Illinois Policy Institute

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Lionel Richie (with Alabama), "Deep River Woman".

Miscellany: 1/24/14

Quote of the Day

The Golden Rule of networking is simply this... 
All things being equal, 
people will do business with and refer business to 
those people they know, like and trust.
Bob Burg

Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day

Via the Ron Paul group on FB

Chart of the Day

Via MyGovCost

New Bad Judge of the Year Nominee: Texas Judge R. H. Wallace Jr. 

A pregnant Texas woman is being kept alive by John Peter Smith Hospital, in compliance with Texas law, until her baby is viable. Her husband and family are pushing for removal of life support, which would likely terminate the lives of Ms. Munoz and her 22-week old preborn child. The husband/father seems concerned that the baby may have developed abnormalities in the weeks since his wife has been hospitalized following a cardiac arrest. Wallace essentially declared the woman dead, not subject to Texas law, and shamelessly noted that the preborn child had no rights, because Ms. Munoz still would have the legal right to abort her child. As a pro-lifer, my position is clear: both the disabled mother and her preborn child have an unalienable right to life.

Christie Is Annoying Me

Gov. Christie is essentially arguing that some public schools should add a third meal (dinner) for low-income household children. He also wants a longer school day/year (to which the teacher union says: "Show me the money....") Yet even more idiotic is the response, "Do we really need these reforms? Don't we already have one of the best school systems in the country?"

I'm disappointed in that it is a parent's responsibility, not the taxpayer's, to feed their children, in a country where 1 in 5 qualifies for food stamps. Second, although I'm sympathetic to the governor's reforms to toughen the school system, I would prefer to see more competition in the education market. Somehow Christie is seeing expansive domestic policy, versus the free market, as a good thing

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Kenny Rogers, "Lady". One of Lionel Richie's best songs before he broke out as a solo act in the 1980's. It's also my favorite Rogers' hit, at a time where he was at a pinnacle of his success

Miscellany: 1/23/14

Quote of the Day

If you can find a path with no obstacles, 
it probably doesn't lead anywhere.
Frank A. Clark

Upcoming Publication Schedule

This weekend, through next Tuesday, my publication schedule may be interrupted and/or pre-scheduled with shorter posts.

Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day

Courtesy of Illinois Policy Institute

Next Bad Judge of the Year Nominee: Mary Mattivi 

A Shawnee County District Court Judge has ruled that a sperm donor for a lesbian couple's child is liable for child support, despite an unambiguous contract waiving parental rights. She argued that the transaction wasn't performed by a state recognized professional (in and of itself, a violation of economic liberty), hence the waiver is invalid, and in any event, a birth father can never really cede away his financial responsibility. I am not going to go on a rant here of anti-male bias in family courts; if I would ever be blessed with a child of my own, I would step up to my responsibility. From my personal morality, a child is born and raised by his natural parents. But men can't win: men have often been found financially responsible for a child not related by blood in lieu of the missing natural father. It's clear that the man in this case acted in good faith to an unambiguous agreement to be a donor in exchange for a waiver of his parental rights and responsibilities. For a judge to arbitrarily dismiss an unambiguous contract on a technicality where the State's fiat decisions trump individual liberty is contemptible and unconscionable.

Facebook Corner

(Cato Institute). "Letting free markets determine wage rates is consistent with a free society and also with economic logic. It is the surest path toward greater income mobility as younger, low-skilled workers get experience and move up the income ladder. Cutting that ladder off by mandating a higher minimum wage is a recipe for poverty not progress." 
Employment is an agreement between A and B. Either has the right to accept or reject the terms. I'll never understand how any of it is the business of C.
A must offer B an equitable solution.
What is "equitable" is the rub. We cannot morally argue against a mutually satisfactory arrangement, which, in your condescending opinion, is "unfair"; it is literally none of your business. One thing is for sure: no government bureaucrat or professional politician is a competent surrogate for the market. Wages reflect a worker's productivity: if someone shovels twice as much snow over a unit of time, he should earn twice as much. 

