Monthly Archives: July 2013

Time to Raise the Hood

A common business practice is to require that all employees take some vacation time each year. It not only improves morale but also ensures that potential problems attributable to that employee will be brought to light in their absence (as co-workers unwittingly uncover latent issues). In other words, although it can be disruptive to the status quo, sometimes it is a good idea to raise the hood every now and again and make sure all is working as it should. This is nowhere more true than in government. This country has been handing out billions of dollars in foreign aid for decades. For the most part this funding is on autopilot, it’s simply rubber stamped each year as the routine process of government functioning. But there’s been a recent snag in the status quo. Some in Congress are (finally) questioning the wisdom of sending billions of dollars overseas when we face such a tremendous deficit at home. That sentiment, coupled with the recent military coup in Egypt, has brought to the forefront the legitimacy of the US continuing to send foreign aid to a country in political turmoil. Discontinuing aid should be a no-brainer even for foreign aid proponents, just turn off the money spigot until we know who is actually in charge. But alas, it is apparently not so simple after all for some senators. It turns out much of this aid is funneled right back into the home districts of many in Congress. This long obscured truth is THE dirty little secret of foreign aid.

The public has been, as they say, “sold a bill of goods” when it comes to foreign aid. The propagandized message is that such “aid” is going to help poor people overseas. In fact, the money is funneled to rich people (the well connected in foreign governments) in poor countries and to even richer people in the US. How does this money end up back here? Almost all foreign aid comes with either implicit or explicit “strings” attached that stipulate that aid must be “directed” toward the purchase of goods or services from US based corporations. And which corporations might those be? Predominantly those that are part of the “military industrial complex” – the very same crony capitalist war machines that President Eisenhower presciently warned us about over 50 years ago.

So what’s the problem with foreign aid? Is it that it spreads state of the art weaponry across the globe (weaponry that could easily fall into the hands of terrorists) resulting in a planet armed to the teeth poised at the brink of war? Is it that we are borrowing money from China to subsidize foreign governments in an attempt to bribe them into submission? Is it that food aid actually harms more than it helps by destroying farming as an occupation in countries receiving aid (who could compete with free food)? No, for those in Congress none of these deleterious effects are a problem. Why? Because “foreign aid” gets many re-elected, particularly when such aid is directed at companies in their home district (e.g. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), is rather adamant that aid not be cut off to Egypt, and by bizarre coincidence it just so happens that a General Dynamics plant is located in Michigan.

At its core, foreign aid is no different than other government “stimulus” programs – it simply takes money from those not in favor with the political elite (that is, us) and hands it over to those who are in favor with the political elite (the true 1%). But there is one key cost incurred by foreign stimulus not typically seen in domestic stimulus: death and suffering. These are a direct result of the weapons produced and the tyrannical regimes supported. The political unrest in Egypt has finally forced us to raise the hood and take a closer look at the wisdom of foreign aid. To those in Congress who got caught with their hand in the foreign aid cookie jar, take note: your days are numbered.

Think Different, Think Free

It is a peculiar characteristic of US anti-trust law (Sherman Anti-Trust Act) that competition itself can be characterized as “anti-competitive”. The recent e-book price-fixing case against Apple (in which Apple was ruled against on July 10) is a prime example. The case is rather “weedy” so I will provide a pared down synopsis, however for those interested in the details please see this article for an excellent summary. Prior to Apple’s entry into the e-book market in 2010, Amazon was in a monopsony position in the wholesale e-book market and a monopoly position in the retail e-book market. No, I did not misspell “monopoly” – monopsony is a situation where a market has just one buyer (as opposed to just one seller with monopolies). In this case Amazon was the only (over 90% market share) buyer of e-books from the “Big 6” publishing houses. As such it was in a position where it could dictate the terms of sale to the publishers. Amazon sold every e-book for $9.99 and often lost money on these sales. The publishing houses were not happy with this situation as they felt Amazon’s low prices tended to devalue hardcopy books in the consumer’s mind and thereby potentially weaken their sales position further in retail book outlets (as people balked at paying high prices for print copies when e-books could be had for so much less).

In comes Apple to save the day. It’s a win-win situation for Apple and the publishing houses. Apple wants to chip away at Amazon’s dominance in the e-book market and the publishers want to have an alternate buyer for their e-book wares. So the upshot of all this? E-book prices went up, Amazon made more money (due to not losing money anymore), the publishers made less money (due to decreased sales resulting from higher prices) and Apple got a foothold into the e-book market. Unfortunately the judge ruled against Apple, citing that “depriv[ing] a monopolist of some of its market power is [not] pro-competitive” merely because some e-book prices rose after the fact. In other words, for competition to be permissible in this country it must fall into a narrow and arbitrarily subjective standard of behavior. If you enter a market and cause prices to rise too much then you are a monopolist. If you enter a market and causes prices to fall too much then you are a ‘predator’. And finally, if you enter a market and charge the same price as everyone else, then you are a cartelist.

