David Grace

Nov 19, 2018

103 min read

List Of David Grace Columns

To see a list of David Grace’s columns sorted by topic/subject matter, CLICK HERE.

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Whatever Conduct Your Society Rewards Is The Conduct You Will Get

Unrestrained, unbalanced bargaining power produces a concentration of wealth in massive corps and the top 1% of families — a plutocracy

A UBI Is An Elite-Class Scheme To Get Other Taxpayers To Subsidize Their Workers’ Wages

Progressives Who Support A Universal Basic Income Have Been Suckered By This Elite-Class Scheme To Keep Wages Low

Nullify Gerrymandering By Counting Votes In A Different Way

A way to make elections fairer for everyone, including third parties, without having to redraw gerrymandered election maps

It’s A Rural V. Urban Battle With The Deck Stacked In Favor of Rural Voters

Today, America has a new, bitter schism — Rural, Low-Population-Density-State Voters Vs. Urban, High-Population-Density-State Voters

Are We Are Safer If Good Guys Carrying Guns Outnumber The Bad Guys Carrying Guns?

Yes, say the people who want to wander around armed, hoping that they will encounter a “bad guy” and get the chance to be a Hero

Today, In Self Defense, We Have The Right To Kill Anyone Who Frightens Us

Back In Old Dodge City, You Couldn’t Shoot First & Claim Self Defense, But Now You Can

Who Did Aaron Rogers Think His Fake Apology Would Fool?

People Who Don’t Have The Integrity Or Courage To Admit It When They’re Caught In A Lie

Too Much Of Anything, Including Freedom, Is A Bad Thing

Your right to do something is inversely proportional to the net damage your exercising that freedom will cause others.

Can The Minimum Wage Counter America’s Massive Income Disparity?

Sept 22, 2021

It Screws Up Everything When Cities Allow Jobs To Greatly Exceed Available Housing

The SF-Bay Area illustrates why allowing a massive expansion of jobs without requiring an equal expansion of housing is a very bad idea

Intellectual Honesty Vs. Intellectual Dishonesty — An Honest Advocate Vs. A Dishonest Partisan

Having any arguments, discussions or debates with an intellectually dishonest person is a waste of time

Political Ideologies Can’t Work When They Conflict With Human Nature

People expect the government to protect them from being treated unfairly no matter what some “ism” demands that the gov’t do or not do.

“Freedom” Doesn’t Mean That Spoiled, Entitled, Inconsiderate People Get To Do Whatever They Want

If you want to do stuff that is materially harmful, risky or dangerous to other people, then stay away from other people

If You Think Covid Isn’t A Real Threat, Then Maybe You SHOULDN’T Get Vaccinated

Maybe people who think that Covid is a Democrat-invented scare tactic SHOULD fight back by going maskless and not getting vaccinated

Employers Believe They Are Entitled To A Large Pool Of Cheap, Disposable Workers

The Executive Class Has Always Believed That Unskilled Labor Deserves To Be Low-Paid & Disposable

The Risk From NOT Being Vaccinated Vs. The Risk From Getting The Vaccine — 5,000 to 1

The Risk of Getting Very Sick from Being UNvaccinated Is about 5,000 Times Greater than the Risk of Getting Very Sick from The Vaccine

A Hospitalized Republican’s Choice To Get COVID Again Rather Than A Vaccination

Some Trump supporters are so afraid of being vaccinated that they would prefer to get pneumonia

The Least Educated, Poorest, Sickest States Were Home To Trump’s Biggest Supporters

Check out the numbers on the poverty, health & %age of college graduates of the states that had the highest percentage of Trump voters

Facebook Has Built & Nurtured Communities Of Morons

The marketplace of ideas has been replaced by the marketplace of lies, anger, and hate because that’s the speech that makes Facebook rich

Intelligent People Who Choose To Do Stupid Things Are Stupid People

Those who choose to believe the lies that COVID is a fake disease have chosen to be stupid people

The Claim That There Is a Labor Shortage Is a BIG, FAT LIE

A “Labor Shortage” is NOT when there are fewer people willing to work for crap wages than there are open jobs paying a crap wage

A Different, Better, Business Model for On-line Content Providers

The Content Providers’ Crucial Mistake Is That They’ve Picked The WRONG Time Frame. They’re Selling Content PER MONTH Instead Of PER SECOND

People Who Refuse To Be Vaccinated Should Lose Their Medical Insurance Coverage For COVID Bills

If you choose to not to be vaccinated for COVID, shouldn’t your insurance carrier be allowed to exclude COVID from your insurance coverage?

Communism Can’t Work Because Its Principles Conflict With Human Nature

Running a country under rules based on philosophical ideas of right and wrong or fair and unfair never ends well

Why The Republicans Will Stop At Nothing In Their Holy War To Regain Power. The Dems Are Fools To Think Any Compromise Is Possible

***June 10, 2021

The Ponzi-Scheme, Musical-Chairs Investment Model Re-Imagined As An On-Line Game

***Las Vegas, Draft Kings, Are You Listening — This Could Be Your Next BIG THING

June 7, 2021

The Genius Of NFTs — How ANYTHING Can Be Sold As An Investment Product

If you want to understand what an NFT is and why people are creating them, read this column

May 31, 2021

Monetary Systems like Bitcoin Inherently Increase Interest Rates & Reduce Investment & Innovation

***Bitcoin was invented to allow the wealthy to avoid taxes and isolate monetary systems from gov’t control

May 28, 2021

Yes, In Many Cases The Absence of Evidence IS Evidence Of Absence

The argument that some nut-job theory should be believed because “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” is totally stupid

May 25, 2021

Unrestricted Freedom Is A Zero-Sum Game. More Freedom For You Means Less Freedom For Me

***We can’t both be free to do conflicting things. Without gov’t regulations our freedom is subject to the rule of Might Makes Right

May 18, 2021

Businesses’ Hatred Of Keeping Products In Inventory Is Their Fatal Flaw In Competing With Amazon

The one thing a physical store can do that Amazon can’t is provide immediate availability, but retailers hate keeping products on the shelf

May 17, 2021

Tomorrow Is Only An Imaginary, Theoretical, Statistical, Probability. Today and only Today is real. Today is all we’ve got so we need to do it right. No regrets.

