Fascinating psychological research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology suggests that male brains are better at judging directions than female brains. See here.
The research involved MRI scans of brain activity.
Dec 06
Hatred for Wal-mart Reached a Climax in Puerto Rico
Wal-mart, America’s largest private employer and retailer, is a frequent target for those who hate markets and worship the state.
Witness this “documentary” on the megaretailer, frequently shown in union halls, schools and colleges by socialist-leaning professors. Like Michael Moore’s film “Roger and Me,” its target can do nothing right. In “Roger and Me,” General Motors is despised for being in Flint, Michigan—and then despised for moving away.
Similarly, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price chastises Wal-Mart for forcing its workers to work too many hours, or having them work too few; for enriching its own shareholders, and for impoverishing the shareholders of “mom and pop” stores which charge higher prices than Wal-Mart.
For years, governments have sought to devise legislation to slay the beast of Wal-Mart. Earlier this year (2015) Puerto Rican legislators passed a law tripling (from 2 % to 6.5 %) a tax on goods imported from offshore affiliates to local companies with gross revenues of more than $2.75 billion. The law was clearly aimed solely at Walmart: an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder.
According a lawsuit filed by Wal-Mart, the new tax will cost “an astonishing and unsustainable 91.5% of its net income.”
Dec 04
How Government Regulation Crushed Lysander Spooner’s American Letter Mail Company
In 1844, Lysander Spooner launched a mail company called the American Letter Mail Company. Spooner’s company competed directly with the U.S. Postal Service, delivering letters and parcels between major cities in the eastern United States at a lower price than the government’s rates. Spooner’s company had offices in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and delivered letters for 6 and ¼ cents per ounce, or twenty letters for a dollar. This significantly undercut the government’s rate of 12 cents per letter.
Spooner designed a ‘hub’ system between the major offices (similar to the system that was later developed by Federal Express and UPS). Upon receiving mail shipments at the hub offices, regional carriers would scurry across regional landscapes by railroad, steamboat and on foot. Soon, Spooner’s mail company was more efficient—and cheaper—than the U.S. Mail.
Spooner’s success was not lost on the U.S. government, which had previously held something of a monopoly. The U.S. government went after Spooner with a vengeance. U.S. Marshals descended on Spooner’s Philadelphia office and arrested office manager Calvin Case, on the ground of conveying letters contrary to the laws of Congress.
By 1851, after a brief legal battle, the government forced Spooner’s American Letter Mail Company out of business.
Spooner’s experience is the experience of thousands—perhaps millions—of poor Americans who have seen their dreams shattered by government regulation.
There was one positive outcome, however. U.S. Post Office was compelled to lower its rates significantly. Such is the nature of competition in a marketplace.
Dec 03
Health Care Costs Accelerating Faster
It is the dream of every truster of government: universal, government-dispensed health care, made cheaper by eliminating the profit motive from the industry.
Unfortunately, it never works. Every government program which subsidizes health care simply increases demand without increasing supply, causing prices to rise faster than inflation.
Now, after Obamacare has come completely on line, there are new data showing that health care costs are skyrocketing faster than during any year of the Obama presidency. See here. So much for “affordable” care.
Dec 03
Socialist Venezuela Descends into Primitive Bartering
Socialism is a curse that should only be wished on a hated enemy. Any society that embraces it will eventually become sick and weak.
The Miami Herald reports that the impoverished people of Venezuela–suffering from decades of socialist ‘rulership’–have developed a primitive bartering system to obtain basic goods.
Dec 03
French Government Begins Closing Mosques
So much for freedom of religion in France. For that matter, so much for the relative freedom of the western world.
In the wake of the Islamist-generated terrorist attacks at a Paris heavy metal concert two weeks ago, French SWAT teams are raiding and shuttering Muslim religious facilities across France.
The mosques are being shut down for promoting “radicalism.” See here.
Dec 03
Bankrupt Greek Government Demands that Citizens Report all Jewelry, Coins, Private Cash
Are mass confiscation raids about to be unleashed in Greece? The Greek newspaper Enikonomia reported days ago that Greek taxpayers will be forced to declare all private cash held outside the banks, and all jewelry boxes containing more than 15,000 euros or gold or other metals worth over 30,000 euros. See here.
The Greek government is bankrupt and has placed its people in perpetual slavery to international creditors.
Nov 27
A Primer on Government Temperature “Adjustments”
Anthony Watts from wattsupwiththat.com is an articulate debunker of government claims regarding global warming. Here, Professor Watts gives a brilliant summary of how government agencies are doctoring temp data to give a false impression of global warming. Watch the video here.
Nov 27
Cash-Strapped City of Chicago Has Paid Out 500 Million Dollars for Police Brutality in the Past Decade
Chicago, and the State of Illinois, are ‘failed states.’ Parasitic city and state governments have sucked their taxpayers dry, almost to death. See here.
The region–which once harbored brilliant entrepreneurs and spawned major manufacturers and businesses–is now a socialist hellhole, which imposes ever-higher taxes on its impoverished citizens.
Chicago’s police department has openly operated a torture and interrogation facility where suspects and arrestees are taken “off the books” to be interrogated without access to lawyers or telephones. A blood-stained record of brutality has been documented at the facility. See here.
Now we read that that long-suffering City taxpayers have been forced to pay out a half billion dollars to pay for police brutality settlements. See here.
Nov 24
Thomas Sowell: 56 percent of all households will be in the top 10 percent in income at some point in their lives
Trusters of the state frequently complain about “income inequality.” Yet Thomas Sowell points out that “the rich” and “the poor” are frequently the same people at different stages of their lives.
In fact, 56 percent of all households will be in the top 10 percent of income at some stage in their lives. See here. (Beginning around 3:00.)
Moreover, says Sowell (at around 3:30) a great majority of households in the top 1 percent are only there for a single year (frequently the year that members of the household sell a home or a business or inherit some wealth).
Only 13 percent of the top-earning one percent are there for two consecutive years.
