Sounds like you're concerned about "trade imbalances". I'm more worried about the broader topic of economic isolationism (i.e. sanctions, embargos, tariffs, and the like). Myanmar and North Korea are examples of how to drive your nation into the ground by cutting yourself off from the globe. I'm of the mind that sanctions against China would no more cause them to allow MSN searches for "freedom" and "democracy" through the Great Firewall than US sanctions caused the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan or UN sanctions caused Iraq not to invade Kuwait.
How much success have we had with our embargos against Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Sudan? My impression is that economic isolationism doesn't help anyone. If isolating your economy were beneficial, Myanmar would rule the roost while Hong Kong withered.
If I get your gist, you're saying that post-glasnost/perestroika communism is less efficient than the hard-core Stalinist/Maoist form. My point is that if the 20th century taught us anything it's that freedom trumps "shooting a lot of people when they didn't work hard enough". The Emperor looks impressive in his robes and huge chair on the deck of the Death Star, but he's ultimately a buffoon of Fidel Castro's stripe.
If your contention were correct, Idi Amin would have lead Uganda to world domination while Margaret Thatcher tumbled the UK. Weren't the lessons of the 20th century to the contrary? Is it efficient for the Poliburo to have party members honeycombed through the whole economy, reporting every time someone neglects their duty? Would you take the Commissariat for Food over Wendy's? And doesn't hindsight (The Gipper v. Gorby) show whom to choose in a battle for military might? The Cathedral may work adequately for a campus in Redmond, but The Bazaar is the only realistic model to run a whole nation by.
De Soto disavows the credo of die-hard capitalism in The Mystery of Capital. His specific helpful idea is integrating the mainstream economy with the black market - the purpose being to strip down the barriers that make capitalism a rich man's club. If you've been following what Robert Mugabe is doing this week in Zimbabwe, that's exactly what De Soto is fighting against: oppression of the urban poor.
Being forced to operate in the extralegal sector disadvantages the poor. They are stuck behind a glass barrier that keeps them from capitalizing on their businesses and property. De Soto compares such strictures to the mercantilism that motivated the French Revolution.
The thing that makes his book compelling to me is that he's from the Third World himself and that he spent years in Peru, Egypt, Haiti, Mexico, and the Philippines studying what's really going on at the ground level. I recommended the book to you because De Soto specifically mentions the economics of Brazilian favelas.
> "Many communities rely on the local mob to build their schools."
According to the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, many developing countries work this way. If you're interested in why and how to transition from a "mob" economy to a "formal" economy, I recommend Hernando de Soto's "The Mystery of Capital".
The classic example economics teachers give on price discrimination is discounts for seniors and youths. Gertrude on her fixed annuity and Billy with his paper route can't afford as much - so restauranteurs (for example) offer adjusted prices to fit the customer.
The moral dubiousness of coercive TV/radio funding
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BBC Launches APIs
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The point of the "gunpoint" metaphor is to drive home the essential diffence between civil society and government. The argument is that government ultimately enforces its prerogatives with force, and so voluntary civil solutions may be morally prefered where practicable.
Some claim that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been a homogenizing force, squashing diversity in true grassroots broadcasting. How is it any better for the CPB to use its federal funding to monopolize community broadcasting than for a corporate welfare queen like Archer Daniels Midland to stamp out small farmers?
My city's local library renovation was paid for with state tobacco money. An iPod tax that goes to the musician's guild is at least as legit as a smoker's tax that pays for books.
Of course, setting standards and measures is an accepted function of government. A universal width for railroad tracks is a simple example of a top-down decision working better than an "organic" bottom-up "format war". In the case of broadcasting, however, it's interesting to see how surprisingly successful broadcasting anarchy can be (at least in Italy):
Instead of chaos - which is what everyone thought would happen - there was a new order, far more simple and perfect and porous than the old system of government fiat. Anyone is permitted to buy and operate a broadcast transmitter. You go to your local equivalent of Radio Shack and buy an FM or television transmitter and you are on the air.
There are literally thousands of FM stations now, run by anyone who wants to transmit. Lansman said that it was in Rome he heard his first Hare Krishna station: it was the only one broadcasting chants 24 hours a day...."Since it always pays a broadcaster to go to the channel that is the least occupied, the power bill, the height of your antenna, your location, and your programming become your only limiting factors. It's the ultimate deregulation - restricted only by signal intensity, not the politics of oligopoly."
