Tag Archives: Left

Danger Ahead

Posted on December 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

A couple of days ago I gave my explanation of why California doesn’t have any water left.  The basic idea is that when the price of a thing is reduced and limited below what the market would otherwise bare, you will experience a shortage of that thing.

This is true of water in California
This is true of housing in New York during rent control.
This is true of housing in San Francisco during rent control.
This is true of gasoline during times of rising prices.

So why is it that very smart people don’t take these lessons to heed?

Dorgan’s drug re-importation amendment is another significant hurdle. Allowing for the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada and European countries is popular among many Democrats and Republicans, giving Dorgan’s proposal a strong chance of passage.

Unbelievable.  Drug companies make drugs to sell, at a profit.  The market in the US is SO massive that they can sustain gross economic policies in other countries that force these companies to sell thier drugs for less than cost.  Now, the US wants to take those drugs from those countries and re-import them here.  For a price less than the market can bare.
Guess whats gonna happen?

Hat Tip: Say Anything

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Economy, Health Care

Tagged , , , , , ,

Note to Obama

Posted on December 3, 2009 | 2 comments

Obama is having his jobs summit today; in fact it may already be over.  In the spirit of wondering how to create more jobs, I noticed that Krugman has a solution:

Meanwhile, the federal government could provide jobs by … providing jobs. It’s time for at least a small-scale version of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration, one that would offer relatively low-paying (but much better than nothing) public-service employment. There would be accusations that the government was creating make-work jobs, but the W.P.A. left many solid achievements in its wake. And the key point is that direct public employment can create a lot of jobs at relatively low cost. In a proposal to be released today, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, argues that spending $40 billion a year for three years on public-service employment would create a million jobs, which sounds about right.

That got me to thinking.  There are currently about 15.7 million unemployed people in America.  Almost all are receiving some form of unemployment benefits.  How about instead of spending $40 billion a year for 3 years like Krugman says, we just make these people do the work he is suggesting and call ’em jobs?  Why would we create a program to offer “relatively low-paying” jobs for people to work when we already have a program that offers “relatively low-paying” jobs where people have to do–NOTHING!?

Krugman.  Sheesh.

Hat tip:  Forbes

2 Comments

Posted in Economy

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

OJT: On the Job Training

Posted on December 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barack Obama.

You know it’s bad when the far left begins to give you economic advice:

Liberal Democratic lawmakers, including the Congressional Black Caucus, are unhappy with the Obama administration’s pace of efforts tackling the unemployment rate, which is a whopping 10.2 percent and expected to rise.

The CBC, in particular, say Obama officials have not done enough to address the severe economic problems in the black community. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, reportedly issued a warning Wednesday that the 43 members of the caucus are planning to vote with the GOP to derail a number of Democratic bills if it isn’t addressed.

However bad it is for Obama this, at least, is encouraging:

Labor support is more in favor of funding labor projects, in terms of public works, putting more money into the states and cities but the White House is concerned about the deficit.

Finally.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy, Race

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

California: Part II

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

A lot of talk going on about projections and what ifs.  So much so, that for many of us, we begin to lose sight of  “what is” within the forest of  theoretical science.  Sometimes, really, a picture is simply worth a thousand words.  Or maybe, a picture is not having to read a thousand words.

Who get's it? Who doesn't.

Why, you may ask, is the unemployment rate so much higher in California than in Texas?

What’s the worst state to do business in? According to readers of Chief Executive magazine, it’s California. In the same poll, Texas won first place as the best state in which to put your headquarters. As reported in The Economist, the two largest states in the nation have very different philosophies and very different success rates.

The article goes on to mention why Texas is doing a better job:

  1. Texans on average believe in laissez-faire markets with an emphasis on individual responsibility.  Since the ’80s, California’s policy-makers have favored central planning solutions and a reliance on a government social safety net.
  2. Californians have largely treated environmentalism as a “religious sacrament” rather than as one component among many in maximizing people’s quality of life.
  3. California has placed “ethnic diversity” above “assimilation,” while Texas has done the opposite.
  4. Texas has focused on streamlining the regulatory and litigation burden on its residents.  Meanwhile, California’s government has attempted to use regulation and litigation to transfer wealth from its creators to various special-interest constituencies.

The whole article is an awesome read as a “how to guide” for planners.  It would be great if Barack Obama would read it.

Hat Tip Mark Perry and Rick Perry

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Politics: National, States Behaving Badly

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Powerful Hurricane Set to Hit North Carolina

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

Do you remember the hurricane that made landfall onto North Carolina beaches this past July?  Uh, no?  Maybe August then?  September-October-November?  Yeah, me either.  Wanna know why the mainstream media didn’t report any of those storms hammering the Carolina coast?  Cause we had the quietest Hurricane season in 10 years.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Atlantic hurricane season ended Monday with barely a whimper: Not a single hurricane came ashore in the United States.

