who's your nanny?

Then They Came for the Texters

Maryland lawmakers have upped the ante on the police state once again. Beginning tomorrow, police will be granted even more authority to snoop in our private business when a law banning texting while driving takes effect.

Lawmakers and many residents are hoping that the ban will prevent motorists from engaging in this bad habit that studies prove dramatically increases a driver’s car crash risk. Maryland State Highway Administration spokesperson Lori Rakowski notes that it is impossible for a person to drive safely while texting because both activities usually require the use of both hands and eyes.

Interestingly, it's still legal in Maryland to be a woman while driving.

O Holy Obama

Today my friend Mike sent me this video of churchgoers worshipping the Profit Prophet Obama. You may have seen this already because it's from back when The Holy One (peace be upon him) was merely the tyrant-elect.

This reminds me of one of the last few times my wife was successful in dragging me to a service at her church, when the person reading prayers at the pulpit said something along the lines of: "That President-elect Obama will end oppression around the world, we pray to the Lord."

Given than the state is the cause of oppression worldwide, not the solution to it, I've since decided that this "house of worship" could get along just fine without me. After all, if I were gonna worship a mere mortal, it'd at least be someone deserving of such time and energy...like, for instance, NPH, yo.

I ♥ Tyranny

The gang of thugs that runs New York State has issued an ultimatum to health care workers: get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus or get fired.

Too cute. I wonder how the state would respond to a private company that issued a similar mandate. Something tells me that up in the land of All That Is Fair and Unionized, the government would jump at the opportunity to put an end to such "discrimination."

Refusing to be immunized against H1N1 because of the vaccine debacle in 1976 “is like saying a plane crashed 33 years ago so I’ll never fly again,” said Dr. Richard Daines, New York State health commissioner.

Daines obviously misses the point. It's not up to him and his fellow cronies to determine for other people what they should or should not put into their own bodies. But like a good bureaucrat, he won't let something as stupid as property rights get in the way of tyranny!

D.C. Police Faulted on Response to Burglaries

D.C. residents living just south of the Potomac Ave Metro stop have been victimized by a rash of burglaries over the last two months. The Post reports:

The bad guys have them worried, but what really irks the residents, they say, is that the officers who handle the calls come with a nonchalant attitude about "property crime."

Some say the muted response has left them wondering: In a city that saw more than 180 people slain last year, what does it take to get the police focused on curbing a rash of break-ins?

The neighbors have written a letter to the mayor, arranged a meeting with their D.C. Council member and complained loudly at community events. Still, they say, the burglaries continue.

If the citizens of Washington, D.C. would read this blog more often, they would know that the police in general, and the Nation's Capital in particular, have no incentive to solve any crimes at all. Since the State is a territorial monopolist of security which receives its income through taxation, it has no incentive to do any thing it says it will do, namely protect its subjects and their property. Its subjects cannot purchase security services from anyone else. And since the State can charge its subjects whatever price it wishes, it will charge as much money in taxes as it can. This is what we would expect from any monopolist: charge as high a price as it can and do as little as it can get away with.

If its subjects object to this treatment and sue the State for failing to protect them or their property, they can only turn to the State for resolution. And the State, being a judge in its own case, will rule in its own favor. This is exactly what the District Supreme Court did in the 1981 Warren v. District of Columbia. In this case, the court ruled that the police had no obligation to protect three women who were sexually assaulted for fourteen hours. Do any of the citizens of Washington, D.C. really think that the police which did not protect the physical bodies of three women from being assaulted, but will use all of their resources to protect residents' laptops, televisions, and X-Boxes?

Also unfortunate is the mindset of the residents in the article. Not one resident suggests purchasing a gun to protect his property. Not one resident suggests that the neighbors get together to watch over each others property. Not one suggests any sort of personal responsibility to protect his own life and property. This omission reflects The Servile Mindset of many Americans. They have been made helpless through the public education system and easily give up their right of self-protection for the fraudulent claims of the State-provided security. They have forsaken the option of self-protection and can only think about compelling the police to defend them although the police have no incentive at all to to this. Unless the people are awakened from their dogmatic slumber, they will continue to be victimized by the private criminals who rob them and State-provided police who do nothing to protect them.

