December 4, 2016

Finally, snow!

IMG_1330

I took that photo as we got back home after a 3.6-mile walk. The neighborhood looks great in the snow.

Talk about anything in the comments.

And, please, consider using The Althouse Amazon Portal.

134 comments:

madAsHell said...

3.6 miles?? You are so 15 minutes ago!!

Nobody measures their walks in miles!! My wife paid a lotta money to measure her walks in steps!!

Big Mike said...

That's nothing special. Even Hawaii had snow yesterday.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Laslo Spatula said...
One of my favorite commenters here at Althouse is Althouse herself.

I enjoy when she stops into her own creation; sometimes to keep the conversation on track, sometimes an observation, sometimes a quip, sometimes a cryptic teaser.

Moebius Strip.

I am Laslo.

4/13/16, 8:40 AM"

Hagar said...

Why is it that foreigners and foreign-based industrial corporations seem to think the U.S. is a great country to do business in and keep looking for ways to invest here and get a foothold, but our own "best and brightest" managerial class think they have to send their business abroad to survive?
Something is askew here.

Sebastian said...

You sure you wanna retire to that?

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Lem said...
It could be reflecting the frustration of witnessing more people at the top, like our president, being exactly that... Above the Law... and nothing is done about it.

Early on I expected Alhouse to be hard of lawbreaking, but then it slowly sunk in that the blog is not about that.

I don't know what Above the Law is about. I do know a Justice Willett tweet I read this morning comes to mind... Liberty is imperiled more "by gradual & silent encroachments ...than by violent & sudden usurpations" —James Madison

Is not going to be no grisly.

4/13/16, 8:53 AM"

mockturtle said...

Tough loss for the Badgers last night. I thought they had it.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I am heavily indebted at the moment, 34' at 20K lbs. don't come cheap unless, like with me, you got fixin' to do.

Lem too.

Why not go to his great blog, Lem's Learning Levity revised, and "chip" in?

Not a chunk, just a chip.

Of your dough.

DO IT NOW OR I ^*%^#^%* on your }%{%>~<* in the }>><*% and twice on Sunday.

Marc in Eugene said...

The weather people have been talking about snow on the floor of the Willamette Valley here overnight and into Monday morning for almost a week: so we shall see. I know that above two thousand feet or so there's been more than a foot during the past week.

Hagar said...

Meadhouse drive an Audi; your garbage truck has the Volvo diagonal bar.
The Audi is German made, but the garbage truck is American made.
"Foreign" autos made in the U.S. (or Canada) must have a higher domestic content than the Detroit makes, so presumably should have a harder time making it here, but that hardly seems to be the case.
Mahindra farm tractors, Komatsu earthmoving equipment, etc., etc.
What could be more industrial than that?

Guildofcannonballs said...

The road we embark is so perrioulously fraught none other than J. r. r? R. r. R Tolkien would advise " bullet in your head bro. Seriously, just quit. Life ain't worth that type o' struggle."

Yet I am.

And, for now, we are.

Listen to Van Morrison.

Do it.

rhhardin said...

I think Package has left seller facility and is in transit to carrier can mean that the US postage has been printed on it and it's on its way via boat to a postoffice in San Francisco by boat from India.

mccullough said...

Do you always back your car into the driveway? I've started to do that recently.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"http://www.embarkdog.com


****Holiday Schedule : Closed December 24, 25 & 26. Open December 31 from 9am to 2pm****

Our engines are powered by our passion for dogs.™
feet1Building a lifelong bonded relationship with your dog is a journey that we are devoted to help you create and sustain.™

We dig little dogs, big dogs, hairy dogs, skinny dogs, young dogs, old dogs, and crazy dogs.™

We like to train dogs, bathe dogs, play with dogs, rub dogs, and talk dog.™

Our staff comes from a variety of backgrounds, which allows us to offer so many things under one roof. We all share one thing…we dig dogs.

Are you ready to emBARK on the journey?"

rhhardin said...

Target puts up signs saying how much you could get off your dog food purchase if you had their app. This is meant to send you to Meijers, probably, but Meijers was out of dog food.

Ann Althouse said...

8,508 steps.

Meade said...

"Do you always back your car into the driveway?"

Ever since taking drivers ed in 1969, I always have. Helps prevent backing over toddlers.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I don't know why I have to intuit all this stuff, don't University (s) exist? What the fuck do they do there? All I remember is the cloudy storms one night walking out of the library near the Memorial Union across from the Hostorical Archives Society of Sconnie or some such.

Powerful.

Anyway, I HAVE ALL SOLUTIONS TO WHAT AILS YOU BOY.

BUT YOU GOTTA PAY SON.