But as to the "comparable worth" or "living wage" of a snow shoveler, all of this rests on dubious statistics. The barriers of entry are low; all you need is a shovel and to be in good physical shape, with minimal training. Obviously if you invest in technology like a snow-blower or a snow-plowing equipment, you can increase your productivity and wages. If there is a shortage of snow professionals, the well-off may bid up the price to the fair market price of their own market wages.

Political Humor

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via PatriotPost

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Jermaine Jackson & Whitney Houston, "If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful".  I don't think this beautiful duet was ever released as a single, but it is one of my favorite Houston performances and duets of all time.

Miscellany: 1/22/14

Quote of the Day

The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be 
ruined by praise than 
saved by criticism.
Norman Vincent Peale

Government Persecution of a Small Business



Public Education: A Tribute

Via Independent Institute

Facebook Corner

(Bastiat Institute). In Texas, warning people of a speed trap can get you arrested (JA)
So much for that whole freedom of speech thing.

(Reason Magazine). "Patients who want to qualify for medical marijuana in Illinois would have to be fingerprinted for a background check and pay $150 a year — and give up their right to own a gun, state officials proposed Tuesday."
Since when can the state arbitrarily exclude the right to self-defense? Simply unconstitutional.

I Miss My Texas Bluebonnets

One of my favorite things while I was in grad school in Houston was driving home via I-10 West from Houston over the Easter weekend and stretching at a rest stop, smelling that sweet fragrance. Lots of things I miss about my home state, including the cuisine--especially BBQ and Tex-Mex and all those gorgeous women (well, at least seeing them).

Via rantlifestyle

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Elvis Presley, "Kentucky Rain". An early Eddie Rabbitt-penned hit--I honestly think the King's later hits were his best songs--also, "In the Ghetto", "Burning Love", etc. I was probably more of  country than pop music lover back then with Bobby Goldsboro, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Lynn Anderson, etc. I just love the driving arrangement, and Presley's performance is spot on.

Miscellany: 1/21/14

Quote of the Day

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is 
only what you really need.
Vernon Howard

Illinois Dem Pols Steal From Families to Feed Their Union Cronies



Obama Hopes to Win Pope Francis' Support for His Domestic Policies

The late March meeting between the President and the pontiff will not, Obama hopes, deal with issues like Obama's pro-abortion choice policies, his healthcare policies requiring Catholic institutions to pay for things like contraceptive policies contradicting Catholic moral teachings, etc. Instead, Obama wants Francis' approval or endorsement for his redistribution policies given Francis' bashing free market principles, alleged social darwinism, worship of money, income inequality, etc. But Obama needs to be really careful of what he wishes for; the former Argentinian cardinal had his differences with a populist "progressive" regime back in his home country. To be honest, all the popes (including Benedict) had bashed both capitalism and socialism.

I've made my criticisms of the Pope's bashing of the free market explicit in past posts, but I would point out capitalism or capitalist reforms (e.g., in China) have brought more people out of poverty than all the socialist/redistribution schemes put together. Free trade and markets give the poor ways to stretch their resources on more variety and inexpensive goods and services; higher economic growth lifts all boats, including the poor's with more job opportunities.

Facebook Corner

A relative comments on a controversial Seattle pro football defensive player:
Totally changes your perspective when you read this, but you [know] if I was him I probably would've boasted too.
Nope. Jerks exist across humanity. Having pride in one's performance is one thing; trashing the opposition doesn't reflect well on him as a person. Trying to excuse bad behavior by playing the victim card is rather pathetic--but it's par for the course from the likes of HuffPo.