 

Hologram of Liberty: Chapter 7-Hamilton...Covert Bankster Agent?

This is the eighth essay in my live-blog of Hologram of Liberty by Kenneth Royce. You can also read my summary of the Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6.

In this chapter Royce argues that Hamilton was most likely a covert agent for the bankers who had an interest in shaping the new Constitution to protect and advance their interests. He admits that he has found no direct evidence of this, however he does argue that enough circumstantial evidence exits to suggest some kind of covert plan. The circumstantial evidence he marshals is as follows:

• At age 23 Hamilton submitted his plan for a national bank to the Confederation's superintendent of finance.
• Hamilton was "oddly restrained" during the convention. "He was a veritable dynamo of brilliance before and after the Convention, so why was he a dud during?" asks Royce. Royce suspects that Hamilton had been instructed to keep quiet.
• Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury with 500 employees (70 of whom were in his own building) compared to less than 20 of the State and War Departments combined. "No other delegate could have so quickly and successfully monetized the public debt through a monopolistic bank."
• Hamilton used the "necessary and proper" clause to allow federal taxes to usurp the state's revenue base.

This chapter is Royce's weakest and one wonders why he included it with so little evidence. Fortunately, Thomas DiLorenzo has written Hamilton's Curse which presents the historical evidence to show the relationship between Hamilton and the bankers.

My Puke Meter's in the Red

I'm hardly a fan of Bill Maher's, but every now and then I'll tune in to Real Time on HBO. Interestingly, it's like golf: before you know it you've been watching for 45 minutes without really being able to explain why.

I think I watch in equal parts because it's a half-decent way to get news without having to tune in to the MSM, it's always a hoot to listen to wacky liberals and the intermittent neocons trying to defend their positions, and I feel an obligation to help HBO's ratings for giving us shows like True Blood and Entourage.

But just now I noticed that tonight's lineup includes Paul Krugman, Eliot Spitzer, and Michael Moore, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get through the entire episode without polishing off my entire bottle of Evan Williams when I'm only planning on cranking through half. (Hey, tomorrow's my birthday.)

Then again, if the show serves up even a portion of the howlers you can rely on regularly from that trifecta, maybe it won't be so bad. I think I'll throw it over to DVR and decide in the morning.

D.C. Council Member's Chief of Staff Arrested

Federal authorities Thursday arrested Ted Loza, chief of staff to D.C. Council member Jim Graham, and charged him with two counts of accepting bribes.

The indictment says Mr. Loza received a cash payment of $1,000 on June 19 from a person with whom he spoke and that he promised to promote legislation and policies that the person wanted. On July 10, Mr. Loza met with the person again and had a similar conversation. At the time, Mr. Loza received an additional $500.

I do not know if the recently passed code of ethics covers council member's staff. If not, Vincent Gray should pass another emergency bill covering member's staff. This way the staff as well as the council members will have clear rules to uphold "unusually high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality," and never give "preferential treatment to any person." Doing this will guarantee that the residents of DC will never have to worry about corrupt council members or council aides ever again.

NJ Officers Pay for Violent Assault

I know this might come as a shock to some people, but drug dealers/users and gun owners deserve to exercise their right to self-defense when intruders decide to invade their homes.

Gunfire erupted as a police tactical squad executed a no-knock search warrant in a New Jersey suburb Thursday, leaving four officers and a suspect shot.

One Lakewood police officer who was shot in the face and another who was shot in the foot were taken to a hospital, Deputy Chief Michael Mohel of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said. Two others sustained minor injuries when they were struck in their bulletproof vests.

The suspect, Jamie Gonzalez, 39, was taken to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, Mohel said.

There was no word on their conditions and the names of the officers have not been released.

Police had planned to search the home in the town about 35 miles east of Trenton for narcotics and weapons, Mohel said.

There aren't a lot of specifics included in this report, but from the looks of what we do know, a SWAT team conducted another no-knock raid on a private residence on the off-chance that it would reveal -- gasp! -- illegal drugs and guns.

For as much as I despise the entire idea of government police, I take no pleasure in knowing that four officers who are probably fathers, brothers, uncles, and sons were nearly killed as they stormed the home of someone who all too realistically could have been nonviolent, or perhaps not even the intended target. After all, I oppose the idiotic "war on drugs" and its associated violent home invasions in part because they needlessly put officers themselves in harm's way.