The irony is that government should be the one prosecuting supposed anti-competitive behavior when it is government itself that is the sole source of monopolies and anti-competitive behavior. For example, this country still engages in New Deal era agricultural price controls intended to prop up prices by limiting production. Tariffs, subsidies, grants, regulations, certificates of need, insurance commissions, utility boards, public schools – all are either outright government granted monopolies or are examples of policies that have the direct effect of limiting market entrance or production and thus raising prices and stifling competition.

All “anti-trust” legislation should be abolished. Such legislation is akin to anti-witch legislation; a pointless attempt to prevent something that cannot nor did exist prior to enactment in 1890, myths of “Robber Baron” monopolies notwithstanding. Trusts, cartels, and monopolies – such things cannot exist in a free market for any appreciable length of time as long as competition is not short-circuited by arbitrary government edicts. To the extent a monopoly could exist in a free market it would be a testament to the degree to which such an entity is satisfying the preferences and demands of its consumers.

The government has spent millions of dollars prosecuting Apple over its behavior in a market for a luxury good that did not even exist 5 years ago. Perhaps it never occurred to anyone that if e-book prices were too high then people would simply stop buying them? Ultimately it is the consumer, exercising control over the purse, that dictates what will and will not succeed in the market. Government “anti-trust” witch hunts do nothing but harm the consumer by scaring off potential competitors who fear censure for not competing in precisely the manner prescribed by our wise overlords.

Crying Wolf

The acquittal this week of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin has been divisive to say the least. It has re-opened old wounds with respect to race and justice in this country. Although these wounds had long since scared over, the self-flagellation of the professional racism-baiters has managed to incite conflict where none existed. Like the boy who cried wolf, warnings against racism are weakened when applied to every event involving hetero-race conflict. Trayvon’s death was a tragedy, but not because he was black and Zimmerman was not. It was tragic because the death of anyone is so, and that label is particularly apt when applied to a child (no matter the age). The self-appointed “leaders” of the black community would have us believe his death was entirely the result of “white” racism on the part of Zimmerman and that it is entirely impossible that Zimmerman was simply an overly paranoid idiot. As an aside it is odd that Zimmerman is labeled a “white Hispanic” because he has one parent from each “race” while Obama is not labeled as a “white black” even though his parentage is similarly divergent – apparently such labels are selectively applied when it is convenient toward advancing one’s biased narrative.

The narrative in this case is that if Person A suggests that non-white Person B acts or appears suspicious then clearly Person A must be racist. No further evidence is needed. For some reason it has been overlooked that not only was Trayvon black, he was also young, and he was a male. If you can “profile” someone for one characteristic, then why would that exclude them being profiled for all other characteristics? Oh, that’s right, if he were profiled as a “young male” then that would have not have been sufficient to turn this case into a media circus. Isn’t it just as possible Zimmerman saw a suspicious male teenager, who, to quote George Carlin “just happened to be black”? There is nothing else in Zimmerman’s background (beyond blogosphere innuendo) to suggest he holds racist views. Had there been you can be sure such information would have come to light at trial. Such information was conspicuous in its absence. My point is not to exonerate Zimmerman, but merely to demonstrate that the deliberate injection of a racial component to this tragedy does a grave injustice to Trayvon’s memory. He will not be remembered for who he was, but rather merely as a hollow symbol. A symbol that the “leaders” in the black community would like to co-opt for their own purposes. They have capitalized on Trayvon’s death solely to bolster their own reputations and bona fides as “leaders”. Perhaps I’m too harsh. Perhaps their actions betray a positive light. If the only racial issues are ones they must manufacture then perhaps we are finally hearing the death rattle of racism in this country.

So, if this case is not about race, what was it about? I was not there, nor were any of you dear readers, so what I will discuss is what we do know: Zimmerman had a gun and that gun was used to kill Trayvon. Although I count myself among those that believe the government has no right to restrict gun ownership, I think it would be intellectually dishonest to ignore the fact that although increasing gun ownership will tend to lower rates of crime, there will be a concomitant increase in accidental harm. This is one of those situations. How can we prevent similar accidents of escalation stupidity? I do not know. Nobody knows. The problem is that in theory we would like to find the exact perfect equilibrium point of gun ownership where both crime and accidents are minimized, but there is no non-arbitrary method by which one can divine that point. Laws will never solve this. Only incentives and technology will move us in the right direction. Those opposed to gun ownership should devote their resources not toward futile “whack-o-mole” efforts toward 20-20 hindsight prevention but rather toward developing the ideal non-lethal defensive weapon (Star Trek phasers anyone?). All things being equal, if one can repel an attack by lethal or non-lethal methods the vast majority of people would opt to do so non-lethally. If such an alternative were available on the market, then that alternative would come to dominate, making such senseless gun deaths like Trayvon’s a distant memory. We can all agree on that goal.

