Talent hits a target no one else can hit;
Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Utterly Pathetic: "The Government is Reponsible For Our Safety Failures"
A New York seafood restaurant is trying to blame the government for inadequate standards on carbon monoxide detection after a relevant incident resulting in over 2 dozen hospitalizations and a fatality. It's patently absurd, of course; a restaurant doesn't need a health inspector to warn against undercooked or improperly thawed meat, unrefrigerated leftovers or dairy products, unwashed produce, unsanitary conditions, etc. Prudent restaurant owners realize a bad meal experience hurts repeat business and word of mouth, not to mention could result in lawsuits. People who take pride in their goods and services are never satisfied with meeting minimal standards. In this case, carbon monoxide detectors are cheap (I have at least two functional units in my current apartment, and I shouldn't have higher standards than a restaurant). And note: even if you have an inspector, he may not be there when the battery is running low and needs to be replaced. Arguing that the government should have more stringent safety regulations to ensure the restaurant is carbon monoxide-free is a dishonorable attempt to shift blame to government rather than to accept responsibility for managerial failure. As a business owner, your top priority is your customer; you vindicate his trust by going beyond the expected.
Fact-Checking the Pope on Economics: Thumbs UP!
The proprietor of HumanProgress.org, a website that aggregates and updates ongoing improvements in global living standards, says the pope is flat-out wrong in at least two ways. First, argues Marian Tupy of the Cato Institute, Pope Francis doesn't apprehend the massive increases in human well-being, especially among the poorest people on the planet. For instance, milk consumption per person in the developing world has increased over 50 percent in the past 30 years and the infant mortality rate has been halved over the same period.
Second, Tupy says that Pope Francis doesn't appreciate the leading role capitalism, free trade, and globalization has played in making all this happen. Instead, says Tupy, the pope rails against "autonomous" markets and "unfettered" capitalism, incorrectly implying that one person's gain can only come at another's loss.
Facebook Corner
(Illinois Policy Institute). Faculty members are going on strike for the first time in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s history after ongoing negotiations with administrators failed.
As a former professor (not at UIC), I'm appalled. These are greedy, self-centered, unprofessional, unethical state employees in one of the worst run and financially insolvent states in the country trying to extort taxpayers and students. I recommend abolishing tenure, rescinding collective bargaining, and terminating for cause any faculty member not returning immediately to the classroom.
(Cato Institute). "Privatizing federal buildings and facilities would be a win all around. It would be good economics and good politics. So let’s get started."
you guys are trying to do to the USA what your buddies did to Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. You want to collapse the state and sell off iassets in a firesale. Kind of like what your buddies are doing to Greece right now.
This country has over $17T in realized debt and over $80T in unfunded liabilities; if it were a corporation, it would be in bankruptcy and its leadership in prison. It is not in the property management business. We already know the federal taxpayer is paying to maintain unused/underused property. We know, for instance, on the West Coast local government got tax revenue on later property acquired by the feds--paying no local taxes. We are not some historically corrupt State; we have the rule of law, competitive bidding, etc. The salient point is the private sector has a natural incentive to utilize resources more efficiently and effectively. Cato Institue, as usual, is spot on.
privatization never saves money.
"Progressive" troll idiocy as usual. Government empire-building always results in the decline and fall of nations.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of the original artist via Illinois Policy Institute |
Steve Winwood, "Roll With It"