However, far more crucial is the fact that Jamie Gonzalez was shot -- we have no idea as to the extent of his injuries at present, only that he sustained multiple gunshot wounds -- simply for defending himself and his property from these invaders. That is the real tragedy here.

I don't want to engage in much speculation, but the report certainly doesn't suggest that police were tracking someone who had just committed a violent crime. But even if they were, and especially if Gonzalez were a violent thug who thrives on confrontation, is storming through his front door with guns drawn really a smart idea if officer safety is paramount?

I'm looking forward to seeing how this story shapes up, but if we use recent history as a guide, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that neither drugs nor guns were found in Gonzalez's residence or, even if they were, that they've ever been used on anyone against his or her will.

So What If It Was Horsehead Soup?

Yesterday a popular southern Maryland news site reported that a local Mexican grocery store was caught boiling a horse skull when fire units responded to a fire alarm. I'm assuming authorities identified the skeletal remains as belonging to a horse, not that the reporter made his own assumptions.

At approximately 10:15 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, fire units from Pax River and Bay District responded the Los Primos grocery store at 21703 Great Mills Road in Lexington Park for a reported fire alarm. When units arrived on the scene, they discovered a horse's head boiling in an untended pot on the stove in back of the facility.

When asked about the skeletal remains simmering on the stove, staff on the scene stated to authorities that tacos were being made. After a search of the premises, no other parts of a horse could be found, only the boiling horse head skull.

Today, however, the site is updated to reflect the fact that the skull actually belonged to a cow. The story initially qualified as "news," one would imagine, because horse is not an approved food in Maryland, according to the St. Mary's County Health Department.

Therefore, the only real relevant question here is: So what? For starters, the only reason the state can pull its guns on you if you're found to be serving horse meat is because enough self-righteous fools have convinced politicians that horses are cute enough to "save." If enough people took dairy cows on wistful jaunts through the hillside, you wouldn't be able to slice them up, either.

What this story really illustrates -- aside from the fact that the state is a criminal gang that seeks to prevent consenting adults from interacting peacebly with one another -- is that government health departments couldn't protect us from seedy grocers even if they wanted to (and newsflash: they don't). After all, the skull was already in the pot at the time the fire department arrived at Los Primos for what was nothing more than a random encounter.

But as we all know by now, the skull didn't even belong to the equine family. In fact, the owner of the store produced a receipt from a licensed wholesaler for the cow skull and even -- shocker!! -- advertised cow head soup on his menu for all customers to see.

However, the point remains that there's no good reason people shouldn't be able to eat horsehead soup if they find that equally appetizing. I can't imagine any world in which allowing nonviolent people to interact freely is more evil than constantly promising to invoke violence against those same people just because they might like doing something you don't.

DC Residents Will Never Have to Worry About Corrupt Council Members

The DC Council today passed emergency legislation that establishes the city's first "Code of Official Conduct" for council members:

The proposal, for example, states that council members need to uphold "unusually high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality" and that the "avoidance of misconduct and conflicts of interest on the part of council members is indispensable." Some of those standards were already scattered through out city code, but Gray concluded the ethical policies dealing with the council were confusing and too dispersed.

The new code marks the first time since the council was formed in 1973 that members can access a unified, written ethics code.

Politicians cannot even uphold the usual standards of "honesty, integrity, impartiality." But clearly the council has figured out the problem: these codes were not written down. Now we will have ethical and honest representatives. 

Assuming the legislation that passed is the same as the code proposed by Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, it

also states that members should avoid "using their office for private gain," never give "preferential treatment to any person," and steer clear of matters that impede "government efficiency and economy" or result in a "loss of confidence or impartiality."

It reinforces several existing laws and ethics policies for council members, such as not accepting gifts or loans from someone who is seeking a contract from the city.

Well, I feel a lot more confident about our council members now. Given that this code is finally written down for the council members to see, we will never have any more corrupt, dishonest, or biased council members ever in DC until the end of days. QED.

Police Tase Unarmed, Legless Man in Wheelchair

Because, as we all know, suspicion is enough to confer guilt here in the ol' land of the free.