Lem's the man and I am the long arm, ya' got me?

mccullough said...

Meade,

That's why I've started doing it. But still have to be careful not to hit anyone while backing into the driveway.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I had many epiphanies yesterday considering the Summer of '69 song.

I redid the lyrics.

Got my first real 12 string,

Got it at the dime and five.

The summer of six and nine.

Etc.

It was all because of Kid Rock's "First Kiss."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WTCnno-3EGE

David Begley said...

Meade

You better video that Last Lecture by Althouse.

And be sure to pan the entire room when she gets her standing ovation from grateful Badger law students.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Kid Rock, and we used to call Belinda Carlyles' "Circle in the Sands" "Square in the Dirt."

rehajm said...

Do you always back your car into the driveway? I've started to do that recently.

I always do it because it makes me feel like I'm Roy DeSoto from Emergency!

Guildofcannonballs said...

I didn't know Althouse was my safe space until I saw me 'ritin' "Sorry, Ronnie, I just trust me here."

Original Mike said...

"You sure you wanna retire to that?"

Because nothing says Christmas like dirt and palm trees.

MayBee said...

I've been reading about the Oakland warehouse fire.
I think most of the people were there just for the party, but the warehouse itself was a home to a dark, almost cultish existence.

He has deleted his Facebook page since I first saw it this morning, but here is they who ran the place
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/03/facebook-post-from-leader-of-artist-collective-sparks-controversy/

Here was his Facebook post after the fire:
Confirmed. Everything I worked so hard for is gone. Blessed that my children and Micah were at a hotel safe and sound... it's as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope.... to be standing now in poverty of self worth.

n.n said...

We had a white Thanksgiving.

mockturtle said...

We had a white Thanksgiving.

Racist!!!

Guildofcannonballs said...

"... aid...
Why is it that foreigners and foreign-based industrial corporations seem to think the U.S. is a great country to do business in and keep looking for ways to invest here and get a foothold, but our own "best and brightest" managerial class think they have to send their business abroad to survive?
Something is askew here.

12/4/16, 9:18 AM"

Dear good sir, because rich people rape you for their pleasure.

Because they lie, you seem to feel feigning idiocy will suffice. For you maybe it will.

Fen Fen Fen and His Law.

MayBee said...

On the page, friends who had once lived in his warehouse said he put RVs in there, and various lean-tos, charged people rent and then said it was 24-hour access to art workshops because it wasn't licensed for habitation. Some friends said he used all the rent money for meth.
He had generators inside, and sub-par wiring, and the only staircase was made of pallets that were a ramp at the bottom and stairs about thigh-high toward the top.
He charged people money for the parties.
They also said last week he had an orgy and used people's spaces to rent to the party-goers for sex. Many of the people renting from him didn't want their spaces used like that, so one refused to clean up his space afterward. One of Derek's little kids was found chewing on a used condom.
The children had been taken from the couple's custody for about a year and a half, but they recently got them back. They were living at the warehouse with him, but were not home at the time.
He had one friend saying that when he moved out of the "ghost ship", derek called his mother and threatened him. He was so scared and confused he left the country. But he still thinks Derek should be forgiven, because he was trying to have something really cool.

People are so complex. Some lives are so dark.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"What could be more industrial than that?"

Not the pedophile rapist Satan extroidinaure Jerry "Fuck you and your kids (especially) I am friends with Jo Pa" Sandusky.

FUCK PENN STATE.

I KNEW IN 1998 what these rapists fucks were up to.

madAsHell said...

8,508 steps.

I knew it!!!

Clyde said...

MayBee, I think the saddest thing about that warehouse fire is that it was preventable. No sprinkler system. No marked exits, and a labyrinth to go through to find the way out. A rickety staircase of pallets. No permit for the show, and people living in the warehouse despite the fact that it wasn't zoned residential. The owner's daughter says, "Oh, nobody lived there, people just worked through the night sometimes." I spent some time looking at the interior of the place on their Tumblr page, and it was easy to see why the place went up like a pyre. A lot of people lost their lives because some other people felt that laws and rules did not apply to them. Our nation has grown lawless, and in a society that has contempt for the laws and views people who try to play by the rules as suckers, people do what they think they can get away with. Until they don't, and a lot of people die.

Wince said...

I'm wondering if there's an animal rights scandal behind all these "comfort puppies" I keep reading about being used to assuage "stress" following the election.

Are the dogs bred specifically for their service as puppies?

Who takes care of these dogs when they're not comforting the distressed?

Are they bred for a brief "puppy" term of service? What happens to them afterward?

Have not seen an article addressing this issue.



rhhardin said...