Since June, when the season began, just nine named storms developed. Only three of them became hurricanes, and those stayed out at sea or weakened before passing over land.

Two tropical storms made landfall in the U.S., causing little more than rain and some beach erosion.

It would seem that with a vanishing hockey stick, record cold and dampening of the powerful tropical storm season that we should finally be able to make some progress in combating the Climate Alarmists.

Prolly not, see, CO2 changes climate of which can appear all kinds of different symptoms.  Including cooling and lessening of storms.

Leave a comment

Posted in Global Warming

Tagged , , , , , ,

Don't Be a Turkey: Czar

Posted on December 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

Really.  All ya’ll.  Just get out of the way and let people make decisions that reflect their best interests.  If you do that, wonderful wonderful things will happen.  All by themselves!

Like in previous years, you probably didn’t call your local supermarket ahead of time and order your Thanksgiving turkey this year. Why not? Because you automatically assumed that a turkey would be there when you showed up, and it probably was there when you showed up “unannounced” at the grocery store to select your bird.

The reason your Thanksgiving turkey was waiting for you without an advance order? Because of “spontaneous order,” “self-interest,” and the “invisible hand” of the free market – “the mysterious power that leads innumerable people, each working for his own gain, to promote ends that benefit many.” And even if your turkey appeared in your local grocery stores only because of the “selfishness” or “corporate greed” of thousands of turkey farmers, truckers, and supermarket owners who are complete strangers to you and your family, it’s still part of the miracle of the marketplace where “individually selfish decisions lead to collectively efficient outcomes.”

The entire process of raising turkeys for slaughter is timed so that a huge demand is met with a huge supply, but not TOO much of a supply.  And nobody, not even ONE body, is in charge of making it so.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics

Tagged , , , ,

What Have We Become

Posted on November 9, 2009 | 5 comments

Stumbled across a letter to Joe Lieberman tonight over at American Hatriotism today.  It’s awesome.  Basically you have someone over there talking about how awful, simply AWFUL, Mr. Lieberman is for coming out against the health care bill.  After a WHOLE bunch of discussion on the fact, we get to the point where a letter is penned and delivered to the Senator’s office.  I’ve captured all I could stand the beginning and then added my response to it.  If ya want, stop on over the Hatriotism and see if the comment got any action:

Dear Mr. Lieberman,

Do you sleep well while …..

so many Americans struggle to bear the pain and anguish they are experiencing today?

Far be it that people ought to struggle.

somewhere in America a hard working student finds out there is no means, no money, no way to college?

Is that hard-working student willing to work hard at a job?

a mother and father are struggling to provide the bare necessities for their disabled child?

Good bless then for being able to supply the necessities for their child; disabled or not.

an elderly man who fought for his country eats a can of beans for dinner and must dress in several layers of clothing because he can not afford a decent meal or to heat his meager home?

We thank him for his service; service to ensure that we are all free.  Free to be responsible.  Or not to be responsible.

a Mother over-medicates her baby with tylenol for his earache because she can not take him to the urgent care or doctor for treatment?

She should take the bay to urgent care or the doctor for treatment.

a family will huddle in the cold behind a dumpster to block the wind because they have nowhere else to go?

Before they go to the government, they should go to church.

a husband and wife lie in bed discussing how to break it to their children that they will soon lose their home and have to move?

The tender mercies of learning not to borrow money you can’t afford to pay back.

a couple that saved thousands for a home they will now lose when the bank takes it away?

This should be sent to Senator Frank actually.

a father tells his family he has lost his job and they can no longer count on him to take care of them?

A real father would say that he has lost his job and will do whatever it takes to take care of them.  Even if it means working 3 others.

a mother tells her children there isn’t anything left in the house to eat?

How many different ways can you say the same thing?

another father wonders how many more days, weeks, months before he will work again and worries how they’ll make it until then?

Jeez.

The whole rest of your letter is the same point on and on and on.

And the real tragedy?  Passing a law isn’t going to change any of that.

5 Comments

Posted in Health Care, Liberty, Raising Men

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Capitalism: Bringing Books to Millions

Posted on November 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

Some of the world’s best authors are having their books controlled by the most massive corporations the history has eve seen.  Prices are manipulated and the result is that consumers are getting the shaft are seeing some of the best deals ever seen.

Early in the day, Amazon was selling Grisham’s book of short stories for $9, the same price it had offered for “Ford County” before publication and a sign that Amazon was ready to continue the cost competition beyond the release date. Walmart.com was selling “Ford County” for $12 early Tuesday, then cut the price to the pre-order discount of $8.98.

And how are consumers across the country being abused?

