the Grizzly Man

Posted on September 11, 2010 by christopher fisher

foxtrot

I wonder if this was inspired by Timothy Treadwell, the animal worshiper who was eaten alive along with his girlfriend, all the while being recorded by their own equipment.

Also see this KGov show.

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on speaking without voting

Posted on September 10, 2010 by christopher fisher

Last Thanksgiving, I had the profound pleasure of sitting near my uncle-in-law as he reiterated something I heard people repeat often in a mindless fashion:
“I think that if you did not vote, you have no right to complain.”

I wanted to rephrase that statement for him:
“If one did not perform an utterly meaningless and symbolic gesture that saps gross amounts of personal time then one no longer should be able to engage in the God given right to free speech.”
Alas, I held my tongue. My wife would have killed me for mocking her family.

HT: Donald J. Boudreaux for reminding me of this incident with his latest blog post

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two related items

Posted on September 10, 2010 by christopher fisher

From Ashleigh Brilliant:

“To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target”

From the White House:

Our multifaceted analysis indicates that the Recovery Act has played an essential role in changing the trajectory of the economy. It has raised the level of GDP substantially relative to what it otherwise would have been and has saved or created between 2.5 and 3.6 million jobs as of the second quarter of 2010.

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cargo cult of education

Posted on September 10, 2010 by christopher fisher

education
xkcd

In a recent blog post by Brian Caplan, he labels as cargo-cults those pushing for ever more education (especially in developing countries). This term cargo-cult conjures images in my head of Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome. There is a scene in while the lost children try to talk to the newly found Gibson by “radioing” him through an old mother board and a headset made of a bone. In a following scene they dance on the hull of an old airplane thinking they will fly away. The cargo cults, very accurately put by Wikipedia “consisted of mistaking a necessary… for a sufficient condition”.

This type of reasoning is like a naïve child. My boys think they can get the cat to come to them by clicking and holding out their hand like I do. They do not understand that she only comes to me because she likes me but she will ignore them because she fears them. The same goes for the average American’s position on education: they see prosperous countries engaging in a lot of education and naivily think they can elevate the position of the poor by giving them “more education”. In high school my teachers ascribed to this thinking and were quick to hold up graphs showing income of college grads v. non-college grads. But ever since education has been more and more pushed and more people have attended college, those numbers have begun to drop. Art and Social Work majors don’t seem to get a very big productivity boost by four years of college.

That education is over-consumed should be any good Economist’s default opinion. The reason is simple: because it is being subsidized by government. Subsidies shift the demand curve past its natural market price, and more people consume then would otherwise do so. When society as a whole, consumes more than would be warranted by the natural market price, the result is market inefficiency (lower standard of living than would have been otherwise). This is Econ 101.

William Easterly notes in his book The Elusive Quest for Growth that: “What has been the response of economic growth to the educational explosion? Alas, the answer is: little or none.” Why? Easterly hits the nail on the head a few pages later: “What if high school education is a luxury in which you indulge yourself as you get richer?” He then proceeds to say in the case of too much education: “you have created a supply of skills where there is no demand for skills. And so the skills go to waste – with, say, highly educated taxi drivers.”

Like the cargo cults mimicking radio conversations, Americans keep injecting education and praying for rain.

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quotes vol 1

Posted on September 9, 2010 by christopher fisher

“mutual hostility of fascist and Marxism movements has always primarily been a case of the orthodox hating the heretic more than the infidel.”-Brian Caplan

“People low in Stability, on the other hand, habitually blow minor problems out of proportion. Even when they live in First World countries, they manage to convince themselves that the sky is falling. Their typically neurotic response is to beg for Big Brother to save them from their largely imaginary problems. When government solutions don’t work out, they misinterpret it as further proof that life is hopeless – not that their “solutions” were ill-conceived.” -Bryan Caplan

“It is an open question whether regulation by fallible human beings is not more dangerous than the much-maligned free-for-all where people must watch their step.” -Anthony de Jasay

“No matter that most of what they are told about such an order is hot air, they believe in it as they long for a world where they own their jobs and cannot be fired, where prices are “just” and do not fluctuate, where healthcare is free, pensions safe, and perhaps above all, nobody earns much more than they do.” -Anthony de Jasay

“It would be silly to forfeit potential consumption today, in the form of tighter emissions cutbacks, if our descendants would perceive a greater benefit from our channeling those savings into more traditional investments that would make them wealthier.” – Robert Murphy

