“Shop Local” is Nonsense!

November 30th, 2008 admin

The local newspaper editor again exhorted us to "Shop Local This Christmas!" Frigging moron. If A has been selling to B and B selling to A, and then A decides that he should be buying from C, because C is "local" (whatever THAT means), then B can't afford to buy A's stuff anymore, so A runs out of money to buy from C. "Oh, but C has started buying from A." Maybe. Maybe not. You're waving your hands at a coordination problem which is not so easily solved. And so what of it? What if B's stuff is better than C's stuff, so that A has now made himself worse off by "local" trade. How does this make A better, when A has to make a worse choice? If shopping "local" does not produce an immediate benefit to A, they shouldn't do it. They should continue to buy from B.

Whatever benefits anybody construes from "local" shopping, they should be reflected in the price. This let people weigh the advantages of "local" shopping versus "remote" shopping. And yet this is exactly what happens when shipping charges are assessed (and don't be confused by "free" shipping, which is merely included in the price). If "local" is better than "remove", it will be because the product is better or cheaper.

You may wonder why I've been putting "local" and "remote" in quotes. Well, exactly what does "local" mean? Does it mean on your block? In your neighborhood? In your community? In your city? State? Country? When does local become remote? What if you live on the border such that crossing into the next level of remoteness is actually more local than remote?

Eventually, any rational definition of "local" devolved into shipping cost, so that telling people they should "Shop Local" just means that people should save money on their shipping costs. Well duh! Or maybe they should save money by buying the plain one rather than the fancy one? Or maybe they should buy in bulk? Or .... well, it's clear at this point that "local" is just another word for "you should sit down, shut up, stop thinking and do what I say."

If you want me to do that, you're going to have to persuade me. And so far, "Shop Local" hasn't persuaded me.

Posted in libertarian | Comments Off

Exposing the ACLU

November 30th, 2008 admin

Political Revolution has an excellent article up exposing the ACLU for what they really are.

Posted in conservative | Comments Off

A Glimmer of “Hope” from Mankiw

November 30th, 2008 admin

Interesting.

What would you call a group of economists who are skeptical of regulating mortgage markets, who think unemployment insurance and unions increase unemployment, who say that tax hikes retard economic growth, and who believe that the recovery from the Great Depression was a monetary phenomenon rather than the result of New Deal fiscal policy?

No, it is not a right-wing cabal. It's Team Obama.

Now all we have to do is hope Obama will listen to his economic advisers.

Posted in conservative | Comments Off

UFO Enthusiasts Call for Obama to Release X-Files: The Truth Is Out There

November 30th, 2008 admin

Obama team members Podesta and Richardson believe and that gives hope to others. Release the X-Files Barack!

The campaigners, who resent their common portrayal as nuts and conspiracy theorists, have high hopes of success due to their inside track with Mr Obama.

When he was the White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, Mr Podesta led a project to declassify 800 million pages of intelligence documents. In a press conference, still available to watch on the YouTube website, Mr Podesta said: “It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon.”

Gov Richardson, a former presidential candidate and fellow UFO aficionado, has written a forward to a book on the so-called Roswell Incident in New Mexico, where campaigners believe an alien spacecraft crash landed near the town of Roswell in 1947 and that the corpses of humanoid aliens have been kept hidden under lock and key by the government.

He has called for full disclosure by the Pentagon of what really occurred and reiterated his belief that there had been a “cover-up” during a presidential debate last year.

The campaigners, who want the truth “out there”, believe that the British Government’s decision to declassify thousands of UFO sighting documents this year has made it untenable for the US to maintain its policy of non-disclosure.

Obama needs to create a commission and put Kucinich at its head. The truth has been hidden for too long. Nanoo, nanoo!

Posted in conservative | Comments Off

Batman Dead?

November 30th, 2008 admin

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

The world's most famous comic book hero has breathed his last Bat breath.

Bruce Wayne — who by night is Batman — gets murdered by a man claiming to be the father he thought was dead.

In a highly controversial new comic book storyline, Bruce, who first appeared in 1939, is killed by Simon Hurt — the leader of the shady Black Glove organization.

Simon claims he is really Dr Thomas Wayne, saying he faked his own passing when Bruce was a child.

The superhero dies when he tries to stop his foe escaping by helicopter in the new comic Batman R.I.P.

So in one fell swoop, this series not only 'kills off' one of the most popular characters in comic book history, but also completely undermines what makes Batman who he is by bringing his father back to life. I'm glad Christopher Nolan is keeping the true Batman storyline alive, because DC Comics seems more interested in selling books than respecting the integrity of my favorite comic book character.

Yes, I know this is an incredibly geeky thing to get irritated about, but what can I say? I'm a geek.

Posted in conservative | Comments Off

« Previous Entries