Problems are for Solving

Frustrating Michael Moore | Foundation for Economic Education
If Michael Moore would study a little political economy he might turn into a potent champion of individual liberty.

I don’t usually have time on Fridays to click through and read the latest TGIF article from FEE. FEE (for those who aren’t long time readers) is the Foundation for Economic Education. They’re a group of Austrian school economists who are trying to spread, without profit to themselves, information defending a true free market. They’re responsible for the translation of Bastiat into English. TGIF is the Friday play on acronyms that stands (for FEE) for The Goal Is Freedom. Today I had a few minutes and the topic looked interesting (Michael Moore’s new film) and so I clicked through.

What I found was not the usual Moore bashing hateful rhetoric that many might be used to seeing from some of his opponents, nor even the uncharitable assumptions that Moore is stupid or anti-american. No, this article treats Moore with more charity than many think he may deserve, and takes his film as an opportunity to describe the eventual results of what Moore is advocating, and describe how our current corrupt system is not the free market.

And that’s the greatness of this article, which won’t take long to read, it’s that it shows in stark terms the difference between a free market and pro-business, and it does so while agreeing with some of what Moore rails against. Any longer here and I’ll do the article disservice–so go read it and I’ll shut up.

Proof, yet again, that some people aren’t smart enough to be criminals:

Burglar leaves his Facebook page on victim’s computer – journal-news.net | News, sports, jobs, community information for Martinsburg – The Journal
She told police that someone had broken into her home through a bedroom window.

There were open cabinets in her garage, and other signs of a burglar.

The victim later noticed that the intruder also used her computer to check his Facebook status, and his account was still open when she checked the computer.

The victim later noticed that she was missing two diamond rings from her dresser in the same room as her computer.

HT: Jonponder

…you are loved by a dissatisfied Redeemer. He will not rest from His work of grace until every last microbe of sin has been completely eradicated from every last cell of every last one of His children.

Paul Tripp in Broken Down House

From Cato:
Indeed, the administration’s programs remind us that today is July 2, the 233rd anniversary of the day on which the Continental Congress voted for American independence, issuing a document that declared, among other things,

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance

.

We are so far removed from 1776 that we’ve forgotten why it is they craved freedom, and have given ourselves to a quick, painful, regression to slavery. Kyrie elaison.

This morning I worked out for the first time for over a month. While I was on the treadmill, after figuring out where I was in my podcast playlist (refer back to the over a month part), I listened to one of the newer Rabbit Room podcasts. It’s a fairly new podcast, and this one was episode six, and there were only seven so far (maybe a short-lived podcast?).

My grandmother died last night, the last of my grandparents to do so (my wife still has two grandparents living), and so it marks the end of an era in my family as well as a time of sadness. Curt McLey, in this podcast, reflects on Lewis’ The Problem of Pain and on his own suffering–a great deal of which God brought into his life in a short time.

He aptly reminds us that suffering is a gift. I won’t even try to duplicate the podcast’s wonderful messages here. It is more than worth the 10 minutes of your time it’ll take to listen.

You can download it here.

Dry-Cleaning Economics in One Lesson| The Foundation for Economic Education: The Freeman, Ideas on Liberty
Another day, another news story about economic wackiness. Gas prices rise, the dollar sinks, and stores are limiting rice sales. What could be next? Clothes hangers.

Yes, clothes hangers. Marie Sledge, co-owner of Rome (Georgia) Cleaners, states, “Hangers last year at this time were $28 a box, where now they are $56.” News reports indicate that cleaners in Springfield, Missouri; Birmingham, Alabama; and Harlem are also encountering doubling hanger prices. In response, many cleaners are posting signs in their shops encouraging customers to return used hangers.

Hangers can’t, even if combined with government subsidies, be converted into biofuels. So what is causing the rapid increase in hanger prices? Government, of course, though in this case it’s the trade bureaucrats at the Department of Commerce rather than the folks behind other debacles in the news these days.

In a March 19 news release the Department of Commerce “announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation on imports of steel wire garment hangers from the People’s Republic of China.” Translation: The government will now impose tariffs on hangers imported from China. The tariffs vary by supplier, ranging from a lightly starched 33 percent to a truly stiff 221 percent. With hanger prices potentially tripling because of tariffs, it’s easy to understand the disruption facing dry cleaners.

As one who uses dry-cleaners a lot, I found this examination of how unintended consequences of government action affects our day to day out-of-pocket outlays. Enjoy!

Instant-Messagers Really Are About Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon – washingtonpost.com
With records of 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people from around the world, researchers have concluded that any two people on average are distanced by just 6.6 degrees of separation, meaning that they could be linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances.

I’ve heard the phrase a number of times and thought it interestingly possible. It might actually be 7 degrees (6.6), but it’s a networking phenom that reminds us that the world is smaller than it feels sometimes.

HT: Gene Edward Veith

Grantian Florilegium: Petty Tyrannies
“The most terrifying words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan

George Grant has a bunch of quotes on overactive Government on his blog, and they made me laugh so I’m sharing them with you. You’ll have to click through to his to read them all–but a famous one by Reagan is above.

Douglas Wilson has a good post here (in parable form) about evaluating the media. I find his parables to be among the best of his writings—this one is well done.

On a semi-related note, my wife was laughing the other day about the irony of my writing about the Christian war on the heels of my post about the mistaken IRS letter regarding my fictitious residence in a combat zone.

Coffee Drinks Illustrated | Lokesh Dhakar

Here’s a link to some diagrams of espresso drinks. They’re missing my favorite, of course, a “redeye” which is what my lovely wife brews up for me most mornings.

It’s like the Americano, but better. We take a triple shot of espresso and water it down with coffee.

Keeps me going all morning!