Hardcovers generally have a list price of $24 or higher,

Wait.  Their not?  You mean that we are bring the most popular books in print to millions of people who otherwise may not have been able to afford ’em?  This MUST be bad, right?  Yup.

“We run the risk of seriously devaluing our product,” Grisham told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Poor starving artist.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics

Tagged , ,

An Interesting Test

Posted on November 2, 2009 | 2 comments

If you break into my house and threaten my wife and kids; expect to be shot.  And hopefully killed.  Self defense is one of the most dominant of American traits.  And really, it makes sense that it be so.  After all, I have the freedomw to call mine what is mine.  To sell it, keep it or give it away.  It’s the cornerstone of what makes us great.

I’m also a father.  And when going into the delivery room for each of my children, I pulled the doc aside, looked her dead in the eye, and said “If at any time there is to be a choice, a choice between my wife or the baby, be very clear that it is my expectation you will not flinch when I tell you to save my wife.”  I get the whole choice thing when it comes to weighing the tender balance of two lives.

So I get that there are certain cases where a person would make a choice to take the life of another.  I do.  If my wife’s life would have been put in danger due to the pregnancy, I would without a doubt, terminate that pregnancy.  Without a doubt.  But equally so, there would be no doubt that what I was doing was weighing one human life against another.  It wouldn’t cross my mind that what I was doing was removing a wart or mole.  It would sadden me greatly that I was ending the life of my child.

And because of that, I understand the argument being made in Raleigh.

Family members of murder victims spoke to a Chapel Hill crowd Saturday in support of proposed legislation that would recognize unborn children as victims in homicide cases.

…

“You can’t tell me it is not a human being,” Blaine said of Nielsen’s unborn child.

She’s right.  The man that took her daughter’s life not only robbed a mother of her daughter, but a grandmother of her grandchild. In that one act, that man took two human lives.  It’s time this law is passed.  And then extrapolated.  Extrapolated into anti-abortion laws in cases where it makes sense; health of mother/child and victim of crime.

But the left won’t allow it:

When similar bills have been introduced, various women’s rights and pro-choice groups have spoken against it.

And that’s gross.

2 Comments

Posted in Liberty, Politics: State

Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Stunning Effect of Government

Posted on November 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

History is littered with the stories of government abuse.  Instances where brutal dictators have stolen from their nations and enslaved their people.  In other cases, these leaders actually sing a song so enticing that the people don’t even see what’s going on.  The readily hand over their treasures, their hard work and even their dignity.  All because of some false promise with no hope of delivery.  A modern-day example is taking place in Venezuela.

Five months after Venezuela nationalized dozens of oil service contractors in Zulia state, the once-bustling industrial dock on Lake Maracaibo is nearly abandoned, and the 16 red flags raised to celebrate the takeovers are already tattered and faded.

First, this should shock no one.  The very idea that a government could run a corporation is laughable.

The this gem:

A few small groups of workers remain, hoping to get the jobs they were promised after the expropriations.

At least the story doesn’t read “A few large groups…..”

And then the tragedy:

“We demand our jobs. Because we haven’t gotten an answer, we’re still here,” said Demostenes Velasquez

I love it.  Our jobs.  Like, you know, they’re his.  And someone came and took ’em.   “We haven’t gotten an answer!”  as he just STOMPS his feet.  Okay, sorry.  Mr. Velasquez is prolly just a little angry and will move on as soon as this reporter walks away, right?  Wrong:

Demostenes Velasquez, who for months has lived under the scorching sun in a tent improvised from remnants of oil union election pamphlets.

At least he has the Union to thank for his shelter.  But that’s about all their going to give him, cause even THEY have left.  But check out the brother.  Living for MONTHS in a tent!  I’ve never heard such outrageous bullshit.

But the best part?  The BEST part?

Despite the protests, most of the workers don’t blame Chavez or his revolution, but individual managers of the state oil company.  “Five months ago, our President Hugo Chavez announced the glorious news (of the nationalization) that would benefit the town, but some (PDVSA) managers have contradicted it,” said Velasquez, a self-proclaimed “Chavista” who dresses in the red clothing popular with champions of the president.

I should be surprised that we elected Obama.  Maybe I should be surprised that it took us this long.

But hey, a little sacrifice is nothing compared to the benefit of the oil industry, right?  Ooops.

Experts said production in west Maracaibo has a capacity of up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd). But experts say its rate of decline has accelerated since nationalizations.

…

The oil industry slowdown has reverberated throughout the economy. According to the Association of Retailers and Industrialists of Lagunillas, commercial activity in the region has contracted between 30 and 70 percent.

Yeah.  This is gonna work out just fine.  Just fine.

Oil tanker

A few small groups of workers remain, hoping to get the jobs they were promised after the expropriations.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Politics: International

Tagged , , , , , ,