Posted by Richard on July 22, 2008
To all you Europeans and others who favor the date format dd/mm, Happy Pi Approximation Day! Or Casual Pi Day!
You see, July 22 can be expressed as 22/7 — which is a good approximation of pi (3.1415926…).
It's too late for this year, but bookmark this site so you can order your Casual Pi posters, mugs, and T-shirts for next year.
And next year, don't forget to celebrate Pi Day like a real American — on Einstein's birthday, 3/14, at 1:59:26.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: holidays, math, pi day | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on July 22, 2008
Last week, Larry Kudlow went on a great rant against bailouts:
Why does it seem to me that all Washington ever seems to talk about these days is bailouts? Bailout Freddie Mac. Bailout Fannie Mae. Bailout Wall Street. Bailout homeowners. Is it possible in America today that no one is allowed to fail?
You know, Phil Gramm was right. We are a nation of whiners. No one wants to believe that failure is an option anymore. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Or learning from your mistakes? Or going through transformative difficulties that just might change your life and your behavior? But it seems like failure is off the board nowadays and that it’s government’s job to rescue everybody.
Read the whole thing.
But Larry shouldn't be surprised. Ever since the 60s radicals grew up (if you can call it that), they've been trying to eliminate grades, scorekeeping in sports, valedictorians, … They strive to eliminate all risk, embrace the "precautionary principle," and keep an army of litigation lawyers employed trying to make sure someone pays for every unfortunate event in the universe.
They argue that those who succeed in our economy are just "winners of life's lottery." So clearly, those who fail are just "losers in life's lottery." And they see government's primary purpose as eliminating (or at least ameliorating) the difference between the "winners" and the "losers."
They either are ignorant of or reject Joseph Schumpeter's argument that "Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism" and the critical factor in its success. Most of them, even if persuaded that Schumpeter was right, would gladly give up the additional wealth and far higher standard of living for everyone that creative destruction makes possible, righteously preferring that we all be poorer, but more equal.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: business, capitalism, economics, egalitarianism | 1 Comment »
Posted by Richard on July 22, 2008
What do you do if you want to move your country toward authoritarian socialism, but you were elected president with only 38% of the vote, and the opposition has a clear majority in the legislature? Well, if you're Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, and Hugo Chavez provides tens of millions of dollars a year in aid that you absolutely control, you set up what amounts to the beginnings of a parallel government — "neighborhood committees" called Citizens Power Councils — even though the National Assembly rejected the plan.
The CPCs are completely dominated by Sandinista Party members and control distribution of government food aid, small-business loans, farm aid, children's vaccinations, and more. Dafydd at Big Lizards has all the details and an important question (emphasis in original):
At what point does a private organization, run by the president's wife and funded by a foreign dictator, which seizes control of many functions traditionally associated with government, and which proclaims itself to be the real intermediary between the proletariat and the government, become the de facto new government of Nicaragua?
Dafydd also opined (emphasis in original):
Perhaps Democrats are hoping they can create some CPCs right here, ready to leap into the fray… just in case John S. McCain "steals the election" from the man who bought and paid for it.
That got me thinking. Maybe Dafydd's onto something, but he's not taking a long enough view. Remember Obama's July 2 speech about national service? That's the one with this disturbing bit (which wasn't in the text released to the media beforehand):
Obama wants to greatly expand AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, and create an Energy Corps, Classroom Corps, Health Corps, and Homeland Security Corps. And he apparently wants to spend half a trillion dollars on them and employ 2½ million people.
Is there any doubt that all these corps will be dominated and controlled by big-government leftists/socialists? Once they've become "just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the Defense Dept., it will be almost impossible for some future administration to pry the bureaucrats who control them out of there, cut their funding, or reduce their power. They'll be America's CPCs, but with no need for checks from Chavez.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: big government, obama, ortega, socialism | Leave a Comment »
