Monthly Archives: April 2010

An Entrepreneur and the Minimum-Wage

Our brilliant Congressmen in Washington, D.C. decided a couple years ago that it would be a good idea to raise the minimum wage by about 40% to $7.25/hour. It just took effect last year. That probably sounds like great news … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics | Leave a comment

How Do We Get The Deficit To Zero?

Heritage.org posted this stark, depressing summary of Federal spending and revenues for 2010: Per Household Amount Total Social Security/Medicare -$9,949 Defense -$6,071 Antipoverty -$5,466 Unemployment -$1,640 Debt interest -$1,585 Veterans’ benefits -$1,052 Fed. emp. retirement benefits -$1,018 Education -$914 Highways/transit … Continue reading

Posted in Defense, Economics, Government, Health Care, Liberty, Serfdom, Taxes | 9 Comments

GM Loan Paid Back? Not Really.

Well, OK, they paid back the part of their bailout that had the word “loan” in it. But they paid it back with other taxpayer money, not with money from business operations. What a bunch of liars. But it’s Government … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Government | 2 Comments

Gambling with Other People’s Money

In the United States we like to believe we are a capitalist society based on individual responsibility. But we are what we do. Not what we say we are. Not what we wish to be. But what we do. And … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Emergence, Government, Politics | 1 Comment

Europe in Crisis

It is tempting and superficially agreeable for Americans to gloat about Europe’s troubles. After all, every time something goes wrong in American domestic or economic policy, European elites and journalists are quick to gloat and find fault. After listening to … Continue reading

Posted in Government, Security | 1 Comment

Why Does Larry Summers Like Big Banks So Much?

But there's one thing he does hint at, though he doesn't quite come out and say it: bigger banks might be better for regulators. It may not be smart to put all your eggs in one basket . . . … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Government | Leave a comment

What the Tea Party Movement is Really About

Central planning has two primary flaws, when compared with economic freedom: it misallocates resources, and it magnifies the impact of corruption. I could write a decent-sized book explaining both of those mechanisms, but because I’ve never been busier in my … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Emergence, Government | Leave a comment

A Plague of ‘A’ Students

America has made the mistake of letting the A student run things. It was A students who briefly took over the business world during the period of derivatives, credit swaps, and collateralized debt obligations. We’re still reeling from the effects. … Continue reading

Posted in Government, Smart | Leave a comment

Muslim Threat Results In Censorship

Via http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/south-park-episode-is-altered-after-muslim-groups-warning/?hp we have this: An episode of “South Park” that continued a story line involving the Prophet Muhammad was shown Wednesday night on Comedy Central with audio bleeps and image blocks reading “CENSORED” after a Muslim group warned the … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Rights, Religion, World War IV | Leave a comment

Seven Pillars of Pretty Code

The essence of pretty code is that one can infer much about the code’s structure from a glance, without completely reading it. I call this “visual parsing”: discerning the flow and relative importance of code from its shape. Engineering such … Continue reading

Posted in PHP, Programming | 1 Comment