Corporation parking lots have people back in because they come at random but leave all at once.

James Pawlak said...

If you find someone has dumped a large truck load of snow, from their homes, at your doors, please do not be offended.

Jim said...

If Madison got that much snow, I wonder how much the Dakota Access folks got. Are we still going to get "thousands " of veterans?

Wince said...

I just realized something: If there is a "comfort puppy" scandal it'll be TRUMP'S FAULT!

khesanh0802 said...

Stein now says she's going to file a complaint on PA election in Federal court. I can't find anything that notes the basis for the complaint. I thought the Feds had very little to do with the running of elections -that it's a state thing. Why would a Federal Court get involved? The only thing I can think of is some kind of equal protection claim, but I find that particularly far-fetched.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I used to think willful ignorance was akin to blindness, but experience has taipught me, profound, opposite.

Willful ignorance sustains civility.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Civility ain't all that bad in comparisons.

MayBee said...

MayBee, I think the saddest thing about that warehouse fire is that it was preventable. No sprinkler system. No marked exits, and a labyrinth to go through to find the way out. A rickety staircase of pallets. No permit for the show, and people living in the warehouse despite the fact that it wasn't zoned residential.

Clyde- true.
It fascinates me what lifestyles are considered alternative and chic (this) and which ones are not (Ranchers like the Bundys).
It's weird.

mockturtle said...

Maybee, it sounds like the warehouse owner will be both civilly and criminally culpable. As he should be.

Big Mike said...

@Jim, the people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline want old folks to freeze to death in the dark. They have no other goal.

MayBee said...

mockturtle-

The owner, sure. But the guy who rented it from her to create the "Ghost Ship" and take rents from the "artists" and charge for parties seems even more liable.

mockturtle said...

Maybee, I guess I thought he was the owner. Yes, they are both liable.

mockturtle said...

Looks like the Packers will be playing in the snow today.

David Begley said...

Maybee and mock

Just sent an email to my son living in Oakland. The owner and the City of Oakland will be on the hook for millions. But at the core here is a culture of lawlessness that is tolerated in CA. A residence/bar/artist colony in an area zoned industrial would never have been tolerated in Omaha for even six months. Fire code and zoning law enforcement protects the public. Good government.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Any willing egg my sperm will, for decades, spawn.

HT said...

Mother Jones: Ryancare is Obamacare under another name:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/save-obamacare-donald-trump-repeal-gop

"If you haven't yet noticed what this all means, let me spell it out. The key parts of Obamacare and Ryan's plan are the same. They both (a) rely on private insurance, (b) require insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions, (c) encourage people to buy insurance continuously by penalizing them if they don't, (d) provide billions of dollars in federal subsidies to make insurance affordable for low-income households, and (e) rely on Medicaid for the very poorest.

"In other words, Ryancare is basically Obamacare by another name. This is no coincidence. Health insurance, like any other kind of insurance, fundamentally relies on access to a large, random pool of people. In any given year, the few sick ones are paid for by the large number of healthy ones. But once you tinker with that by allowing healthy people to opt out, the whole system collapses. One way or another, you can save it only by forcing healthy people back into the pool and then providing subsidies to the ones who can't afford coverage no matter what the law requires of them."

Guildofcannonballs said...

Why haven't I commentated about the gratuitous "3.6" Satanism?

Because like Althouse Satan is weak.

Hagar said...

It is a bit confusing, but I think I saw that the Democratic Party has a case before the Supreme Court in which they complain that to states have purposefully designed voting district boundaries to make some districts more definitely Democratic and others more definitely Republican by designing the Democratic ones around Black neighborhoods.
Now, if the Supremes agree with their complaint and orders the problem to be remedied, does that mean a wholesale redistricting across the country to eliminate all the districts previously carved out to guarantee Black Representatives in Congress?

HT said...

I'm torn as to who I want to win today, GB or Detroit. I like Matt Stafford, and of course I like Aaron Rogers, though we've been reading some disturbing things lately about him shutting out his family in California. I'm just glad it's outdoors. Detroit should be playing outside too, they'd get more fans outside of the region.

Go skins and Roll Tide!

Original Mike said...

" Ryancare is Obamacare under another name:"

I haven't studied it yet, but right off the bat I see one huge, glaring difference. They would (I believe) remove the government dictates of what must be covered. This would allow people who choose to buy real insurance rather than the uneconomic, pre-paid health care plans of ObamaCare.

But I'm not surprised Mother Jones doesn't understand that. Obama sure didn't.

Annie said...

"After announcing Stein and recount supporters were dropping their case in state court, lawyer Jonathan Abady said they will seek an emergency federal court order Monday."


http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/12/04/green-party-federal-court-pennsylvania-recount/

HT said...