From a Cato Institute thread on MLK where a discussant argues that MLK would not sign onto many Cato Institute stands on issues:
 i listened to a hour long speech yesterday so its quite fresh and everything you said is incorrect and a perfect example of legislating outcomes and incomes is Glass steagal and sherman anti trust both of which have been reversed or not enforced ending in the situation we are in now. Pick up a political history book instead of watching GOPTV or reading CATO. It would do you some good. You can cut the BS with a knife in here
Oh my God, another clueless person citing Glass-Steagall as if it was the holy grail. Glass Steagall concepts had zero to do with the main players in the economic tsunami--Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, the GSE's, AIG, etc. And the Anti-Trust bugaboo. You are the one gullible enough to buy Statist propaganda. The biggest deterrent is transparency, letting big companies fail, lowering barrier to entry...

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of the original artist via the Independent Institute

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Bob Seger, "Against the Wind". My favorite Seger tune: as someone who has constantly faced adversity, especially from a career perspective nearly all his adult life, it naturally appeals to me. But, totally unrelated to the song, I had the hardest time buying the album. The first LP was so warped my needle jumped off the track. I brought it back to exchange at least 4 times--all of the copies warped. The vendor finally refused any more exchanges and refunded my money. It was not my only problem buying LP's. At the risk of losing all my music cred, I once tried to buy a double album of Osmond family hits. The album included the same 2 records (e.g., the first 2 of 4 sides).

Miscellany: 1/20/14

Quote of the Day

History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened.
Benjamin Franklin

Your Tax Dollars at Work: Snuggling Stings



"Extreme" Conservatives Not Welcome in NY?

I have routinely refused to consider opportunities in NY and California, even between gigs in the aftermath of the economic tsunami. In large part, I despise the states' politics, and it's a key reason I want to leave Maryland and will not consider returning to Illinois.

But while the Arch-Partisan Legal Plunderer in Chief Cuomo has annoyed Sean Hannity to the point of seriously considering leaving NY, I want to point out the rhetoric Cuomo is using is nothing new: Democrats for some time have sought to divide and conquer the GOP, typically focusing on isolating a small number of Tea Party conservatives. Where is this bugaboo coming from? We haven't seen key Tea Party proposals enacted like slashing spending and taxes, deregulation, reforming the Fed, protecting civil liberties, an end to international meddling, etc.

In Cuomo's black-and-white world, there are 'good' Republicans and 'bad' Republicans. 'Good' or 'moderate' Republicans support or do not oppose Cuomo's partisan Statist agenda on gun control, abortion expansion, etc. But the hypocrisy is appalling. I'm currently aware, for instance, only of 2 pro-life federal Democrats (Dan Lipinsky, Bob Casey). This is despite shifts in Gallup polling showing a plurality pro-life voter base. The last time I checked, not a single Senate Democrat came close to a medium-range ACU rating. There's pretty much a dominant "progressive" groupthink mentality, despite the fact that only 1 in 5 voters considers himself a "progressive".

But for a sitting governor to hypocritically try to intimidate (vs. embrace) tolerance of political diversity is downright un-American. Face the facts, Governor: a great number of native New Yorkers do not share your perspective of a Statist agenda: tax, spend, regulate and engage in  socially experimental policies.

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary McCoy and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Santana (Rob Thomas on vocals), "Smooth"

Miscellany: 1/19/14

Quote of the Day

Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity
George Bernard Shaw

Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day

Via Illinois Policy Institute

When Movie Producers Play 'Let's Make a Deal' With States

Mark Perry of Carpe Diem reports on an e21 piece noting that all 9 movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar took advantage of lucrative state tax incentives to shoot the picture in their states. The states often justify their incentives claiming to make it all up and then some with associated increased business/job growth, etc. But many states report losing up to 70% on the tax dollar incentive, meaning other state taxpayers have to make up the difference. WalMart learned a long time ago instead of running splashy periodic specials, it would simply offer everyday low competitive prices over all its inventory. Instead of being seduced by Hollywood stars or high-profile pro sports teams, states should focus on everyday low tax/regulatory overhead and efficient, effective services for all businesses and citizens....