May 14, 2021

People Want A Gov’t That Does The Right Thing But There Are Conflicting Concepts Of Right & Wrong

***A Government’s View Of Right & Wrong Can’t Be Based On A Set Of Rules From Some True-Believer’s Catechism

May 13, 2021

How To Reward Talent & Reinvigorate The Middle Class

***Breaking the stranglehold that wealthy families have on financial success in America.

May 7, 2021

Every Business & Personal Activity Has A Start-Up Cost

***In America, access to personal start-up costs is almost entirely dependent on the wealth of the family you happened to be born into

May 7, 2021

Mistakes Are Inevitable. It’s The Ratio Of Total Benefits To Total Costs That Counts.

The fact that an institution makes mistakes doesn’t mean that it should be abolished. The world is analog & nothing is perfect

April 30, 2021

Both Liberal & Conservative Philosophies Are Toxic To A Free & Prosperous Country.

Liberal and conservative dogmatism are toxic to the most successful strategy for running a country — pragmatism

“Thank God I’m White” Is An Admission That White Skin Is All You’ve Got

***Racism is a scam to let losers think that without any actual talent they’re automatically better than somebody else

A Bad Manager Is an Order of Magnitude More Damaging Than a Bad Worker

A manager is bad if he/she fails to discipline or fire employees who do a poor job.

Marches & Demonstrations Don’t Work. We Need a Better Way to Protest and Effect Change

Marches can’t fix our broken system. We need a new mechanism to take back our government

Women — Stop Taking the Man’s Name When You Get Married.

As soon as some man is willing to marry her, the woman is supposed to mark herself as that man’s property by taking his name

April 5, 2021

Greed Is A Personality Disease. For some, the more they have, the more they are likely to want

***March 20, 2021

The Value Of Capitalism Has Nothing To Do With Giving People An Opportunity To Get Rich. The value of capitalism lies in motivating people to produce high-quality, low-priced products.

***Without that, it’s worthless

March 18, 2021

My Complaints About Liberals. Some of the reasons why I’m not a liberal

March 15, 2021

A High Population Density + High Tech Necessitate Different Rules

*** As societies become more complex, they have more choke points which can be exploited to take away people’s freedom & money

Fix The Police By Licensing Them Like Any Other Provider Of Professional Services

You reform the police by holding them accountable to a state licensing board just like contractors, dentists & other professionals

Governments Need To Be Guided By Pragmatism, Not Idealism

The government needs to do those things that, in the long term, are most directly and indirectly beneficial for the most people.

Does Your Diet, Religion Or Sexuality Determine If You Can Get Into Heaven? Is an atheist, a homosexual, a transsexual or a carnivore automatically an immoral person who is barred from going to heaven?

***

Facebook Is The Primary Cause Of Americans’ Addiction To Toxic, False Conspiracy Theories

*** Facebook’s mortal sin is using its recommendation engine to multiply & amplify the false, angry, toxic content published on its platform

It’s The Same Old Minimum-Wage Lie — “The United States is such a poor country & the American economy is so weak that it’s impossible for American employers to pay full-time workers enough money so that they no longer qualify for food stamps without causing 15% permanent unemployment.”

February 1, 2021

Racism Was The Inevitable Child Of Slavery. Slavery Was The Toxic Child Of Greed

*** Southerners wanted slaves because slave labor was the most profitable business model for plantation agriculture

Only Certain Types Of Deficit Spending Require An Increase In The National Debt

*** Deficit spending that restores a catastrophically reduced money supply does not require an increase in the national debt

A Rural Voter Doesn’t Deserve & Shouldn’t Have More Political Power Than An Urban Voter

The universal principle of democracies is “one person, one vote” not “one square mile, one vote”

Though Guilty, The GOP Says Trump Should Be Acquitted To Avoid Upsetting His Supporters

GOP Senators intend to vote not guilty in the hope that Trump’s extremist followers will then become nicer & less angry.

Trump’s Deliberate COVID Lies Killed Tens of Thousands. His Election Lies Killed Only Five

*** Do Any Republicans Care Even A Little Bit About The Graveyards That Trump’s COVID Lies Have Filled?

If Trump Told His Base That The Sky Was Really Green, Not Blue, They Would Totally Believe It

*** Trump’s Base Will Believe ANY Lie He Tells Them No Matter How Obviously False

Knowingly Empowering A Corrupt Person Makes You Responsible For Their Crimes

*** Voters who ignored Trump’s atrocious character, thinking that electing him would be good for them, are responsible for what he’s done.

Trump Is A Cult Leader. Understanding The Psychology Of Trump’s Cult Members

Why Trump can tell any lie and commit any crime without fear of losing his core supporters.

Why People Who Spread Conspiracy Theories Are Fundamentally Ignorant, Stupid, & Wrong

By default, every accusation is false unless and until it is proven true by reliable evidence.

