Monthly Archives: September 2013

Start-Ups Fill Void Left by Spain’s 26% Unemployment Rate

"Figures from the INE statistics office show that 53 percent of Spanish companies have no employees, as many can’t afford to hire full-time workers. That portion reached 55 percent last year. The total number of businesses declined for a fifth year in 2012, falling to the lowest level since 2005, the INE said in a statement this month. The proportion of those people losing their jobs who decide to start a business has risen to 15 percent, more than three times the historical rate, said Carmen Sebrango, Randstad’s outplacement director in Spain." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStart-Ups Fill Void Left by Spain’s 26% Unemployment Rate

18 different minimum wages in American Samoa, 30% jobless rate

"The US Department of Labor mandates and enforces about 18 different minimum wages in American Samoa by industry. Oh, and the jobless rate there is almost 30%. And now a serious question for proponents of the US minimum wage: If you support a single hourly minimum wage in the US, wouldn’t you show even more support for multiple, government-mandated minimum wages by industry? That is, if you trust the supposed wisdom of politicians to know what the 'correct' single minimum wage is for the entire US economy (currently $7.25 per hour), shouldn’t you also trust those same politicians to know what the 'correct' minimum wage is for America’s many different industries?" Continue reading →

Continue Reading18 different minimum wages in American Samoa, 30% jobless rate

The Gender Wage Gap Lie

"How many times have you heard that 'women are paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men'? Barack Obama said it during his last campaign. Women’s groups say it every April 9, which is Equal Pay Day. In preparation for Labor Day, a group protesting outside Macy’s this week repeated it, too, holding up signs and sending out press releases saying 'women make $.77 to every dollar men make on the job.' I’ve heard the line enough times that I feel the need to set the record straight: It’s not true. The point here is not that there is no wage inequality. But by focusing our outrage into a tidy, misleading statistic we’ve missed the actual challenges." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Gender Wage Gap Lie

America’s new target shooters: Younger, female and urban

"The face of America’s target shooters is changing. New target shooters–those who have taken up the sport in the last five years–are younger, female and urban when compared to established target shooters, or those participating for more than five years, according to a survey commissioned by NSSF. The report shows that one-fifth of target shooters in America first started participating in the shooting sports between 2008 and 2012. That means 20 percent of all target shooters began participating in the past five years. The expansion of younger, female and urban-based participants coincides with the surge in firearms sales that occurred over the same 2008-2012 period." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerica’s new target shooters: Younger, female and urban

A Funny Look at How Obamacare Screws Young People

"I’m reluctant to give favorable attention to anything associated with Rove, but this new video from one of his organizations is too good not to share. The Department of Health and Human Services has a video contest to sucker gullible young people into signing up for Obamacare, and here’s the satirical gem put together by Crossroads GPS. In conclusion, let’s remember that young people are suffering for reasons other than Obamacare. Here’s a video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation that looks at four examples of how Obamanomics is especially bad news for those under age 30." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Funny Look at How Obamacare Screws Young People

How to (Inadvertently) Argue Against the Public Education System

"The idea that everyone should voluntarily herd themselves into the same crappy authoritarian institution, so that all will have some incentive to make that institution somewhat better, is utterly perverse. The beauty of networked communications technology [..] is that it’s no longer necessary to get everybody on the same page, and coordinate their efforts through some common institution, in order for anyone to do anything. The public schools are built on a mass-production industrial model of moving humans to a central location to be processed with a limited, uniform menu of information. But a near-infinite amount of education can now be moved around instantly at almost zero cost." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow to (Inadvertently) Argue Against the Public Education System

Outrage in Missouri: Teacher to be Fired for using Free-Market Materials

"I graduated from Frostburg State way back in 1978 with a degree in history and later a degree in education and a Masters in history. I am in my 21st year as a public high school teacher. I used to teach U.S. Government and advanced studies until I was demoted for being too 'conservative.' Last year the principal 'wrote me up,' the process for firing tenured teachers. My crime? I was divisive and used too many free market sources in the endnotes of articles I used in class. The principal believes my views on Sinclair and the Progressives, especially The Jungle, are shared by no one else in the history or similar fields." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOutrage in Missouri: Teacher to be Fired for using Free-Market Materials

Woman violently arrested for playing banjo in wrong place at Syria war protest

"Iraq war veteran Emily Yates was arrested on Friday after a dispute with police about where she could stand while playing her banjo during a protest against U.S. military action in Syria. Video uploaded to Live Leak shows Yates asking Federal Parks Police why she could not stand in a shaded area of Independence Mall in Philadelphia. After several minutes of discussion, two officers bent Yates over a park bench and handcuffed her. By the time Yates is dragged from the park, at least eight officers are participating in the arrest." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWoman violently arrested for playing banjo in wrong place at Syria war protest

U.S. transport ship with hundreds of Marines deployed to the Mediterranean

"The US Navy has deployed an amphibious transport ship to the Mediterranean, where five destroyers are already in place for possible missile strikes on Syria, a defense official said on Sunday. The USS San Antonio, with several helicopters and hundreds of Marines on board, is 'on station in the Eastern Mediterranean' but 'has received no specific tasking,' said the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Unlike the destroyers deployed to the area, the San Antonio carries no Tomahawk cruise missiles but can ferry up to four helicopters and is designed to bring Marines ashore by chopper or landing craft." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. transport ship with hundreds of Marines deployed to the Mediterranean

Blair likens Saddam to Hitler [2003]

"Comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler, British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he would be pushing for Iraq's disarmament 'irrespective of the position of America.' Many have accused Blair of behaving like U.S. President George W. Bush's lapdog. But Blair rejected suggestions that he had been dragged into confrontation with Iraq by Bush, insisting that he had raised concerns about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction at his first meeting with the U.S. president, before the September 11 terror attacks. Britain, Spain and the United States are co-sponsoring a new U.N. resolution that could trigger war against Iraq. France, Russia, China are pushing to give U.N. weapons inspections more time." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBlair likens Saddam to Hitler [2003]