My Greatest Hits: Jan. 2014

• Miscellany: 12/23/13
• Miscellany: 12/25/13 Happy Christmas
• SCOTUS, the Voting Rights Act and a Rant
• Miscellany: 11/29/12
• Miscellany: 12/24/13 Christmas Eve

Facebook Corner

(Learn Liberty). Does anyone see anything problematic in this story?
Only a tiny fraction of the workforce makes minimum wage, and a large number of those are not heads of households but younger and/or inexperienced workers. There are also short-term vs. long-term effects of wage floor increases, and wages are only part of total compensation. 

The problem is the thing unseen--people deprived of income and experience which they would get where the market-clearing price is below the statutory floor. Increasing the price of labor lowers the supply of jobs, plus gives the employer an incentive to invest in labor-saving technology. What you want is healthy economic growth increasing the demand for labor and labor prices intrinsically, not by some megalomaniac delusion of manipulating alleged income inequality through impotent public policy.

(Bastiat Institute). Does law have anything to do with what politicians and bureaucrats declare legal and illegal?
Certainly not when published law lacks due process, accountability, transparency or violates negative liberties and/or when the scope of law is virtually unknowable and its enforcement becomes arbitrary.

(Catholic Libertarians). « ... When libertarians speak of the “free market,” they are not talking about what today passes for capitalism, where the markets are subject to heavy regulation. The supposed purpose of government regulation is to serve the public interest, but the results do not match the rhetoric. On issue after issue, government interference is far more likely to promote special interests and to obstruct those who compete with those interests. 

This is not to blame the corporations, trade organizations, or labor unions whose lobbyists roam the nation’s capitals looking for handouts. Special interests will seek favor with politicians as long as politicians have the favors to give. The blame must always be placed where it belongs: on the government, which takes what it does not own and gives what it has no right to give ... »

Excerpt from Free Is Beautiful: Why Catholics Should Be Libertarian by fellow page-admin Randy England (http://freeisbeautiful.net/about-the-book/) ~Mark

Via Young Americans For Liberty

I know faulting corporations is mostly a scapegoating mechanism, meant to deflect attention from failed public policy. The goals of corporations are mutually inconsistent; for example, if I'm an automaker I want to pay world price for steel, not an artificially high price of protectionist steel policies (tariffs, quotas, etc.)

What happens is that government seeks to manipulate the economy from a megalomaniac delusion of central planning. It uses carrots and sticks; as holding monopolistic control/force, it has leverage to pick winners and losers in the economy. Opportunistic businesses attempt to co-opt the tax and regulatory regime to get their "fair share" at the expense of the competition and consumers. A corporation can't do it directly because it employs only a tiny fraction of the voting public. Hence the bugaboo of corporations "buying elections". More likely, corrupt lobbyists are politically agnostic and seek a seat at the table of whomever holds power.

The problem, of course, is that the costs of regulations are largely off the government's books, not to mention opportunity costs. It, however, inhibits the dynamic behavior of free markets. This is not the matter of the chicken or the egg; government rationalizes its own existence and growth on a lack of faith in the free market; it creates instability by, for example, introducing deposit insurance in banking. It indirectly encourages riskier lending, knowing depositors are taken care of; depositors don't need to assess bank safety, knowing they are covered by any insured bank. This would not happen under free banking.


(Independent Institute). What did you think of Obama's NSA speech yesterday?
It's good to hear him acknowledge there is a transparency problem after 5 years and initially running on concerns over government transparency and civil liberties. (Remember his campaign rhetoric opposing the Patriot Act?)

But politically he has been one to co-opt his opposition, a bait-and-switch where he tries to wed the stolen rhetoric to weak, half-ass policy reforms/"solutions". The proof is in the pudding; physician/bureaucrat, heal thyself! Where is the evidence of a proactive self-policing State on his watch?

