Distributist economics, Social Credit, NSA, health, climate, and other interesting mail

Mail 806 Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Alas, much of this will be short shrift, but the mail keeps collecting and I haven’t time to do the comments I had planned. But I did find enough energy to make some comments as you will see.

On negative income tax and such, you recently wrote "The trick here is to make the basic minimum large enough to allow one to live, but not in luxury or even in excess comfort".

When I looked into the area, it strongly appeared that a sustainable system needed it to be a little less than that, as it had to hit a sweet spot where top up wages could be low enough to let practically everybody live, but practically everybody would have to work to get them and practically everybody could price themselves into low enough top up wages to get work. If you do hit the sweet spot, G.D.P.

actually goes up and there are no continuing aggregate costs, but if you miss it by much you just can’t afford it for long. Even when you do hit it, big problems come from churning funds (moving aggregate gains around while goring as few people’s oxen as possible, also allowing for transaction costs) and getting through a transition without people falling through the cracks before everything comes right, which is why I prefer a negative payroll tax approach.

Yours sincerely,

P.M.Lawrence

Actually there’s no proof that it will work at all. Distribution of confiscated property and income to go equally to all does break up concentration of wealth and power, and tends to increase the middle class, which is vital to any kind of mass republican form of government. The question is, will enough people work when work is no longer required to make a living? Some, we know, will not. Some will work but not at anything others would pay them much to do: will that help build an economy? Tocqueville saw that voluntary work through what he called ‘the associations’ could prevent the enormous growth of government power and bureaucracy that was even then consuming Europe. Claudius invented a sort of civil service using freedmen rather than citizens, and that made the Empire stable for a long time; of course it replaced the self-government of the Republic but that had long been lost anyway.

Dr. J,

You say:

"Fine tuning can contain refinements like a poll tax: you are paid enough in the basic entitlement to afford a poll tax, say on the order of $250 a year. If you do not choose to pay it, you do not vote, nor can anyone pay it for you: it is paid through the same system that pays you the entitlement."

Wasn’t this sort of ‘abrogation’ of rights settled long ago as unconstitutional?

I get facetious and say some sort of thing like, "Yes that is all well and good, but I’d rather have that $250 and the ability to vote myself a larger payout from the treasury…"

-p

Oh there are constitutional amendments that prevent poll taxes now, but a distributist republic that gave everyone a bare living income would be a pretty big change to everything anyway, likely requiring amendments, so we can be permitted one that allows poll taxes.

Winston Churchill once said that the best way to learn to hate democracy was to spend a lot of time with the average voter. Trying to require some qualifications for citizenship and voting has long been a pastime for political philosophers….

Jerry,

A contributor of yours, Bob Holmes, wrote a bit about a stipend… I find that a book I had earlier mentioned to you ‘Beyond this Horizon’ by Robert Heinlein seemed to describe such a thing as this… I’d like to recommend that he read it… Of course it is fiction, but the ‘grand-master’ balanced the same idea with the idea that dueling wouldn’t be dead… interesting if we are talking about future societies in any case…

I do not hate to reference the ‘grand-master’ of science fiction, other than to repeat something he said (about another gov’t system he ‘proposed’). I must paraphrase, but I think it can be found somewhere in ‘Starship Troopers’

We don’t hold on to this system of government because it is the ‘best’ we hold on to it because it works, it works better than anything that humanity has yet known, to make grand strides in the name of ‘progress’ is foolish if we take them as ten-league-boots strides.

I finish my paraphrasing, and perhaps the last bit is a ten-league-boot stride on RAH’s view…

I wonder; if you raise the bar from zero to ‘something above zero,’ if in fact that the new benchmark does not indeed become the ‘new’ zero… I guess you might run into the poor chap who indeed has less than nothing in such a scenario…

-pate

Mr. Heinlein was experimenting with the Social Credit notions of Major Davis: that production exceeded demand and the surplus needed to be distributed in a way that did not concentrate power. This principle is acknowledged by Keynes, but SoCred has so far as I know never ruled a sovereign state, although it did control government in at least one Canadian province. Without control of the whole structure of government SoCred can’t be implemented, so it has never actually been tried. In Beyond This Horizon Robert assumed that it had been.

This is ground control to Major Tom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KaOC9danxNo

Recorded aboard ISS by Chris Hadfield. Lyrics somewhat adapted.