In other words, unlike the Obamacare individual mandate, which encourages people to buy insurance by assessing a tax penalty on anyone who remains uncovered, Ryan's plan encourages people to buy insurance by threatening them with the inability to get coverage if they ever get sick.

Unknown said...

Weekend before Thanksgiving, enjoying a mountain retreat in Vermont, a Carthusian monastery, grace provided sixteen inches of snow. It was wonderful.

Wince said...

HT said...
Mother Jones: Ryancare is Obamacare under another name...

I notice you left out the 30-hour per week employer mandate.

That was RomneyCare before the Mass legislature overrode Romney's veto to add an employer mandate.

I never understood why Romney never made that distinction clear when he ran against Obama in 2012.

HT said...

Well what do you know? We're not playing either Clemson or OSU. Interesting choice...

Guildofcannonballs said...

I saw Stoopy Looper.

And I shall by God see.

Original Mike said...

"In other words, unlike the Obamacare individual mandate, which encourages people to buy insurance by assessing a tax penalty on anyone who remains uncovered, Ryan's plan encourages people to buy insurance by threatening them with the inability to get coverage if they ever get sick."

Yeah, it recognizes the difference between acting responsibly vs. gaming the system.

Jim said...

@BigMuke truth. I tell my anti pipeline friends to burn their Own cars if they won't use petroleum products transported by pipeline. They don't take it well.

HT said...

Maybe some of them are riding on used vegetable oil. Maybe they would say we don't need any more.

HT said...

From what I'm reading over at NPR here

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/21/502612264/if-republicans-repeal-obamacare-ryan-has-replacement-blueprint

Ryancare doesn't seem so bad and basically uses Obamacare as a base or foundation. I think it may be what a lot of people can live with. But like OM, I haven't really studied it in great detail.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Consider: Obama learned from Buckley to have testicless shitheels as a "supercedence."

Obama didn't appoint Trump so let's not allow dullness to overcome reason, here.

Now.

JAORE said...

Trump wins....
Wisconsin blanketed in white....

Knew it.....

Jupiter said...

HT said...

"Ryancare doesn't seem so bad and basically uses Obamacare as a base or foundation. I think it may be what a lot of people can live with. But like OM, I haven't really studied it in great detail."

Don't get your hopes up. The simple rule of thumb is that if there is something people would like to have but can't afford, the government will use tax dollars to make it more "affordable". The result is that it will become more expensive, since the cost will increase until it matches the available funds. Look at "Higher Education", for example. If you can stand the glare.

Guildofcannonballs said...

What if we lettin' um get away with it is the problem?

Tupac.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Certain absurd barbarity displays ought not, yet do, influence.

Hence I.

Robert Cook said...

"Why is it that foreigners and foreign-based industrial corporations seem to think the U.S. is a great country to do business in and keep looking for ways to invest here and get a foothold, but our own "best and brightest" managerial class think they have to send their business abroad to survive?
Something is askew here."


No, it makes perfect sense if you consider capitalism's prime directive: Profits good; more profits better!

By moving their jobs abroad--where wages are cheap and benefits are negligible or non-existent--their labor costs drop, increasing profits.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Because of my unpr cidente unhearldd genius my, Althouse will be com e to seen as All Right.

Strange winding paths conglomerate.

Guildofcannonballs said...

And as I pushed the publish I thought: Is this my powermegabillin tweet?

Guildofcannonballs said...

Also, akennedy breat Nixon because Nixon wasn't Satanand Kennedy was and, most important, Nixon was oblivious.

Oblivious to it all.

Original Mike said...

"No, it makes perfect sense if you consider capitalism's prime directive: Profits good; more profits better!"

Without profits, there would be no commerce. Without commerce, there would be no civilization.

Michael K said...

Mother Jones: Ryancare is Obamacare under another name:

How in the world would "Mother Jones" know anything about insurance ?

Insurance includes a provision that you can't buy it AFTER your house burns down.

Pre-existing conditions can be dealt with by risk pools. We used to have them.

I never understood why Romney never made that distinction clear when he ran against Obama in 2012.

I never did either. I think it was a fatal error in his campaign.

It is snowing in Chicago, too, today. I suggested my sister come to Tucson to visit after we are settled in. March should be about right.

Original Mike said...

I like the provision re: pre-exisiting conditons. If you keep yourself insured, you have a right to continue to buy insurance. That's as it should be.

Guildofcannonballs said...

My definition of hero is one wh prevents indignaties.

Like it or not Althouse qualifies.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I wanna prevent all indignaties so much I am currently tear shredding, and will again.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Rather than Jesus it seems I've become fiction Iona's Raylan Givens.