(Illinois Policy Institute). Reforms that will empower parents, reward and retain high-quality teachers and improve student outcomes are proceeding at a snails’ pace in Illinois.
In response to the "progressive" troll whose response to Illinois' failing public school monopoly is to throw more money to teacher unions and top-heavy school bureaucracies:

From a recent Cato Institute post: "Of twelve randomized controlled trials—the gold standard of social science research—eleven found that school choice programs improve outcomes for some or all students while only one found no statistically significant difference and none found a negative impact...A 2009 literature review of the within-country studies comparing outcomes among different types of school systems worldwide revealed that the most market-like and least regulated education systems tended to produce student outcomes superior to more heavily regulated systems, including those with a substantial number state-funded and regulated private schools."

(Illinois Policy Institute). Wisconsin's budget surplus was projected Thursday to reach nearly $1 billion, money that Gov. Scott Walker and legislative leaders are eyeing for income and property tax cuts.
He's made a whole more people in WI poorer and now he's going to give the rich another bonus. He knows who butters his bread.
No, unlike your corrupt governor and legislature, he is giving taxpayers more control over their own money and curbing the abuses of corrupt self-interest groups like the public employee unions. He is trying to make his state more attractive for businesses and individuals; what has the state of Illinois done over the past decade under Dem "leadership" other than to kick the can down the road and exacerbate the ongoing pension crisis and credit downgrades? And your answer is to steal even more money from taxpayers to pay off corrupt bargains with Dem special interests?

(Drudge Report). OBAMA: 'I WOULD NOT LET MY SON PLAY PRO FOOTBALL'...
His son, by the time he was old enough for the NFL draft, would be a legal adult. (Of course, that's never stopped Barry from telling the rest of us adults what to do...) What's he going to say? 'Sonny, if you go to training camp, I'll take you off my healthcare policy...'

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Peter Cetera and Amy Grant, "Next Time I Fall"

Miscellany: 1/18/14

Quote of the Day

We are wiser than we know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

List of the Day

Chart of the Day

Via Carpe Diem

Minimum Gain, Maximum Loss

I attended two academic conferences in Las Vegas during the mid-80's, the latter as a junior (nontenured) professor. I've never been  into gambling, and as a young academic, I couldn't afford to gamble anyway. For the budget-minded, there are the inexpensive buffets (at the time, maybe $3-$4); of course, they were strategically located so you had to find your way through a maze of gambling tables and other distractions. But they were so inexpensive that a senior professor in my area decided to claim per diem (no receipts) and cleared a few bucks. I found myself battling the bureaucracy for reimbursement with itemized receipts totaling below per diem. (They threw out the last receipt, claiming a snack served on the plane was a 'meal' and that I was effectively double-dipping. It wasn't so much the $3 or so, but the principle. It was like trying to pull teeth; I eventually got reimbursed, but only after I suggested that I wanted to file per diem instead.)

Why am I discussing buffets? Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek did one of his signature Who'd a Thunk It? pieces on a Gray Lady news item over a casino operation closing its buffet operations a few months after a corrupt labor arbitrator more than doubled the pay of buffet staffers. One thing should be clear: buffets are not cash cows--they have been a type of loss leader (e.g., like a free trial period: obviously a business that gives things away without offsetting revenues/profits is unsustainable). The casinos hope that they can clear enough profit from incidental gambling activities of buffet customers to make the operation worthwhile; whether other casino customers or operations are profitable is irrelevant. (I did a quick check on Google with respect to Las Vegas buffets while writing this piece; I think the days of $3 buffets are in the past: inflation, not to mention buffets have gone upscale (more premium offerings) since my last visit, but there are still places you can go for little more than you might pay a la carte at a casual restaurant.)