The man who was Tasered, 40-year-old Gregory Williams, a double-leg amputee, spent six days in jail on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting arrest, although the Merced County District Attorney's Office hasn't filed charges in the case.

Williams, who was released from jail Friday, said he was violently manhandled and Tasered by police, even though he claims he was never physically aggressive toward the officers or resisted arrest.

Williams claims police kept tasing him even after he told them he had a heart condition. And even though he was in close proximity to his two-year-old daughter, whom Williams heroically tried to protect from professional kidnappers known as the Merced County Child Protective Services (sic). Story here, thanks to Jack Slater.

Watch the disturbing video here.

Kick up Your Tailgate!

We interrupt this political blog to bring you a special announcement that the award-winning T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili spice mix is now available online!

For now I have to process orders via PayPal, which admittedly is a little "clunky" -- for instance, I can't set quantity limits or easily configure shipping rates through the system itself -- but for now it will allow me to get my spice mix where it needs to go. At this point, I'm only able to ship throughout the U.S., but with any luck there will be enough demand that it will be cost-effective to invest in ecommerce software, which would calculate real-time shipping rates automatically and significantly broaden my marketplace.

For now, I hope you'll give my new product a try and spread the word if you like it. And it's hardly suitable just for chili; you can use T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili spice mix to season anything from fries and veggies to chicken, pork, and taco meat. It's healthy (no salt or preservatives), all-natural and, best of all, delicious, so pick some up today!

TIP: It costs the same to mail two bottles as it does one, so there are ways to maximize shipping value. If you're interested in multiple quantities, contact me for the most efficient rates.

This Is the Best News from the DC Government I Have Ever Heard as a Resident

The D.C. Government is ending safety inspections for private vehicles. This is the best news I have ever heard from the District Government as a lifelong resident. Last September I took my dad's car through inspection and it failed the safety inspection because it had a small crack in the windshield. Perhaps now we will be able to drive it.

Of course, the Sirens are singing the popular song of Safety, predicting death and destruction because the residents of the city are now responsible for maintaining their own vehicles:

"You have an entire generation that is woefully unaware of when a car has real problems," said John B. Townsend II, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, who said 35 percent of inspected vehicles failed inspection last year in the District. "It's not only about unsafe roads in the District, but Maryland and Virginia as well."

Employees of the inspection station also fear a rise in accidents:

At the inspection station in Southwest, several mechanics raised concerns, although they declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak for the DMV.

The inspection "is a process that protects everybody," one employee said. "We see what everyone else doesn't see."

Another employee predicted that the changes "will take a life" because he sees "lots of unsafe vehicles everyday."

Oh, the agony of personal responsibility! The citizens are so helpless! They won't take of their cars and look out for their own safety. Nor will private mechanics look for "missing seat belts, balding tires, worn brakes, cracked windshields and inoperable lights" when servicing vehicles. That's too much responsibility for the people and private mechanics, even though inspections were required annually or every two years (depending on how long the car is registered) and people generally perform routine maintenance on their cars four or five times a year. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!! Only the State cares enough for the people to protect them from their own incompetence. Better let the State relieve the people of such burdens as caring for their own property and safety!

Let's Start a Pool

This is a suggestion from reader Jack Slater, who wonders when government police will start zapping us with Tasers specifically to draw blood samples from citizens stopped under suspicion of driving under the influence.

The "Services" of the DMV

I purchased a car last weekend and I am not at all looking forward to my upcoming trip to the DMV. I went to the DC DMV website today to find out what papers I needed to receive permission to drive my car. Any time I visit a government agency's website, I like to click on the "About Us" link to read the propaganda said agency uses to justify its robbery and oppression. The ostensible mission of the DC DMV is "to provide excellent customer service and to promote public safety by ensuring the safe operation of motor vehicles."

I am not surprised to read "public safety" as part of the mission. As H.L. Mencken once said the average man does not want to be free, he only wants to be safe. Safety is probably the most popular reason given by the State to justify its violations of our natural rights. According to this history of the California DMV,

The early day "motor wagon" was also considered a dangerous instrument. Several California counties passed ordinances requiring motorists to pull to the side of the road and remain standing when horse drawn vehicles approached. One court decision characterized the new contraptions as "highly dangerous" when used on county roads. Ordinances prohibited operations of the horseless carriage at night.