I stand me athwart.

Hagar said...

@Robert Cook.
So you think the Germans and the Japanese are here on some sort of U.N.
"Aid to America" mission?

Etienne said...

A few years ago, Ford stock was $15. Now it hovers around $11.

If you bring back all the factories from Mexico, the price of their vehicles will basically double, and they will be lucky to get grocery store profits (penny stocks).

But it won't really matter, because right now I've made penny stock earnings from my Ford stock the last three years anyway.

Jupiter said...

Robert Cook said...

"No, it makes perfect sense if you consider capitalism's prime directive: Profits good; more profits better!"


Cookie, we understand that you wish extremely wealthy people would arrange their affairs so as to suit you. I don't know why they refuse. Maybe it was something you said? But your tribulations aside, the question was, why do foreign corporations appear to be operating under a different set of incentives than domestic ones?

I would suggest that in the case of Europeans, they *are* off-shoring to a place with lower production costs - the US. And the Japanese automakers realized a long time ago that they could best alleviate alarm at their growing US market share by moving manufacturing to the US. Indeed, they are now in position to benefit from any tariffs the US imposes on imported cars.

MayBee said...

"In other words, unlike the Obamacare individual mandate, which encourages people to buy insurance by assessing a tax penalty on anyone who remains uncovered, Ryan's plan encourages people to buy insurance by threatening them with the inability to get coverage if they ever get sick."

You know who can't get insurance under Obamacare? People who decide in April they would like health insurance.

Original Mike said...

Also, my understanding of Price's plan is if you let your insurance lapse and then become ill, it isn't that you can't buy insurance, it's that your premiums will be 150% of what they'd otherwise be. Pretty generous if you ask me.

And again, a caveat. I could be in error on this. It's early in the game.

Robert Cook said...

It's funny how some seem insulted by a plain statement of capitalism's prime directive.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

It's the most wonderful time in 8 years!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW85ZcswiqM

Original Mike said...

"It's funny how some seem insulted by a plain statement of capitalism's prime directive."

Snort. It's liberals who use the word "profits" as a pejorative. Something I've never understood. I am happy that the person who is supplying me a product or service makes a profit, because I realize he wouldn't be there without them.

Robert Cook said...

"@Robert Cook.
So you think the Germans and the Japanese are here on some sort of U.N.
'Aid to America' mission?"


Given that we're rapidly becoming a third world nation...they may well be.

Robert Cook said...

"Snort. It's liberals who use the word "profits" as a pejorative."

Did I use the word as a pejorative? I simply stated plainly the operating principle of capitalism.

Bob Ellison said...

Manhattan serves as a lesson to socialists. You can start a crappy restaurant, charge $14 for a diet Coke, and pay your workers $15/hour. It all works out in the end. You'll be able to pay your rent and bribe your regulators and still take home a little bit. In some countries, the people only earn something like 43 cents per year. And they get charged -50% for overtime! We should all be grateful.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"Confirmed. Everything I worked so hard for is gone. Blessed that my children and Micah were at a hotel safe and sound... it's as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope.... to be standing now in poverty of self worth."

Jesus. How many people died in that tinderbox and all this shitbag can think of his own future and his shattered dreams? What about the people whose kids were not in a "hotel safe and sound?" Those young people no longer have dreams because they're now ashes.

Michael K said...

Blogger Robert Cook said...
It's funny how some seem insulted by a plain statement of capitalism's prime directive.


It is endlessly amusing to see you try to explain what you call "Capitalism" The term was introduced to contrast with Communism by Marx and Lenin.

Capitalism, in the real sense, is a system in which people invest money in some venture, like a factory or a small shop, and then charge for the services or product. If they can sell enough at the price that allows some profit, they succeed and prosper. If not, they fail.

Socialists have no understanding of such a system, more accurately called "Free Enterprise." We know you have no idea because it is obvious you have never run a business or met a payroll. You have no idea of a situation where the owner cannot take a salary because the business has generated only enough to pay the employees.

You have no idea of how small shops run by Koreans, for example, employ everyone in the family so as to keep all revenue in the the same group. Even the children contribute.

Eventually, if they do a good enough job selling donuts, or whatever, they can reduce the family share and buy a home instead of living in the back of the shop.

I assume you are some sort of government employee as they are usually the most ignorant about the lives of those who are self supporting.

Original Mike said...

Your being disingenuous, Robert. Look at the conclusion your 'simple statement' sets up:

"By moving their jobs abroad--where wages are cheap and benefits are negligible or non-existent--their labor costs drop, increasing profits."

Robert Cook said...