Don in his posts gets a little bit into the weeds, combating claims of monopsony. (A monopsony is the flip side of a monopoly. The latter involves one principal seller (vs. buyer). The idea is that dominant market players can manipulate prices favorably (higher or lower) than the true/"fair" market price, at the expense of buyer or seller respectively.) "Progressives" seem to think that labor unions or regulations are the only things keeping employers from driving down wages, take it or leave it. That really doesn't explain why only a tiny fraction of workers make minimum wage, despite a declining percentage of union membership. A business can't sustain gains by lowering wages: it shrinks the pool of available labor for said wages, and other businesses might be attracted by the pool of labor at attractive prices. But, in the end, there is an intrinsic reason for why a business hires as many employees as it does: even if the price of bread is only a dime a loaf, there is only so much bread I can eat, and I have only so much space in my freezer. I might need only so much low-skilled labor; even if I was a parent and there was a BOGO special on babysitters, I would only need one babysitter. It's tied to worker productivity. Wage restrictions simply filter out mutually beneficial labor transactions.

In the Gray Lady piece, 175 buffet restaurant workers learned that the money-losing restaurant was closing; a recent price increase couldn't stop the bleeding. The casino operator denied that the labor ruling was tied to the closure--but let's face the facts: if a restaurant was losing money even before the arbiter in many cases more than doubled wages to a "living wages" criterion, windfall wage compensation exacerbated the restaurant's losses. Whether or not other casino operations are profitable is irrelevant: a restaurant is not a charity; it doesn't exist for the personal interests of its employees. Losing a job is traumatic; it has happened to me in the past. A few years back I worked for the national consulting arm of a well-known information services company; the sales guys went through a dry patch of not winning relevant project bids, and my job was tied to utilization. The company had other operations tied to profitable long-term contracts, but the idea that other business units would subsidize my costs if they could not use me would have created a risk to them. (Ironically my former boss recently contacted me to see if I was available.) The closure of a business is not retaliation for a counter-productive, economically illiterate arbitration decision; they simply didn't see the business as viable, even as a loss leader.

Facebook Corner 

(LFC). "NSA apologists accuse Snowden of "breaking the law" for having violated his contract with the government not to disclose the intelligence that he did. But Snowden, presumably, believed that the government was acting in violation of the Constitution--the fundamental LAW of the land. No one can have a contractual obligation to BREAK THE LAW. Thus, those, like Obama, who refer to Snowden as having acted in an "unauthorized" way, beg the question, for if Snowden is right, then it was the President and this government that acted in an unauthorized manner. Snowden was just trying to rectify the original illegality."
- Jack Kerwick

No, Snowden downloaded every single document he could, not just the NSA spying; he violated the terms of his contract; he did not act in good faith to address his concerns under whistleblower protections. Depending on the nature of the documents, he could compromise foreign policy or intelligence activities and personnel, accountable to no one except himself.

I am not an apologist for NSA. It's collected information in a way that is the logical equivalent of a general warrant; it has violated the spirit and intent of the Fourth Amendment.

On Restoring Education Competition

Some salient insights via Cato Institute:

Of twelve randomized controlled trials—the gold standard of social science research—eleven found that school choice programs improve outcomes for some or all students while only one found no statistically significant difference and none found a negative impact...A 2009 literature review of the within-country studies comparing outcomes among different types of school systems worldwide revealed that the most market-like and least regulated education systems tended to produce student outcomes superior to more heavily regulated systems, including those with a substantial number state-funded and regulated private schools.

I will say I have one major difference with this piece: as a measurement guy, I do like the idea of multi-point objective data points on student/teacher performance. I think it provides early feedback on performance issues and facilitates development of baselines and comparative assessment. Of course, what tests and who designs them are the rub...

Political Humor

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Art Garfunkel, "I Only Have Eyes for You"

Miscellany: 1/17/14

Quote of the Day

My definition of an expert in any field is 
a person who knows enough about what's really going on 
to be scared.
PJ Plauger

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Beth Nielsen Chapman, "Sand and Water". I realize that I usually end my post with a musical selection but I'm making an exception because of circumstances. One of my uncles, my Dad's oldest brother, passed away today. This song, by a grieving widow singer-songwriter, was an instant favorite, and I bought the CD single; I know my Dad also likes the song.