Organizations Act Out Of Self Interest Unrestrained By Ethics Or Empathy

Your government, your bank, your employer, your insurance company have the most power over you & are the greatest threats to your liberty and your wealth.

The Two Fundamental Philosophies Of Government. One Works. The Other Doesn’t.

December 18, 2020

The two basic, conflicting, philosophies of government are: “Every Man For Himself” and “We’re All In This Together”

Government

The Electoral College Delivers Unpredictable, Almost Random Results, But It Can Be Fixed

Our Systems Of Justice, Government, Finance, Etc. Need To Deliver Predictable Results

December 14, 2020

Trump Republicans Believe That No Democrat Should Ever Be Allowed To Become President

Trump Republicans are in a no-holds-barred war to “Save America” & they will do anything to keep any Democrat from ever becoming President.

December 11, 2020

Lies → Fear, Hate & Anger & Angry People Are Eager To Believe More Lies.

Hate & Anger Are Addictive & Profitable Products.

November 19, 2020

Why The Middle Class Is Disappearing

Over the last 50 years housing, medical and education costs have increased 2X to 7X while median income has barely increased at all.

October 12, 2020

Trump Gets Every Known Drug While Ordinary Americans Get Weeks On A Ventilator & A Trip To The Graveyard

Trump & His Co-conspirators Have Traded Dead Americans’ Lives For The Hope Of Getting Living Americans’ Votes

October 5, 2020

A Flat Wealth Tax is Fairer & More Painless Than An Income Tax

Why We Should Replace Income, Gift & Estate Taxes With A Flat Wealth Tax

October 2, 2020

The Devil Doesn’t Tell You That He’s The Guy On The Other Side Of The Deal

When you make a deal with the devil, Karma is going to deliver a terrible bill.

September 22, 2020

The Republicans’ Final, Fallback Defense: “Character Doesn’t Matter”

The so-called moral majority finally admits that morals don’t matter to them at all.

September 21, 2020

Taxing The Rich To Write Checks To The Poor Is Both Impractical & Unnecessary

There’s a better way to rebuild the shattered middle class than a tax-based wealth transfer

September 19, 2020

Libertarians Believe That The Harm A Person’s Actions Cause Others Doesn’t Matter

Crying “freedom” never automatically gives people and corporations the right to do things that unreasonably and materially harm innocent people

September 16, 2020

If The Gov’t Doesn’t Protect Your Rights You’ll Need A Gang That Will

In an anarchist/libertarian society where the government won’t stop others from infringing your rights and extorting your money, your wealth and freedom will be limited to the power of the gang you belong to.

August 21, 2020

Right Wingers Think The Power To Do Something & The Freedom To Do It Are The Same Thing

Your freedom to do something ends at the point where it infringes on the rights of others

August 17, 2020

The Open-Up/Lock-Down Debate Is About Losing $10 Trillion Dollars Vs. Losing 1 Million Lives

What’s Your Choice Between Losing A Great Deal Of Money Or Losing A Large Number Of Lives?

July 26, 2020

Does It Seem That Day-By-Day The Donald’s Conduct Is Becoming Increasingly Bizarre?

He now argues that Biden should not be elected because Joe’s low TV Ratings would force the news media into bankruptcy.

Americans Are Buried In High-Interest Debt & Banks Have Become The New Company Store

*** Like the sharecroppers and coal miners of earlier days, many Americans now survive by borrowing instead of earning

Let’s Go For A Spin — Making Lies Seem Like Truth & Truth Seem Like Lies

The key is knowing when to claim that you know things you don’t know and don’t know things that you do know

How To Destroy A Free Country

We’re Already Partway There & That Should Worry Everyone No Matter What Party They Belong To

The Toxicity Of Trying To Live In The Past Or In The Future

Hanging on to guilt is trying to live in the past. Fear is trying to live in the future. The only place we can really live is now.

A Critical Take On Something John Bolton Said In His ABC News Interview***

Can people trust Bolton who is getting rich branding Trump unfit for office while also refusing to vote against his re-election?

Being A Police Officer Is Not Even In The Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs

What Citizens Think Is OK Is Different From What Cops Think Is OK

The Ostrich System: Trump’s Plan To End Covid-19 By Not Finding Out Who’s Got It***

“When you test . . . you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please.”

Why The Gov’t’s Covid-19 Spending Will Not Cause Inflation

Understanding the relationship between physical wealth, money, and the money supply

Whether A Product Is Vital Or Trivial Affects How Much A Change In Price Will Change Sales

The same percentage change in price will have a materially different effect on sales depending on how vital or trivial the product is.

Riots & Looting Are The Predictable Result Of An Impoverished Urban Population.***

When you sow a crop of weeds you lose your right to complain about the thorns.

The Problem & The Solution Lies In How Police Are Trained

Police misconduct begins with bad training and flourishes with no effective punishment.

How Sellers Calculate The Price That Will Earn Them The Highest Profit

The less the competition, the closer sellers can get to the monopoly — maximum revenue — price

Supply & Demand Don’t Affect Price The Way Most People Think They Do

Variations in supply and demand only affect price to the extent that they change the bargaining powers of the product’s buyers and sellers.

Welcome To The White House Goat Room

Spin the wheel and learn who will be the scapegoat of the day? Prof. Plum in the library with the candlestick.

The Core Dispute Between Political Philosophies: The Proper Gov’t Response To Abusive Power

How should the gov’t deal with huge imbalances in bargaining power possessed by employers and sellers?