"Capitalism, in the real sense, is a system in which people invest money in some venture, like a factory or a small shop, and then charge for the services or product. If they can sell enough at the price that allows some profit, they succeed and prosper. If not, they fail."

How is my comment in conflict with this?

Bob Ellison said...

In related news, a pack of Marlboros costs about $14 in Manhattan. In Jakarta, it's about $1.50. That suggests, sorry Robert Cook, that the taxes in Manhattan are roughly 90% of the price. It's the same company making the cigs. Just different stores selling them.

Robert Cook said...

"I assume you are some sort of government employee...."

Nope. That would be my brother, who was FBI, then DEA.

Robert Cook said...

"Look at the conclusion your 'simple statement' sets up:

"'By moving their jobs abroad--where wages are cheap and benefits are negligible or non-existent--their labor costs drop, increasing profits.'"


Yes.

Bob Ellison said...

In the entirety of Central and South America and all of Asia, the price of my company's leading audio software product was $0.00, because those countries have no intellectual property concepts. Indeed, some of those countries have laws against IP rights.

In America and Western Europe, strangely, prices like $249 per copy of a good software product are considered normal. But in Germany, and in Manhattan, people sell pirated books, movies, and software on the street. The cops are busy tackling obese men unbundling single cigarettes.

This stinks.

Michael K said...

Blogger Robert Cook said...
"I assume you are some sort of government employee...."

Nope. That would be my brother, who was FBI, then DEA.


The point remains. You seem to have no idea how real people live. Socialists want everyone working for the government.

That results in places like Venezuela since buying votes seems to be what politicians most prefer.

Most Socialists think Rousseau was correct about "The Noble Savage." The nature of man is to share everything like the hunter-gatherer societies of 50,000 BC.

What they and you do not understand is that primitive society is more like Hobbes described.

Acquisitiveness began with agriculture as the hunter gatherer has nothing to steal.

In a lawful society, people earn their own living selling their labor or their knowledge to others who consider it valuable.

Adam Smith's "The Wealth o Nations" would be good for you.

Michael K said...

"'By moving their jobs abroad--where wages are cheap and benefits are negligible or non-existent--their labor costs drop, increasing profits.'"

That doesn't always work because there are other considerations, like transportation costs and corruption in some third world countries.

The US has been hurt badly by regulation beyond what makes sense in safety and health matters. Labor unions priced their workers out of jobs as they resisted better ways of doing things, like Japanese methods in quality control, and kept wages beyond what the market would pay once other countries learned to compete.

We have neglected apprenticeships and education in American schools and unions. We are left with an unskilled and uneducated population. They are more easily led to Socialism as they know little.

Bob Ellison said...

Michael K, Robert Cook's general point is correct: companies move operations abroad in order to reduce costs. That much is clear and simple, and we'd be stupid to deny it.

We should, however, observe why those costs are so low. The reasons are vast and complex, and transportation and corruption are not often foremost among them. We could accuse slavery, for example. That's an increasing theme these days. It depends on your definition of "slave". Leftists seem to think "slave" means "any person not in control of the means of production".

rehajm said...

That doesn't always work because there are other considerations, like transportation costs...

It's expensive to ship heavy stuff. US labor has that going for them.

Bob Ellison said...

Trump wants to impose import taxes in order to force USA companies to stay indoors. It could actually work, but oh, my! We did that in the 1930s, and the world economy collapsed! That was a little while ago. Paul Krugman, an expert on micro-economics and general stupidity, might educate us on this.

Every European nation has a value-added tax (VAT) that suppresses industry. That's pretty stupid. But it's a river of money for bureaucrats to dip their hands into.

In America, we have a 16% payroll tax. Another river.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Interesting coalition gets a win. Regular people are more concerned about the environment than is often credited on the right.

southcentralpa said...

Penn State second-half furious onslaught FTW ... woot woot!

Well played, hopefully you get someplace warm for a bowl ...

Bob Ellison said...

Oh, great. Standing Rock again.

This gets so stupid. This is why Trump won.

Big Mike said...

@ARM, I'm not backing down one iota from my comment at 11:33.

robother said...

Snow in WI during the recount! Will the Russians stop at nothing to cover their tracks?

Fabi said...

If it's an open thread -- I just saw Ed Roland (Collective Soul) on TV in a charity golf tournament. Not as strange as Alice Cooper on the links, but odd.

Michael K said...

companies move operations abroad in order to reduce costs. That much is clear and simple, and we'd be stupid to deny it.

I don;='t think I denied it but there are other costs. A big cost recently has been industrial espionage by China. They will copy our products and produce them with their own workers and ignore any patent or intellectual property rights. We've seen that for years.