The libertarian war over the Civil War

My comments on this recent Washington Post article concerning the kerfuffle over Jack Hunter.

Full article is here.

This piece perpetuates the myth that there is some embarrassing subset of libertarians, so called “neo-confederates” that embrace slavery as being “ok” and that still pine for a CSA. This is absolutely total hogwash. There are no “neo-confederates” (whatever that neologism is supposed to mean) – nobody who calls themselves a libertarian is pro-slavery, pro-racism or pro-CSA. Nobody. The term “neo-confederate” is just a made up term that attempts to smear libertarianism by conjuring guilt-by-association imagery (“my, my that word has “confederate” in it – so those people must think just as the confederates did”). For example the author states “There are contrarians who criticize Lincoln’s use of federal power and argue that the South had a right to secede — but have no love for slavery or the Confederacy.” – so – this then implies that the “contrarians” exclusively hold this position and thus obviously the “neo-confderates” do not hold this position and therefore they must have a love for slavery. In point of fact this is the exact same position held by those commonly referred to as “neo-confederates”

Concluding that those libertarians who denounce Lincoln and his methods of waging war must somehow be the intellectual hiers of the confederacy and therefore must support all the things the confederacy stood for is as absurd as concluding that libertarians approve of prostitution and drug use because they call for repeal of laws that criminalize such behavior. Yes, I realize people do conclude that, but it is an intellectually bankrupt argument. 
To see the fallacy here, turn it around, let’s suppose the north had wanted to secede because they no longer wanted to be part of a union that included slavery – and then suppose the south had said “no” you may not leave, waged war, and kept the union intact. In both cases the putative goal of the war – “save the union” would have been achieved. So to say one war is good and one war is bad implies the validity of the civil war was not based on “preservation of the union” but rather on the legitimacy of slavery. So if that is the case, then it is quite odd indeed that Lincoln did not “free” the slaves until after 2 years into the war – and even then only in the seceded states – ironically he did not free any slaves in union states that had not seceded. Can you say hypocrite? Had the war truly been about “freedom” Lincoln would have freed all slaves everywhere in all American territories first and then that would have precipitated war. Slavery was nothing more than a tactical weapon in the arsenal of the north. Slavery was the industrial strength of the south and freeing the slaves was an attempt to undermine that strength, nothing more. Slavery may have been the political irritant that engendered sectional tensions and ultimately secession, however, make no mistake, the war was not about abolishing slavery, it was about preserving the union, i.e. not permitting an independent political body to break away, which is the most common cause of war throughout history.
 
So you’ll have to excuse me if I find it difficult to take seriously the cartoonish image of Lincoln we are taught in school as some sort of Don Quixote-esque crusader for truth, justice and freedom.

Invalid Means yield illegitimate Ends

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. This sentiment pretty much sums up the state of affairs in Georgia with respect to DUI evidence collection. If a driver is pulled over in Georgia and is suspected of being inebriated, then the law requires that the officer ask if they will submit to a BAC (blood alcohol content) test. The law also permits the driver to refuse, however under Georgia’s “implied consent” laws (one’s tacit agreement with the state in order to acquire a driver’s license) any driver who refuses will have their driving license revoked for not less than 1 year. However, just as in an M. Night Shyamalan movie, there is a twist. Since 2006, if you refuse the test, the police can then get a search warrant and forcibly extract your blood. This is done in rather Guantanamo-esque style  in Gwinnet county (see video) where at least five burly officers forcibly hold the suspect down while being tightly strapped to a gurney. This dehumanizing treatment is visited upon both the resistant and compliant alike.

Now don’t get me wrong, those that drive under the influence of anything (alcohol, drugs, texting, etc) are among the vilest sort of individuals. They put their own selfish pursuits above the safety of others as they recklessly navigate our roadways. Removing such drivers from the roads should be one of the paramount goals of the police. I see no issue with sobriety stops per se. Were the roads not monopolistically owned by the government it would be equally incumbent upon private road owners to purge their roadways of such drivers (dangerous roads are bad for business). So while I object to the government owning roads (as there is no justification for state sanctioned monopolies in any industry) I also recognize the reality today is that they do own them. Therefore, as owners, they have an obligation to keep them safe. Sobriety checkpoints are a valid tool to achieve that goal. The only problem with such checkpoints from a civil liberties standpoint is when they are used as a pretext to engage in warrantless searches and seizures that have nothing whatsoever to do with driving safety.

