By Isaac Morehouse on 7/3/2008 7:33 AM

Originally published on NationalLedger.com

Thomas Jefferson Still Survives

Our nation’s second and third presidents made their share of mistakes.   John Adams pushed through the anti free-speech Alien and Sedition Acts, which outlawed criticism of the president or Congress in speech or print.   The motivation behind these acts was largely to muzzle the loud criticisms of his presidency voiced by Thomas Jefferson, a life-long champion of freedom, who was a slave owner.   Why has history remembered these flawed men as such great patriots?   Because ideas supercede those who fight for them and freedom does not require perfect men to defend it.
 
Adams and Jefferson were once great friends.   The influential Adams even insisted that the young Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence instead of himself, though at the time he did not think the document of tremendous importance.   The two men fought side by side in the political battle for freedom from British rule and were both staunch advocates of complete independence from the Crown.
 
After that freedom was secured the men eventually parted ways.   Party differences and a strong disagreement on the French Revolution drove a wedge between them.   Adams often lamented that Jefferson received far more recognition than he deserved for the nation’s independence, and thought the celebration of Jefferson’s Declaration on July 4th was misplaced.   The bitterness between the former allies seemed to grow as their new nation took shape.
 
During our nation’s th ... Read More »

By James H on 7/2/2008 8:05 AM

When I share Detroit housing value statistics with friends and colleagues, the reactions tend to much like when I tell jokes. I get a mix of laughter, groans, and statements like "That's just awful."

The Michigan Association of Realtors released housing statistics for May. Housing prices are down in 33 of MAR's 40 regions. The houses sold in Detroit have gone for an average of $19,297 this year thus far. The release only states the average year-to-date price. But with the previous releases and some math skills, I figured out the average monthly price. In May, it was $15,361, down from $23,755 in January.

By Isaac Morehouse on 7/2/2008 7:39 AM

From Club for Growth:

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Dumbs Laws in Michigan
Andrew Roth

The good folks at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy sent me dozens of dumb bills that were recently proposed in the Michigan Legislature. A special thanks to MacKinac's Ken Braun and Jack McHugh.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

SB 68 (introduced by Sen. Tupac Hunter) would authorize manicurist training. As MacKinac's Michigan Votes website explains, "Under current law, licensure is required for schools that teach cosmetology and electrology, but there is no separate category for the teaching of fingernail clipping."

SB 920 (introduced by Sen. John Gleason) would revise current law "in such a way" that would prevent Wal-Mart from using its own bank to process credit card transactions.

SB 906 (introduced by Sen. Mark Jansen) would ban the disposal of corrugated cardboard in a landfill.

SB 1194 (introduced by Sen. Gretchen Whit ... Read More »

By Isaac Morehouse on 7/1/2008 7:37 AM

10 Reasons Thou Shouldest Blog Regularly:

1. Discipline thyself – like all disciplines, it makes you a better person, more in control of your schedule and habits, and is empowering to do something on a regular basis.

2. Translate thyself – you hold a set of beliefs and ideas about the world.  You may not even know exactly what they are, but they are there.  Blogging helps you translate those abstract ideas into meaning that others (and you) can consume and make use of.

3. Teach thyself – the best teacher is you.  You have no idea how much you know, or how capable you are of understanding and explaining things.  Once you start blogging about things, you’ll be surprised to discover what a genius you are.

4. Learneth to see – every day you are taking in loads of sensory information.  You see news clips, billboards, emails, people, cars, you hear music, talk, etc. Read More »
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By Isaac Morehouse on 6/30/2008 6:34 AM

Originally published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

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A friend recently commented that he has found wisdom in moderation. He said it seems that truth and goodness are found not at the extremes, but at the place of balance between extremes. This can be very true.

As Aristotle wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics, "Virtue must have the quality of aiming at the intermediate." In Aristotle's examples, it is cowardice and recklessness that are the extremes, courage the middle ground. It is drunkenness and uptightness that are extremes, and moderate drinking the mean.

My friend went on from this concept to state that he believed in neither socialism nor capitalism, but in a mixed economy — or what he called a "messy middle ground." There are two main problems with this conclusion.

