Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/11/2010

• Deficit Panel's Leaders Push Cuts
  This is a good start! The recommendations could be stronger though, considering what we need to do. It shouldn't take 5 years to get the deficit down to 2% of GDP, nor should it take 27 years to balance the budget. I'm also surprised anyone is planning for Social Security in 2075, as though it will still be around then. It is encouraging to see them tackling entitlements and proposing some much-needed benefit reductions and retirement age hikes. We could get huge savings from freeing the education system from federal control, allowing people to grow and consume marijuana (which is less harmful than alcohol), and from relocating our troops from WWII-era military bases in Europe and Asia to our own borders. Let's hope the government actually follows through, and the deficit panel's recommendations don't go the way of Pay-Go.
• DeMint: We'll ban earmarks right away
  Looks like banning earmarks will be on the top of the agenda for Republicans. While I recognize that banning earmarks won't save one single penny, since any money that's not earmarked by Congress will just go straight to Obama, I've decided this is a good idea, since once earmarks are no longer an issue, Republicans will no longer be able to use it as a distraction from making actual, meaningful budget cuts.
• Stranded on a Carnival cruise ship
  The passengers on this cruise-from-hell have gotten a lot of deserved sympathy (plus full refunds and free cruise tickets), but as a hardcore capitalist, I always feel bad for the company too. Carnival Cruises has run thousands of flawless cruises, but because of one mess-up, their reputation may have been irreparably devastated. As someone who has cruised with Carnival before and had a great time, I hope the company doesn't take too big a blow.
• Flight attendants union upset over new pat-down procedures
  A workers' union finally does something helpful, for once! The airline workers union has told the TSA: no more naked scanners, no more groping. Airline security is important, but we need to draw the line somewhere. Would you want your spouse's or child's naked image being gawked at or their private areas being felt up by some random bureaucrat? (In the name of "national security" of course.)
• Law curbs McDonalds Happy Meal toys
  The government has taken over vast swaths of the health care industry, the government has forced children into compulsory schooling institutions where they've been fed one or two government-approved meals every day, and the government has engaged in a monetary policy that enables massive consumption without the corresponding hard work. It now wonders why there is an obesity epidemic. The government's solution?: ban Happy Meal toys, since it's clearly all McDonalds's fault.
• China may be bigger economy than US within 2 years
  China has enjoyed huge economic growth while the US begins an economic descent. We can learn a lot from our Asian friends. They have achieved spectacular growth with high savings rates, little consumption, little money-printing, low taxes and tariffs, few and weakly-enforced regulations, and living within their means. The US government has taken the exact opposite strategy, and is now moving in the opposite direction. Perhaps the "Communist" (capitalist) Chinese can give Obama a lesson in economics!

---

Published at RightOSphere.com.