Gassing On a Bit

May 10, 2013 · by ConCon · in , ,

Government does some things well. (I believe that is called a major premise). I am not, however, going to prove that premise. This is not school and I am not attempting to get a grade. Instead, I would like to point to an article which addresses the flip side of things:

The gas gauge broke. There was no smartphone app to tell me how much was left, so I ran out. I had to call the local gas station to give me enough to get on my way. The gruff but lovable attendant arrived in his truck and started to pour gas in my car’s tank. And pour. And pour.

“Hmmm, I just hate how slow these gas cans are these days,” he grumbled. “There’s no vent on them.”

That sound of frustration in this guy’s voice was strangely familiar, the grumble that comes when something that used to work but doesn’t work anymore, for some odd reason we can’t identify.

I’m pretty alert to such problems these days. Soap doesn’t work. Toilets don’t flush. Clothes washers don’t clean. Light bulbs don’t illuminate. Refrigerators break too soon. Paint discolors. Lawnmowers have to be hacked. It’s all caused by idiotic government regulations that are wrecking our lives one consumer product at a time, all in ways we hardly notice.

We are being protected from ourselves whether we like it or not. This protection is an outgrowth of a couple wrong beliefs: 1) All bad things are preventable; and 2) Experts know how to prevent bad things from happening.

How many modern improvements cost us more, work less, confuse matters or otherwise move us two steps backwards for every step forward? And how many of those can be traced to people who are from the government and are here to help?

Please, go read it all.

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The End of an Error?

May 6, 2013 · by ConCon · in , ,

As WRM notes, one of the oldest ethanol plants in the US has gone wrongside up:

Workers at one ethanol plant in South Bend, Indiana, hoped an investor would save them from liquidation by buying a plant at auction and restarting ethanol production. As the WSJ reports, those hopes went unfulfilled:

[T]he winning $2.5 million bid at the bankruptcy auction came from buyers who plan to sell the plant for scrap.

The South Bend facility was the country’s first major ethanol plant when it opened in 1984, and now it could be the first to get dismantled after filing for bankruptcy.

For more than 29 years we’ve been throwing good (taxpayers’) money after bad in the hopes that ethanol would save us from a new Arab oil embargo, global warming, Texas oilfield barons, aliens from planet X-51, or something else equally icky.

The Manhattan Project cost about $30 billion in present-day dollars. The project which truly changed the face of global warfare and international relations.

We have spent more than that (conservatively speaking) on direct ethanol tax credits. And what do we have to show for it? Very high corn prices (which are affected by more than the ethanol industry) a number of costly ethanol plants sprinkled around the country–with a concentration in the rural Midwest–and many thousands of people who are dependent on the industry for their daily bread. Oh, and a number of automobiles which can burn the stuff in limited mix quantities.

If we haven’t yet figured out how to make ethanol cost and resource-effective, isn’t it time to scrap the current approach and go back to the planning stage?

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Junk and More Junk

May 1, 2013 · by ConCon · in ,

Food stamps (which aren’t stamps anymore, but debit cards) are used to purchase billions of dollars worth of, you guessed it, sub-obtimal, sugar and fat laden junk food.

Who would have thought such a thing?

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Unnecessarily Taxing

April 25, 2013 · by ConCon · in , ,

From the AP:

You don’t see this very often: a majority of Senate Republicans voting to make people who buy stuff on the Internet pay state and local sales taxes.

Well, no. We don’t see that very often because they don’t vote on that bill very often. That aside, let’s see where it goes from there:

On Wednesday, the bill passed a test vote in the Senate, 74 to 23, with 27 Republicans voting in favor. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed to pass the bill this week, before senators leave for a scheduled vacation.

“This is a matter of equity and fairness,” said South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican. “The same people who are selling the same products should be paying the same taxes.”

Did I mention that behavior such as this from Republicans is a reason I’m not one of them? Sigh. Since when do equity and fairness permit one state to exercise authority over the citizens of another state? In the interests of equity and fairness, Governor, should not someone in South Dakota be permitted to have a late-term abortion since they could get it in, oh I don’t know, Philadelphia? I thought that one of the values of the states being independent of each other to an extent was that the states could experiment with different things and find out what works for them?

As Mark Alexander notes, states have already addressed the underlying issue and come up with state-level solutions. Here he is:

Many states, which depend in part on sales taxes, have already legislated that residents of their states remit sales taxes annually on any and all out-of-state purchases. This existing legislation is intrastate, between the voters and their state representatives, exactly where it belongs in a federalist system.