Jerry,

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/12/gadget-border-searches-2/

Court Upholds Willy-Nilly Gadget Searches Along U.S. Border

Note: The article makes the point "The judge said it ‘would be foolish, if not irresponsible’ to store sensitive information on electronic devices while traveling internationally." I agree. But that’s because of theft risk and capture of the electronics by the country you’re visiting. It should not justify random searches of electronics by the US on return. This business of collective exceptions to the Fourth and Fifth Amendment is Unconstitutional, no matter what the Courts say. All of that said, I would encourage everyone traveling internationally to either buy a "sacrificial" laptop for the trip and only put the minimal information necessary on it (a practice at least one company of my experience recommends), or backup any personal or business sensitive information onto a disk that you leave at home and delete it from the computer using NSA protocols. (Speaking of which … at this point it’s probably safe to assume NSA has the data anyway…)

Jim

Its good to have time again to read your site and reply to it again. The article forwarded to you about Type 2 Diabetes and using cinnamon to help regulate blood sugar was eye opening for a type One Diabetic. This brings up an interesting point: Do major children’s cereal makers KNOW this and add it to so many as favoring without revealing their true intent? Scary.

I am adding this link http://www.sticksite.com/ to you for a human interest perspective. No doubt you’ve seen these walking sticks made of this wood around and possibly wondered about them. This guy harvests the wood. If you scroll down, you will find a link to his blog and photographs about how he is dealing with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Worthwhile reading, to say the least.

John

PS I found this email in my deleted so not sure if it went to you. The man in question has since passed.

The stuff on second hand is of some concern. Most of the people who argue against it being dangerous don’t seem to follow reasoning in their arguments properly.

It is without question by now that smoking IS toxic to those who do it, regardless if they inhale or not. using a bit of logic, it would seem that inhaling it secondhand would carry similar risks, its just that these are harder to quantify. How would one go about studying this? Who would be the test population and who would be the control?

All *I* know about this subject is this, and my experience is this: I had two parents who smoked, my father only smoked pipes and some cigars and died at age 58 from a stroke followed by a heart attack a week or so later; my mother has smoked from age 13 to present day at age 79. She currently has fairly significant COPD requiring inhalers to deal with it.

Of 4 children, I had severe asthma from age 6 until age 23, with a brief respite from 18 to 21. My symptoms used to require me to carry a Ventoline inhalor and later on, aerasol steroids for better control. In these years, I had some 4 trips to the hospital to deal with severe attacks, several bouts of pneumonia and many other lesser bouts. I became virtually cured after doing two things:

1. No living with other smokers.

2. Not going to bars, clubs etc. that allowed smoking.

I know, absolutely anecdotal and based upon one sample.

John H Neufeld

I would not undertake to prove that living with smokers has no effect on the non-smoker. My guess would be that there has to be an effect. How much is another story. I quit smoking just before redesigning and rebuilding my house. I designed my new office suite with high cathedral ceiling with exhaust fans, so that Niven could work here. By the time we built it Niven noted I was healthier looking and attributed some of that to my non-smoking, so he quit. My office has a outside balcony/patio, and I require people who smoke to do so outside; but it was after all designed to allow smokers, so a few, such as Bob Bloch and Ginny Heinlein have been invited to smoke if they like – I put out an ashtray for them. But all those who smoked and were among those I invited to smoke here have since died, so my design turned out not to be needed… As I grow older I find being in the presence of smokers more and more annoying, and it makes me reflect on how I must have appeared to my non-smoking comrades in the days when I smoked constantly.

add-on to Couv’s last comment

Jerry,

An add on to Col Couv’s last posted comment on the 27th… During the

transition back to "peacetime" ops, don’t forget the practice of proving

that your efforts have a larger impact on the organization as a whole by

giving people outside of your immediate workplace more things to do.

Nothing gets a Capt or Maj more kudos than doing something with effects

outside their wing/base, and the easiest way to show an impact is to create

a time consuming program that everyone else has to do, and getting it

codified in command or force-wide regulations so it CAN’T be ignored.

Sometimes it seems like that’s how folks get promoted nowadays, making more

work for everyone else or coming up with ways to interfere with other people

doing their jobs.

As an example, I offer up an old USAF services regulation that dictated when

particular types of alcohol may be served/consumed on base. This regulation

was based on "normal" desk-clerk working hours, with no regard to ops or

maintainers who may be on wildly varying shifts. Per this regulation, even

if a pilot worked all night and went off duty at 10am, he could not share a

beer with his fellow pilots in the squadron heritage room (pronounced "bar")

prior to going home until after 11am, and he could not drink anything harder

than beer or wine until 4pm. But that pilot would be reaching his 12 hour

"bottle to throttle" rules before it was legal to drink anything on base, so

the valuable team-building BS sessions that *should* take place after work

in a fighter squadron wouldn’t happen, per regulation. At least they

wouldn’t happen, if pilots paid any attention to stupid rules written by

shoe clerks that somehow don’t affect anyone but pilots. Shoe clerks get

promoted by making more work for everyone else to do, and operators get

practice solving tactical scenarios by figuring out how to avoid/ignore

stupid shoe clerk regulations. The relationship between the wolf and the

sheep is vital to both populations, but if given a choice the sheep would

vote the wolf out of a job.

