Killer Cops in Bakersfield
Uniformed gang members, aka the Kern County Sherriff’s Department, brutally murdered David Sal Silva, a father of four, in Bakersfield, California this past Wednesday. The tax-feeders were apparently responding the non-crime of public intoxication somewhere near city hospital when they confronted the victim. While nine of these so-called “public servants” were bashing his skull in, witnesses stated that he was crying out for help and begging the officers to stop while he was choking on his own blood.
What’s more, witnesses also recorded the incident via their cell phones, but had them confiscated by deputies. More specifically and outrageously, these deputies held these witnesses hostage until they gave up and handed over their phones. The deputies, who like any gang members are simply protecting their own, stated that the videos are being used as part of an internal investigation.
This Bakersfield Californian article also describes three other excessive force incidents over the past couple years. Of course, these are the incidents we are aware of. Furthermore, William Grigg, at lewrockwell.com, also reported this story a year and a half ago where a Kern County deputy ran over a girl while he was joy-riding through an intersection. These are the heroes, remember? Like everyone else wearing a government issued uniform. There are at least four children out there who beg to differ.
I know this is true in most major cities, but in Bakersfield, where I currently reside, I’ll be even more mindful of these killer cops.
Then They Came Your Coffee
The internet media is buzzing today with reports of the FDA’s announcing it will investigate caffeinated products. Of course, government agencies need to contrive some threat to society in order to justify their existence. Like the need for new gun laws, the regulation of caffeine would be “for the children”. Still, what’s most hilarious about the FDA’s Consumer Health Information Report, where the FDA made this absurd declaration, is that the “announcement comes just as Wrigley is promoting a new pack of gum, with eight pieces each containing as much caffeine as half a cup of coffee”. So caffeine gum is health hazard, but the cancer causing aspartame which is in almost every piece of gum is safe for consumption?
They Still Want to Raise The Minimum Wage
Dave Johnson, a fellow at Campaign for America’s Future, believes raising the minimum wage is necessary to fix our economy. He presents productivity and wage charts which show productivity and wages consistently rising until the 1970’s, where wages stagnated as productivity continued rising. He believes if wages were to continuously rise with productivity then minimum wage should be around 16.50 hour “which is what more than 40% of Americans make” today. The author emphasizes the importance equality of wages by citing economist Joseph Stiglitz arguments. According to Stiglitz, if consumers had higher wages this would stimulate consumer spending thereby fueling overall economic growth. From here, Mr. Johnson jumps to the conclusion; if the government raises the price floor on wages then this will somehow stimulate the economy and lead to an economic recovery. The author concludes his article by advocating the minimum wage be raised from higher corporate tax rates, better government-provided job training programs. Of course, all of his solutions are just plain bad but raising the minimum wage is the most obviously terrible one.
Raising the minimum wage comes with a few serious unintended consequences. First, a minimum wage is a price floor where prices may not fall below a certain rate. When prices are not allowed to fall in a market this will cause a surplus or in this case, a surplus of labor. Raising this price floor only causes the surplus to grow labor which for the layman means higher unemployment. What’s more, a minimum wage increase would hurt the least skilled workers, the people who need the job the most, since they would not be worth keeping at the government imposed rate. Lastly, a minimum wage increase will hurt the smaller businesses that have lower profit margins than the big box stores like Wal-Mart or Target. In fact, Wal-Mart loves the minimum wage because it hurts their smaller competitors. Many small business owners will have to choose between, cutting hours, firing employees, and raising the price of their goods or services, or a combination of these decisions. Either way, they are looking at even smaller profit margins in the long run. So, Mr. Johnson’s, and many of our fearless leaders’ plan would actually harm not help “We the People”.
3d Printers Making Greater Advances
This article at the Huffington Post describes how advanced manufacturing is taking Chicago by storm. Advanced manufacturing, at this point, basically uses the 3d printer for producing goods. More specifically, the article describes how the “retail location” Innovation Factory is printing shoes and showcasing them at a 3d Fashion Show in Chicago on April 24th. This technology is truly and will continue to revolution manufacturing in the years to come.
First, when this technology becomes cheap enough, the average consumer will have the power to become their own manufacturer of goods that once were produced in factories. In the future, policy makers in the U.S. may not have to worry about creating better conditions to bring manufacturing jobs back to America. In other words, it seems as if the market found a way around government erected barriers, such as regulations and taxes, on manufacturing businesses. We’ll just have to be watchful when they find a way to tax and regulate these wonderful machines.
Similar to what the Huff Post article described, consumers in the future will simply be able to choose the design of a good, like shoes, from a retailer on a Web site then hit the print button at home. The consumer’s shoes are then produced by the 3d printer of the consumer in his or her home. Of course, there are still resource costs to consider so not everyone will be able to produce shoes at home. This still leads one to believe that the job of the factory worker will be less prevalent in the years to come with the 3d printer having a greater presence in the market.
The 3d printer has the potential to make many goods, virtually anything, cheaper in the future once they become more efficient. Labor costs will slide closer to zero in 3d printer dominated markets while investment costs will decrease as the 3d printer itself is more easily produced.