Zero Tolerance For School Zero Tolerance Policies



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Glenn Foden and Townhall

Miscellany: 1/16/14

Quote of the Day

There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. 
There is only the way of intuition, 
which is helped by a feeling for the 
order lying behind the appearance.
Albert Einstein

Book Smart, Blog Stupid

As I've mentioned before in the blog, my favorite email all day is my daily digest of posts from Cafe Hayek. Russ Roberts had a small gem of a post which he entitled "I Don't Know What To Call This Post". He's basically pointing out that Paul Krugman as an economist writing economics textbooks realizes issues of moral hazard, etc., with overly generous unemployment benefits, but as a Gray Lady "progressive" columnist and blogger, he takes shots at economists making similar  points. Unlike Russ, I have no problem coming up with a post title: look up...

Political Humor



Facebook Corner

(Illinois Policy Institute). A progressive income tax would deliver a devastating blow to Illinois’ already struggling business climate.
 So do we balance the budget on the backs of the poor, elderly and struggling middle class?
It's "trickle-down government" as usual. The upper middle-class bureaucrat gets his cut and unpaid-for pension; the government is a tax on the economy and is grossly inefficient and ineffective. The idea that the cure to a bad economy is taking money out of the pockets of wealth-producing businessmen and into the pockets of parasitic demagogues whom call spending other people's money an "investment" is in denial of the parable of the talents.

The biggest driver of the private sector economy is consumer spending, which accounts for almost 70 percent of all economic activity. By overtaxing the working poor and middle class and undertaxing the wealthy with it's unfair flat tax Illinois puts a drag on private sector growth and jobs. Of the 41 states with an individual income tax, all but seven have graduated rate structures. 

The report written by the State Budget Crisis Task Force, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker says: 

"When Illinois wrote a flat tax into its 1970 Constitution, the United States was a much more middle-class country. Income inequality was at a historic low, especially in industrial states with heavy manufacturing bases and large union membership. That, of course, has changed in the last 42 years. Chicago has lost all its steel mills, for one thing. The income of the average American has remained constant, while the income of the top 1 percent of Americans has tripled." 

It's time for the rich to step up and pay their fair share.
 "Progressive" income tax rates are morally unjustifiable and inefficient from an economic standpoint. It penalizes economic success. This progressive troll is citing conceptually misleading statistics on the economy; as Skousen points out, the "make" economy (which the troll ignores) is more than twice as large as the "use" economy.

If we're doing to do something as economically illiterate as taxing wealth-producing activities, you should make it as flat as possible. Think, for example, if your gas tax was progressive in nature: why would anyone fill up? A flat tax is simpler to administer and collect and is fairer in that each dollar of income is treated equally: at a certain level, a person is working more for the government's benefit than his own.

In fact, in a flat system, people or businesses making, say, 80% of the income pay 80% of income taxes. Trolls think that's "unfair"--they should pay more than 80% of income taxes. If the troll actually read some economics instead of reading and regurgitating "progressive" propaganda and talking points, he might actually learn something. The idea of blaming a flat income tax to alleged income inequality (a state of denial ignoring longitudinal social mobility studies) is preposterous; in fact, economic growth and income rose more consistently during the Gilded Age--without Statist meddling in setting wage floors, taxing income, etc.

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Glenn McCoy and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Yvonne Elliman, "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees had to be the hottest songwriters around from the mid-70's to early 80's. Not only did they dominate the late 70's with their own performances, but they wrote strong hits for other artists: Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, Tavares, Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, and this sparkling performance by Yvonne Elliman. I actually prefer the Bee Gees' own version--I like the manic driving percussion arrangement.

