tfl: The Flatiron Life

(HT: Russ Roberts)

“President Bush Calls On Business Leaders To Create 500,000 Crappy Jobs”

The Onion Radio News reports more truth than the MSM.

Zach sent me this post about free vs. farmed fish in British Columbia. I have posted about oceanic fisheries before.

A new study found that the way fish farms are organized in BC led to a increase in wild fish deaths due to parasites. The BBC story reporting the study describes some changes that can be made to the fisheries in order to reduce this risk.

Are there similar issues with bird farms today? Is this a factor in the spread of Avian Flu?

Do you think the undomesticated brothers of ancient cows, pigs, and goats had these troubles too. Seems likely, as I don’t know of many wild versions of these beasts.

Dr. Williams explains why so much of what we choose is done peacefully and a few things we choose be come big overblown issues. Any idea on one key difference?

Milton Friedman explains how the price system fosters harmony and cooperation, in 2 minutes 15 seconds.

(HT: Cafe Hayek)

Before our next president imposes British NHS style health care on us. Although, this could be a good side job for someone with a strong hand and clean pliers.

Walter E. Williams reports it will soon be pontificated that tax avoidance is a sin.

Prof. Williams asks the Bishop of Rome

 Should the Roman Catholic Church support the welfare state? Or, put more plainly, should the Church support the use of the coercive powers of government to enable one person to live at the expense of another? Put even more plainly, should the Church support the government’s taking the property of one person and giving it to another to whom it doesn’t belong?

Catholics may be in the spotlight here, but all to often when I am at the Temple or read the Social Principles I wonder the same thing about the UMC.

What would be your 30 day plan to greater freedom in America? Lew Rockwell published his plan today.

The Everyday Economist’s favorite day is

DAY FOUR: The minimum wage is reduced to zero, creating jobs for ex-federal bureaucrats at their market wage.

I think that is my favorite too. My second favorite is

DAY TWENTY: All federal monuments are sold, in some cases to non-profit groups based on the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, which owns and runs George Washington’s home. The VFW buys the Vietnam memorial. There is much bidding for the Jefferson and Washington monuments. Nobody wants FDR’s, so it’s torn down and the land sold to a farmer. (With the federal government cut back to its constitutional size, much of Washington reverts to productive uses like agriculture, as in late 18th century.)

Jos doesn’t think we should air our dirty laundry. I agree, we should deal with our private issues privately; but I don’t think it is out of school to announce that we fight from time to time. However, I think our fights have a little different character than most married couples. We quickly resolve issues about chores and “typical” married issues you might find on sitcoms. However, if it comes to the role of government, you had better watch out. If a modern liberal is for 50% of a role and a modern conservative is for 30%, Jos is for 0.0001% and it is safe to say I am for less.

A while ago we were shopping and started talking about Andrew Speaker’s TB induced quarantine. Our opinions differed and we agreed to disagree. Now Robert P. Murphy has an article that sheds some new light on the case. I learned a lot that I did not know concerning what Mr. Speaker was told for the last 6 months. Also Mr. Murphy has a premise that I think Jos and I can agree would make America better

But suppose the government did act as if owners really had the right to control who used their property. What voluntary institutions would spring up to help a free society cope with the problem of contagious diseases?

I am not sure this will square the libertarian quarantine issue for Jos, but I found it a good read.

In his latest, Jonah Goldberg asks, “Why have public schools at all?” He answers with the boilerplate responses but points out

The problem with all these bromides is that they leave out the simple fact that one of the surest ways to leave a kid “behind” is to hand him over to the government. Americans want universal education, just as they want universally safe food. But nobody believes that the government should run nearly all of the restaurants, farms and supermarkets. Why should it run the vast majority of the schools - particularly when it gets terrible results?

OK, so schools are not good at actually educating children, but they are still good at teaching culture and general government brain washing right?

As for schools teaching kids about the common culture and all that, as a conservative I couldn’t agree more. But is there evidence that public schools are better at it? The results of the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress history and civics exams showed that two-thirds of U.S. high school seniors couldn’t identify the significance of a photo of a theater with a sign reading “Colored Entrance.” And keep in mind, political correctness pretty much guarantees that Jim Crow and the civil rights movement are included in syllabi. Imagine how few kids can intelligently discuss Manifest Destiny or free silver.

Oh, crap! It is not all bad right. Maybe the good out weights the bad.

What about the good public schools? Well, the reason good public schools are good has nothing to do with government’s special expertise and everything to do with the fact that parents care enough to ensure their kids get a good education. That wouldn’t change if the government got out of the school business. What would change is that fewer kids would get left behind.

Read it, weep, and start working to privatize your local schools.