Price Control Frenzy in Latin America
I don’t know what is with Latin American governments these days. It seems like many of their fearless leaders failed Economics 101. The Cato-At-Liberty blog cites the troubling trend of price ceilings being enforced in Venezuela,Argentina, and Ecuador to battle inflation. Yes, they still think the price controls will create conditions where everyone gets what they want. Of course, price ceilings typically lead to a shortage of goods demanded by the populace. Oh well, at least a few people can make some extra cash selling these items at higher prices on the black market.
Cigarettes and Preschool
Obama’s new budget plan includes a cigarette tax that is supposedly going to help fund his collectivist dream of universal pre-school where children can learn the importance of killing foreigners and dying for other people’s interests before age four. I am also a little skeptical that cigarette taxes really stop people from smoking considering that over “60 percent” of the cigarettes smoked in New York, where the tobacco tax is the highest, were purchased on the black market.
Groveling At The Feet of Your Rulers
Spending a lot of time college campus this year I have come to the realization that I hate the culture of dependency it breeds among the masses. Of course, this includes the campus professors who depend on taxation to make a living. Let me tell you a story.
Immediately prior to passage of a smorgasbord of tax increases, last November, there was a candidate’s forum for local parasites running for office which was attended by many of the faculty and students. The faculty was gravely concerned that the tax increase proposition (Prop 30) wouldn’t pass since it would mean the Cal State University system would have to cut classes, and as a consequence, some professors would lose their jobs. One professor asked why most of the local candidates didn’t support the proposition. Of course, California’s central valley is ultra conservative so I really don’t understand why she had to ask. Even the Democratic candidate, who inevitably won his state Senate seat, didn’t support many of the propositions.
Anyways, the candidate stated why they were not supporting the propositions which caused her to scream, “But I have a mortgage to pay and children to feed!”. It was disheartening to witness a woman beg and plead that our fearless leaders confiscate more wealth from the productive class for the sake of her own security. Of course, the professor got her wish as almost all tax increases pass in the Progressive paradise of California. Little does she know that she will find herself begging for her job once more as the tax increases only kicked the inevitable reckoning of California’s university system, and the state in general, a tad bit further down the road.
Get Your Degree in Jackbootery
Justin Raimondo provides an excellent analysis on “The Militarization of American Life” over at Antiwar.com. More specifically, he delves into how the social sciences, like anthropology, are being turned into recruiting grounds for future servants of the empire. Being a college student myself, I have witnessed the militarization of curriculum first hand. At my school, there is a degree in Global Intelligence which prepares students to work for various merchant of death agencies, like the D.E.A., C.I.A, F.B.I, and Homeland Security. Of course, everyone can observe this with a simple Google search for Homeland Security degrees. That’s right kids. You can now be shackled to a lifetime of a debt all while learning how to become a good little jack boot. Ahhh, just another blatant sign that America is a fascist police state.
A License for Voluntaryism?
Great meme in reply to the copious amounts of equality symbols becoming Facebook profile pics.
H/T to Being Libertarian on Facebook
A Quick Case for Legalizing Prostitution
Imprisoning people for engaging in a voluntary transaction, where no one else’s life or property is directly threatened, is absurd. Both parties, the prostitute and the patron, are aware of the risks (STD’s) and thus should take full responsibility of their actions should negative consequences come to light. Of course, those who knowingly spread STD’s, especially HIV, are rightfully given harsh punishments for committing crimes of aggression. Imprisoning individuals and therefore slapping them with a criminal record, for engaging in prostitution is also self-defeating for society. Once a person has been prosecuted for prostitution they have little to no chance of ever obtaining other types of employment. So, is it any wonder that 100 percent of individuals arrested for prostitution are inevitably arrested on multiple counts of it ? Now, I know much of society believes prostitution is dangerous and those who enter the trade are immoral because selling sexual favors leaves a bad image in the minds of the morally upright. I would not encourage people to start prostituting themselves yet what they do with their bodies is their choice. Prostitution, like smoking, over-eating, or alcohol abuse are vices not crimes and do zero harm to those who are not indulging in these behaviors.
Still, there are more societal consequences of prohibiting prostitution. Clogging up the judicial system, which society must pay for, with people who are engaging in prostitution makes little sense when you could free up many more resources to prosecute those responsible for forcing or coercing people into the sex trade.
If prostitution were legal we would see a dramatic change in the field of sex work. First, legitimate businesses would enter the trade allowing for competition. Competition in the sex trade will ensure that those who are employees in the sex field will be consistently tested for STD’s since these businesses would have their reputations at stake and therefore their profits. Condoms and birth control pills will also be handed out to in order to prevent the contraction of sexual diseases. Prostitution businesses would also have legitimate police protection and the dark world of the pimps abusing their prostitutes would cease to exist. Also, with prostitution being legal women would , once again, be free from the burden of criminal records. Thus they would easily be able to move into more socially acceptable job fields. Moreover and lastly, the various church and social institutions (i.e. not the state) who work to bring women out of prostitution would actually do so with no criminal records enslaving these women to this profession.
