Murphy's Third Law:
In any field of scientific endeavor,
anything that can go wrong
will go wrong.
Yet Another JOTY Nominee
Illinois state representative Deb Conroy killed her own pension reform bill, which sought to eliminate a Greece-like annual bonus retirement check, when she got word from her displeased union bosses. Given Illinois' horrible public pension picture, this was a small first step towards genuine pension reform...
I Would Have Preferred It In the Original Latin....
How Precious the Sound--of Your Own Child's Voice
Facebook Corner
(IPI). The taxi lobby has been trying to get Chicago to destroy ridesharing services like UberX and Lyft, but it hasn’t worked because the services are just too popular in the city.
So now the taxi industry has turned to Springfield for help crushing the competition, and it looks like state legislators might be about to give them what they want.
These ride sharing services don't have to meet all the same regulations that Taxi's do. Either relax the regulations on Taxi's or toughen the regulations on ride sharing. Level the playing field!
This is cronyism as usual. It's not like the idea of ridesharing is unexpected (e.g., think of carpooling). Your argument could be made by any business made obsolete by improving technology, e.g., the USPS vs. email, video rentals, etc. Adapt or go out of business. But using the state to limit competition is immoral and fundamentally anti-consumer. The technology behind UberX and Lyft is like a genie out of the bottle; it's here to stay: deal with it.
Now if the Jackass Party thinks that the young people they consider a core constituency of their coalition will be won over by cutting a deal with a self-serving taxi cartel, they'll in a state of denial.
You set up an easy choice: high regulation is fundamentally anti-consumer because the effect is to limit consumer choices, increase the cost of doing business: the disparate burden falls on smaller businesses. We have literally thousands of unnecessary laws on the books, which makes our economy less efficient.
(IPI). Hundreds of protesters filled the rotunda of the Illinois State Capitol on Tuesday denouncing nearly a dozen bills that would curb the growth of charter schools—the latest scuffle over expansion of the independently run public schools, which are spreading nationwide.
The Illinois legislature is considering 11 bills that would, among other things, limit where charter schools can be located, ban them from marketing themselves to students, and abolish a commission that has the power to overrule local school boards and grant charter licenses.
Typical crony unionist playbook which seeks to perpetuate the horrific failed self-serving monopoly status quo, as alarmed parents with no realistic alternative see their kids' futures slipping away...
(Tom Woods.) "But we need to vote for Jeb Bush to keep Hillary out!"
I am seriously not looking forward to 2016, and hearing National Review tell me we need to hold our noses -- JUST THIS ONCE, you understand -- and vote for another imbecile who opposes everything I believe in.
I'm clearly tired after 20 years of Bush and Clinton. My preference is for Rand Paul, but other than some explaining he has to do on his Common Core advocacy, he's a decent, articulate, savvy politician whom is his own man. Jeb played a critical role in dethroning the senatorial ambitions of Charlie Crist, a true RINO if there ever was one, and was a key supporter of the Florida Tea Party Movement. Jeb is one of the more rational members of the GOP on immigration policy. Don't portray him as the clone of his father and brother; Robert Taft was one of the best senators in history but more principled than his Daddy President.
Whereas I agree more often with Tom than not and I share his disgust with desperate partisan rhetoric as quoted, let's not forget that Rand Paul lacks executive experience and Jeb has it. I still argue Romney's biggest problem in the 2012 campaign was not running against 12 years of Bush/Obama interventionist policies in the economy and internationally. I think Jeb Bush needs to find a way of posturing himself against his father and his brother's policies. I think the best way to win in 2016 is to seize the change theme. I think that plays to Rand's advantage.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall |
Carrie Underwood, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"
