Obama Ran a Capitalist Campaign - WSJ.com

Obama Ran a Capitalist Campaign - WSJ.com: "Obama Ran a Capitalist Campaign"

A thought experiment, Mr. President-elect: What if as your campaign raised more and more money it was taxed away and given to Mr. McCain to level the field? Or think of this: What if you were not allowed to opt out of the public financing scheme that left Mr. McCain with a paltry $84 million, about a quarter of your autumn total?

Is the President-elect listening?

ANTIDOTE: On Being Governed By Nutts Inc.

ANTIDOTE: On Being Governed By Nutts Inc.

And do note that this is not a tariff that collects any revenue.

When the tariff is so high, there is zero trade, hence zero revenue.

Lovely insight! Very commonsensical...

Google's growth makes privacy advocates wary - Yahoo! Philippines News

Google's growth makes privacy advocates wary - Yahoo! Philippines News

For all the power governments have I would be more worried about them rather than Google. Google has little incentive to goof around with its users' data. In fact, it is very likely that Google will be forced to divulge a certain individual's information by a certain government in the name of law and order and security and etc.!

[Yahoo link via Instapundit.]

Veerappan as a respectable businessman

Go Read!

Well, for one, Veerappan would have been a sandalwood farmer — not a brigand, and killing him would not have been an act of maintaining law and order. I once met a retired forest official who told me, in confidence, that Veerappan was actually doing the forest department’s work: for every sandalwood tree he cut down, he used to plant 50!

[Via Sauvik's Post]

Individual Rights and Democracy

Someone Else Will Divorce You Now

In my opinion democracy is a good start. However, democracy cannot guaranty individual rights. The majority's way should not be imposed on an individual!

Hoping for a world where human rights (and not just the will of the majority) will be up held ...

NCP joins Raj campaign, talks about 'redrawing of balance'-India-The Times of India

NCP joins Raj campaign, talks about 'redrawing of balance'-India-The Times of India

The irony being that Praful Patel is an industrialist who seems to run the Rs 500 crore CeeJay group. A few questions that come to my mind. Does his group only employ Maharashtrians? Do his industries sell their products only within Maharashtra?

Asked whether there was a need for redrawing of balance between Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians in the state, Patel said "if you do not do that, sooner or later you will not need a Raj Thackeray to do that, the people themselves will do it."

The people may choose to do it, but not via violent means or use of force on migrants. Not even via legislation that forces migrants to leave. Of course, Maharashtrians are well withing their rights to choose to not to employ any non-Maharashtrians, not to avail of any services offered by non-Maharashtrians, not to trade with any non-Maharashtrians living in Maharashtra and etc.

Also, it may be true that people from Bihar migrate to Maharashtra because of lack of opportunities in Bihar or in search of better opportunities in Maharashtra. That they end up getting a certain opportunity in Maharashtra instead of other Maharashtrians must be of some benefit to the state of Maharashtra. Else why would the people from Bihar get the opportunity? Does the Maha Govt. have opportunities reserved for the people of Bihar?

Also, in general all opportunities cannot exist in all places. It is also understandable that opportunities and the best people for them may not exist at the same place.

Patel, whose party is a major partner in the Congress-led Maharashtra government, saw nothing wrong in party leader Chhagan Bhujbal's advocacy of "sons of the soil" slogan. He also asked non-Maharashtrians to respect the sentiments and culture of the state.

Respect the culture of the state? Will Patel and Raj respect human life and every individual's right to opportunity?

Ironically enough, the party to which Patel belongs is the NCP, the Nationalist Congress Party.

Don't Just Do Something. Stand There. - WSJ.com

Don't Just Do Something. Stand There. - WSJ.com:

"Back in March, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke and the experts assured us that Bear Stearns had to be propped up. If not, the whole system could come crashing down. It is crashing down anyway. Just as in the 1930s, there is no evidence that the policy makers have any understanding of what they are doing. They need to make way for the natural forces of repair."
.........
"Unfortunately, there is no consensus about a preferable alternative. The economists are almost as clueless as the politicians. At such a time, inaction may be the wisest course of action."

[My emphasis]