“In any event, unequal affluence holds out more hope for the poor than equal poverty.” -Anthony de Jasay

“When government planners build roads, they have little incentive to control costs. Unlike private firms, they do not make greater profits when they keep costs down. In fact, bureaucracies often benefit by maximizing their budgets.” -Benjamin Powell

“The only object he professed to have in view was the good of the people; a suspicious phrase, usually meaning the good of the individual.” – William H Prescott

“Bailing out the banks may be pro-business. However, it is anti-capitalist. In a capitalist system, it is as important that businesses be allowed to fail as it is for them to be allowed to succeed.” – Arnold Kling

“The national income is not an irrigation network where you can reduce the flow of water into one ditch and increase it in the other. The tacit supposition that income is independent of its distribution is absurd, yet it is just as plausible to the untutored mind as the idea that the earth is flat is plausible to all who trust their eyes and have never been told the contrary.” -Anthony de Jasay

“But it is not shocking that the well-to-do is left unimpressed by the argument that it is a moral duty for the minority to pay for the good ideas of the majority.” -Anthony de Jasay

“Remember, politics is not about policy. It is about group status.” –Arnold Kling

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World Travels

Posted on September 6, 2010 by christopher fisher


visited 21 states (9.33%)
Create your own visited map of The World

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Christian cliches – do not judge

Posted on August 31, 2010 by christopher fisher

One anecdote, something I reflect upon from time to time, is when a man trying to discredit Christianity claimed to one Christian man “you can prove anything using the Bible.” Losing no time, the Christian countered “not to someone who knows the Bible.” I think this applies very solidly to debates I have had with Christians about judging. I will explain.

One command in the Bible reads like this “curse God and die.” Now this is an odd command, considering the message of the Bible is one detailing why we should worship God. But this command is in the Bible. Taken in context, however, it is revealed that this command is given by Job’s evil wife in reference to Job’s Satan-caused misery. One would be foolish to take it as a real command and one to be followed.

Another command in the Bible states “Do not judge”. Now modern Christians might say that calling someone a “fool”, “wicked”, “adulterous”, or even calling them a “hypocrite” might be judging. Calling people “murderers”, “God-less” or even calling them “Satan” would probably also fall under this realm. The problem for modern Christians is that these are all names Jesus called people. Jesus was deep into judging.

So was Jesus himself a hypocrite? Or was there some special law exempting Jesus from “judging” commands, a concept both Jesus and Paul would argue against:

Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Jesus is commanding his listeners to judge. Paul reiterates this sentiment in his writings:

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Not only are Christians required to judge, but we need to be judging constantly as to gain practice for when we judge the angels! If Christians are not to judge, the Bible contradicts itself and Jesus is a hypocrite. Atheists, of course, are quick to capitalize on such seaming inconsistency. SkepticsAnnotatedBible has sections for both Christian name calling and “conflicting” verses on judging.

Anti-judging Christians are quickly stumped on such inconsistencies. I would know; I have debated plenty. However, Christians who value the word of God only need to read the verses themselves to understand the real meaning. Christians are commanded to judge, though are not to judge hypocritically or disproportionately to the offense:

Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged:

This is a typical if-then-else conditional statement: if Peter eats the cookie, he will gain weight. In the example sentence, the “then” condition must be bad if it is to serve as any reason for not doing the “if” action. If gaining weight is bad, Peter might look at the sentence and then decide not to eat the cookie based on the harms described as a result. But what of Jesus’ “then” conditional? Why is it bad to get judged? Luckily, Christians do not need to make up reasons because Jesus explicitly tells us. In a similar text in Mathew Jesus expounds on this:

Mat 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Mat 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

So Jesus says judging puts you at risk for being judged in turn for your own sin. Someone with common sense would begin to understand as the subject sins less and less then the potential harm of being judged, in turn, decreases. But just in case the point was not driven home, Jesus goes on:

Mat 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Oddly enough, the verses usually cited by Christians on not judging are actually a manual on how to judge. Jesus did not hate judgers. Jesus hated hypocrites. If you remove the sin from your own life, then you can judge others. Contrary to modern Christian psychobabble, Paul tells us that to be a good Christian one should judge all things:

1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

 

Posted in Christian Cliches, Jesus, Theology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why did Ford double wages?