E-books vs. paper

Jerry,

I received a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas. I’ve been browsing their web site and noticed something that is interesting to me.

I’ve noticed that a number of paper books are cheaper than the electronic version. I have not looked at any Hot off the Press books, just slightly older books. As an example Torchwood: Bay of the Dead shows Nook (e-book) for $9.99 (marked down from $10.99) and an unused hard cover paper copy for $7.42.

The only explanations I have is either they are trying to clear their inventory of paper books or e-Books have become so popular that they can raise the prices to increase profits.

Mike

I don’t think publishers understand the eBook phenomenon very well. I know I would rather read on an eReader on an airplane than carry a book. It will all shake down I think.

Dr. Pournelle,

Any update on the availability of the reader you’re working on? My son

started reading "for real" before age 2, and he’s always looking for

something new to read. He’s about to turn 6 and is in first grade, so I’ve

been keeping an eye out for when the reader is ready for release. I like

sitting down with him while reading books and short stories so we can

discuss life lessons in the stories, and it sounds like the reader will be

perfect for that.

Keep plugging away! I always enjoy reading your work.

Sean

I am down to one last introductory essay, and I would have finished that by now had it not been this flu. I will get that done and up. The Reader is the 1914 California Sixth Grade Reader, which contains classic prose and poetry, with some comments. It is a good supplement to the pap that schools assign now in high school.

Windows 8 impact on platform decisions –

Dear Jerry,

A while back you were about to switch to the Mac as your platform of choice.

Then came Windows 7, and you decided to stick with PCs on a Windows platform.

Now that we have Windows 8, have you changed your strategy?

In my opinion Windows 8 is Microsoft’s coup in its efforts to make Windows the operating system for all machines. I is a step backward. We are forced to settle for the limitations of smaller devices, largely abandoning the capabilities and power of our larger machines in order to force the world into their one-size-fits-all view of Microsoft dominance.

It seems to me that Windows 8 fixes nothing, but breaks much.

Never since IBM has a company been so hated, and not since the IBM giant behemoth’s reign has such a widely utilized company so despised their customers.

I covet your thoughts, sir.

Marty Stephens

I don’t hate Windows 8, but I would not replace Windows 7 with it. I am told that Windows 9 will be an improvement. The fact is that the same operating system is not optimum for desktops and tablets.

fast & furious

Jerry,

Regarding Operation Fast and Furious

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/27/atf-agent-sends-shockwaves-across-internet-with-explosive-allegations-about-fast-and-furious-and-brian-terrys-death/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=ShareButtons

http://www.erikrush.com/agent-feds-allowed-brian-terry-killing-to-gain-cartel-operatives-trust/

J

I do not endorse these views, but I do think it worth while to be aware of them.

A question on your website,

Jerry,

I am considering starting up a daybook for me on the web. I note that you use the SIteLock service option.

Do you use it for the ecommerce portion of your site for subscriptions, tipjar, and Roberta’s reading program? Or is there an additional or other reason you are using it?

I also see you have "whois privacy." I am considering it but it is "pricey."

Regards,

Charles

I have to say that I don’t make those decisions, or don’t remember making them. I have a team of experts who handled the transition from Front Page, which I did myself, to the new engine. For a long time my web service was provided by a business web service operated by old friends and fans, and when they decided to get out of that business we went to the new one, again under the direction of advisors, not me. I don’t keep up quite as well as I used to, but fortunately I can manage because I’ve still got advisors who do and who care. It’s nice being me.

hearing aids

Jerry,

I was interested to see what you wrote about the hearing aids you bought recently.

I have moderate hearing loss (being 80 now) and bought two MDhearingaid PRO models a couple of years ago. I was VERY impressed how good they were and suspect they are as good as analogue devices get, judging from the reviews.

I see there is now a MDhearingaid AIR that is a digital model, that sounds like it has all the features of the Costco Kirkland models that you have, but for much lower cost.

Although I don’t have to wear a hearing aid unless doing something like going to a meeting where it is difficult to hear, I’m at the point where I will probably start wearing them all the time. Right now I use ear phones for TV in order not to have the sound up too far for my family and think I get better quality of sound that way.

I think you do your readers a good service bringing up the subject. I would be particularly interested if you would get around to comparing the MDhearingaid line as they are so much cheaper. Possibly they would send you one to do the comparison as they seem a particularly friendly company. I don’t understand why most hearing aids are so expensive and suspect it is driven by what the market can bear and the thought that if it costs more it must be better.

