Posted on April 25th, 2011%
The following has been circulated around for a long time. It just resurfaced to me, and I wanted to share it! I wish I knew who to credit it to.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
The fifth would pay $1
The sixth would pay $3
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12
The ninth would pay $18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten . . .
→ Read More: Beer and Taxes
Posted on January 6th, 2011%
(Cross-posted on the Staten Island Libertarian Party web site.)
Like most people, I struggled to get around after the snow storm hit. On Monday Dec 27, I checked the MTA web site, which said “Good Service” for all express bus routes. Walking to the bus stop (Arden Ave & Drumgoole Rd), I saw one bus, stuck at the intersection, unable to get up the hill at Arden Ave. I then walked to the train station. The platform was nicely shoveled, and the waiting area was open, and there were signs that a train came by at some point (the rails themselves had little snow on them). No sign was posted about services (or lack thereof). After about an hour, myself and other people waiting started to give up. One person, after repeated attempts, got through to someone at the MTA, who said service wasn’t running at all, and they have no idea when it will be running. I stopped . . .
→ Read More: On Snow Removal and Garbage Collection
Posted on December 6th, 2010%
(Cross-posted on the Staten Island Libertarian Party web site.)
This morning, I read a news headline from the LA Times which read, “Rear-view cameras on cars could become mandatory.” An excerpt follows.
The federal government wants automakers to install back-up cameras in all new vehicles starting in late 2014.
The plan, announced Friday, received a strong endorsement from insurance industry and other analysts and is likely to get some level of support from car manufacturers.
Of course car manufacturers will support it; it brings in significant revenue. The same article states, “The rear-view camera system adds about $400 to the price of a Ford.”
As per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, new car sales have averaged around 7.5 million per year for the past ten years. 7.5 million cars at $400 a pop is an additional $3 billion a year. Granted, technology will reduce the cost of implementation, but . . .
→ Read More: The cost of mandating rear-view cameras on cars
Posted on December 29th, 2009%
From “Al Qaeda Takes Credit for Plot” in today’s Wall Street Journal (emphasis added):
“We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable,” Mr. Obama said in remarks broadcast on television from Hawaii, where he is on vacation.
OK, I know, the President of the United States is never really on vacation, but it is funny nonetheless.
. . .
→ Read More: We will not rest [once our vacation is over]
Posted on December 14th, 2009%
From the essay Computer Productivity: Why it is Important that Software Projects Fail by Dr. Anthony Berglas:
The boundless creativity of politicians and bureaucrats to develop new and more complex regulation is bounded only by the bureaucracy’s inability to implement them.
Considering the 2008 Federal Register is 80,700 pages, and that it grows every year, it’s safe to say that there appears to be no upper limit to scope of the problem.
Incredibly, the Federal government actually believes that people should, or could, read the Federal Register. It even answers the question, “Why should I read the Federal Register?”. The only real reason should be to cure insomnia.
Metrics on reading the Federal Register
Let’s presume you had to read the Federal Register, taking the following assumptions:
The document, as of its final 2008 version, is 80,700 pages.
You sleep eight hours a day.
You have a full-time job, five days a week, eight hours a . . .
→ Read More: Bureaucracy’s insatiable appetite: The Federal Register
|
|
