Friday, July 16, 2010
The Economist Declares Hong Kong Experiment Over
Posted in free market by John Wiley Spiers | 0 comments
Seminar In A Cadillac
I was heading up Blewett Pass outside of Cle Elum, Washington Wednesday about 11 am when I spied three fellows up ahead, one with his hand out hitchhiking. I pulled over about 30 yards ahead of them, and they seemed doubtful I had stopped for them, what with me driving a formidable 97 Cadillac STS. I waved them forward and they made haste and I urged them to jump in since the State Patrol could ticket me for stopping to pick them up.
They were three Hispanic fellows whose car had broken down in Cle Elum, and were walking to Wenatchee, probably 60 miles. No problem, I'd take them.
The fellow who sat directly behind me looked like a murderer, although the other two seemed nice enough. I asked where they were from... "Estados Unidos" (dude, better work on that answer...) and LA, and "Seattle"... LA being the only likely home town. One was a trainee in fire fighting, and the other in carpentry, and the final one was a cherry picker. They love Obama, who is giving them job training.
The homicidal looking fellow behind me seemed to be rifling my jacket which was hanging next to him, I asked him to pass it forward, I removed my wallet, and then had him hang it back up.
I ask them if they had ever visited Arizona. The questioned surprised them, and we had a discussion on immigration. I posed a short answer that a state, like Arizona, cannot set immigration policy, so the new law was null, and then explained free market immigration rights. In short, in a free market, if a farmer or a factory owner and a worker agree to a contract, then it is nobody elses business. There are no borders, except for property rights. This generated discussion and clarification, and we got into the discussion of natural law, inalienable rights. One fellow asked how I felt about Mexicans taking over Southern California. I replied I doubted Mexico could win a war with USA. He clarified that he meant Americans of Mexican ancestry taking over. So I recast his question: "How do I feel about americans taking over america?" He had to think that through, and then he got it. I shared with him that there was nothing being said today by talkradio or racists about Mexicans that was not said about Irish 150 years ago and Italians 100 years ago in USA. It's just raw politics.
I also doubted that the mexicans who escaped the ravages of the oligarchy rule in Mexico would take the trouble to conquer Southern California just to turn it over to the people from whom they just escaped. I could see a new country, a Sur California (as opposed to Baja California), Spanish speaking and freedom ready. But the conquest would come from working hard, raising families, and growing businesses. Population demographics would win that war, and in fact, any army that plans to copulate its way to victory I would gladly enlist.
These fellows were astonished by my views on law, politics, economics, which ironically originated with the Spanish scholastics 500 years ago. It dawned on me during this seminar that USA needs a Spanish language University, to share these precepts in the original, and to bequeath the good of freedom to those who will be tomorrow's leaders. It is a tremendous business opportunity.
Posted in New Business Opportunities / Trade Leads by John Wiley Spiers | 0 comments
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
How We Were Scammed
Here is an excellent outline of how we were scammed and are now being ripped off ... if you are just alive, you cannot escape this rip off. My personal beef is this was clear from the beginning, when it started, and every step of the way. By step three I was in on the game, looking to clean up on the short side, the only way to protect yourself against the big biz/big govt cartel. When the big engineered bust happened, shorting was outlawed for me and you, but not for the big banks. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, who made a name for himself as an honest republican, and a no-nonsense rule enforcer of the financial markets, did what was expected of him when the bad guys needed criminal help. I got nothing! What a rip. I would have made a few measly hundred grand, paid off my mortgage, while the banks were getting a cool trillion or so, on the way to trillions more plus perpetual income. But these guys are like progressives, nobody else gets any.
People who expect govt to behave themselves forget they are people who quickly develop disdain for those they "serve." There is an alternative to being subject to these people, but it is difficult, and it is called self-employment.
Posted in free market by John Wiley Spiers | 0 comments
Restaurant Trends In Hong Kong
HK$200,000 a week in rent sounds steep, but a chi-chi restaurant can count on HK$500 tabs pretty easily, so maybe this is not so onerous. Hong Kong is a relatively free market, so even in a nasty economy people can adjust. I'd estimate Vietnam has even better improvement potential right now, but as for trends, you cannot beat Hong Kong.
Posted in design by John Wiley Spiers | 0 comments
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
World Trade Steadily Rising
Imports and Exports are still rising steadily month after month, according to US Census reports. There was a big drop in 2008 from its boom times high, but otherwise world trade has been steadily increasing, like gold.
Posted in International Trade Data by John Wiley Spiers | 0 comments
Monday, July 12, 2010
Librarians Underpaid
AS you know, I believe there is no govt service that cannot be in some way better provided by the free market. The improvement is usually less cost, but it can also be a matter of a better match, even if at a higher cost. We've demonstrated in addition to most commonly cited areas of poor performance by govt (education, roads and post office) the govt makes a hash of offering prostitution, slavery and
Another obvious failing is capital punishment. Here again, when you have maybe two dozen people involved in assigning guilt, deciding punishment and then execution, the result is an extremely costly process, in which they often get the wrong person dead, and in any event make the condemned wait in line for execution.
What has this to do with librarians? Of all of the govt workers, they are the ones who provide an actual direct immediate benefit, and are woefully underpaid. I think most govt workers are overpaid FOR WHAT THEY DO, and would find themselves better employed and better compensated if they were to go to private sector, and exponentially better if they were to go to self-employment. There is a trade-off they make working for the govt, and it appears to be a good deal. When in time their retirement is subtracted (either through degradation of the quality of their health care, or inflation, or raw cut backs) the deal will not look so good, as teamsters, pilots, and auto workers have found.
Librarians are unique in that their contribution truly is a net benefit. Of all the government workers with which I come in contact, they are being paid less than they are worth. The solution, as libraries experience cutbacks too, is for librarians to open "private libraries" (an odd appellation since they serve the general public by fees, like a health club.
Find space, find subscribers to the library, and return to the days of private libraries. I library is a great basis to form those associations that do so much good, and allows people to pool resources to buy things like books, etc
Librarians also have a sense of humor.
Posted in New Business Opportunities / Trade Leads by John Wiley Spiers | 0 comments