Requiring a seller in one state to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of another state is tantamount to “taxation without representation,” according to Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint. The former South Carolina senator notes correctly that the mega-retailers “are in favor of the Internet sales tax, because online retailers are competitors. But the other big proponents of the tax are state governments, which would be able to reach into other states for revenue. Politicians want this bill passed to raise new tax revenue for broken state governments facing budget shortfalls. But legislators in state capitals don’t want to make the hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes on their constituents — they fear the voter backlash. So they’d like their allies in Washington to make it legal for them to tax people who can’t vote against them.”

But what about the children? (Oh, sorry, that was another article.) Let’s see what PNR was thinking:

No, what it really amounts to is a big assist to big business.  Barnes & Noble, for instance, has physical stores in most states.  Amazon only has a physical presence in a few.  Walmart, too, has a physical store in pretty much every state.  In addition to the competition between these giants, each of them is also competing against the mom & pop shops.  If you order that book online from Barnes & Noble, for instance, they’ve got to get it to you for $11.27 because they’ve got to add the sales tax and the shipping ($11.27 x .06% = 0.68; $11.27 + 0.68 + 3.95 = $15.90).  Pass this bill, however, and now Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the mom & pop shop all have to collect the sales tax, the shipping, and the price of the book.

[...]

There’s one big difference, though.  Amazon and Barnes & Noble sell lots and lots of books.  They can, and do, work out special deals with the publishers to get their books at a much lower wholesale price than the local mom & pop shop could ever hope to achieve.  The local shop has to pay $7.50-$8.00 for that $15.00 book.  The others can likely get it for $5.00.  In the name of “leveling the playing field”, it tilts that field rather significantly towards the big names.

Legislation is almost always in favor of those in power–and that includes those who are current powerhouses in the world of business. Unsurprisingly, businesses large and small look out for their own best interests, but it is large corporations who can afford to put money and effort behind things (remember when lobbyists were evil?).

Here’s what I’m thinking. States in general are already showing themselves poor stewards of the tax revenue they have collected. Regardless of where the taxes are coming from (well, it’s always you and me) why would we want to give further resources to spendthrifts? And yes, I understand that not every state is horrible with its checkbook. Unfortunately, a bunch of them give all the rest a bad name.

Allow me to quote a gentleman whose wisdom is currently in short supply:

I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government — and more for themselves.

I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom.

Until we can reestablish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very severe and distinct curtailment of our liberty.

Thank you Mr. President. I believe that those words are just as needful today as they were when you first spoke them in 1924, if not more so.

 

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Food-Stamp Recruiter

April 24, 2013 · by ConCon · in ,

Betcha you didn’t even know that was a job title. Sorry, nothing to see here folks. Move along.

 

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Never Enough

April 23, 2013 · by ConCon · in ,

Is A $3 Million IRA Sufficient for Retirement?

Yes (if one gets to keep the money and is accustomed to living at that level).

No (if we see massive devaluation of the dollar).

Maybe (if you’ve got the money today and will die in the next few years).

Bottom line? It doesn’t matter if it is sufficient for retirement or not, neither the President or any other member of government has the authority to say “You’ve made enough money.”

A government which tells us how much money is enough is a government which never, ever has enough money.

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Angry Birds vs Obamacare

April 23, 2013 · by ConCon · in

You remember Angry Birds, right? The little, relatively simple, addictive game for phones and tablets took the world by storm, making its creators wealthy and loved around the world.

Then, there was/is Obamacare. The massive, insanely complex, solution for a series of problems which don’t exist (or not at least as billed) took the nation by the throat, making its creators (who were already wealthy) un-loved from sea to shining sea. So, what’s to be done? A PR campaign, of course:

The Department of Health and Human Services has just handed out a $3.1 million PR contract to improve the public image of Obamacare. Advertising Age reports that the firm Weber Shandwick will help “roll out a campaign to convince skeptical — or simply confused — Americans the Affordable Care Act is good for them and convince them to enroll in a health plan.”

Yes, we just need more communication. That will make everything better.

Angry Birds didn’t need advertising. People willingly shared their love of the game with others and it became unstoppable.  (And yes, I understand that some are still miffed with Angry Birds because of lost productivity, but don’t miss the point here.)