In 1901 California authorized "cities and counties to license bicycles, tricycles, automobile carriages, carts, and similar wheeled vehicles." The Vermont DMV did not even wait until automobiles arrived in the state before passing laws to regulate them. The laws were passed as a preventive measure. Given that the purpose of the State is robbery, I am not at all surprised that such laws were passed. This account of Idaho's DMV history does not even bother to hide the Idaho government's impudence: "[t]he state of Idaho learned early that there was money to be made in the distribution and sale of vehicles." But when crafting legislation, politicians generally cannot be so candid about their motives. They must cloak their schemes with some plausible rhetoric and safety always compels the masses to give up some of their freedoms.

Damn the Chinese for 'Dumping' Affordable Products on American Consumers!

Every politician who supported the most recent violent anti-trade measure initiated by the Obama administration is an evil bastard.

Particularly daft is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who worked her support into a call to keep as many "workers" on the dole as possible.

"We cannot tolerate outsourcing of state employees," she said. "We cannot tolerate privatization of our state employees' jobs."

Ahh, the good ol' land of the free, where tolerance is expressed at the point of a gun.

The Public Option and Education

As I continue to battle the economic ignorance infecting the health care debate, I offer this essay by Randall Holcombe at the Beacon:

In President Obama’s address on health care reform to Congress last night (September 9) he argued for a public option to private health insurance as an alternative, to compete with private insurers and give them an incentive to be responsive to their customers.

Some critics have argued that with the advantages of government backing and the taxes the president is advocating on private suppliers, the public option would crowd out private insurers and most people would end up on the government’s plan.  President Obama responded to this criticism by noting that despite the existence of public universities in every state private universities remain an option.  Interesting analogy!

Looking at higher education enrollment, 75% of students are in public colleges and universities and 25% are in private.  The census bureau reports that about half of 18-22 year olds are enrolled in higher education, so if we include those outside the system, the private sector covers only about 12.5% of that age group.

For Those Not Completely Brainwashed by the State

Trevor's recent post drew the attention of one disgruntled commenter who clearly does not understand economics at all. When Trevor and I write pithy rebuttals of Obama's and Bush's economic policies, we rely upon a foundation of economic thought which we do not always discuss explicitly. Nevertheless, there are still people who lack economic reasoning yet feel empowered to make comments concerning economic policy. As Murray Rothbard wrote:

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a "dismal science", but that it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

I seriously doubt that someone this ignorant of economic theory and boastful about it would be open to the economic logic of Mises or Rothbard or Hayek. But for those not completely brainwashed by the State, here are some articles which use rigorous economic logic to demonstrate why Obamacare (or HillaryCare or BushCare or ReaganCare, etc.) will only make our health care system worse (unless you're an insurance company like BlueCrossBlueShield which benefits from the reduction in competition).

Why Obamacare Can't Work: The Calculation Argument-Gabriel E. Vidal

A Four-Step Healthcare Solution-Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Socialized Healthcare Is Not Cheaper Than Free Market Healthcare-Mark R. Crovelli

Socialized Healthcare vs. The Laws of Economics-Thomas DiLorenzo

Health Care Through Central Planning: A Helpful Analogy-Karen Kwiatkowski

National Socialist Fascist Communist Healthcare-Bill Huff

Healthcare Is a Good, Not a Right-Ron Paul

My Canadian Healthcare Horror Stories A Message for Americans-Cathy LeBoeuf-Schouten

Why Computers Work and Health Care Doesn't-Bill Walker

The Health Plan's Devilish Principles-Murray Rothbard

This is a good start. For those who want a solid introduction to economic thinking, I recommend Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. For those who wish to be challenged immediately and dive into the reasons why socialism cannot work, I recommend Socialism by Ludwig von Mises. And if our dear angry commenter finds this post discourteous, I would recommend that he read all of these articles, Hazlitt's book and Mises' book, and refute them.

Fascist F*cks

The federal gubmint wants to impose universal "health care" because it cares about you. It cares so much that it will rob you at the point of a gun -- i.e., it will violently relieve you of your property (your money, and perhaps even your life) -- if you politely refuse its "services."