The first is that statements like this in the abstract are meaningless. To construct a pretend spectrum, and place various actions and beliefs on it and then to choose the "middle" between them does not give meaning to that middle in and of itself. That is, without actual arguments and definitions regarding what that middle choice or belief is, it is simply a made up point on an imaginary spectrum on which other ideas are arbitrarily placed. Using this logic, I could claim that, since the mean is always good, green beans and omelets are both extremes and I prefer the middle ground.

Most often, those advocating an idea simply because it is in the "middle" of their mentally constructed spectrum do so because they lack any real arguments about the idea itself. For the idea of a middle ground or moderation to have any meaning, the extremes must first be defined and understood as opposite responses to a common problem, and must be placed on an ordinal value ... Read More »

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/27/2008 7:36 AM

By Joseph Corey - for www.mackinac.org

It has been nearly 19 years since the autumn of nations, the revolutionary wave that swept across Central and Eastern Europe ending in the overthrow of Soviet-style communist states within the space of a few months. The beginnings of this monumental event started with Solidarity in Poland, a nation well acquainted with the terrors of a totalitarian government. Less than two decades after communism’s fall, Poland has emerged as a leading democratic nation with a rapidly growing economy. The swift recovery of Poland demonstrates the power of liberty and the free market. While a great deal of progress remains to be made in Poland’s ongoing transition, the country has undeniably come a long way from central planning.

Walking Warsaw’s streets, one can sense a growing spirit of optimism towards the future in a free and independent Poland. During the day, the streets of the capital bustle with business activity. That energy continues long into the evening hours, showcasing an exciting nightlife. No longer are there the headaches and dilemmas of long lines and food shortages, but rather the joyful decision of what products to en ... Read More »

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/26/2008 6:17 AM

By Vincent Patsy

Like the villain from a bad movie, the evil speculator is thought to sit in his arm chair barking orders to minions who he uses to dominate the market, raising or lowering the price of a commodity without care for the unfortunate masses that he is harming. Speculators are essentially conservationists, but rather than selfless sacrifice as their prime motivation, speculators are in search for profits. This is the ‘evil’ part of speculation, but in all respects, it is the best social outcome.

Speculators are individuals or firms whose sole intent is to buy a good at a low price (either as a result of low demand and/or high supply) and reselling that good either in another place or at a future date for the express purpose of turning a profit. Whatever revenue, minus transportation, taxes, and/or storage fees, is either his reward or his punishment for his actions.

Most items purchased everyday by Americans was owned or handled at one time by a speculator. Whether it was the gasoline in your car or the canned meats at your local grocer, speculation promotes the allocation of goods to new areas. Products not available to most humans throughout history are suddenly readily available if one wishes to purchase it. The speculator exists in a market to profit, buy he also allows both buyer and seller to satisfy their desires.

But these are not the speculators we are concerned with. They trade tangible goods and therefore are infinitely superior to those confounded temporal speculators, who buy futures contracts, which are just pieces of paper. Not only that, they drive up prices, making it harder for working families to survive, all in the name of profits. They are cancerous to the market and they should be heavily regulated if not abolished. Sarcasm abounds.

To be certain, they do raise the price of a good. And, if all goes well, the speculators do make profits. Assuming prices, capital investments, and freedom of entry are allowed to function freely ... Read More »

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/25/2008 12:15 PM

Originally posted on the Prometheus Blog:

Attack of the Moral Busybodies

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

 —C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock

By Isaac M. Morehouse

At the gym the other day I overheard two older women talking as the ran on treadmills.  First they were talking (quite loudly – I wasn’t straining to eavesdrop) about the current situation with banks and home mortgages.  They both agreed, many people with adjustable-rate mortgages or 5-year ARMS were going to be struggling to make payments if rates continued to rise, and the culprit was greed.  The banks were greedy for giving adjustable rate loans to people who may have a high risk of default.

Read More »

By Vincent Patsy on 6/23/2008 1:19 PM

A proposal that is thrown around often to solve our current rise crude oil prices, and subsequent rise in gasoline prices, is the opening up of more land to lease to oil companies for drilling. This would allow for more drilling on Federal land so that oil companies would be able to produce more oil. However, a much better solution, in my opinion, is simply granting the lands to the oil companies. This would benefit all groups involved: government, business, and environmentalists; not to mention every American through lower prices and economic growth.