Trump wants to impose import taxes in order to force USA companies to stay indoors. It could actually work, but oh, my! We did that in the 1930s, and the world economy collapsed!

Two reasons why Smoot Hawley and Trump are not comparable. One the 1930s were a period when all the gold in the world was ending up here. We were the big creditor and Europe could not pay its debts without trade,

Two, we are the debtor now and the real import tariffs will be against China. Trump will promise plenty of carrots in addition to the occasional stick. All the left knows is threats and you see it in their complaints about Trump.

He called Carrier and said, "We are going to repeal all those regulations Obama installed by January 21. You corporate taxes will go down. We will repatriate all the billions of capital locked up all over the world by Obama's taxes."

What's not to like about that ? The incentives the Democrats are all hysterical about are peanuts.

I was disappointed in Sarah Palin. Somebody gave her bad info. Crony Capitalism is what we've had the past 8 years.

I am uneasy about another Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary but Trump knows him.

rehajm said...

Fabi said...
If it's an open thread -- I just saw Ed Roland (Collective Soul) on TV in a charity golf tournament. Not as strange as Alice Cooper on the links, but odd.


The music/golf nexus makes for some compelling golf. I once had the honor of being the fourth with a few members/support staff of ZZ Top. The Willie Nelson golf tournaments were always interesting. too.

rehajm said...

I am uneasy about another Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary but Trump knows him.

It will be okay.

Humperdink said...

Great comeback win by PSU last night against the Badgers last night. McSorley (PSU quarterback) is one tough kid.

No surprise they did not make the final four.

Bob Ellison said...

Michael K, you and I are in general agreement.

But..."He called Carrier and said..."

Were you in on that phone call?

My guess is Trump called Carrier and said generally, hey, I'll do you a solid if you do me a solid.

That's crony capitalism.

The Vault Dweller said...

Hmm... now that snow is here, if Trump starts sending out a Coat Confiscation Taskforce, a lot of illegal immigrants might self-deport.

Administrator said...

Someone left the Audi out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to buy it
And I'll never have that recipe again, oh, no

Hagar said...

Michael K. and Bob E. are both "throwing out theories without solid proof."

Anyway, the Carrier deal is very small potatoes as far as taxpayer money goes, but Carrier being Carrier, symbolically important and worth a little stage managing.

Now the "alternative power industry," that is some serious money being shoveled out to dubious characters for completely partisan ppolitical purposes.

Michael K said...

Were you in on that phone call?

My guess is Trump called Carrier and said generally, hey, I'll do you a solid if you do me a solid.

That's crony capitalism.


No, I didn't listen in but you are wrong about what "crony capitalism" is. If you tell me my taxes will be cut and the regulations, like the new California AR 15 regulations, are going away, I just might do a turnaround and say, "I'd rather not have to train a whole Spanish speaking workforce so, OK we will cancel the move."

These are intelligent estimates of what would work, not "theories without solid proof."

Saint Croix said...

I saw a really interesting book in the bookstore today.

Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home--a dilapidated, priceless London town house--but John's not there. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb.

Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world's master storytellers.


Thank you, Ian McEwan, for your daring, your passion, and your wit.

And don't forget to purchase through the Althouse portal!

rehajm said...

My guess is Trump called Carrier and said generally, hey, I'll do you a solid if you do me a solid.

That's crony capitalism.


What you say is totally true: It's just your guess. The other just as likely guess is that the phone call and it's subsequent result was a president-elect jawboning a company about future policy changes and convincing them into committing a symbolic and possibly economically appropriate gesture.

We can start to worry when a President Trump makes such calls routine policy. We can call it cronyism then, too.

Until then just relax.

wildswan said...

The way I look at the Carrier thing is that Trump made the point that he will work to keep US factory jobs.

Mike Pence probably worked it that they gave Indiana tax rebates. And why not? China and Mexico are giving tax rebates in various ways. In fact in the old days a US city would give tax rebates to get an industry to come in. But when the industry has come in and it has been taxed at some level for years then a city like Milwaukee seems to regard rolling back those taxes as an outrageous proposal. Yet Chinese/Mexican competition makes such proposals necessary. After all, the people will still have jobs and there will still be a level of economic activity. Tax rebates would be better than creating a "Rust Belt" where factory jobs are gone. Ooops, a Rust Belt has already created by people who refused to try hard to keep jobs in the US. But we could try something new - a mix of tax reductions, tariffs, worker flexibility - to slowly get jobs back. To make America great again for workers, so to speak.

After all, someday there may be another IT crash and a BlueScreenDeath Area. Or MSM layoffs. Make friends for yourselves now, you coasties who are riding so high.

