Free kibbles

ECONOMY:

Austrian investment guidelines.

Pretty chart shows how effective government is at looting the people on behalf of the ruling class.

TAX AND SPEND:

Nice chart compares Obama's original budget, Ryan's budget and Obama's response to Ryan's budget. Ryan's is less huge than Obama's but that's not saying much.  Robert Murphy says the Ryan plan isn't serious.

"Yes, the Ryan proposal is certainly better than the long-term budget plan put out by the Obama White House, but that's like saying Darth Vader is a pretty nice guy compared to the Emperor."

Nice analogy.

"The Ryan plan — even using its own numbers — has the federal government running a fiscal deficit this year, next year, the next year, and so on, until about 2038."

That's what passes for budget cutting in Washington.

"The Ryan plan nonetheless calls for adding $5.1 trillion to the federal debt held by the public over the next ten years — an increase of 45 percent from the assumed starting level in the fiscal year 2012. You don't hear too many fans of Ryan couching it in these terms."

That's also what passes for budget cutting in Washington.

Seventy percent of tea partiers oppose cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. So much for supporting fiscal responsibility.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Greenpeace says the internet emits too much CO2. I say it doesn't.

Boortz gets this one exactly right:

"Gas is pricy because of Obama’s policies and the low dollar .. but Obama sees an opportunity for political advantage here.  He will investigate the oil companies and the evil speculators.  Few remember that the last time we pulled this “investigate the oil companies” stunt absolutely no wrongdoing was found."

Government never lets a crisis it created go to waste, and whenever the Fed starts inflating, government blames speculators.

More evidence that the greens significantly outspend the skeptics in the climate wars. I think this analysis grossly underestimates the amount of money spent promoting the global warming fraud. According to this report:

"The US Government has spent more than $79 billion of taxpayers’ money since 1989 on policies related to climate change, including science and technology research, administration, propaganda campaigns, foreign aid, and tax breaks."

We know this money is funneled to frauds to produce pseudo-science that promotes the government's agenda of seizing control of more of our economy and our lives.

Predictions from the first Earth Day show just how outrageous these global warming frauds are, yet some people still believe them.

POLICE STATE:

Reports of Apple's iPhone tracking just get worse every day.

"This week, security researchers revealed that Apple’s iOS 4 mobile operating system, which runs on the highly popular iPhone and iPad devices, constantly tracks and stores users’ approximate location information without their knowledge or consent. It has now been learned that law enforcement agencies have known about the secret iOS tracking for at least the last year, and have used the data to aid criminal investigations, according to CNet."

This is outrageous. I don't think it will happen, but I hope users drop the iPhone like a steaming pile of crap.

"Apple’s iOS isn’t the only mobile OS that collects user location information. Devices running Google’s market-leading Android OS also “keep a record of the locations and unique IDs of the last 50 mobile masts that it has communicated with, and the last 200 Wi-Fi networks that it has ‘seen,’” according to the Guardian."

There you go. Thanks to monopoly grants from government in the form of patents, we don't have the option of a cool smart phone that doesn't track us. My dumb phone is looking better and better.

WAR:

US now bombing Libya from Predator drones.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Syrian government kills up to 75 protesters.

POLITICS:

Contrasting Ron Paul and Gary Johnson.

LOCAL:

It's funny to see a Democrat argue JobsOhio is unconstitutional on the basis of limiting the power of government. He's not arguing that government should not do economic development. He's arguing that Kasich's fascist program is too powerful compared to the socialist program he supports. More info. Case for constitutionality:

"The changes call for JobsOhio to keep public and private funds separate. This would allow the entity to invest private dollars in a company without any constitutional problems, Widener said. It's also prohibited from making political donations.The Senate amendments were enough to assuage concerns from some Democrats in that chamber. All but two of the 10 Senate Democrats voted to pass the legislation."

I sure don't want to have to read this entire bill and the Ohio constitution. I don't have to. Here are the relevant sections of the Constitution. Here's Kasich's vision in a nutshell:

"Kasich has said JobsOhio is intended, in part, to help put the state in the business of being a venture capitalist. Instead of just offering tax breaks to lure companies to Ohio, JobsOhio could lend funds in return for the state gaining equity in the companies it helps."

First, this is classic fascism. Second, the idea that some bureaucrats in Columbus can do a better job in the role of venture capitalist than actual venture capitalists is absurd. Third, Ohio's economy is suffering from the burden of government, and both JobsOhio and the Department of Development increase that burden.

MISC:

The market provides incredible bounty including perfumes for RPG geeks.

Meetings not only steal productivity from businesses, they reduce creativity too.

"Sherwin explains that while these discussions seem to bring out creativity as ideas are ping-ponged back and forth, these sessions are really social affairs where everyone loses track of time, “at the cost of surfacing everyone’s unique perspectives and voices. We risk filling the time with consensus, rather than exploring divergent, multi-disciplinary viewpoints. It is in the friction between these views that we explore new patterns of thought.”"

Meeting are the bane of businesses and the crutch of managers.

"In their book Rework, Jason Fried and David Hansson write that when operating a business, any interruptions are to be avoided, especially meetings, because they squash productivity."

No kidding.

Thanks to modern technology, Canada is denying entrance to Americans with criminal records.