Yes, folks, the state wants to force health insurance on everyone because it simply wants to help. Not because its cronies in the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies stand to make many more billions because of it. Or because politicians will then have a good excuse to micromanage every single thing you attempt to put into your body. Or because this new plan masquerading as universal "care" is really a plan for universal control over anyone not associated with the power elite.

If Americans insist on being imps instead of living independently, we might as well get used to one of the best movie quotes of all-time:

Now, you will go to sleep! Or I will PUT you to sleep. Check out the name tag. You're in MY world now, Grandma!

-- Hal L., Happy Gilmore

Police State Indiana

An Indiana man detained under suspicion of drunken driving has filed a lawsuit alleging that police forced him to submit to a blood and urine test after a Breathalyzer showed he was under the legal limit.

[Jamie] Lockard and his attorney claim in the suit that police took him to Dearborn County Hospital and forced him to submit to a urine and blood test.

Police said they obtained a warrant, but Lockard's attorney said his client was shackled to a gurney and had a catheter inserted against his will.

I'm shocked! Shocked!

Wouldn't It Be Nice...

...to at least have a president (if we must have one, of course) who could speak his convictions without reading from a t-t-t-ttt-tt-tt-t-t-teleprompter?

"Hot Coffee" Costs Take-Two $20 Million

Take-Two Interactive Software reached a $20 million settlement today with investors who sued the company after revelation of hidden sex scenes (the infamous Hot Coffee mod) in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas caused the company's stock to tank.

This article reports that "Parents were not pleased that the scene let the hero of the game accept an invitation for hot coffee from a bikini clad woman and then engage in sex in her apartment. It led to a product recall and the tanking of the company’s stock price."

Does this mean that the parents who purchased this game for their kids were initially pleased with the premise of GTA in which the main character fights in gang wars, carjacks innocent civilians, breaks into houses to get money, propositions prostitutes, kills prostitutes, gets high and goes on murderous rampages?

Hat Tip to Vijay for sending the article my way.

The Feckless FAA

Southwest Airlines is facing the wrath of the FAA. What is Southwest's crime that could cost the company millions of dollars? They used "unapproved parts" on some of their planes. To illustrate just how useless the FAA is, FAA officials admit that these unapproved parts "didn't pose an immediate safety hazard." FAA spokeswoman Beth Harbin "called the parts 'perfectly safe' but acknowledged they were made by a subcontractor who wasn't approved for the work by the FAA. The subcontractor was hired by a maintenance company hired by Southwest" (emphasis added). Thus, Southwest's real "crime" was using a contractor not approved by the FAA. A contractor who used parts which the FAA itself says were "perfectly safe."

In March Southwest agreed to pay $7.5 million to "settle FAA allegations that it operated nearly 60,000 flights using planes that had not been examined for structural cracks as required by federal regulations." Again the presumption of the FAA is that Southwest Airlines, which started operations in 1971 and earned a total revenue of $9.861 billion and a profit of $645 million in 2008, would intentionally neglect its aircraft and put its customers, pilots and flight staff in jeopardy to make a profit. A profit which would evaporate through lawsuits should it become clear that the reason an accident occurred was due to neglect by Southwest's upper management. Thanks to this bureaucracy and the violence which backs its edicts, Southwest must divert resources to address this foolishness rather than improve its business. It cannot lower prices for consumers or add meals or increase employment or increase its employees' salaries. It is silly to think that Southwest would deliberately put customers on planes which might crash. The company could go bankrupt if this were to happen. ValuJet, for instance, never recovered from the crash of flight 592 in 1996. Although the company merged with AirTran in 1997, the name of ValuJet was forever spoiled.

The problem with the FAA and all government regulators is that their incentives are not aligned with the firms they regulate because they are government monopolies which receive their income through taxation. An airline regulatory agency in a free market would receive its income either by contracting with an airline company to inspect its fleet or selling its findings to consumers like Consumer Reports. In both cases the reputation of the regulatory agency would be at stake if there were any accidents or plane crashes. Consumers would blame not only the airline company but also the regulatory agency which told consumers that the airline company's planes were safe.

He's Here for You

Apologies to Karen De Coster for pilfering this from her post today, but I've been way too busy to even think about blogging the past few days, and this is way too good to pass up.