I voted for Medicare, I'll accept the consequences
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Canada Says No To DMCA
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The Barbarian Invasions depicts Canadian health care from an interesting perspective. Never having seen socialized medicine first-hand, I found it a real eye opener.
The first question to ask when a new licensing scheme is proposed is whether its true motivation is rent seeking rather than consumer protection. I'd be interested to see whether Mr Mumper's has received any recent contributions the from brick and mortar antique seller's lobby.
What's wrong with Windows 98SE for a home computer? It uses minimal resources, isn't plagued by NT/2K/XP's networking vulnerabilities, and most importantly is compatible with old games.
It's interesting that recent research has found a distinct signature in the brain of hoarders: an inactive cingulate gyru. Contrary to assumption, it's totally distinct from obsessive compulsive disorder.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the majority of auto fatalities are in accidents involving a single car. Your bumper being "compatible" with ever other car on the road, doesn't help when you hit a tree.
When I worked for a newspaper we did some research (by polling readers) and found out that each paper was read by 1.5 people (or some such figure). So that's what we told advertisers.
If you're in such a small minority that no one provides a service catering to your special whims, then no, you shouldn't be able to choose what kind of service you want. If no email service to your liking exists, I would hope your first inclination would be to pull up your boot straps and start coding, not to head to Sacramento as a lobbyist.
Gmail regulation will probably be as good for consumers as California's regulation of African hair braiders, Tennessee's regulation of discount coffin sellers, New Orlean's regulation of curbside book vendors, or Louisiana's regulation of flower arrangers. Behind the scenes, so many times, regulation like this (to ostensibly protect consumers) is actually rent seeking: politically-connected private businesses using government to coerce a state-protected cartel for themselves.
The justification for the law sounds nice: we want to protect email users from this new, nasty, privacy-invading Gmail. But I haven't heard a peep of complaint about Gmail from users, only from Google's competition . If Open Government Information Awareness weren't down right now, I'd look up Senator Figueroa's contributors. I smell a rat.
Slashdot Mirror
I thought one of the coolest things about Treasure Planet was the seemless blending of hand drawing and CG in a single character: Long John Silver.
Sounds like you're concerned about "trade imbalances". I'm more worried about the broader topic of economic isolationism (i.e. sanctions, embargos, tariffs, and the like). Myanmar and North Korea are examples of how to drive your nation into the ground by cutting yourself off from the globe. I'm of the mind that sanctions against China would no more cause them to allow MSN searches for "freedom" and "democracy" through the Great Firewall than US sanctions caused the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan or UN sanctions caused Iraq not to invade Kuwait.
How much success have we had with our embargos against Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Sudan? My impression is that economic isolationism doesn't help anyone. If isolating your economy were beneficial, Myanmar would rule the roost while Hong Kong withered.
If I get your gist, you're saying that post-glasnost/perestroika communism is less efficient than the hard-core Stalinist/Maoist form. My point is that if the 20th century taught us anything it's that freedom trumps "shooting a lot of people when they didn't work hard enough". The Emperor looks impressive in his robes and huge chair on the deck of the Death Star, but he's ultimately a buffoon of Fidel Castro's stripe.
If your contention were correct, Idi Amin would have lead Uganda to world domination while Margaret Thatcher tumbled the UK. Weren't the lessons of the 20th century to the contrary? Is it efficient for the Poliburo to have party members honeycombed through the whole economy, reporting every time someone neglects their duty? Would you take the Commissariat for Food over Wendy's? And doesn't hindsight (The Gipper v. Gorby) show whom to choose in a battle for military might? The Cathedral may work adequately for a campus in Redmond, but The Bazaar is the only realistic model to run a whole nation by.
De Soto disavows the credo of die-hard capitalism in The Mystery of Capital. His specific helpful idea is integrating the mainstream economy with the black market - the purpose being to strip down the barriers that make capitalism a rich man's club. If you've been following what Robert Mugabe is doing this week in Zimbabwe, that's exactly what De Soto is fighting against: oppression of the urban poor.