Why Some People Hate Wages That Are Too High For Workers To Qualify For Welfare

A low-wage employer pays only part of its workers’ costs of living leaving the taxpayers to pay the rest.

Should Everyone Except The Gov’t Be Allowed To Restrict Your Freedom Of Religion?

Freedom of religion means that no one is allowed to unreasonably punish me for or restrain me from practicing my religion.

The Price For Unskilled Labor Is Mostly Set By Bargaining Power Not Supply & Demand

The price for unskilled labor has nothing to do with some mythical true, fair, proper, correct or inherent value of that labor.

Southerners Fought A War For Slavery Because Slavery Made Them Much More Money

Slavery was always and only about more money. The Civil War was started to protect a profitable business model.

Letters To My Brianiac-Scientist Friend About Cool New Stuff He Should Invent

A few less than serious thoughts about biotech.

Fix Corporate Misbehavior By Giving Control To Customers Instead Of Investors. Replace Investor Controlled Companies With Customer Controlled Companies

March 10, 2020

How The United States Became A Petri Dish For Racism

***

Four Things People Don’t Understand About A Free Market Price

February 27, 2020

A Better Way To Pick Who Appears On The November Presidential Ballot

We shouldn’t be forced to pick between two politicians that a bunch of other people chose for us.

The Democratic Debate: A Political Version Of The Gong Show?

I’m So Disappointed And Confused

Libertarianism Is A Blueprint For Enriching Corporations & Impoverishing Human Beings

February 18, 2020

Using Employer Tax Incentives To Raise Wages For Unskilled Workers

February 11, 2020

Five Myths/Lies That Are Told By People Who Hate The Minimum Wage

February 6, 2020

A Universal Basic Income & Professional Sports Are America’s Equivalent Of Rome’s Bread & Circuses

February 5, 2020

A Costly Education Often Filters Children In The Bottom 50% Out Of A Successful Life

February 4, 2020

Most People Are Poor Because Their Draw In The Genetic Lottery Came Up Snake Eyes

February 4, 2020

Nominating Warren Or Sanders Will Be A Political Pickett’s Charge Ending In A Glorious Democrat Defeat

The 15% moderate, independent voters in the middle, not registered Democrats or Republicans, will decide the next election.

Supporting Political-Asylum Immigration Will Be Toxic For The Democrats

December 16, 2019

“Rudy? Rudy Giuliani? Who’s That?” — Donald Trump, January, 2020

November 28, 2019

The Bravest Man I’ve Ever Met. You can’t see courage any more than you can see character.

November 25, 2019

Politics Is Fundamentally A Conflict Between The Sellers Of Things & The Sellers Of Labor.

November 20, 2019

What Trump Might Say While Shot Up With Truth Serum. Mr. T explains to reporters why he can do anything he wants and nothing will happen to him.

November 16, 2019

A Progressive Win In The Democrat Primaries Will Lead To A Loss In The General Election. The voters who will decide the election will reject a candidate who promotes huge, new entitlement programs.

November 13, 2019

Over The Last 50 Years The Rich Have Gotten Much Richer & The Poor Much Poorer. Policies Designed To Make The Rich Richer Did Make The Rich Richer, And They Also Made The Poor Poorer

November 12, 2019

Why Are Poor People Poor? Most people are poor not because they don’t want to work hard, but because they don’t have access to jobs that will pay them a living wage.

November 7, 2019

The GOP’s New Mantra: What Counts Is Trump’s Actions, Not His Character. Betraying the Kurds made it impossible for the GOP to ignore Trump’s character, so the new spin is that his bad character doesn’t matter.

November 6, 2019

The Hypocrisy Of People In Glass Houses Throwing Stones. The Trump impeachment inquiry is only a pale shadow of the Republicans’ $70 million, four-year investigation of Bill Clinton.

November 5, 2019

Fight Fear With Fear. If people are doing something out of fear, then stop them by making them even more afraid of what will happen if they continue to do it

October 30, 2019

Classical Economics’ Crucial Flaw — The Lag Time It Needs To Correct Problems. The Bay Area’s housing shortage is a case study in the inability of classical economics to timely deal with large problems

October 23, 2019

Corporations Don’t Have The Same Rights That People Do. As Artificial Entities Created by the Government, Corporations Have No More Inherent Rights than a Toyota Camry

October 19, 2019

Why Corporate Profits Should Be Subject To An Excess Profits Tax. Corporations are artificial entities without any moral code or ethical values, created by governments to benefit humans, not impoverish them.

October 17, 2019

Hurricane-Dorian & The Sharpie Miracle. The Belief That Changing The Map Will Change Reality

October 7, 2019

When The Free Market Works & When It Doesn’t

The Market Doesn’t Always, Automatically, Produce Low Prices That Benefit Buyers

Why Is A Guy Who Earns $150,000/Yr Upset By A Dishwasher Being Paid $31,000/Yr?

Why Does He Think That A “Fair” Wage Is The Lowest Amount A Worker Is Desperate Enough To Have To Accept?

The Dems Are Suckers If They Try To Impeach Trump

Trying To Impeach Donald Trump Would Be A Big Mistake

Like James Bond’s License To Kill, Politicians Think They Have A License To Lie

***

Will Mike Pence Change His Name To ‘Mike Pounce’ To Retroactively Fix Mr. T Getting It Wrong?

September 23, 2019

Guns & America In 1791 Were Worlds Away From The Guns & America Of Today

What Was the World like for the People Who Voted to Ratify the Constitution in 1791?

Do You Want People To Be Successful Through Work & Talent?