If Obamacare is such a remarkable thing which will benefit us all, why are not more people sharing the news with family and friends? Well, here is what a few folks are sharing, and it sure doesn’t sound good:

West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller, one of the main architects of Obamacare, calls the bill “probably the most complex piece of legislation ever passed by the United States Congress.” Referring to the implementation of the bill, he says, “If it isn’t done right the first time, it will just simply get worse.”

Senate Finance chairman Max Baucus of Montana has an even gloomier assessment. “I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” he told Sebelius in a hearing last week. “When I’m home, small businesses have no idea what to do, what to expect, they don’t know what affordability rules are, they don’t know what penalties may apply. They just don’t know.”

Uncertainty is killer when it comes to planning business. But, I’d say that the uncertainty worsened by knowing that the impact is going to be bad, but not knowing just how bad it could be. The money being spent on PR could just as well go to subsidizing meals in the Senate lunchroom, for all the good it will do us.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some pigs that need to be introduced to a few of my fine feathered friends.

 

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Something’s Rotten in Denmark

April 22, 2013 · by ConCon · in

But, it may be that the Danes are beginning to figure that out:

With little fuss or political protest — or notice abroad — Denmark has been at work overhauling entitlements, trying to prod Danes into working more or longer or both. While much of southern Europe has been racked by strikes and protests as its creditors force austerity measures, Denmark still has a coveted AAA bond rating.

But Denmark’s long-term outlook is troubling. The population is aging, and in many regions of the country people without jobs now outnumber those with them.

Harbinger of our future? It surely could be. This article is in the New York Times, so it comes as no surprise that the writer couches bad news in such soft terms. But, let’s go on a bit, shall we?

“In the past, people never asked for help unless they needed it,” said Karen Haekkerup, the minister of social affairs and integration, who has been outspoken on the subject. “My grandmother was offered a pension and she was offended. She did not need it.

“But now people do not have that mentality. They think of these benefits as their rights. The rights have just expanded and expanded. And it has brought us a good quality of life. But now we need to go back to the rights and the duties. We all have to contribute.” [emphasis added]

Forget what I said about Denmark being our future. It looks like us right now. Let’s close with a closer look at one of the entitled ones.

Mr. Nielsen said he was able-bodied but had no intention of taking a demeaning job, like working at a fast-food restaurant. He made do quite well on welfare, he said. He even owns his own co-op apartment.

Unlike Carina, who will no longer give interviews, Mr. Nielsen, called “Lazy Robert” by the news media, seems to be enjoying the attention. He says that he is greeted warmly on the street all the time. “Luckily, I am born and live in Denmark, where the government is willing to support my life,” he said.

“[T]he government is willing to support my life.” Wow. What a complete misunderstanding of the fact that it is all those people who pass him on the sidewalk while on their way to work who are the ones who are supporting his life.

Here is hoping that the realities of Denmark’s worsening situation will cause the people to require that the government’s willingness to subsidize laziness is greatly diminished.

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Killer Commutes?

April 15, 2013 · by ConCon · in

According to the article linked from this, long commutes help people die faster and do all sorts of other terrible things. I realize that my evidence is anecdotal, but that does not mean it is false.

I regularly commute over a half-hour one way to work. I’ve been doing this for more than a decade. I like doing it (and didn’t like living 5 minutes away from my work when I did).

You see, this time in the saddle gives me sufficient room to drop all of my work concerns and switch over to what else is going on (for the drive home) and the reverse (for the drive in). For me as a father of 4, it is thinking time. For me as a friend and partner in business adventures, it is time to connect.

Not all commutes are the same and I’ll be the first to say that my North Jersey 45-minute commute probably would have caused an early death–whether mine or someone else’s. But, as with any study of the incredibly complex creation known as a human being, you may want to take it with a grain of salt (as long as you are not in NYC, in which case Bloomberg won’t let you have the salt).

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Recently

April 15, 2013 · by ConCon · in

My apologies for my unplanned publishing vacation. Today, I head into my fourth week of employment with a new job. Learning a new knowledge domain, new people and new processes has drained my personal batteries more than I anticipated. I’m  hoping that will soon change as I become more comfortable with my position and have a much better idea of what I am doing.

On top of that, we lost power at the house for 3 and 1/2 days last week, only getting it back on Saturday. Cold showers do serve to get one clean (assuming soap and a scrubby are involved) but leave the emphasis on the cold. Brrrr! No wonder Jim Bridges and his fellow long-haird friends of the mountain would not worry about bathing more than a couple of times a year. Drinking out of that clear mountain stream is one thing, dunking oneself in it is another.

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