Being forced to operate in the extralegal sector disadvantages the poor. They are stuck behind a glass barrier that keeps them from capitalizing on their businesses and property. De Soto compares such strictures to the mercantilism that motivated the French Revolution.
The thing that makes his book compelling to me is that he's from the Third World himself and that he spent years in Peru, Egypt, Haiti, Mexico, and the Philippines studying what's really going on at the ground level. I recommended the book to you because De Soto specifically mentions the economics of Brazilian favelas.
> "Many communities rely on the local mob to build their schools."
According to the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, many developing countries work this way. If you're interested in why and how to transition from a "mob" economy to a "formal" economy, I recommend Hernando de Soto's "The Mystery of Capital".
The classic example economics teachers give on price discrimination is discounts for seniors and youths. Gertrude on her fixed annuity and Billy with his paper route can't afford as much - so restauranteurs (for example) offer adjusted prices to fit the customer.
The point of the "gunpoint" metaphor is to drive home the essential diffence between civil society and government. The argument is that government ultimately enforces its prerogatives with force, and so voluntary civil solutions may be morally prefered where practicable.
Some claim that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been a homogenizing force, squashing diversity in true grassroots broadcasting. How is it any better for the CPB to use its federal funding to monopolize community broadcasting than for a corporate welfare queen like Archer Daniels Midland to stamp out small farmers?
My city's local library renovation was paid for with state tobacco money. An iPod tax that goes to the musician's guild is at least as legit as a smoker's tax that pays for books.
The Barbarian Invasions depicts Canadian health care from an interesting perspective. Never having seen socialized medicine first-hand, I found it a real eye opener.
> ...Ohio has EVERY right to do this.
States do not have the right to impose arbitrary licensing laws. E.g. Arbitrary licensing laws on hairbraiders, casket sellers, and jitney drivers have been struck down.
The first question to ask when a new licensing scheme is proposed is whether its true motivation is rent seeking rather than consumer protection. I'd be interested to see whether Mr Mumper's has received any recent contributions the from brick and mortar antique seller's lobby.
What's wrong with Windows 98SE for a home computer? It uses minimal resources, isn't plagued by NT/2K/XP's networking vulnerabilities, and most importantly is compatible with old games.
It's interesting that recent research has found a distinct signature in the brain of hoarders: an inactive cingulate gyru. Contrary to assumption, it's totally distinct from obsessive compulsive disorder.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the majority of auto fatalities are in accidents involving a single car. Your bumper being "compatible" with ever other car on the road, doesn't help when you hit a tree.
MS spent a billion dollars developing this patch. You think they don't do QA? Try looking at some past real-life examples of MS's extraordinary work.
Just be glad I didn't say "cite...sight...site."
E.g.
This is an open source project, not an off-the-shelf product you're paying for. If you want something done, why don't you join the project.
Saying this is representative of Turkish cinema is like saying the Star Wars Kid is a good example of Canadian acting skill.
Turkey has some good filmmakers. I recommend Yol and Vizontele.
The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation
When I worked for a newspaper we did some research (by polling readers) and found out that each paper was read by 1.5 people (or some such figure). So that's what we told advertisers.
The cask-conditioned, unfiltered, hand drawn IPA at Bridgeport is not to be missed. They also make a great pizza.
If you're in such a small minority that no one provides a service catering to your special whims, then no, you shouldn't be able to choose what kind of service you want. If no email service to your liking exists, I would hope your first inclination would be to pull up your boot straps and start coding, not to head to Sacramento as a lobbyist.
Gmail regulation will probably be as good for consumers as California's regulation of African hair braiders, Tennessee's regulation of discount coffin sellers, New Orlean's regulation of curbside book vendors, or Louisiana's regulation of flower arrangers. Behind the scenes, so many times, regulation like this (to ostensibly protect consumers) is actually rent seeking: politically-connected private businesses using government to coerce a state-protected cartel for themselves.
The justification for the law sounds nice: we want to protect email users from this new, nasty, privacy-invading Gmail. But I haven't heard a peep of complaint about Gmail from users, only from Google's competition . If Open Government Information Awareness weren't down right now, I'd look up Senator Figueroa's contributors. I smell a rat.