If the goal is to remove impaired drivers from the road before they can cause harm, then this is clearly achieved via license loss. Forcing a BAC test is superfluous if license loss has already occurred. In fact, making the penalty for refusal equal to the penalty for a positive test would more efficiently achieve the desired goal. It would both provide an even greater incentive to not drive drunk while removing from the roadways those that do so anyways. If an accident has occurred and a presumably drunk driver kills someone, then that driver is not going to go free even if they refuse a BAC test; they will be prosecuted based on their actions. Absent any mitigating circumstances (like proof of being drug/alcohol free) they will incur the maximum penalty. A refusal harms no one but the accused.

The 5th amendment guarantees the right of each person not to “be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” Obtaining a warrant to invade someone’s body makes a mockery of the intent of this amendment.  If this is not compelling someone, then I don’t know what is. If some day there is technology that can read memories shall the police be permitted to obtain warrants against all suspects and witnesses and then forcibly extract whatever information they deem might be relevant? The truth is important. Justice is important. But results are what matter. The goal should be to achieve the desired result without violating human rights and dignity. So yes, the ends do matter, but the means of achieving those ends matter even more. America, Georgia, is selling its soul for the illusion of justice and safety.

The times they are a changin’

There is nothing quite like a Supreme Court decision to add fuel to the fire of politicized hyperbole. One example: the recent US Supreme Court decision regarding the Voting Rights Act set aside just a single section (Section 4) as no longer applicable as written – but the “sky is falling” remarks of those opposing the decision would have us believe the entire bill was voided AND that from now on the KKK would be in charge of voter registration. “Return to Jim Crow!” – “Rampant disenfranchisement!” Give me a break. All the court did was say that perhaps after 50 YEARS, just perhaps, there have been some changes in the hearts and minds of the citizenry in those states it was originally targeted at. To argue, as opponents are, that racism is just as prevalent today as it was 50 years ago is to willfully ignore not only all the gains minorities have made in the last 50 years but likewise the fact that we’ve added two new generations of non-racists since that time. Why do you think “gay rights” are more widely accepted today? Changing attitudes? Hardly. It’s just demographics. The prejudices of the old die with them. Is racism wiped out? No, of course not. But to suggest that there has been ZERO improvement is an equally absurd assertion.

If one truly believes in the anti-discriminatory role of the VRA then one should have been concerned that Section 4 focused solely on historical regions of discrimination while turning a blind eye elsewhere. Not only does it use stale data, it uses stale methods. To the extent racism does exist, it is no longer overt, it has grown subtle.  The methods used to root it out must change so that it can be identified. The rescission of Section 4 now provides Congress the opportunity to establish new criteria better suited to rooting out actual voter discrimination rather than imagined discrimination. If the disease is evolving then one’s treatment method must evolve with it.

“Oh but you’re wrong, as soon as this passed Texas moved to reintroduce a voter ID law!” I’m sorry; I have never understood this knee-jerk response that Voter ID = Discrimination. How is it that merely requesting proof that one actually has the right to vote can be construed as nothing other than a blatant attempt at discrimination? Is it not possible, just perhaps, that a border state, such as Texas, which possesses a large portion of non-citizen immigrants, would want to ensure that non-citizen immigrants are not voting (since in most cases all you need is a pulse to get registered to vote)? The most commonly requested ID is a driver’s license, but for some reason this is decried as creating an unreasonable hurdle for most minorities. Really, so the vast majority of minorities do not drive? To suggest that voter ID laws disproportionately harm minorities is to imply that driver’s license regulations disproportionately bar minorities from driving. If that is the case then it seems there should be more outrage over this horrible discrimination keeping our roadways nearly minority free.

Do voter ID laws create an impediment to voting? Sure they do… in the exact same way that the fact that the polling place is not in my living room creates an impediment to my voting. I have to expend effort in getting in my car and driving to the polling place. But it is minimal effort. In the same way, being requested to show some sort of ID before one may vote is not an insurmountable obstacle. It might take some minimal effort but it is doable. It’s not like you have to prove you can run a marathon before you can vote. If you can’t pass the tiny hurdle of obtaining the requested ID then apparently voting is just not all that important to you. So, please stop with the crocodile tears about how “voter ID” disenfranchises voters. If you are truly concerned with voter discrimination then use this opportunity the Supreme Court has handed the country and encourage Congress to fix Section 4 of the VRA so that it is relevant to the world we live in today, not the one we lived in 50 years ago.