Can roads be privatized?

Howdy! Someone on TexAgs introduced me to a book on the possible privatization of roads. I haven’t gotten to reading it yet, but here is the link to the PDF courtesy of the Mises Institute.

Hope you enjoy it!

Oh yes, I also recommend reading a book by the name of The Aid Trap. I checked it out from Evans Library at Texas A&M University, and it is well worth the read so far. Essentially, the idea is that sending aid to foreign countries actually harms their local economies far more than the aid helps anyone. It’s a fascinating read.

Slacktivists are annoying

Lately, some sick photos have been showing up in my Facebook news feed. At first, there was a picture of an anorexic teen dressed up for some beauty contest with some caption roughly along the lines of “this is what you make us do to feel pretty”. More recently, there’s a picture of a dead/dying, emaciated African baby with an IV hooked up to him with the caption “like/share if this makes you sad :(” going around. Now, I know that this stuff only comes around because of compassion, so I won’t be too hard on slacktivists.

On second thought, maybe I will be hard on them. Stop reposting stuff like that. Stop doing it. It’s not compassionate because you’re not doing anything. You’re just making people having to look at something really, really unpleasant with the intent to guilt trip them if they just plain don’t want to look at it and/or repost it. You’re not even being useful by doing this. You are not giving even one shred of help to anyone, and should quite honestly feel ashamed. If you want to help, go volunteer or do something with your life that somehow personally affects the lives of people like those in the pictures. Otherwise, you’re really just visibly bragging that you at least got an inch away from reaching your Honey Badger Limit on the “How much of a fuck I give” scale.

Grab your popcorn for this one, but don’t expect it donated to you

I came across this on a messageboard I frequent and immediately desired popcorn. Apparently, there’s a clash between the left’s desire for a socialist nanny state and their simultaneous desire to make sure nobody goes hungry. Pull up a chair and grab some popcorn, everyone. This should be good!

“In a move that combines the mayor’s affinity for overbearing health regulations with his controversial stance on homeless shelters already under fire from advocacy groups and City Council members, a new rule barring food donations to shelters is raising even more concern.

CBS reports on the bizarre rule that turns away food, perhaps the most needed item for any shelter, because according to health officials, it’s impossible to gauge the items’ salt, fiber, and other nutritional stats.

When asked about the contradictory stipulation, Bloomberg huffed, “For the things that we run because of all sorts of safety reasons, we just have a policy it is my understanding of not taking donations.”

Unfortunately, news of the rule is just another day in Bloomberg’s “nanny-state.” The mayor has been repeatedly criticized for his health initiatives, with many believing his well-intentioned moves to improve New Yorkers’ health ultimately infringe upon basic rights.

After instituting the city’s restaurant grading system to keep the restaurant industry tidy under a strict inspection process, the mayor credited declining salmonella food poisonings and improving sanitary conditions to the success of the system.

New Yorkers may have conceded to his war on salt, obesity, and trans-fat, but when it came to limiting alcohol sales in January, a quick firestorm ultimately forced Bloomberg to go back to the drawing board and chuck the idea.

But in a more pressing and contested issue, the mayor is also fighting to maintain a new law that requires homeless individuals to prove their homelessness by providing evidence they have nowhere else to turn to.

City Council members subsequently filed a lawsuit against the city with homeless advocates expressing their anger over the “misguided” plan, “In the single adult system, you have a much higher rate of mental illness and other underlying issues. Many of these people have either come directly from the street or will be sent right back out to the street, so our big fear is that this could be a death sentence for many people.”

In order to combat overcrowding in city shelters, which exceeded the 40,000 mark in November, Bloomberg also proposed a peculiar deal offering people to take in the homeless in exchange for furniture and possibly even food stamps.”