Being defeated is often only a temporary condition.
Giving up is what makes it permanent.
Marilyn vos Savant
Image of the Day
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| Via Libertarian Catholic |
My Greatest Hits: May 2015
For some reason, all 5 posts, including a 4-way tie for first, came in a 10-day period after mid-April:
Hall of Shame: Morally Repulsive Tax-and-Spenders Blaming Any Tragedy On Modest Bugget Reforms
From CAGW:
Since Amtrak was created in 1971, it has not turned a profit once. Amtrak actually loses $32 per customer for a total taxpayer cost of $37 billion. Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General reported in 2012 that employee fraud is rampant; One employee received $143,300 for work he never performed. Employee theft was blamed for Amtrak wasting $834 million in food and beverages.From the Washington Times:
Watchdogs agree with Republicans: More money is not the solution to Amtrak’s woes. The federally subsided rail service spends millions on fancy high-speed cars but allocates little to basic maintenance along the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor — the site of Tuesday’s crash and the only profitable Amtrak route.
“The problem is it’s government-run and Congress regulates it. It’s true that there has been a lack of maintenance spending in the NEC, which is heavily used and heavily run down, but that’s because Congress itself forces Amtrak to spend money on things that don’t make sense,” said Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute.
“One of the biggest waste programs that we have, and that needs reform, is Amtrak,” Mr. Mica said. “It’s basically a Soviet-style federal transportation program which the federal government and some special interests won’t let loose. Almost the entire world is now competing; the European Union will require competition rail service over state-owned service. We’ve seen privatization in England, Germany, Japan, Italy, where the price can go down and the quality of the service goes up. And more people are employed in the industry.”
Facebook Corner
(IPI). House Bill 494 has already passed out of committee and will be voted on by the entire Senate.
This opportunity bill restores local control to schools’ hiring decisions with respect to job applicants with criminal records.
It would be a significant step toward reducing recidivism rates and promoting the right incentives for ex-offenders to demonstrate rehabilitation.
It's about time that the State gets out of the way of people who have paid their debt to society trying to get a fresh start as a contributing member of society.
(Reason). BREAKING: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sentenced to death for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013
As a pro-life libertarian, I oppose intentional taking of life by the state. I would rather see him living the next 50 years in a cage thinking how he wasted the best years of his life for 15 minutes of fame.
(IPI). If you're looking to open a health-care facility in Illinois, or expand on one you’ve already built, be prepared to convince an outdated state board of your project’s “necessity" by lobbying for a Certificate of Need.
For years, this scheme has bred corruption and costly inefficiency in the state's health-care market.
Montana just struck a blow for economic liberty by outlawing the competitor veto. We need to put an end to the anti-consumer bargains between Illinois' corrupt ruling class and Crony Big Hospitals. The right approach is encourage competition by reforming protectionist occupational and business regulations, medical tort reform, etc.
(IPI). Many people think reducing incarceration rates will inevitably lead to an increase in crime, but a new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts shows otherwise.
32 states saw a decline in crime while their incarceration rates fell between 2008 and 2013.
In fact, the nationwide crime rate fell by 16% during this timeframe. Only two states – South Dakota and New Hampshire – saw crime-rate increases.
While the crime rate fell nearly everywhere, the decline in crime was greater in those states that also decreased their incarceration rates
Why should I expect anything less than the prison industrial complex or law-and-order fascists would spam this thread. The United States, supposedly the "land of the free", not only has the highest incarceration among developed nations, but among the longest sentences. E.g., in 2009, rhe US imprisoned abour 750 per 100K; Canada and China imprison less than 20% of that. Either Americans are inherently "more evil" than the rest of the world, or there is something seriously wrong with our laws and justice system; no reasonable person holds the former view. As a serious fiscal conservative, I don't believe in throwing money at the justice system; as in all things, there's a diminishing rate of return in terms of law and order; there's no justifiable reason for taking on the heavy expenses of throwing otherwise productive, nonviolent people into a dehumanizing system which all but encourages recidivism since employers will often filter out those who have paid their debt to society. The real fiscal conservative not only objects to expensive social programs but to those claiming to be "conservative" but can't find enough money to throw at public safety and national defense. IPI, as usual, is spot on.
Death penalty! Public hangings! Problem solved!
The fact you fascist morons don't what moronic laws are being vioilated but you are eager to throw their natural rights to life, liberty, and property under the bus tells me much about your lack of character. There are books that estimate the average American unknowingly commits 3 or more felonies a day. You better hope that you don't piss off some alpha cop out to get you. http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229
(IPI). The Economist: "In 2011 Illinois raised the state income-tax rate to 5% from 3.75%, which brought in $31 billion until the temporary increase came to an end this year.
The additional revenue was supposed to pay old bills and balance the budget, but instead 90% of the extra cash was gobbled up by pensions—and the pension debt still increased."
No matter how many comments I publish in these threads on Illinois' pension crisis, you still have the same old same old trolls wanting to deflect attention from the day of reckoning--the fact is that the percentage of state/local budgets for pension expenditures has grown wildly over the past 15 years, something like over up to 4 times the percentage. Now, granted, the state/local government waste a lot of money, but this has everything to do with thousands of Baby Boomers starting to retire in their 50's, with many receiving over twice the maximum you can get from social security. Many of these people will live up to 3, even 4 decades in retirement, collecting more retirement checks than pay checks. In the meanwhile, the rate I've seen is the average lifetime contribution is something like $180K, which in many cases they make it back by their third year of retirement. The state and the employee didn't put in nearly enough money over 3-4 decades of work to fund million-plus retirements. The money being paid out is real and it's beginning to crowd out funds available for ongoing services. Imagine having to lay off many active-duty police officers because you need the money to pay off the retired cops--who don't make you feel one bit safer. Yes, the populists will demonize lawmakers, but this is a problem most businesses anticipated at least by the 1980's and 401K/403B programs. Now these parasites are crying out for a bailout of an unsustainable program. It's not the $24K pension that's breaking the bank--it's the $70K-above, often for public "servants" making in the six-figures for 9 months of work.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy via Townhall |
Olivia Newton-John (with John Travolta), "Take a Chance". This weekend will mark the end of my Olivia series; next up: Cat Stevens.