HT said...

Meanwhile here in DC, fallout from fake news stories...

"A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest D.C. carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. Police said, prompting patrons and employees to flee.

"The incident caused panic, with several businesses going into lockdown as police swarmed the neighborhood after receiving the call shortly before 3 p.m.

"Police Chief Peter Newsham said the lone suspect in his late-20s walked in the front door of Comet Ping Pong and appears to have fired one or multiple shots into the ground after employees and patrons had fled. The suspect, who police say is from Salisbury, N.C., has not been identified and his motives were not clear. Police said charges were pending.

"“We do have employees and guests of the restaurant who, of course, were extremely frightened by this incident,” Newsham said. “At this point we do not believe that it was terrorist related. And it’s unclear right now what the motive is.”

"But the popular family restaurant, near Connecticut and Nebraska avenues NW in the Chevy Chase neighborhood, was swept up in the onslaught of fake news and conspiracy theories that was prevalent during the presidential campaign. The restaurant, its owner, staff and nearby businesses have been attacked on social media and received death threats.

"“We’re aware of that and right now we have nothing to tie it into those concerns that have been raised on social media,” Newsham said.

"The restaurant’s owner and employees were threatened on social media in the days before the election after fake news stories circulated claiming that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief were running a child sex ring from the restaurant’s back rooms. Even Michael Flynn, a retired general who President-elect Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared the stories. None of them were true. But the fake stories and threats persisted, some even aimed at the employees’ children. The restaurant’s owner was forced to contact the FBI, local police, Facebook and other social media platforms in an effort to remove the articles."

HT said...

"Graham said he was told that the gunman walked into the kitchen at Comet Ping Pong, “presumably looking for the alleged tunnels” where children were hidden and tortured. He believes that information came from an employee at the restaurant."

mockturtle said...

HT, you didn't include the source of your fake news story.

HT said...

Ha. You think it's fake?

mockturtle said...

No, HT, it's about 'fake news'. Anyway, one article [a FOX local affiliate] said:
"But all of the claims against the popular Northwest D.C. pizzeria are false and unfounded.

The D.C. Police Department said they are not investigating Comet Ping Pong and are instead keeping an eye on those who are threatening the restaurant and employees."

So why don't they investigate? After seeing some of the accusations, I should think they would have some 'splainin' to do. Janet Reno destroyed the Davidian compound in Waco on less evidence.

HT said...

""But all of the claims against the popular Northwest D.C. pizzeria are false and unfounded."

That's right; it's not true. But what was reported today happened.

Here's where I got the story from:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/12/04/d-c-police-respond-to-report-of-a-man-with-a-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-restaurant/?hpid=hp_local-news_comet-355pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.be792e266af7

Bad Lieutenant said...

That would fail the Ann Althouse standard, i.e. paywall. Sorry.

The lack of evidence is unimportant in light of the seriousness of the crime. Investigate all the places and people named. Investigate until you find something. Their taxes. Whether they ever wrote on a dollar bill. Nobody is innocent if you look hard enough. Obama and the Clintons know it well. Podesta will look good in orange. You know there's gotta be something wrong with that creep.

The alleged shooter, you can look him over too. See if anyone sent him. As it is, I bet he gets a harder look than the Orlando shooter and his wife.

Paco Wové said...

"A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday..."

I guess we won't be hearing from Mick for a while.

Rusty said...

"Finally, snow!"

I shoveled the wet stuff twice yesterday. Shoveled off the deck so the dog could get in and out.
Your enthusiasm for it brings this to mind, " I got two words for you and their not Let's Dance."

Paco Wové said...

HT, I think what Mockturtle meant was that you described this as 'fake news', not 'whackjob conspiracy theory'. In my mind at least they are different things. A conspiracy theory is just that, tiny bits of truth held together by globs of wild surmising. "Fake News", however, implies that some specific web site is pushing this as truth while at the same time said web site purports to be a disinterested general news and information site. What is the URL of the 'fake news' site?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Rusty, you haven't entered into the spirit of the thing. What you need is a servant, like Ann has. She would never be stupid enough to shovel snow herself.

Rick said...

AReasonableMan said...
Interesting coalition gets a win. Regular people are more concerned about the environment than is often credited on the right.


The government decides something and the nutty left concludes it says something about regular people? Another instance of people altering reality instead of their beliefs when the two conflict.

Rick said...

Kaepernick was benched again, so I guess his 15 minutes are up. Too bad he never explained why Fidel Castro can be lauded because we should consider his achievements and horrors separately but America is uniformly terrible.

In truth he probable never thought about it, he's just parroting the nonsense he heard from the other nutters.