God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
Jewish proverb
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The "Leadership" of Martin O'Malley as Former Baltimore Mayor
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(FEE). It's easy to defend ideas you'd like to express and hard to defend those you wish nobody would, but while we may not like what’s said, but we must protect anyone’s right to say it. #freespeech
No, I would not unduly promote bad books by unintentionally hyping them or creating artificial scarcities through the government monopoly on force. But if I was a newspaper editor, I would use editorial discretion in ensuring the tone is civil, various allegations have been vetted, etc. If I was a bookseller, I would not sell pornographic works, intentionally provocative crap like Charlie Hebdo.
(Reason). Earlier this month, the city council in Austin, Tex. took up "the smell of barbecue and a proposal to control it in response to some citizen complaints." If that sounds ominous, that's because it is.
As a native Texas who earned one of his graduate degrees in Austin, I miss my Tex-Mex cuisine and glorious barbecue. I do not know any genuine Texan who doesn't savor the relevant smells. As the piece notes, this follows the similar Sriracha kerfuffle on the West Coast.; I also love my hot 'n spicy foods, so to show my moral support, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a bottle of the famous chili sauce.
(Jeffrey Tucker). Revelation from visiting Tesla showroom tonight: cars are becoming software. It's mind blowing. A quick look reveals that the Big 3 are living in the past, all due to the government regs that they support. Also, this is not about petroleum vs electricity. It's about progress vs stasis.
Tesla is not a free market entity, but an artificial form of economic life that is kept afloat by taxpayer money.
[Tucker himself responds.] In an unfree world, nothing is a "free market entity." The Big 3 are "kept alive" by government subsidies, privileges, and exclusionary regulations. The remarkable thing about Tesla is that it has managed to innovate despite this cartel -- and, yes, probably its survival is due in part to mandates from the feds too. But the innovations, those are awesome on their own terms. Also, let me know when you come across a viable commercial automobile that is a "free market entity" and I'll be all over it.
Jeffrey's reply is unduly dismissive. Tesla sells very expensive cars to well-to-do "progressive" yuppies who get a fat Obama rebate for buying politically correct electric cars and get street cred for being environmentally conscious. Jeffrey is on better ground if he attacks the crony Big Dealers blocking Tesla's direct sales model.
[Jeffrey responds directly to me.] Ronald A Guillemette, it's a luxury good, same as the iphone in 2008. This is how the market works. You just watch. The price is going down and down, and the charging stations are going to get ever more ubiquitous. This is not due to government. This is the market at work. Tesla is just all around superior in technology, which you recognize just from sitting in them. There is nothing in the tesla that couldn't be replicated by a petrol car but there is a reason they are so far behind.
I don't think all luxury goods start with a government rebate, which is basically industrial policy, not the free market. I don't have an issue with a critique of the crony capitalists and unionists in Detroit. The point is people who can afford $80K to buy a luxury car don't need and shouldn't be getting a government rebate from money our grandchildren will have to pay back.
Look, I'm not defending subsidies, obviously. I'm only saying that this car would never have a market with that alone. and it does have a market.
(IPI). What's hurting Illinois' pension systems — and ultimately, government workers — is the unwillingness to admit the system is beyond repair.
The comparison of public vs. private sector defined benefit systems go beyond these political games of spiking final year earnings, the corrupt lobbyist vesting in a state pension for one day of substitute teaching, etc. (although probably the most outrageous one surfaced during the Wisconsin collective bargaining kerfuffle: certain Wisconsin teachers were entitled to a full year's salary bonus on retirement). I believe most private pension funds assume just half the investment returns (about 8%) of the public systems, which basically means that employers have to kick in more. Never mind the fact that many public pensioners are eligible by their 50's--with up to decades of retirement at half-pay or better. In some cases, people will draw retirement checks more often than they drew a paycheck. And this quadrupling or more of public budget outlays for retirement expenses occurs at the expense of the taxpayer, who doesn't have a lucrative pension to fall back on but finding public services being cut and/or taxes being raised because the pensioners and their employers basically deferred paying their fair share, leaving future taxoayers to make up the difference, over and beyond paying their own fair share.
(responding to "progressive" trolls personally attacking me over yesterday's comment in an IPI thread on the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruling tepid pension reforms under former Governor Quinn "unconstitutional"):
What do I mean by "corrupt"? Among other things, the judicial whores on the Illinois Supreme Court I believe are eligible for up to six-figure annual retirement pensions; you don't think they have a vested interest? Like I've written here and elsewhere, there are multiple contractual claims on the state's assets; pretending that crony union bastards, who voted the Democratic political whores into office who put their special interests over the taxpayer in these unsustainable union pacts, have higher-standing claims is a direct violation of the rule of law and the principle of equal protection. No piece of judicial sophistry can justify this decision. I mean, this "pension reform" from Quinn and Madigan was a joke in terms of facing up to the real problems, and the corrupt court wouldn't even validate (like other state courts have) this weak reform legislation. You union whores are about to face your day of reckoning. Illinois debt issues were in the ratings toilet before the miscarriage of justice. By the way, as a former Illinois resident, I don't have a vested interest on this issue, but the Illinois state Supreme Court just declared war on the taxpayer, and as a fellow taxpayer, I know in the end the taxpayer will win this war.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Eric Allie via IPI |
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| Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall |
Olivia Newton-John (with Cliff Richards), "Suddenly"