What Do We Have To Do To Make Today’s America Actually Work That Way?

Satan’s Biggest Lie: Good Things Can Come From Helping Bad People

You cannot do right by doing wrong.

When Did America Stop Being Great & How Was it Great Before, But Isn’t Great Now?

August 27, 2019

A Mediocre Candidate Who Beats Trump Is Infinitely Better Than A Great Candidate Who Doesn’t

An Ignominious Victory Is Far Better Than A Glorious Defeat

August 22, 2019

A Product’s Price Has, & Should Have, Nothing To Do With Its Usefulness

August 14, 2019

Hugely Unequal Bargaining Power Invalidates The Consent Necessary For A Valid Contract

August 5, 2019

Humans Are To Public Corporations What Antelopes Are To Lions — Prey

July 27, 2019

Corporations’ Constant, Overriding, Desire Is To Make More Profit/Unit By Cutting Labor Costs

July 25, 2019

Can You Believe That Black People Are An Inferior Race & Still Be A Decent Person?

July 18, 2019

Two-Party Pricing Breaks Down As The Economy Becomes More Complex

Two-Party pricing cannot take into account either the costs or the benefits that the transaction imposes on third parties.

Medium Could Make More Money With Subscriptions Behind The Paywall & Ads Outside The Paywall

A Better Choice For Medium, Its Readers & Writers Is Subscriptions For Paywall Content & Ads For Free Content

Bad User Interface Choices & Other Design Failures By So-Called Experts

June 19, 2019

Are You A Decent Person If You Do Harmful Things Because It’s Your Job?

June 11, 2019

A Better Way To Deter People From Doing Things We Don’t Like

June 7, 2019

Why Aren’t All Our Traffic Lights Already Under AI Control?

Some Ideas For AI Traffic Control

May 28, 2019

Notes On The Design Of Homo Sapiens 2.0

There are many flaws in the code for Human 1.0. It’s time for a revised edition

May 24, 2019

Price Controls Are The Wrong Response to High Rents. There Is A Better Answer

May 21, 2019

Seven Ways To Fix Capitalism

Like Any Other Powerful Tool That Is Misused, Uncontrolled Capitalism Will Cause Its Own Demise

May 16, 2019

Why Many Capitalists Believe That We Need To Fix Capitalism

The idea that this inbred, profits-at-all-costs system would not operate in ways damaging to its employees and customers is ridiculous to say the least.

May 13, 2019

The 1st, 2nd & 4th Amendments Don’t Actually Mean Exactly What The Words Say

The freedoms of religion, speech, the press, and owning guns are all subject to regulation when there is a compelling state interest.

April 23, 2019

How To Run A Police State. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Keep the government happy and people will treat you well. Piss the government off and you will find yourself socially banished

April 18, 2019

Sometimes Life’s Slaps In The Face Come With Collateral Benefits If We Are Wise Enough To See Them

Bad things can generate collateral damage in reverse — collateral benefits.

April 17, 2019

Having A Decent Life Should Be A Choice Of Being Willing Or Unwilling To Work, But Often It’s Not

If there are no jobs that will pay people enough to have an OK life then the promise of a decent life through work is a lie.

April 10, 2019

When Is An IPO Like A Ponzi Scheme?

Profitability is tied to today’s reality while stock prices are founded on tomorrow’s hopes and dreams.

April 9, 2019

Should Business Skip Depending On Colleges & Begin Training Its Own Skilled Employees?

April 8, 2019

The Toxic Side Effects Of Trying To Plan Your Life

April 7, 2019

When everything you do is only a gateway to getting something else, nothing will ever be enjoyable in and of itself.

· Organization

Are The People Investing In Lyft Brilliant Or Crazy? Is Lyft Another Google Or Another WebVan?

At current prices, is there any sales level where the income line and the expense line will cross and Lyft will become profitable?

· Self Driving Cars — Startup — Investment

The Myth That Taxing Rich People Is Bad for the Economy

March 27, 2019

So-called “trickle-down” economics, the idea that making rich people richer disproportionately benefits the middle & working class, isn’t true.

· Economics

Paying Unskilled Workers Less Actually Makes Everyone Poorer

The market is fundamentally incapable of factoring into a product’s price the costs and benefits to third parties that flow from a high or low cost for certain products and services.

March 14, 2019

As Interpreted By Donald Trump, The National Emergencies Act Is Unconstitutional

Under Art. I, Sec. 9, the President cannot legally spend any Gov’t money except pursuant to an authorization passed by Congress

February 21, 2019

Branding People With A New Scarlet Letter For A Long-Ago Crime

A long-ago mistake by a young person doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about their character today.

February 20, 2019

To Understand The 2nd Amendment, You Have To Understand What Guns Were Like In 1792

The Approval Of The 2nd Amend. Was Based On The Nature Of 1792 Guns & 1792 Gun Owners

***

The Brilliant Tactic I Used To Force The Dems To End The Shutdown — I Gave Up

The Imaginary Transcript Of A Fictitious Address To The American People By The President Of The United States.

January 26, 2019

The Basic Things A Government Should Do

The gov’t’s fundamental role is to facilitate improvements in the lives of the overwhelming majority of the humans living in that country.

January 25, 2019

Hollywood, Wake Up! “OUR LITTLE WHITE HOUSE” Is Sitcom Gold

Chuck Lorrie, Steven Levitan, Tom Hertz, and Larry David: Why aren’t you jumping on the sitcom opportunity of the 21st century?