Federal government would benefit greatly from granting the land as opposed to leasing it. It is true that some income would be lost from the actual leasing process, but there is also money spend in leasing the land itself (through bureaucratic agencies and legal proceedings etc.), not to mention time, which is an even scarcer resource.  Because to the long term access to the land, there would be more long term investments into the area, first by the oil companies, but then by companies wishing the service the oil companies’ employees, both in professional and household sense. This added income (which is actual created wealth), through taxes, would offset that money lost from leasing. Lastly, the Federal government did not create this land, and has no right to it. They are merely a coercive body which seized it from another coercive body.

It seems quite obvious to me how oil companies would benefit. Also with lower fuel costs, all sectors of the economy would receive a much needed relief.

Environmentalists would, most likely, be the most opposed to granting over leasing.  However, when given the choice of granting or leasing, they should want granting. The oil companies have little incentive to destroy their own capital (land in this case) with drilling recklessly. They would, however, have an incentive to preserve the resale value to ... Read More »

By Jack McHugh on 6/22/2008 10:19 PM

It may be no coincidence that Michigan’s unemployment rate hit 8.5 percent last month, just when tens of thousands of low-skill, low-experience young people were getting out of school and hitting the job market. The unemployment figures are seasonally adjusted, but here’s something there’s no adjusting for: The startling figure was attained just a few weeks before the state minimum wage rises to $7.40 per hour.

That’s almost a buck higher than the federal minimum wage, and the fourth-highest in the nation last I checked around a year ago – just the kind of disincentive to job creation that the groaning Michigan economy doesn’t need. Especially for young workers – or wannabe workers - who tend to have lower job skills and less experience. Fact is, these youngsters are just less productive than those with a few years under their belts, and  many employers figure they just won’t add $7.40 worth of value to an operation. So rather work 40 hours a week at $5.75 or $6.50, these low-skill workers get to work zero-hours at $7.40.

This particular job-killer came about due to a power-play by the state’s union bosses back in 2006, exploiting the misguided sensibilities of a population that is desperately in need of some economic education. The unions threatened to put this mandated wage on the ballot with an even more destructive provision – to index it to inflation. Reportedly, in polling done by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, no matter how the question was asked substantial majorities said they would vote “yes.”

With that gun to their heads, Republicans in the legislature who are generally reluctant to vote for minimum wage hikes (most but not all of them are generally reluctant, that is) decided it was better to drink slightly diluted poison vs. the unadulterated stuff, so they passed a bill with the higher mandated wage but no inflation indexing. The hopes thousands of young people looking to pick up some summer cash are just as dead, though.

Thanks, union bosses.

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/21/2008 6:50 AM

By Vincent Patsy on 6/20/2008 10:23 PM

When remarking that competition in society is bad, and that all humans should work together, what is never discussed is the loss of freedom. Competition exists in the free market not only (and less importantly) among firms, but among buyers and sellers of a given product. The buyer competes with the seller for the highest price, and the seller competes for the lowest price. In essence, each party desires to maximize his subjective satisfaction for the least subjective loss. This form of competition allows each party to choose his best path to happiness. The buyer uses a liquid asset (such as money); and the seller uses whatever he can offer such as productive ability or a good or survive.

To be certain, in a truly socialist society there is no competition. However, this is not from a mutual desire to achieve a common end. In socialist societies there is no ownership of productive assets with which to compete. Therefore, there is no possibility of maximization of gain because there is no method to achieve gains. To be sure the desire to maximize ones gain survives, but since the ultimate goal of subjective happiness cannot be reached; there is no incentive to succeed.

Those who wish to better man by ridding him of competition must realize that they are ridding him of his most important asset, his rational ability to find happiness. They are not making him moral; they are in fact depriving him or of his moral decisions. There can be no common goal if all goals are subjective.

By James H on 6/20/2008 2:47 PM

It's been all over the news already--Michigan's unemployment rate is 8.5 percent.

Here are some more details from the state-by-state release earlier today.

 

 

 

Michigan's unemployment rate regained its huge gap between the next-worse state. We're at 8.5 and Rhode Island, the state with the second-highest unemployment rate, is at 7.2.

Seasonally-adjusted payroll employment was up for Michigan by 6,100 jobs. Most of the gains were in leisure and hospitality industries. (summer places hiring more than usual?) Education and health posted gains--health in particular has been robust through Michigan's bad economy. The number of government jobs decreased.

