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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Miscellany: 8/25/15

Quote of the Day
It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong, 
and an even bigger one to keep his mouth shut when he's right.
Jim Fiebig

Tweet of the Day

To understand the sarcasm of the following two tweets, see the Trump update here.

Image of the Day

via LFC
via Bastiat Institue: Trump's World View in One Picture

Downsizing Government



Facebook Corner

(FEE). We shouldn't have any reason to fear automation.
I remember in the early 1980's, a well-known Houston developer, one of our clients, hired a room of MBA's working over calculators. (I worked for a computer timesharer which had an application that enabled the client to shrink analysis of prospective deals from days to hours.) The Luddite would probably see the world by how our application could shrink the need for 30 MBA's--but it misses some major points: calculator crunching was largely an unproductive use of the MBAs' time. Second, among other things, the Luddite view was static: for instance, the developer had to cut the number of deals he could review on a timely basis; today's deal may not be available 4 days from now--you may have 2 hours to declde.

(IPI). High tariffs in the U.S. raise the price of sugar, driving food manufacturers such as Mondelēz International not just out of Chicago, but out of the country.
This is shameful that the food we eat in the United States is made in foreign countries! I will not be buying Oreos any more!
You freaking economic illiterate idiots! The reason that producers who use sugar in their products are expanding outside the US have more to do with having to pay twice the world price for sugar--not to mention sweetheart loans, at taxpayer expense. You should be pissed off at corrupt crony capitalists and their corrupt partners in government. As for Nabisco et al: don't hate the player; hate the game!
Ahem. In the US, sugar tariffs and quotas keep imported sugar at up to twice the global price since 1797, while more recently, subsidies to corn growers cheapen the primary ingredient in High Fructose Corn Syrup, corn, giving industrial users a cheap alternative to cane sugar. The McKinley Tariff of 1890, also raised import rates on foreign sugar, to force white Hawaiian plantation owners to support US annexation of Hawaii. Sugar tariffs remain today, in large part to benefit Dole, and American Sugar Refining Inc, their lobbyists and pocket-politicians, etc., to eliminate competition, and keep sugar prices high. Don't blame Obama!
Yeah, one of my problems with Rubio, one of the poster boys for the 2010 election, is how hard he has worked to protect Florida's mega sugar producers...
plenty of sugar cane in florida and beet sugar in the mountain states
Huge subsidies, sweetheart loans, etc. Corporate welfare.
Of course they tax sugar from other countries... wouldn't want to threaten the corn industry which we prop up to the tune of billions every year. Nothing like a little corporate welfare to increase the intake of things like High fructose corn syrup in 90% of the items on our grocery shelves.
No, not that what you're saying is wrong, but the Feds have been subsidizing domestic sugar since around the first Congress. Corn is heavily used to produce ethanol (so is a lot of the cane/beet sugar the Feds take in in their sweetheart loans.. The Feds were slapping tariffs on Brazilian ethanol, too.
 IF you actually paid attention in class the American Revolution had to do with tariffs from ENGLAND and the government restrictions in the civil war were also know as SLAVERY.
Nancy is right about tariffs and the Civil War. The Northerners pushed through high tariffs--which protected locally manufactured products. Southerners, with little industrial buildout, were paying the most tariffs, and Northerners were spending that tax money for local purposes. SC almost seceded over the issue during the Jackson Administration.
As to the American Revolution, it's a little more complicated. For example, American rum served as a means of exchange. Most of the molasses, etc., was imported from the Caribbean (under different flags). Britain gave preferential tariffs to supplies imported from its islands. But what agitated the colonists more was the Stamp Act, which was not a tariff but a first-time excise tax on locally produced goods, not locally imposed

(FEE). Government shouldn't be involved with marriage, period.
Marriage is an institution in the social/private context. It has evolved to promote socially norms for stability and self-preservation. Marriage is not a "right" whose legitimacy is conferred by the State. It's one thing when the law reflects existing voluntary community standards, but when the State imposes socially experimental policy inconsistent with community standards, it's clear that marriage must be privatized.

 (National Review). "The bimbo back in town..."
Trump is a thin-skinned, incompetent, manipulative bastard. He is using Megyn Kelly mostly for the free publicity under the theory that all publicity is good publicity. He somehow plays this "poor poor pitiful me" victim billionaire act; this is a guy who doesn't skip a beat using eminent domain to make room for limousine parking at one of his properties; and yet his middle-class minions thinks he speaks for them? He doesn't use the "b" word himself--one of his cultists will do it for him, and he'll retweet it. If he pulled this crap in the military, he would be court-martialed so fast, his head would spin.
No, the emperor is wearing no clothes--he really is that nasty and shallow. This is not some gotcha journalism--every politician goes through tough questions. What really counts is how you respond under trying circumstances. The press is just doing its job; you can control your own reaction with class and grace. Can anyone imagine Reagan, either of the Bushes, or Romney losing it like Trump has? No, being a multi-billionaire does not excuse uncivil behavior.

(Cato Institute). "Price ceilings, subsidies, job creation schemes, and other efforts in economic discoordination. It’s too bad that the widespread availability of economic knowledge doesn’t seem to do much to improve public policy."
 It's a false assumption... that The State exists for the benefit of The People. The State exists for the benefit of those in charge of The State. This is why politician is synonymous with liar.
 I use the term "political whore"...

