The Unbroken Window

Without much comment, I suggest you read the interview Wonkblog does with the patient. The entire tone, the selection of the interview candidate, the questions not asked, etc. encapsulates almost everything that can possibly be wrong with (insert noun here). If I were a betting person, I might even bet that the interview was made [...]

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In this week’s episode of the Commons Chronicles, I bring to you … the office copy machine. I don’t make too heavy use of it, but I can assure you that when I do, I make lots of copies – mostly to print exams for my large classes. I typically need 600-1000 sheets of paper to print [...]

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I usually hate infographics and here is another one just littered with reasons to go crazy. But focus only on the very bottom: The changes Brill suggests would allow the US to provide better care at lower costs without substituting the kind of government-provider system typical in comparison countries. Holy smokes. This is the previous [...]

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“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Thus says the great physicist Richard Feynman. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around both the rhetoric and sentiments of the “Progressives” that live around us. And I do think I am onto something. I’ve talked [...]

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Of course this can be a very long list, but here are just a few things that you may find constrain your daily lives if you have particular hobbies: (1) Thanks to Jimmy Carter I am now able to brew my own beer at home. Not too much of course (since my home has two [...]

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Without comment, else it might be my last. (1) Climate change is going to so devastate Rochester that it will as intolerable as living in … Richmond, VA. Go see the movie. (2) Handed out at a nearby Catholic parish, remember that we used to pass a basket around a second time during mass to [...]

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Here’s an editorial excerpt from tomorrow’s WSJ: … the message from a December 27-28 memo to local union presidents and board members from Michigan Education Association President Steven Cook, which recommends tactics that unions can use to dilute the impact of the right-to-work law. One bright idea is to renegotiate contracts now to lock teachers [...]

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Serious people are proposing that the Federal government establish … a Federal Department of Cities. We’re doomed. Like, that’s a great idea. After all, local urban planners have failed to revive their cities after a century of “Local Departments of Cities” have operated. And believe me, spend some time in your city’s library and read [...]

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Aside from the carbon footprint of thousands of people heading to the Nevada desert and literally “burning the man” there may be something actually illegal about Burning Man. For the uninitiated, Burning Man is a weeklong event that attracts over 40,000 very interesting and eclectic people. You can read lots about it here. As I [...]

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As if that was ever seriously in question. Here is Coyote: In Obamacare, it was mandated that health insurance companies spend 85% of premiums on care (vs. marketing, profits, and overhead) or else they owe their customers a refund.  So if the same standard was applied to unions, how much of their dues would they have [...]

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