That doesn't mean that government became smaller. Most of the government employment losses were concentrated in universities, which lost 18,100 jobs in the month. It's typical to see a decrease from April to May, but it's usually around 13 percent of employment, not 17 percent as we saw. Taking out employment losses in government education services, state government employment actually grew by 5,300 jobs.

Why did the unemployment rate go up so high?  Household employment, (different from payroll employment) was down and the labor force was up. This caused a large increase in the unemployment rate.

Last month's unemployment rate was revised upwards as well.

On a more fundamental level, why is 8.5 so much more newsworthy than 6.7? Both were the highest rates in the country, and that's always been noteworthy to me.

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/20/2008 9:07 AM

I don't like to solicit donations, but this one is as cheap as $1, and is something that touches the very foundaiton of our American freedoms and values.

The Institute for Justice (www.ij.org) has launched an incredibly bold drive to raise 10,000 separate donations on Monday to fight eminent domain (property rights) abuses. 10,000 also happens to be the number of times government used its eminent domain power to unjustly take property from its owners over a five-year period.  Remember Suzette Kelo, whose little pink home was taken by the City of New London, Connecticut so they could hand the land over to some strip-mall developers?  That's what IJ is fighting all over the nation.

I pledged a very small amount so I can be considered one of the 10,000.  It's not about the amount, it's about getting a whopping 10,000 people to donate SOMETHING to the cause of protecting property rights.  IJ has publicly proclaimed that they are seeking 10,000 contributions in one day - an incredible and record breaking number - if they do not reach their goal, it could appear that they do not have strong support from citizens in their mission to protect property rights.

IJ would rather have 100 contributions of $1 each than a few $100 contributions, so even a tiny gift helps them achieve their goal of 10,000 donations. I just went to their www.ij.org/keloday web page and all I had to enter was my first and last name, email address, and pledge amount.  They'll email me a reminder to give on Monday.

More information below...

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By Isaac Morehouse on 6/20/2008 6:59 AM

Sounds pretty interesting...

By HKM007 on 6/19/2008 2:14 PM

By slemrod on 6/19/2008 1:01 PM

This video speaks for itself.

HT: FreedomWorks

 

 

 

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/19/2008 10:08 AM

Apparently, the when the Billings Twp. assignee and former Township clerk (who is running again) received a Freedom of Information Request Act (FOIA) asking for some kind of documentation of what they were doing with taxpayer dollars, she got offended.

The private organization Concerned Citizens for Billings Township got a letter from the Clerk candidate with a FOIA of her own.  One problem - FOIA is an act that allows citizens to request (and get) information about their tax dollars from government, it does not allow anyone, anywhere to get information about how private organizations and businesses use their voluntary dues or revenues.  The Concerned Citizens are a private organization and not subject to FOIA.  This would be like a member of Congress being asked how much taxpayer money he voted to spend this year and having him respond by demanding to know how much money you gave to your church this year.  It reveals an arrogant aristocratic above-the-law complex in government officials, as if they are offended that the little citizens dare to ask what they're doing with our money.  Keep asking, it's fun to watch them go nuts.

By Isaac Morehouse on 6/19/2008 6:57 AM

Yesterday’s post may have left you feeling down about the condition of property rights in our dear old wolverine state.  But, as men and women throughout history of always done, there are those who refuse to sit idly by while their liberties are trampled.

The Mackinac Center has launched Property Rights Network here in Michigan, as a way to help owners who are being harassed by the state and denied their rights fight back, and share stories about the kind of shenanigan's bureaucrats are pulling.  Check out the new PRN blog, and join the fight if you're tired of being told how to use your own property!

By William Freeland on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:15 PM

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) touts the so-called success stories of their efforts today to the tune of 11 new projects slated to generate $179.1 million in new investment and create and retain 3,900 jobs, reports the subscription based MIRSNews.com on June 18th. This of course begs the question; “why do we need an economic development corporation in the first place and what exactly do they do.”

 

The main way the MEDC “saves” or “creates” jobs is through the “M.E.G.A.” (Michigan Economic Growth Authority) targeted tax incentives. The MEDC offers the incentives to business that are considering leaving the state as an incentive to stay or to businesses that are looking to relocate or expand as an incentive to chose Michigan. In doing this, the MEDC is basically picking “winners and losers” among Michigan businesses. For all intensive purposes, business that are forced to consider leaving the state or are not considering starting their business in Michigan because of our 50th place ranking among the states for our economic business climate Read More »