(Jeffrey Tucker). Here's an idea for how to deal with declining share prices. Let them correct. As much as necessary. Once the malinvestments are washed out of the system, we'll be back on a path to growth. Thus ends the most wasted Facebook status update in history.
It is amusing how those wily Statist planners in China have micromanaged their soft landing...

(FEE). Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have both fallen for the oldest fallacy in economics.
While I agree that free trade, including labor, makes everyone wealthier the cost of the "free" things given to people coming to this country along with the cost of the crime would seem to outweigh the benefits of that free trade. Eliminate welfare and government run schools and the talk about free labor markets
This is protectionism as usual. You pretentious economically illiterate bastards are trying to cut off one's nose to spite oneself. No, you don't get to put unrealistic conditions on restoring liberty or the win/win case for free trade and immigration. It's none of your freaking business interfering who I hire or work for.

 Milton Friedman, who you morons often quote out of context, said he liked unauthorized Mexicans, so long as they remain unauthorized. Why? As unauthorized, they are ineligible for citizen benefits. Immigrants of all types contribute to our economy and pay taxes.
Comparing Bernie Sanders understanding to Donald Trump is ridiculous. Let's consider the collective wealth of both men. I think only one of them has got it wrong.
I can't believe you guys don't understand that when both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders attack trade pacts, they are espousing similar philosophies of economic nationalism and are, in an economic sense, fascists. Whether Sanders damns the strawman of "unfettered" free trade, or Donald Trump threatens to slap an illegal tariff on Ford's Mexican-produced vehicles, they both interfere in the rights of consumers to purchase across States.

(Reason). As politicians debate the rights of illegal immigrants to bear children in the U.S., appeals court rules they have the right to bear arms.
This is not rocket science. Do aliens have natural rights? Of course--it's not a "right" conferred by the State. Do they have a natural right to defend themselves? Of course. Case closed.

(Ron Paul). Bernie Sanders is clueless about trade. He thinks our current "unfettered" trade system is the big problem? Is protectionism coming back into popularity?
Where On Earth Does Bernie Sanders See "Unfettered Free Trade"?
http://bit.ly/1Jg1MRK
Ron Paul is right: first, the US does not practice anything resembling free trade when they try to negotiate union or environmentalist demands in "free trade" talks. Free trade is when I can buy or sell with a foreign partner without interference by either State. Tariffs, until the Wilson Administration, were the main revenue source for the federal government. and by their very nature anti-competitive. Ron Paul doesn't actually say this, but I, as a free trader, do: I want to declare unilateral free trade because the consumer comes first, and the consumer is entitled to the variety and price-competition of vendors, wherever they exist.

 Now where I depart from Ron Paul is that he opposes trade deals in principle. I agree in principle , but I welcome any additional gains by consumers from reduction in trade barriers, i.e., tariffs, quotas, etc.
"Greedy" and "entitlement" are two words that are very near and dear to right wing politicians hearts. They call the poor greedy when they ask for social programs to help level the playing field, but they never mention massive tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent. Who is really greedy?
A "copy-and-paste Progressive" cultist. Do you actually believe this bullshit political spin? Hmmm... Let me see. The Old Testament says that you must not covet your neighbor's goods. Taxation is theft (another of the 10 Commandments) perpetrated by tyranny of the majority. It's one thing to encourage charity, another to steal from him.
 Bernie explains what his plan for America is, while all you other politicians can only attack each other, and say what so and so is going to do.
 Bernie Sanders is too retarded to understand that Mises undermined the case for a planned economy nearly a century ago.
Actually people who subscribe to the Austrian School of economic thought don't understand how economics work, because they don't understand how people work. 
http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/whyaust.htm
The next time an economically illiterate troll like Christensen starts referencing things he doesn't understand, he might want to do due diligence instead of playing the fool:
Unregulated "free trade" only gives freedom to the corporations while it spreads poverty across the globe, and it is quickly destroying the resources humans depend on to survive.
Gregg Hughes is right, and the rest are economically illiterate "Progressive" trolls engaging in corporation-bashing conspiracy nonsense. Corporations, unlike the government, live in a competitive marketplace--they can't force you to buy goods and services. They often have diametrically opposed goals--for example, domestic sugar producers have long enjoyed government protection, and we pay above global market price. Domestic candy producers, bakers, etc., know they would be more competitive and sell more volume if they paid global prices. Do you think if corporations bought and sold the Congress we would have ever ended up with the world's highest corporate taxes or unbelievably costly regulations (nearly $2T/year)? Stop already with this bizarro world of corporate domination. What has grown? The government. At the expense of the private sector. I could go on for hours, but I'll cite one article to educate the idiot trolls: http://fee.org/freeman/does-big-mean-bad-the-economic-power-of-corporations/
 If you don't support Bernie you are just clueless about the other candidates. Hillary and most of the Republicans don't work for the people, they work for corporations. GMO and Monsanto poison us, our soil and our seed and Hillary and Republicans support poisoning our seed, soil, and food. If you think Trump is presidential you are clueless as well to human rights. We don't own this land, we stole it. We have no right to kick people out of it if the natives could not kick us out. Freedom will never come from corporations. Bernie is our only chance to regain control of our government. Sad how many of you are fascist. I never though Americans would support fascism. Bernie is our only hope.
A freaking retard. I don't support any political whores, especially Bernie Sanders. You are a socialist cultist without a clue. The crackpot anti-GMO bullshit alone shows you're anti-science. You have no clue with a fascist is--a fascist believes in the government dominating the economy, which the economically illiterate Sanders is all about.

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson via Townhall

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Kenny Rogers, "Crazy in Love"

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