January 23, 2019

Both The Left & The Right Are Wrong About The Role Of Government

The Far Left Thinks The Gov’t’s Job Is To Equalize Wealth & The Far Right Thinks The Gov’t Has Almost No Job At All

***

The Most Harmful Racists Are The Ones Who Think They’re Not Racists At All

***

What A Lot Of White People Actually Think About Black People

January 16, 2019

The Prime Directive For All Organizations Is: “Protect & Enrich The Organization”

When Executives Go To Work They Leave Their Ethics At Home

January 15, 2019

Angry, Emotionally Weak People Fanatically Follow Strong Leaders

Why Trump Could Shoot A Pedestrian On 5th Avenue & His Core Supporters Wouldn’t Care

January 11, 2019

The Morality Of Shutting Down The Government To Pass Legislation

Forget The Dems, The GOP, & The Wall. What’s The Morality Of A Shutdown By Any Party For Any Issue?

January 10, 2019

The Most Important Factor In How Rich You Are Is The Family You Were Born Into

Wealth & Poverty Are Far More The Product Of Your Family Than Your Intelligence Or Your Work Ethic

January 9, 2019

It’s The Government’s Job To Prevent Businesses From Passing Their Costs Onto Third Parties

Prices Need To Reflect The Costs The Seller’s Business Imposes On Others

January 7, 2019

The Pictures That Pop Into Our Heads

When I Say “Welfare” “Illegal Alien” “Businessman” “Drug Company” What Do You See?

January 5,2019

Another Example Of 3rd Parties Paying The Costs Of A For-Profit Business

SF Allows The Treasure Island Developers To Shift The Costs From Themselves To Everyone Else

You Can’t Run A Country The Way You Run A Business

Oral Sex As A CBS Executive Perk? The Mind Boggles.

But isn’t Les Moonves’ compensation of $188,500 PER DAY Even More Obscene?

The Best Way To Stop Bad Conduct Is To Take Away The Rewards For It

People do bad things for gain. Instead of making profitable activities illegal, take the profit out of the equation.

Will The Democrats Figure Out How To Take Advantage Of The Immigration Mess Or Will They Shoot Themselves In The Head, Again?

The Dems should go on record as supporting immigration based on the applicant’s skills and education instead of wanting to escape from a “bad” country.

The Paradox Of Proportional/Party Voting Vs. Winner-Take-All Voting

Is it better to have a Congress with membership proportional to party support or one where the 51% party always wins?

Another Way To Neutralize Gerrymandering. Don’t Change The Map. Change How The Votes Are Counted.

The ballots would be unchanged. The voters wouldn’t have to make any additional decisions. The only thing that would change would be the arithmetic that would be applied to the vote totals.

Too Much Money Without Work & Too Little Money For Work Are Both Bad For Everybody

There is this perverse, toxic idea that paying workers the least amount possible is a good thing. Poverty is an accelerator for other problems. It is an open container of societal gasoline.

***

A Fundamental Human Flaw: Loyalty To The Tribe

Loyal to to the tribe is more important than doing the right thing. Protecting the tribe is more important than protecting outsiders from the tribe.

The Secret Of The Thanksgiving Green-Bean Casserole. Your Mission, If You Choose To Accept It, Is To Make Sure That No One Can Taste The Green Beans

Why people cook green-bean casseroles and the vital steps you need to follow in order to make your green-bean casserole a success.

A Way To Get The Benefits Of Internet Voting Without The Risks

While the “Internet Voting Can’t Be Done” people only offer the bare “it’s impossible” opinion, there is a way to get the benefits of Internet Voting without actually doing it.

Avoiding Election Fraud With Reliable Internet Voting

How we might design an Internet-voting system that was both safe and provided greater access to citizens.

Lost And Found

Has anything just plain disappeared from your home? Have you considered that you might be the victim of a space-warp? It’s more common than you might think.

Another Use For Artificial Intelligence — Rating & Recommending Politicians & Job Candidates

Maybe low voter turnout is because you have no confidence that you’re voting for someone you can trust. Can AI fix that?

The Achilles Heel Of The Free Market System Is Massive Imbalances In Bargaining Power

Who gets what is governed by bargaining power. All theories of government are founded on ideas about how governments should (or shouldn’t) react to huge imbalances in bargaining power.

***

Many People Have Missed The Point On The Brett Kavanaugh Mess

When appointing a CEO, leastwise a lifetime justice of the Supreme Court, in the absence of certainty, the default answer is always “No.”

The Pros & Cons of Push And Pull Marketing

Shouting “Buy Me!” tells people you exist but wastes your message on people who will never care. Pull marketing lures those people to you who have already decided to buy.

Don’t Be So Sure Trump Won’t Be Re-Elected. You Can’t Ignore The Nose-Blind Effect.

The worse the stench, the faster people become nose blind. DT is such a relentless liar, many voters will eventually become dishonesty blind.

What Makes Donald Run?

DT is unconcerned with whether anything he says is true, honest, caring, generous, mean or despicable. His sole interest is in manipulating others into acting in ways that will benefit him.

***

As A Writer, I Think Medium Needs To Make Two Fundamental Changes To Its Business Model

Medium is heading toward becoming a subscription-only publishing platform. There are ways to fix that and still make money.

What If People Didn’t Need Driver’s Licenses & Cars Didn’t Have License Plates?

Is it good to require drivers to pass a test, have a license and register their cars but terrible to use the same system for gun buyers & their firearms?

***

People Feel That They Have A Right To Be Treated In A Way That Meets Their Reasonable Expectations

The fundamental flaw in The Law Of The Jungle is that it gives people license to act in ways that most other people think is unreasonable and unfair, which causes a toxic counter reaction.

