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POPSTwo Common Objections to Capitalism The system of voluntary exchange and experimentation based on secure private-property rights — what we loosely call "capitalism" — expands rather than restricts our material and nonmaterial opportunities. Substituting elite power for voluntary exchange invites all sorts of epistemological problems and moral disasters. For these reasons, capitalism deserves to be defended.
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POPSThe Forgotten Depression of 1920 The experience of 1920–21 reinforces the contention of genuine free-market economists that government intervention is a hindrance to economic recovery. It is not in spite of the absence of fiscal and monetary stimulus that the economy recovered from the 1920–21 depression. It is because those things were avoided that recovery came. The next time we are solemnly warned to recall the lessons of history lest our economy deteriorate still further, we ought to refer to this episode – and observe how hastily our interrogators try to change the subject.
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POPSTito's vs. Grey Goose The clear winner here is Tito's Handmade Vodka. I implore anyone who is biased towards spirits and their perceived quality because of high price or brand recognition alone to please do yourself a favor and try Tito's. It ranks up there with any of the highest priced vodkas on the market and sells for a fraction of their price. On top of that, it is a genuine Texas-made beverage. Good stuff.
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POPSHurricane Ike's Delayed Gifts for Galveston Island While the more common plants probably came from other island yards, Evans thinks the tiny tomatoes might have come all the way from the Caribbean. “Other people out here on the East End have had that same little tomato,” he said. “No one recognized it, and then I heard by word of mouth that they had come from Cuba. I’m willing to believe that, but I don’t know that it’s true.” Experts cannot verify Evans’ claim, but the unknown origin of the volunteer plants hasn’t kept gardeners from enjoying them. Sounds plausible to me, knowing that our seasonal seaweed (Sargasso) that washes ashore every year comes from hundreds of miles off the east coast in the Atlantic ocean.
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POPSMuseum of Unintended Use An interesting new blog. And oh yeah, that last pic was taken in a pet supply store; it's a dog beg with an unintended sleeper inside. :)
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POPSTexas State Fair Finalists - Best Fried Foods Oh my... Sorry no pics. Fernie’s Deep Fried Peaches & Cream – Sweet juicy peaches are coated in a delicious batter of cinnamon, ginger, coconut, graham cracker crumbs, eggs & milk, then deep fried to a crunchy golden brown on the outside, while luscious and sweet on the inside. Served on a plate drizzled with raspberry sauce and sprinkled with streusel topping & a dollop of whipped cream. A side of vanilla butter cream icing is provided for dipping. Texas Fried Pecan Pie – A mini-pecan pie is battered and deep fried to a golden brown. Served drizzled with rich caramel sauce, then topped with whipping cream and chopped candied pecans. Country Fried Pork Chips – Thin sliced pork loin is seasoned, surrounded by a tasty corn meal batter and deep fried. Served with sides of ketchup or cream gravy.
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POPSThe Latter-day Liberal What, in short, would prevent such a policy in the conduct of our affairs, disguised as liberalism, from ultimately emerging as undisguised totalitarianism?
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POPSThe Solution to Healthcare is Your Bathroom
Under no circumstances can we let people know the aforementioned policies artificially limited the supply of labor and goods, which precipitated the astronomical rise in prices. We can easily place blame on the toilet manufactures, the installers, or the training institutes even though their every move has been dictated by a complex code of laws that was supposed to keep everything under control in the first place. After blame has been sufficiently passed, then it is up to Congress to hammer out a 2,000-page piece of legislation that further controls the toilet industry and ultimately makes it more expensive and inconvenient. It will be penned in English, but the bill will not make sense. Congress will raise taxes, borrow money, and pass strict laws, but amazingly prices will go up and availability will go down. By then, people will all have forgotten about healthcare and will demand even more government to control the spiraling costs of toilets. Problem solved.[/quote
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POPSState Sovereignty What freedom-loving American would ever advocate the idea that a group of freeborn persons in Sovereign States should be forced to be governed by a government that was initially created by the will and assent of those people in their sovereign and independent capacities, especially where that artificial creation (i.e., the federal government) has usurped the powers originally granted to it by the sovereigns of the States? Such a thought is repugnant to free society, free government, and American ideology, and mirrors more of the hereditary-right-to-rule notion argued by monarchs of yesteryear and forced upon its not-so-loyal subjects. That's just it...I get the feeling that a portion of Americans are not "freedom-loving" at all.
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POPSFreddie & Fannie PAC Spending In the 2008 cycle, Fannie Mae PAC has contributed a total of $617,900 to congressional members; Freddie PAC gave $202,997 to members of Congress. More than half of that total — $489,998 — was designated for persons in leadership positions or who sit on either the House Financial Services Committee or the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
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POPSChevy Volt Gets 230 MPG? The media no longer sees itself as an arbiter of truth or a purveyor of information, but as a cheerleading booster of particular causes – typically the causes supported by the urban intelligentsia of the coasts. High on the list of fashionable political causes to be evangelized is the war against oil, which before an election always seems to become “foreign” oil. (After the election, petro-equality returns and domestic oil is bad-mouthed, too).
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POPSI Am a Liar I began by saying, "I am a liar." But if I am, then you have to negate the sentence. I am in fact a truth teller. But if I'm a truth teller, that means I am in truth a liar.
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POPSHealthcare Market Failure? From what I can decipher from his and other claims to support “universal” medical care, a “market failure” occurs when someone is not able to access immediately all of the medical care he or she “needs” immediately. Now, if this is what he means by a “market failure,” then every market (including the distribution of government-produced goods) falls into that category. If I cannot afford a Rolls-Royce, is that due to “market failure”? The very term "market" implies the presence of voluntary exchanges being transacted by individual parties to their mutual benefit...not the mandates of government.
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POPSMoney For Nothing Incredibly, the lesson Obama draws from history is that past administrations didn't spend enough..."The real problem was that Roosevelt slowed down on public spending in the first two years," the president said, according to one congressman who was in the room. "If he'd just kept on spending that money, we'd have gotten out of the Depression quicker."
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POPSWhat Right to Health Care? Those who want to see an end to spiraling medical costs should challenge the premises behind the government interventions. The first premise is moral: that medical care is a right. It is not. There was no right to such care before doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies produced it. Health care is a service, which we all need, and none of us are better served by placing our lives and our doctors under coercive bureaucratic control. The second premise is economic: that the government can produce a positive result by redistributing thousands of billions of dollars from its most productive citizens. This is the road to stagnation and national bankruptcy, not universal prosperity.
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POPSFive Endangered Freedoms In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.
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POPSKeynesian Foolishness I don't care how prominent, credentialed, or "accomplished" an economist is. If he says that burying cash in the ground can be a boon to society, then he should be immediately dismissed from public and academic discourse.
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POPSWhat Does It Take to Become a Good Musician? Written from the perspective of a guitarist but applicable to all. I know that half of what musicians become, is because of the time they spend with a guitar in their hands, in their mind. It is almost the same as really practicing, imagining the guitar in your hands, playing this and that. The older I become, the more I realize it. I have been playing long enough that there is very little difference between practicing and visualizing and I have come to the conclusion, that this time visualizing, is a major part of the equation. That is why love is the key. If you didn't love the guitar, how could you think about it all the time? In the book, "This is your Brain on Music," Daniel J. Levitin comes to the conclusion that to be good it takes about ten-thousand hours on your instrument (that equals about 3 hours a day for 10 years). But I will add that a lot of these hours can and have to be knocked off in your head. I'm not that sure that your brain knows the difference.
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