All great truths begin as blasphemies.
George Bernard Shaw
Tweet of the Day
Obama to CNN,2007:his early opposition to the Iraq war proves he has the judgment to lead the country out of conflict http://t.co/CklOJk135B
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) August 26, 2014
Image of the Day
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| Via Jeffrey Tucker: Less Marx; more Mises! |
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| PrincipioLibertario |
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| Via Jason Henke |
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| Via Bastiat Institute |
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| Via Econlib |
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| Courtesy of Heartland Institute |
Atlas Shrugged Promo
Spontaneous Order
Facebook Corner
(IPI). Yesterday, Gov. Pat Quinn issued a surprising blow to the taxicab lobby by vetoing the job-killing legislation in its entirety. We commend Quinn for acting against legislation that would have stifled innovation, jobs growth and competition in Illinois!
It's the law of averages; even Quinn has to get one right every now and then.
(Reason). It's the question of the week, and we want to know what you think!
Until the US abandons its obsolete, noncompetitive worldwide vs territorial tax system, not to mention its high tax brackets and regulatory drag, managers must do right by their stakeholders. This has been one of the most anti-business Administrations in American history, and the Obama regime is beginning to realize there are consequences to bad economic policies.
Screw patriotism then? If corporations want to be considered persons, then shouldn't they be bound by the same pledge of allegiance that every American is taught before they even understand what it means? Obviously some have never grasped the concept!
"Patriotism" is a term used by fascists to suggest the productive class should be grateful for being raped by the takers.
(Cato Institute). "So Burger King plans to purchase Canadian doughnut icon Tim Hortons and move company headquarters north of the border, where corporate tax rates are as much as 15 percentage points lower than in the United States. Expect politicians at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to accuse Burger King of treachery, while spewing campaign-season pledges to penalize these greedy, 'Benedict Arnold' companies."
I'm flustered most people are dancing around the real issue here, although the Cato Institute post hints at it in its discussion of double taxation: Canada and most of the OECD countries have a territorial tax system. Burger King will STILL have to pay high, globally noncompetitive taxes on its US operations, but what it gains through inversion is that the US no longer gets a tax claim against international operations--even though the US provides no services for those operations and they are subject to their own local taxes.
It's shocking how noncompetitive the US is--years after many, if not most countries have privatized or at least relinguished monopoly controls over mail delivery, it's like pulling teeth to close down a single money-losing office. We need to relinguish the Statist strangehold on our economy.
(a separate thread)
I'm so impatient with the "progressive" trolls whom attempt to shift the discussion away from morally unjustifiable high progressive rates. Of course, some companies (e.g., Exxon) have paid these rates. But none of these hypocrites argue for low, flat taxes, never mind the economic insanity of taxing productivity in the economy. Keep in mind Democrats have been in charge of the House and/or Senate for the most part since the Great Depression, and all of these subsidies, credits, exemptions and other tax gimmicks (not to mention crony regulations) have been the government's attempt to control the private economy. We need to free the markets...
Another pet peeve--stop blaming companies because they see other companies getting breaks and demand their "fair share": keep in mind "progressive" tax breaks shift the burden to other taxpayers. Government competes with the real economy for resources. Start blaming the political whores.
Only government has a monopoly on force.
(Economic Freedom). Now Venezuela's going to treat supermarket shoppers like criminals.
As if black market vendors require fingerprint scans. Below-market prices are an open invitation to arbitrage.
As Reuters notes, "Some Venezuelans sell generously-subsidized food from state outlets for handsome profits on the black market or over the border in Colombia....Critics say the card fails to tackle the roots of shortages in Venezuela: a lack of hard currency for imports, dysfunctional ports and absurdly low prices for subsidized goods....Critics note this is not the first time the government has tried to slow consumption to improve availability of products.
"In the border region, state oil company PDVSA has required drivers to install microchips on their vehicles so it can track and limit the purchases of fuel, which is so heavily subsidized that it can be sold in neighboring Colombia at more than 50 times its purchase price. But fuel trafficking remains a problem nonetheless."
The Minimum Wage
Liberal Academia
I don't know if I'll ever have an opportunity to return to academia; the last time I got contacted was by a university that advertises nationally for its technical programs, but they were only soliciting me for an adjunct position. While I was in academia, I never felt free to express my emerging conservative views; I was never a big R republican but I was a fan of Buckley's "Firing Line" even during my salad days. My fusion conservative-libertarian views did not result from any political indoctrination from pursuing my 4 college degrees; in fact, I would be hard-pressed to identify any professor I've ever had with similar views. Not my parents. I think I've always been been a fiscal conservative and I started to become more skeptical of the government's initiatives, particularly in the economy. It's difficult to say, because I haven't taught a course in my first love, philosophy, or related disciplines, but I think in large part I've rarely had the authority to impose my point of view on others and I do think I have a natural knack for mentoring others. (I do realize my troll stompings can be brutal.) I do think that "progressive" academics do a disservice to their cause; I do understand the "progressive" groupthink but I never got a valid portrayal of alternative perspectives.
Choose Life
Proposals
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists
Billy Joel, "The River of Dreams"