Anyway, see https://www.mdhearingaid.com/shop/hearing-aid-comparisons/

Have a look at both the PRO and AIR models and see the reviews too.

Best regards,

Adrian Ashfield

"And my head is full of cotton wool"…

Genetic engineering has come far if they can plant sheep or extract plant products from animals.

I’ve never heard of cotton wool before. Is it both cool and warm, what are its properties, and where can I obtain some?

Alas it’s not mysterious. Cotton wool is the term we used to use for raw cotton as in the cotton you find in a bottle of aspirin. The term seems to have fallen out of use, but I learned it early…

Ice Follies

You say “I make no doubt there are plenty of explanations as to why the models didn’t show why three icebreakers couldn’t get through in mid summer. They just haven’t come out yet.”

Akademik Shokalskiy was rated as “ice capable”; it wasn’t an icebreaker, shouldn’t have been there, and Professor Tunney who chartered the ship ought to have known that. Stupidity on stilts, that one. Since his wife and children were aboard, we can be grateful that he’s not a Darwin Award candidate.

The Chinese Xue Long wasn’t really an ice breaker, either, although it was more capable. Aurora Australis IS an ice breaker, but apparently only rated for light to medium ice, and the ice they encountered was of sterner stuff, and it had been diverted from more important tasking. We can look forward to the arrival of the USCGS Polar Star, which is enroute from Sidney after its refit; this ship IS a heavy icebreaker, and ought to be able to free the Shokalskiy and the Xue Long. And if it cannot, then we’ll know something important about the coming ice age.

I understand that Tunney had pledged to plant 800 trees in New Zealand to “offset” the carbon generated in his expedition; an NZ newspaper now calculates that it would take 5,000 trees to “offset” the rescue missions.

I can sympathize about the health issues; I’m “recovering” from pneumonia myself. I hope we’re both feeling better soon!

Ken Mitchell

Thanks. I haven’t heard much about the ship in the past week, but then I’ve been hors de combat. I still find it ironic that climate experts couldn’t predict that there would be ice in mid summer precisely where they were going. Having seen “South” I don’t have much desire to go…

Archaeology vs. Physics: Conflicting roles for old lead

http://www.gizmag.com/relics-physics-archaeology-roman-lead/30032/

"The study of archaeology has long been carried out using tools from the physics lab. Among these are carbon-14 dating, thermoluminescence dating, x-ray photography, x-ray fluorescence elemental analysis, CAT and MRI scanning, ground-penetrating sonar and radar, and many others. What is less well known is that archaeology has also made substantial contributions to physics. This is the story of old lead; why it is important to physics, and what ethical problems it presents to both sciences."

I knew about the uses of the high quality steel removed from the sunken ships of the High Seas Fleet, I wasn’t aware there were similar uses for ancient lead shipments.

Graves

Asteroid spotted on collision course with Earth

http://boingboing.net/2014/01/02/asteroid-spotted-on-collision.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

"In fact, the International Astronomical Union says that the asteroid — 2014 AA — has most likely already hit us and burned up in the atmosphere. But here’s the cool part: This is just the second time in history that we’ve spotted an asteroid before it hit us."

Not how I’d characterize it. More like the horrifyingly tragic part is that this is only the second time we’ve spotted one before it hit us. I’d go on to discuss the horrifyingly inept way we don’t seem to have any method of dealing with one when we spot it. Good thing we have such brilliant people in charge to manage this sort of thing for us.

Graves

Kaiser and Obamacare

I have Kaiser group coverage for my company’s three full time employees. Today I got our renewal package. I can keep our current plan and if I do, the rates go down. 7% for the two male employees and 10% for the female employee. I can also convert to an Obamacare plan and possibly get a tax credit, but I didn’t have the time or energy to try to figure out how to compare them to Kaiser.

Good to hear. I continue to collect reasons for having a high regard for Kaiser Permanente. I do think trying to expand it radically would destroy it. Much of the success is in the attitude of the employees there.

‘The models account for none of this. Climate oscillates; the models do not.’

<http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/a_few_easy_tests_to_debunk_global_warming_hysteria.html>

Roland Dobbins

I certainly would not advise investing large sums betting that the models are giving correct predictions.

Unregulated markets

Unregulated markets are black markets. Black markets meet the demand for illegal sex, drugs, guns, and sometimes even babies. If you are worried about human meat, I would be concerned about the internet. The internet has already allowed a few weirdos who fantasize about being killed and eaten to meet up with those who fantasize about eating people.

Cynthia Allingham

That is one way to describe it. Thank you.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.