If it sounds like I have the Bee Gees on my mind, it's because I've been driving over the past week with their #1's CD. I'm also embedding Sarah Brightman's version of a lesser-known hit, "First of May", which has become a  personal favorite for much of the same nostalgic reasons I love Faith Hill's "Where Are You, Christmas?" I think her understated performance perfectly frames a flower of a song; she also has live versions where she goes into her full soprano. (For me, opera singers often sound like they're singing with a mouth full of mashed potatoes: I can barely make out words; an opera singer doing a pop song is almost like Dolly Parton trying to put on a training bra.) I don't like singing gimmicks, like Michael Jackson's grunts, Mariah Carey's warbling up and done octaves, all the runs that American Idol contestants do to try to impress the judges, etc. Maybe it's jealousy that I don't have the pipes, but as a writer I want to hear a singer do full justice to the lyrics.

Miscellany: 1/15/14

Quote of the Day

Intellectuals solve problems, 
geniuses prevent them.
Albert Einstein

Judicial Tyranny Continues

Judge-In-Name-Only Terence Kern decided to overturn Oklahoma's traditional marriage law (validated by three quarters of voters) on activist jurist grounds. Of the 18 states that have adopted gay "marriage" laws, more than half were done by activist judges, not the will of the people. I do differ from some libertarians in that I distinguish between prohibition of relationships and judicial meddling with traditional institutions. I do think there is a role for majority-based preferences, so long as they do not unduly infringe on individual rights. Mr. Kern, who was nominated by President Zipper, joins Shelby in this year's crop of bad jurists for my new annual award.

Economically Illiterate Rent Control Policies



Facebook Corner

(Cato Institute). "There’s no doubt that raising the minimum wage would reduce employment and slow economic growth. Worse, government wage-setting is immoral."
I find myself on the "Why are we subsidizing McDonald's and Walmart?" side of the question.
The way I interpret the slap at Walmart and McDonald's is, like regulations in general, Big Businesses benefit from imposing cost increases on smaller businesses which don't have the scale to compete.

But beyond the sheer immorality of prohibition of employment at a market-clearing rate and the utter insanity of Statist politicians setting arbitrary wage floors (see Mises for a compelling argument on the folly of central planning without a market), employer mandates are a disingenuous form of government taxation on business that doesn't appear on the government's books. And it's futile because the floor doesn't apply to 98% of job holders; it discriminates against lower-skilled, inexperienced or younger workers by shrinking the number of work opportunities.

(LFC). Thoughts on net neutrality?
Utter insanity. The Internet didn't need incompetent government regulators to become the vibrant, rich provider of content that exists. If there is a problem of Big Providers, the answer is to deregulate the industry and eliminate barriers to entry, not to insert a meddlesome regulator making obsolete decisions in a world of rapidly changing, ever more powerful technology and capacity.

(Independent Institute) Communications Counsel K. Lloyd Billingsley: "As Albert Einstein put it, doing the same thing over again and expecting different results is insanity. The new war on poverty will fail, just like the one LBJ launched fifty years ago."
What war has been won by Statists? Prohibition, poverty, drugs...

(The Libertarian Republic). "I believe that we have to have border control. I believe there is absolutely no reason we can't have a fence, because we've got to keep those people from Massachusetts out of New Hampshire." - Senator Rand Paul
LMAO. Well, maybe not Scott Brown... But now about those big-spending politicians invading the District of Columbia....

(Cato Institute). "Even if Big Box entry hurts independents, laws that limit Big Boxes do not necessarily help independents."
Eliminating WalMart would help American businesses.
Eliminating WalMart would help the special interests but leave the consumer worse off.

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of the original artist via Illinois Policy Institute

Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series

Madonna, "Like a Prayer". My favorite Material Girl tune by a long shot. I purposefully did not choose to embed her video, which I find offensive, but I love the song itself, the arrangement, the exquisite harmonies, the backing choir. I've often thought of doing the song as as lead of a barbershop quartet (in monk's robes). The world has been spared of my inner producer...