Nanny-Statism Gone Mad

Toronto city councillors are calling for helmet laws for tobogganing. Now, I'm not anti-helmet or anything like that, and I've definitely taken a few spills where a helmet would have saved me from a head injury. But I think this is an example of trying to legislate common sense into people, and it ain't gonna work. What are they going to do, hire some tobbogan police to enforce this law (funny mental image of tobbogan with flashing lights and siren, 'can I see your license and registration son?') Accidents are still going to happen, people will die tragically because of foolishness forever. But the state has no business making these pieces of law, and even more importantly, has no business enforcing said laws. I still think that seatbelt laws and motorcycle/bicycle helmet laws are beyond the pale, no matter the contrived justification.

Meanwhile, Back in Chavezistan (Part III)...

Hugo Chavez has declared "Socialism or Death" for Venezuela. Well ummmm, I guess rest in peace, Venezuela... Go ahead and follow the other former socialist countries over the cliff.

There's Only One Taxpayer

Ever been tempted to support redistributive taxation? The kind where the rich are taxed at a higher rate than the poor, because they can afford to pay for social programs while the poor cannot? It does seem like a just way of attaining equality, you know, 'from those according to ability to those according to need'. An easy way to alleviate poverty, you might think.

But this standard socialist boilerplate is, in action, one of the most repressive tools that your government has ever concocted, aside from physical brutality. See, the way the rich get rich is of course by profit. Profit means earning more than you spend, ie. a margin between cost of the good sold and the price that it is sold for. So if a loaf of bread costs 50 cents to make, and it's sold for a dollar, the baker earns 50 cents, right? This is a simple concept. The rich capitalist understands this concept, and has long realized that the value of his/her labour is in that profit margin. However, sometimes costs go up. So if the capitalist wants to still earn 50 cents, s/he will raise the price of bread to $1.25 if the cost of making bread rises to 75 cents. Still a simple concept, no?

Ever ask yourself if taxation is considered to be an expense by the capitalist? I mean, there are more direct expenses, like raw materials, labour, transportation, marketing, etc., but truly, the capitalist knows that taxation is built into the cost of manufacturing as well. So if the increase in taxes amounts to 25 cents per loaf of bread, then this cost is always considered, and subsequently the price of bread for consumers increases in lock-step.

So while that 25 cents of taxation might go towards some social program that on one hand enriches the poor in some way, those who are poor still spend an extra 25 cents per loaf of bread. So who is paying for the social programs then? Certainly rich folks need bread too, but the poor need it even more desperately, and have less disposable income for other things after buying the bread.

Besides, that 25 cents in social programming ultimately doesn't all end up as a total benefit to the poor. Administrators (Bureaucrats) of social programs need to get paid, often handsomely, and so do the social workers further down the line (I know, they're underpaid, right?). So let's say for every 25 cents extra a poor person spends on bread, s/he receives 10 cents worth of social programming. Meanwhile, the rich are unaffected, still earning 50 cents a loaf.

That said, do you really think that the government isn't aware of this simple economic condition? Those bureaucrats who campaign on promises to erradicate poverty are actually intentionally keeping poor people poor, and the only ones who actually get richer are the bureaucrats. Who, as far as I'm concerned, could do a better service to society by learning how to bake, so that they can teach poor folks to do the same. But the bureaucrat understands that s/he needs the poor to believe that bureaucracy will save them, in order to perpetuate their parasitic lifestyle. The poor folks might just see a benefit to them of 10 cents, not understanding that it came from their own pocket in the first place, and this perception is supported and manufactured by the liars who campaign on promises of salvation. It's actually salvation given with one hand, while the other hand is picking their pocket.

Rich folks are always going to be rich, and generally it's their type-A personality and high productivity that gets them there. They could be taxed at 75% of their incomes, and yet they'd still be rich, and poor folks would still be poor, if not actually poorer.

Ok, That Was Fast

Bye bye Saddam.

Justice

Saddam Hussein will hang within the next month for the crimes against humanity which he has committed over his lifetime. I wouldn't ordinarily celebrate something so solemn and grim, but I see this as an important milestone in humanity's march towards freedom. As any regular reader of this blog would know, emancipation is a common theme for me, and when I perceive that an act of emancipation is being performed, I pay respectful attention to it.

So good riddance, Mr. Hussein, and may the souls of those you've tortured and slaughtered over the years be at peace. And may the survivors of your regime look forward to a future of freedom.

Funniest Thing I've Seen All Year

I realize this seems like a departure from a blog that's not all sweetness and light, but I'm sure that this is a good reason for an exception: Robby Rabinovitch of the CBC speaking sense.

Call Me On My BS

Now, Rocketman's Revenge is pleased to present a new feature to this website, fast, reliable (well, fast anyway) definitions for words that I use, which I may not always fully know. Simply double click on any word in the body of any post, and a new window will open with a definition of the word, along with some synonyms and antonyms. So anytime I try wrangling with a big word, call me on my BS! I can take it.

