This year to celebrate Labor Day many in the labor movement are demanding that we raise the minimum wage. Beware the urge to do good when it violates the laws of economics. Cowpeople working This year the major cry we are hearing on Labor Day is that we should raise the minimum wage to $15.00/hour. I say don’t do it. If you raise the price of something you are going to sell less of it. Raising the minimum wage is a sure way to kill… Read More »Labor Day at $15/Hour
About 1200 in Rothenburg, Bavaria (pronounced rotenberg) in order to build a city wall they levied a tax on all of the properties within the walls of the city. The tax was unusual for the time in that it was compulsory and according to the local history people who refused to pay were run out of town. Today paying compulsory taxes for common defense, roads, education and many more government services are perfectly acceptable but many people have drawn the line at compulsory taxes for… Read More »Medieval Walls and Socialized Medicine
The Environmental Agency of the United Kingdom studied bags and decided that plastic disposable bags were the most environmentally friendly. But it is fashionable to ban them. So we do. Plastic Bags are a Good Thing A well reasoned article But the Nanny State doesn’t just react to facts. It is fashion and feeling based. Why don’t we go back to gourds for cups? Ceramics are so man made and environmentally destructive. My solution: I went to the local Grocery wholesaler (Smart and Final) and… Read More »Plastic Bag Ban Update
I failed. The City of Pasadena has banned plastic bags beginning in July. I had opposed the ban on my blog when it was proposed last October and distributed my argument against it to as many people locally as I could. But after they cancelled the meeting I was going to attend to oppose it I lost interest. I didn’t pay attention again until last week when Pasadena in Focus announced the ban. Ordinance 7214 was passed unanimously by the City Council on November 7,… Read More »Happy Nannies Day
I confess. I really dislike double wide strollers. They clog any aisle or sidewalk they enter. They are a product built for the convenience of a few at a cost to us all. So I was very pleased to see this sign on the door at one of the exhibits at the Huntington Library: Note to the Huntington: It is a risk to offend the inconsiderate. Good Luck. Note to self: Maybe someone could invent a stroller that is a “Double Decker”
California is the home of the Frisbee it was invented here in the San Gabriel Valley and it has become synonymous with summer and beaches. Now the LA County Supervisors have banned throwing anything on the beach. Read the CBS News story about the ban here. The beach near Cabo San Lucas Frisbees allowed Banning fun is clearly the Nanny State gone wild. How could they have such tin ears? Are their lawyers so bad? BTW the story got national coverage and lots of local… Read More »The Frisbee Ban
In Israel so many of the caregivers are from the Philippines that the Hebrew word for caregiver has become “philippina.” So that it is possible (and we overheard this) to say: “My philippina is from Turkey.” The photo above was taken in one of the malls in Tel Aviv. It is a group of caregivers playing card while their charges sit around them in their wheelchairs. Globalization? Good or bad?
A few weeks ago in the Orange County Weekly there was an advertising insert for the Medical Marijuana industry. It included lots of advertising for clinics and dispensaries. And this special listing of suppliers that make home delivieries: I think the Rolling Paper is a great idea it provides people with data on suppliers and suppliers with customers. My only issue is that it is getting a little crowded under the umbrella of “Medical” Marijuana. Prop 19 didn’t pass in the last election cycle but… Read More »Medical? Marijuana
It looks like the Pasadena City Council is getting ready to vote in October about banning plastic bags in the City. I have written about it previously HERE. I was contemplating what I could do to try and stop this little bit of Nanny Statism and I found the website of Save the Plastic Bags. They make all the arguments better than I do. It is however a sort of Kabuki Theater. At the hearing in July the decision was already made and the… Read More »Nanny Bag Update
Swcamborne said: “The bags that consumers use represent less than 10% of the total packaging that end up in landfills. ” T replied: “Plastic bags make up 25% of the litter stream in the City of Pasadena!” bag of trash more than 5 pounds T took issue with my opposition to regulating plastic bags in Pasadena. In my reply I focused on a clearly factual error he made either deliberately, because he was misinformed or by deviously conflating “landfill” and “litter stream.” I assume it… Read More »Nanny Bag Argument