Posted on August 30, 2010 by christopher fisher

There is a popular meme that runs throughout American pop culture, one that I heard in my AP history course during high school. The teacher recounted that when Henry Ford doubled his workers’ wages, his reasoning was that “then they would be able to buy more products and he would be richer.” While this is about the most inane version of this meme, other ones still arise. That “he wanted his workers to be able to afford the cars they make” seems to be the more popular version. This sentiment seems to have been popularized by Ida Tarbell, the muckraking journalist popularly known for her attacks on Standard Oil. Not quite the fountain of objectivity.

I was unable to track down any quote by Ford on this matter, but even if he did make such statement, one has to remember that popular perception might make him choose his words carefully. No one would expect Wal-Mart to say that the reason they gave out free supplies during Katrina was to boost their image.

The reality is that before the wage increase, Henry Ford commissioned manager John R Lee to study the labor turnover rate at his plants. The results showed a few things:

1. The hours were too long.
2. The wages too low.
3. Bad housing conditions.
4. Unsanitary and undesirable shop conditions.
5. Poor supervision
(John Cunningham Wood. Michael C. Wood. Henry Ford: critical evaluations in business and management. 2003. p. 260)

Nearly doubling worker wages quickly decreased the turnover rate from 370 percent to 20 percent and productivity rose between 40 and 70 percent. (Did Henry Ford Mean to Pay Efficiency Wages, Jason E Taylor. 2003.)

This was not due to some magical “when you pay people more they can afford more and the economy is better”. (See the Broken Window Fallacy) The real reason is because people began to value their jobs. They worked harder because they would lose more by being fired and would gain more working for Ford than in other employments. Workers began lining up for jobs. Henry Ford was able to recruit the best laborers.

Wages have long been underestimated by those who think that employers in the free market can oppress their workers. There is adequate evidence that even slavery was falling out of fashion due this wage incentive effect. When competition is allowed, labor flows to its most effective use at its natural market price. When competition is not allowed, such as the government mandating minimum prices, the results are unemployment and under production.

Posted in Economics, History, Labor, prices, Standard of Living | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

do not do evil that good may come

Posted on August 29, 2010 by christopher fisher

Rom 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

The apostle Paul says in Romans that those who “do evil that good make come” are worthy of condemnation (damnation). As Christians, one should not vote for John McCain, who supports killing babies whose mothers have been raped or whose parents are related, such that Obama, who supports killing babies for any reason whatsoever, would not win.

Likewise, we should never rape another human being, even if it would save the whole world. God never authorizes us to make moral compromises.

Mat 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Predicting the future is a hard task. We can never know what harms or evils might be brought into the world through our compromises, but we can know for certain that never doing evil will always be the right thing.

We do not vote for McCain/Hitler (fill in your politician) so Obama/Stalin won’t win.
We do not kill an innocent baby so that baby doesn’t grow up in an unloving environment or so some woman does not have to live with reminders of traumatic events.
We do not rob from the young to pay for the health care of the old. (Remember God labeled even a 10% flat tax as an evilly oppressive tax rate. 1Sa 8:15)
We do not forbid trade with foreigners such that natives will have higher paying jobs.
We should not illegalize smoking so people might live longer.

We should not do evil that good may come.

Posted in Christian Maxim, Morality, Theology, Theonomy | Tagged , | 6 Comments

FCC builds Berlin Wall to prevent escape

Posted on August 29, 2010 by christopher fisher

I remember one political science trip to DC during my college years. I had a chance to talk to the Commissioner of the FCC, Jonathan Steven Adelstein. My question revolved around the lack of open market mechanics in the radio spectrum. Adelstien stated that the FCC doesn’t allow an open market in the radio spectrum because it would quickly become a monopoly.

Even pretending, as Adelstien does, that all monopolies are bad or that a monopoly could really bid to buy up the entire spectrum, what he did not realize is that people have a very powerful button on the radio to prevent evil monopolies from destroying the airwaves: the “off” button. No one is forced to listen to the radio. If some powerful company was trying to buy up all the stations, unless they played what people wanted to hear, the endeavor would quickly become a net loss for the company. It costs money to broadcast, and naturally the spectrum would flow to its most productive use due to price mechanics.

It is almost poetic justice that the FCC is becoming irrelevant in the age of podcasts and Hulu. But, like the little dictators that they are, the FCC is pressing for the government to wield its gun to force radios on all new technology. The FCC is the soviet state, building a wall to prevent the escape of those over whom they exercise power. It is no fun to play dictator when no one is around to control.

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