Perspective

Via Hot Air, it turns out that 12 Americans are murdered by illegal aliens every day in America. Interesting by itself? No. However, compared to the Iraqi death toll in the "Quagmire" that this war has "become", it seems as though aliens living in the states are more of a problem than the "civil war" that has "broken out" in Iraq. Hmmmm.

A Good Quote

I don't usually pay much attention to the quote of the day on the right side of this page, but there's a good one today, of the variety that makes one think "ain't that the truth". Sir Alexander Hamilton says: "A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous."

MIA

It's been exactly three weeks since I last made a post, I realized today. Time flys. I've been really busy with school, and I just came off a 24 hour marathon of work, no sleep in between. A lot of newsworthy stuff has happened in three weeks; Russian spies popping up all over, interesting semantic evolutions in Canadian indentity, etc etc. School work is coming to a close for the holidays soon, which is welcome, so I'll be back in full force. Stay tuned....

The Votes Are In

Looks like the Dems have captured Congress, and at this time Senate is still up for grabs. I'm going to bed now, but I still think we'll see a Republican-controlled Senate. Not the best news for Libertarians, but it could be worse. In fact, despite all the negative press the GOP and the Admin get on a daily basis, it's remarkable that the Dems have picked up less seats than historical averages for the sixth-year ballots. most mid-second-term elections see larger gains for the opposition party in both houses. So if there's a silver lining for Republicans, it's that.

Seeing The Unseen

Proteus, at Ejectejecteject.com, has a fantastic essay here that just debunks just about every bumper-sticker lefty slogan that I've ever heard of. Man it's good. This site is going on my Blogroll.

Hey Adam Nagourney

Looks like The New York Times is already bracing for the worst: Not winning enough seats to take control of either house. Looks like over-confidence may cost the Dems, which The New York Times manages to ludicrously blame the GOP:

"Republicans, of course, may have decided that they have a Machiavellian interest in setting up Democrats with inflated expectations." says the NYT. Yeeeeaaah. The evil political mastermind Karl Rove has somehow manipulated events to make the Democrats foolishly believe that they'll easily take both houses. This style of thought is the most telling revelation about that paper and party's complete lack of self-awareness. They both can't believe that the majority of people don't actually agree with them, and will conjure up an 0verly-complex and improbable cause of their failures every time they fail. And they actually have so little respect for the average person that they don't think s/he'll notice that what they're saying is ridiculously irrational.

Hey Adam Nagourney. Find out about Occam's razor.

Chapters Finally Caves

Chapters/Indigo/Coles/Smithbooks has finally gotten Steyn's book, America Alone into inventory. How does it feel to capitulate to the imperialist capitalist dogs, Ms. Reisman?

Vicious

David Olive of the Toronto (Red) Star, trumpets the "End of The Neo-Cons", seeing the result of the mid-term elections as a foregone conclusion. He is truly venemous and slanderous in his review of "neo-con" policy, and really does not hold back. It's very educational reading. He might be interested to find that the Democratic lead is diminishing as his piece is raced to print, and that the Dems are performing very poorly in the polls, historically speaking. Add to that widespread speculation that polling is as biased and inaccurate as it was in 2004 when exit polls showed a Kerry victory, and you get a man who may find out that his foot doesn't taste very good.

November Surprise?

The New York Times has just undermined their buddy, the anti-war movement. According to the Times, recently declassified documents, obtained by the US in 2003 and released under intense pressure from the anti-war left, show that Iraqi nuclear research had progressed to being a year away from building the bomb in 2002. So for the last 3 years, the memes that there were no WMDs in Iraq, or 'Bush Lied, People Died" have been based on a false premise.

The Times comically manages to blame the Bush Admin for declassifying and publishing sensitive nuclear information that 'might help Iran', which makes me think that either the Times just hasn't allowed for the possibility that this revelation has just vindicated the Admin completely in their intent, or they have no respect whatsoever for the intelligence of the populace in general.

I mean, there were so many other reasons for invading Iraq than WMD, but the only thing the looney-left had against the Admin that gained traction was the fact that no WMDs. But first of all, many hundreds of Sarin nerve gas shells have been found, there were nuclear centrifuge parts found buried in backyards, and now there is strong evidence of an intent and capability for nuclear weapons. And finally a Weapon of Mass Destruction is about to be condemned for his crimes against humanity.

So that should be the end of it.

America Alone

Even lefty rag The New York Times can't keep Mark Steyn off the bestseller list.

October Surprise?

This is just disturbing. Democratic Senate Candidate Jim Webb has been exposed. Turns out he's a fiction writer who does erotica involving underage boys and girls, and parent/child sexual expression. Can you say moral bankruptcy?