In Order To Win The WH In 2020, Will the GOP Soon Have To Find A Way To Abandon The S.S. Donald J. Trump?

If DT crashes burns in 2020, will he drag the GOP House and Senate candidates down with him?

Why Some Old People Struggle With Tech

I spent some time trying to help an elderly lady switch from an expensive land line to a cheap cell phone and got a few insights into why some older people have a hard time with tech.

Lots Of People Have Opinions About Donald Trump, But What Does He Think About Himself?

The key to understanding DT ‘s self-image is that he thinks of himself as a King, due the prerogatives and respect of a King and as exempt from moral constraints as a King.

The Concept Of Government Is An Outgrowth Of Our Genetic, Tribal Instincts

Prior to democracy, governments were run by the rich and powerful primarily for the benefit of the rich and powerful. The Right wants to return to that model of government.

A New Machine That Reads & Analyzes Human Emotions — An EReader

A system that can read a person’s emotional reaction to tv commercials can read their reactions to much, much more serious situations.

Gov’t Regs Compensate For Massive Imbalances In Buyers’ & Sellers’ Bargaining Power

The libertarian idea that all transactions are, by definition, voluntary contracts is false. Take-it-or-leave-it transactions are not voluntary which is why they require regulation.

***

Don’t Rush Getting To No

If you want someone to marry you, don’t just flat out ask. Hint around. Sneak up on it. Ask subtle little questions first. Never ask a “Bad No” question unless you’re absolutely sure you’ll get a yes.

When Did Planet Earth Slip Into An Alternate Universe & Why Did It Take Me So Long To Notice?

I should have realized when Mr. Crazy won the election that the world as I had known it had long ago slipped through a crack in time into an alternate dimension, but I missed all the signs.

The Nature Of Humans Dictates The Necessity Of Laws

Many people are not generous, decent and honorable. No society can survive without laws protecting the sheep from the wolves. The trick is knowing where to draw the line.

***

Why Does Instagram Have Such An Abysmally Bad User Interface? Why Did Instagram Throw Away Half The App’s Utility?

Images go into the random mess of Instagram never to be found again. It’s the photo equivalent of the gov’t warehouse at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. My question: Why?

A Cry In The Night

A crime/detective short story.

He awoke on a bench in the shade of an ancient sycamore with leaves the size of salad plates, but all he could think about was, “Where am I?” a question that was quickly replaced by “Who am I?”

Amazon Might Be Able To Fix The Prescription-Drug-Market Mess

With the purchase of PillPack and access to its licenses to sell prescription drugs, will Amazon become a drug retailer or a drug wholesaler, or both?

My Rant About Bad User Interfaces Upon The Receipt Of A New Phone. Android, LG and AT&T, This One’s For You

The wide scope of roadblocks to setting up and using my new phone highlights how surprisingly poor the phone UI is. Why is it this bad?

Partial Transcript Of Trump-Putin Helsinki Meeting

Using my super-secret psychic powers I was able to penetrate the security devices the Secret Service installed in the meeting room used by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Valdimir Putin.

Adam Sandler’s Movie, Spanglish, Needs A New Ending More In Line With Today’s American Values

In today’s America, the movie’s hard-working immigrant child who grew up to be admitted to Princeton is now a criminal whose proper fate at the closing credits is to be deported in chains.

Good Economies & Governments Are Made, Not Born

First figure out what your society should look like, then pick the rules that will get you there instead of pulling your laws out of some True Believer’s catechism of arbitrary principles.

Businesses Are Tools, Not Pets

We aren’t altruists. Huge corporations are not charitable causes. There is no reason why they should earn more profit than is necessary to motivate them to do their jobs. They are tools, not pets.

***

Dump The Failing, Toxic Democratic Party Brand And Start Over

In order to successfully defeat the GOP’s “The Rich-Get-Richer-Everyone Else Is On Their Own” agenda candidates will need a new party name and a new legislative to-do list.

The Market Price Is Not Necessarily The Correct Price For An Efficient Economy

Power-Struggle Pricing cannot factor present and future third-party costs & benefits into the pricing equation.

Burger King Pulls Russia World-Cup Ad Rewarding Women For Having Sex With Players

In order to promote Russian BK sales during the World Cup, BK offered to pay $45K & a lifetime of free Whoppers to any Russian woman who got pregnant by a World Cup player.

Employers’ Self-Inflicted Wounds — Overestimating & Under-Training New Employees

Employees don’t automatically have a good work ethic or attitude. It’s up to the employer to train them in the practical and cultural basics of why they need to care about doing a good job.

A More Honest Name For Libertarianism: Money & Powerism

Convinced that they and their corporations are the smart, creative, and talented ones, the winners, libertarians have designed a system whose Prime Directive is: Protect money & power.

***

People Cling To The Sweetest Lies To Soothe The Most Bitter Truths

For True Believers, factual truth is as ephemeral as a soap bubble, and as valuable. Whatever the Leader says is true, is true and whatever the Leader says is false, is false.

***

A Rich-Get-Richer Society Is The Inevitable Result Of A Country Built On Conservative Principles

In our conservative-values Rich-Get-Richer society a cliff of wealth bars children in the bottom 40% of households from any reasonable chance of success.

We Get The Government We Deserve. America Deserves Donald Trump. What DT’s Election Tells Us About The Character Of The American People

DT is a symptom, not a cause. He was elected because he shares the culture and attitudes of a huge percentage of the American people. His character reflects our character. Sadly, he is us.

