Apparently a few quilters who leave troll comments on Techdirt get their ideas from the RIAA and MPAA.
~*~
This is a syndicated post, which originally appeared atMimi and Eunice » IP. View original post.
Mimi & Eunice: Un-Original Business Model Read Post »
Unlike the political activism of the past, I’m excited to see that direct action, especially entrepreneurial action, is the libertarian activism of the 21st century. If you missed the agora.io online-only conference etienne this weekend, please visit the archives of the conference. The introduction to the conference by George Donnelly is here. There were four channels that ran concurrently. I participated in the channel sponsored by the AnCap Entrepreneur Network, a new site founded by Mark Thomas that is just kicking off and organizing. I spoke about my research and “open source entrepreneurship” which you can find here.
Relatedly, I have also learned recently of The Society of Libertarian Entrepreneurs which are a series of meetups dedicated to self-improvement and the building of libertarian networks and businesses.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinbqNb7Uno&w=640&h=390]
For A New Activism Read Post »
“You had ample time over the last two years to make a proposal that would be fair to both sides, but you failed to do so. During the last week of the mediation, we waited the entire week for the NFL to make a new economic proposal … That proposal did not come until 12:30 (p.m.) on Friday, and, when we examined it, we found it was worse than the proposal the NFL had made the prior week when we agreed to extend the mediation.”
~ Letter from NFLPA to Commissioner Roger Goodell
While one would hope the fans and the public would understand what’s really going on with the NFL lockout, it is quite possible that not everyone will “get it.” Some people—and some libertarians—have used a somewhat misinformed, if catchy, description of the situation. That description is: The NFL lockout is millionaires fighting with billionaires over money. While certainly punchy, and containing a nugget of truth, this description also misses the point.
Consider: If this labor negotiation were between business owners and their workers in almost any other endeavor, but particularly one where the workers were paid sums of money that were more “normal,” almost no one would make such a statement. Were this ostensible dispute—it isn’t really a dispute, but more of a money-grab—between the owners of a string of car manufacturing plants and their assembly-line workers, not only would the public side with the workers, but the supposedly liberal media and some members of Congress would be crying loudly as well. Why? In those cases, it would be easy to sympathize with workers. In fact, in that scenario, it’s a safe bet that some would compare the plight of these workers with that of the Wisconsin teachers union. (That would be a huge mistake, but not one that will be explained here. Maybe in the next rant.) The amount of money has nothing to do with the logic.
…
Does the Amount of Money Change the Logic? Read Post »
Jeremy B. White of the NY Observer writes:
“City Council Member Brad Lander introduced a bill today that would require banks to help pay for the upkeep of foreclosed homes by posting bonds with a minimum value of $10,000.”
What he failed to write was that if this bill were to pass, new mortgage applications would either require a $10,000 fee to cover for foreclosure contingencies, or more likely just include a risk premium for that $10,000 bond. Even if the bill would ban sticking the potential mortgager with that bill, it would compel banks to be even stricter in their lending standards than they would have been otherwise, thus cutting off otherwise qualified applicants from buying homes, foreclosed or otherwise.
In either scenario, the tendency will be to have empty foreclosed homes sitting longer in unkempt vacancy than in the counterfactual situation in which the government didn’t meddle as much.
Don’t you love well-intentioned, yet clueless legislators?
Passing a BillMeNow For Later Read Post »
Perhaps you have heard – the future has arrived. Tech-giant IBM recently pitted their super-computer/AI named “Watson” against the two best Jeopardy players on earth and Watson won.
I for one welcome our new computer overlords.
Check out this interesting video about this historic event. To me, these kinds of things are far more important in the long run than the stupid political movers and shakers that populate Washington and various other capital cities. The free market gets stuff done.
Watson: Too cool not to share Read Post »
