Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Central Planning, Education, Special Privilege on May 14th, 2014
Next week is election day. If you did not know about it, that is because yo’re not supposed to know about it. We hold our annual school district elections on their own day in the spring. I am sure if you were to ask why they are held in the spring and not on the day we […]
Posted in If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Special Privilege, Voluntary Society, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 13th, 2014
We’re quite accomplished at that here in the United States. I wonder, do you actually feel good when you have to impose force in order to get people to do something? Is it really altruism, when for example, if tax dollars are collected to provide food for the hungry? It may be morally correct, from […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Competition, Corporatism, Economics Problems, Environment, ethical foundations, Regulation, Special Privilege, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Feb 25th, 2014
Among some of the most unproductive questions I am asked regularly include questions of the type, “are you in support of XYZ?” As if XYZ is some monolithic, black and white, easy to understand and represent with the word XYZ, thing. Of course, it is not. So, in the past I’ve been very evasive when […]
Posted in Paternalism, Special Privilege, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 25th, 2013
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: My WordPress site has turned into a brick. I can neither create new posts, add users, accept comments, anything. I’ve wasted a half-dozen hours trying to fix this. Doesn’t seem to be a problem with my host server, so it’s an annoying WordPress problem. I didn’t change any settings yet the site […]
Posted in Behavior, ethical foundations, Special Privilege on Nov 13th, 2013
This news item caught my eye: The free market of ideas serves those exceptional few with the most intellectual and social capital…only by subjecting everyone else to even higher levels of social control and intellectual scrutiny, all the while asserting these same people’s ‘liberty’ and ‘equal right to speak.’ So not only are markets tools […]
Posted in Special Privilege on Jun 25th, 2013
The President’s “plan” on climate change is here. I see nothing in it about nuclear power and lots of candy tossed at the “green energy” crowd. In other words, the plan is actually not serious. More to say of course. But I’m going out to spew some CO2 pollution – i.e. I’m going running. CO2 […]
Posted in Central Planning, Economic Illiteracy, Government Gone Wild, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., incentives, media, Politics, Special Privilege, Transportation and Infrastructure on May 27th, 2013
Obese people have a hard time regulating their own behavior. If there is a bag of M&Ms lying around the house, rest assured they will take a handful each time they walk by. Obese people have low levels of energy. Though it is well known that regular exercise will improve health and energy levels, they […]
Posted in Central Planning, Environment, Special Privilege on Apr 6th, 2013
When I first began studying the economics and ecology of wind about 4 years ago, I very much thought the fears of wind-alarmists were, pardon the pun, very much overblown. I don’t mean that wind is the solution to our energy problems (it cannot be, it’s simply not energy dense enough) but rather that fears […]
Posted in Special Privilege on Apr 4th, 2013
Or maybe not, you may want to sequester yourself for a while. Here are a few of this week’s treats: But one thing I thought was funny was this bit illustrating pre-sequester government staffing prioritization: NPR’s David Greene brings on Yvette Aehle, director of the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport in Albany, Georgia, to talk […]
Posted in Politics, Special Privilege, Taxation, Unintended Consequences on Mar 15th, 2013
Assume our preference for redistribution is fixed and that there is an inherent and unchanging desire in the population to equalize incomes, for whatever reason you wish to believe we have that feeling. I for one do not share this belief, nor am I rich. In any case, I believe that one reason folks like […]
