IS IT FAIR TO PROSECUTE “PSYCHICS” FOR FRAUD? “In my book, this is entertainment and unconventional psychological therapy. Let the buyer beware. Who’s dumb enough to actually believe this?” Does it matter if the victims were “deeply skeptical” but paid anyway?
Plus, from the comments: “How is this ‘service’ any different from the state lotteries?” That one’s easy. In the words of Reverend Lovejoy, once the government approves something, it’s no longer immoral.
JEFF CARTER: Discriminating Women. “Yesterday I posted about why an MBA after 40 is a waste. Anne Libby mentioned that women have a similar issue, only it happens a lot earlier in their lives.”
DOES THIS VIOLATE THE DORMANT COMMERCE CLAUSE? California’s Green Trade War
Sacramento uses carbon mandates to punish out-of-state businesses.
UPDATE: Link should be working now.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: The Evolution Of Western Dance Music. Via the Detroit Techno Militia on Facebook.
AT AMAZON, Fall Deals In Men’s Clothing. Shirts, sweaters, jackets and more.
VIDEO: SpaceX Grasshopper Rocket.
EBT FAILURES, TAVIS SMILEY, and the Obama Economy.
“BAIL-INS,” RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS, and the confiscation of private wealth.
PROGRESS: EPA May Reduce Ethanol Blending Volumes for 2014. “Federal environmental regulators are expected to significantly reduce their biofuel blending mandates for next year, marking a historic retreat from an ambitious 2007 law, according to industry and trade sources.” Given that it’s been a debacle, that’s a good thing.
AT AMAZON, coupons galore on Grocery & Gourmet Food.
Also, Warehouse Deals in small appliances.
And, today only: Klipsch Mode M40 Mode Noise-Cancelling Headphones, $139.99 (60% off).
Plus, Weekend Lightning Deals.
SPYING: A Growing Backlash To Government Surveillance. “From Silicon Valley to the South Pacific, counterattacks to revelations of widespread National Security Agency surveillance are taking shape, from a surge of new encrypted email programs to technology that sprinkles the Internet with red flag terms to confuse would-be snoops.”
WANT TO HELP AMERICA’S DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEM? Stop needlessly terrifying pregnant women. Yep. Media fear-mongering and female competitiveness about being seen as good mothers have made raising kids much more expensive in both monetary and non-monetary terms. And when something is more expensive, you get less of it.
I’ve had some thoughts on that subject myself.
ANNOUNCING THE POPULAR MECHANICS BREAKTHROUGH AWARDS. Glad to see Peter Diamandis win; he and I have been on a few nonprofit boards together, and he’s a smart guy.
SHOCKING NEW TREND: Halloween costumes that are . . . wait for it, wait for it . . . slutty!
MEGAN MCARDLE ON what Nice Guys get wrong.
“MIND-BOGGLING INCOMPETENCE:” Obamacare’s enrollment system, the outsourced Big Dig of systems projects, is a $634 million zombie.
BARRYCADE PUSHBACK: Veterans Remove Barricades From Memorials And Take Them To White House.
UPDATE: More photos, via the AP. On Twitter, folks are wondering why this isn’t all over Fox.
IN THE MAIL: From James Wesley, Rawles, Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 157.
SEEN ON FACEBOOK:
SENATOR NYET: Sen. Susan Collins: Not Constructive For Harry Reid To Dismiss My Compromise Proposal. I think it’s because Harry’s anti-woman.
Related: Collins Stands Behind Plan as Leaders Attempt Larger Deal.
So, while developed countries are worrying about the breakdown of the blue social model based on mass manufacturing jobs and lifetime employment, the real story is that developing countries may never get to the blue model. Automation and global competition mean than manufacturing jobs and their wages aren’t going to grow enough to support a middle class in China and other countries as they did in the US, Europe and Japan.
If this is true, the implications are enormous: social stability in countries like China could be much more tenuous than many think, and developing countries may have a much harder time reaching the levels of affluence found in the advanced world. Since we’ve never seen a global industrial revolution before, much less one that is taking place at the same time as a global information revolution, nobody really knows how it will all shake out. But it is trends like this, not budget fights in Washington, that will shape the future of the human race.
True, for the most part.
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