Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The End of Unions?

The End of Unions? | Hoover Institution
The gains from right-to-work laws are not just confined to Indiana.
As Venuccio and Lehman report, between 1980 and 2011, overall employment levels rose by 71 percent in right-to-work states.
In non-right-to-work states, they only rose by 32 percent.
That differential does not come at the expense of wages, which grew four times as fast in right-to-work states: 12 percent versus 3 percent elsewhere.
The explanation is clear enough.
The productivity gains from escaping union work rules are shared with employees as employers bid up wages.
The short-term monopoly gains to unionized workers eventually are, over time, more than offset by productivity losses.
The New Deal union model is an economic mistake of major proportions.

Before wringing your hands at the madness of American gun laws, read this

Before wringing your hands at the madness of American gun laws, read this – Telegraph Blogs
When one begins to dig into the figures, the matter becomes more complex.
It is true that Japan, whose strict weapons legislation is built upon an unequivocal 1958 act stating that "No person shall possess a firearm or firearms or sword or swords", has one of the lowest homicide rates in the world.
Britain is in a similar position. But there are other countries – Israel, Switzerland, Norway – which, according to a 2012 study by the UNODC into international rates of intentional homicides, have high levels of gun ownership but relatively low levels of murder.
Moreover, other countries, like Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia, have high homicide rates despite having very few firearms.

The God Complex

The God Complex
As Winston Churchill said, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”

THE FACTS ABOUT MASS SHOOTINGS: Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past dec…

Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE FACTS ABOUT MASS SHOOTINGS: Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past dec…
Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.
In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. . . .
With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.
Read the whole thing.
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 7:43 am

Muskegon store owner displays shotgun, scares off would-be robber

Muskegon store owner displays shotgun, scares off would-be robber | MLive.com
The 48-year-old store owner was just getting ready to close the business for the evening when an unarmed suspect attempted to rob the place, police said.
The suspect did not have his face covered and didn't appear to have a weapon at the time, police said.
The store owner displayed a shotgun and the suspect fled from the store on foot, police said.

Kalamazoo man used a kitchen knife to kill his wife and himself, police say

Kalamazoo man used a kitchen knife to kill his wife and himself, police say | MLive.com

IRS rule threatens to shut down the small businesses that prepare tax returns

IRS rule threatens to shut down the small businesses that prepare tax returns | WashingtonExaminer.com

My quick handicapping of Democratic at-risk Senate races in 2014.

Moe Lane » My quick handicapping of Democratic at-risk Senate races in 2014.

Big Ten teams all underdogs in bowl season | College Football

Big Ten teams all underdogs in bowl season | College Football

Monday, December 17, 2012

People don't stop killers. People with guns do

People don't stop killers. People with guns do - NY Daily News

Wind, solar could provide 99.9% of ALL POWER by 2030 • The Register

Wind, solar could provide 99.9% of ALL POWER by 2030 • The Register
Fossil-fuel sources wouldn't be abandoned entirely.
There would likely be times when neither wind nor solar could provide enough juice, and when storage had been depleted.
When that happens, they say, it'd be time to fire up the ol' CO2 spewers and spin their turbines.
Doing that, however, would be a last resort, and not the first, as is true in much of the US's power grid today.
While the idea of a large, geographically diverse renewable-energy grid might seem heinously expensive, the paper's authors contend that if current estimates are correct that by 2030 wind and solar capital costs will be about half of what they are today, by that date a renewable system would be as cost effective as a fossil fuel system, and all without government subsidies.
There is one cost sweetener in their calculations, however: their cost estimates for that comparison includes the costs related to the human health effects of fossil fuel–caused air polution.
Those are costs, of course, that are not borne by the electric power industry. Yet. ®

SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS:

Instapundit » Blog Archive » SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS:
 Why do people…: UPDATE: John Lucas emails:
Joe Scarborough, who claims to be a “proud NRA member” just said there is no reason to allow someone to have an “assault weapon” that shoots “30 rounds a second.”
The ignorance is appalling.
Well, yes. It’s MSNBC. But it is interesting that Scarborough — like Mark Shields and Rupert Murdoch — seems entirely ignorant of actual gun law.
But to be fair, the National Firearms Act has only been around since 1934.
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 8:15 am