Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things,
but just look what they can do when they stick together.
Vista M. Kelly
Chart of the Day: How Well the Fed Has Performed Its Primary Directive of Currency Stability
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| Via Dollar Vigilante |
A Teacher, a Father, Both
Choose Life
I wonder if the hypocritical "progressives" who love to quote Pope Francis on income inequality or climate change will quote him on the rights of the preborn child:
My thoughts turn to all those children today who are killed and ill-treated, be they infants killed in the womb, deprived of that generous love of their parents and then buried in the egoism of a culture that does not love life; be they children displaced due to war and persecution, abused and taken advantage of before our very eyes and our complicit silence.Alcohol, Cronyism and Crazy Alcohol Restrictions
Every once in a while Facebook groups will recycle themes. One recurring item on the IPI thread over the weekend noted that Illinois car shoppers couldn't do so on Sunday. I think in part this offends me because in my view dealerships should operate at the convenience of customers; for many people, we work during banker hours, and we can't afford to get away except outside of scheduled work hours. When you take out Sunday arbitrarily, you limit our options to shop. I mean, you can go to a hospital, supermarket, WalMart, shopping malls, etc., but you can't shop for a car. But the proponents of these restrictions feel, among other things, dealership employees are overextended as it decide and deserve the state giving them the day off. There are, of course, religious and other reasons. The fact is my last gig was a 24/7 shop, and I sometimes substituted on a 6PM-6AM Friday or late shift assignments; we had personnel dedicated to overnight and weekend shifts. In IT maintenance or upgrade projects, I've worked holidays, evenings, and weekends, occasionally around the clock without a penny of overtime, bonus or shift differential. My local WalMart is 24/7; some McDonald's are always open. If all these businesses can manage to staff operations, why can't car dealerships? If you don't think you bring in enough business to operate on Sunday's, that's one thing--but there's only one reason you try to keep the competition from operating--because you worry you'll lose sales.
BuzzFeed has summarized a number of anti-competitive/Big Nanny restrictions in alcohol sales, including:
- distributors in Texas lobbied for a law banning payments to microbreweries for distribution rights (but they retain rights to market and profit from distribution rights among themselves)
- Indiana restricts the retail sale of cold beer to liquor stores
- some states ban happy hours or heavily regulate promotional materials, including any hint of drink discounts
- 3 states ban the sale of 64-ounce growlers (reusable glass jugs) for temperance reasons analogous to former NYC Mayor Bloomberg's supersized sugary drink ban
- in Kentucky, pharmacies, unlike grocery stores or gas stations, are allowed to sell liquor or wine (even if they also carry groceries)
- homemade beer or liquor production can violate up to a dozen laws carrying felony charges
- Utah prohibits your seeing alcoholic drinks being prepared; bars have to set up opaque screens called Zion curtains
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| Via Bastiat Institute |
The fact of the matter is we have mixed systems. I've noticed that this group attracts a lot of crackpot left-wing nut jobs who misunderstand Paul's talking point of corporatism. When you control businesses by regulations, you are no longer talking about a free market. Government doesn't have to own businesses to control them. Of course, there are corrupt bargains between some businesses and Statist whores, but this is an artifact of Big Government.
We need to realize that capitalism also varies by the nature and extent of State control. China by liberalizing vs. micromanaging its economy has brought hundreds of millions out of poverty and into the middle class, while the current Obama regime is looking to emulate failed Japanese and European policies.
(FEE). In 2015, vow to take back the word “liberal” for the cause of human liberty.
Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek bristles at being called a 'conservative' economist and has written several posts on similar topics. Hayek, of course, famously wrote an article on why he was not a conservative.
I refer to myself as a pro-liberty conservative and almost feel the need to reclaim the title of 'conservative', because I believe that conservatism must be considered in the context of a tradition--in America, this means the pro-liberty, civil virtuous, limited government heritage. I do not identify with right-wing authoritarianism. I believe in a Thomistic sense of tolerance of choices not affecting the natural rights of others.
I loathe the fact that liberalism in today's America has been co-opted by left-wing authoritarianism, which is every bit Hamiltonian as is right-wing authoritarianism. I am not a conservative in the more modern sense of activist foreign policy, but in the sense of the FDR-era Old Right, with a sense of skepticism of activist centralized domestic and foreign policy. I also refer to myself as a classical liberal and libertarian. I would like to reclaim 'liberal' also, but it has been co-opted by the "Statist progressives".
(National Review). The UC Board of Regents is raising tuition to fund its woefully mismanaged pension system.
As a former college professor without a pension (beyond dubious future social security), I participated in 403B (defined contribution) programs during my 5 years in academia without a penny of vested employer contributions. I find it morally unconscionable to have students bail out the university system which took a 20-year contribution holiday despite compelling evidence of the longer-living Baby Boomer retirement tsunami. Students should demand that the university convert to a defined contribution plan and sacrifices from the universities and employees who didn't pay their fair share for a generation and expect the next generation to underwrite up to six-figure retirement distributions per annum.
(National Review). If Dan Donovan replaces Rep. Michael Grimm, it could be bad for the GOP and the country.
As a pro-liberty conservative, I regard the Garner homicide unconscionable, and I would vote for a "progressive" Democrat before putting a prosecutor into the Congress who couldn't get an indictment given video evidence of a killer cop who used excess force against a nonthreatening civilian over a disputed allegation on selling untaxed cigarettes. A professional cop handles disputes peaceably without making himself the judge, jury and executioner of a suspect, who under our system of justice has a presumption of innocence and his day in court. The handling of the Garner homicide is an abomination, and Donovan's role in this miscarriage of justice is a material disqualifier for higher office.
Nicole Malliotakis is an inspired choice; like McSally, Ernst, Love and Stefanik, she provides a fresh new face to prove this is not your grandfather's GOP anymore. She has my full endorsement in this race.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel via IPI |
Glen Campbell, "Southern Nights". His second #1 on the Hot 100...