Sure, Roseanne Is A Racist But She’s Hilarious, So It’s OK

So Roseanne Barr thinks that black people are simply a variety of jungle apes. Get past it! It’s her quirky take on the world that makes her so hilarious.

The Conservatives’ Rules That Keep Americans Poor

Lower-class cultural values make it almost impossible for those on the bottom to move into the middle class and conservatives are working hard to keep them from getting in via good-paying jobs.

Why True Believers Pick The Political Religions They Do

The true believer is not interested in the real-world effects of his theories. He’s interested in having theoretical rules that provide easy answers without him having to think.

Yet Another Fake Argument Against Common-Sense Gun Regulations

The flawed argument: The latest massacre would have happened even with background checks, so anonymous, untrained, unlicensed people should still be allowed to buy unregistered deadly weapons.

A Religion Is Any Set Of Rules That Claims To Define Moral Vs. Immoral Human Actions

Religions are subjective collections of rules that somebody invented to define the right/fair way and the wrong/unfair way to please God or operate a government or organize an economy.

The Next Totalitarian Gov’t Won’t Need Secret Police & Won’t Be Defeated With Small Arms

The new totalitarian gov’t will rely on Social Scoring, Emotional Monitoring, and UBI payments to control its citizens.

Judge Persky’s Reason Why He Shouldn’t Be Recalled: Voters Should Never Be Allowed To Fire A Judge

Brock Turner’s judge believes he should not be recalled because if he is then other judges may start caring about how well or how poorly voters will think they are doing their jobs.

Prove To Me That Unlicensed Guns Owned By Untrained People Are Actually Dangerous

Gun people argue that if you can’t prove that making gun owners pass a background check will materially reduce the number of innocent people shot that there is no reason for background checks at all.

Breakthrough Chinese Program Enables Hugely Effective State Control Of Everyone

China has created a breakthrough system for pervasive control of all conduct by its citizens. This is not theory. It’s actually in place now.

The Reasons Why Assault Weapons Should Not Be Banned Or Restricted

A discussion of the gun-rights supporters’ reasons for ensuring the general public’s easy access to unregistered military-style weapons with large magazines.

***

The Libertarian Philosophy Is Really About Protecting Power, Not Maximizing Freedom

In the same way that rape is not about sex but rather is about the exercise of power, libertarianism is not about expanding freedom but rather is about protecting the exercise of power.

We Can Have Better Products At Lower Prices Without More Gov’t Regulation

How we can make the market system work for consumers and employees instead of against them.

By using the profit motive together with one change to the corporate tax structure, we can give companies a financial incentive to pay higher wages and deliver better products at lower prices.

***

Congress Will Ban Assault Weapons By 12–31–19 If We All Vote NO On Every GOP Candidate This November — #JustVoteNO

If anti-assault weapon Democrats, Republicans and Independents vote NO on every GOP candidate this November, the loss will be so crushing that the GOP will finally be forced to abandon the NRA.

Did The Supreme Court Miss The Real Issue In The Citizens-United Campaign-Financing Case?

Instead of: “Do corporations have the same free-speech rights as humans?” the right question is: “Can Congress legally limit everyone’s independent campaign contributions?”

Congress Rendered The Second Amendment Obsolete On June 3, 1916

When members of militias were prohibited from using their own guns and the U.S. gained a large standing army, the stated purpose for the 2nd Amendment was destroyed.

***

2nd Amendment People — You Need To Finally Be Honest About Why You Want Unregistered Assault Weapons

The 2nd Amendment people want unregistered assault weapons for 2 reasons: to use to rebel against a feared future totalitarian gov’t and to repel a feared future foreign invasion

There’s A New Standard Form For The President’s Remarks When Something Bad Happens

After the Charlotte, NC, Ron Moore, Rob Porter and other “hot button” events that the President has been pressured to respond to, the White House has created a new form template for his remarks.

Of Course Trump Wants A Big Parade Where Thousands Of Armed Men Will March By & Salute Him. Duh!

The real reason The Great White Dope wants a big military parade is so that thousands of armed men under his command will have to march by and salute him. Narcissist Heaven.

The Poorer The Bottom 20% Are, The More Money It Costs The Rest Of Us

The best way to reduce taxes and make the government smaller is for the bottom 20% of Americans to be able to earn enough money that they don’t qualify for welfare in the first place.

***

Public Corporations Are As Much (Or More) Of A Threat To Human Liberty As The Federal Government

People worry about the government unreasonably controlling our lives but the most frequent, pervasive & costly power over us comes from our banks, employers and other big corporations.

Is Illegally Entering The U.S. A Worse Crime Than Armed Bank Robbery?

The statute of limitations for selling a forged passport is ten years. Shouldn’t the statute of limitations for illegally entering the U.S. on that same forged passport also be 10 years?

***

Don’t Worry. My Genius Has Absolutely Been Stabilized.

I only have one problem: those stupid people saying mean things about me who are too dumb to realize how smart I am.

Why Do We Have So Many Rules? Because We Live Such Complicated Lives

You can live relatively safely in a primitive, unregulated society or in a complex, rich, regulated society. Pick one.

Maybe The Vulcans Were Right About Sex. Wouldn’t Humans Be Better Off If We Were Horny Only Once Every Seven Years?

We humans are so obsessed with sex that we don’t even see it anymore. We have gone sex-blind. But what if, like Vulcans, we only wanted sex once every 7 years?

***

The Undiscovered Country Beyond Market Theory — Where Classical Pricing Fails

One of the gaps in classical-economics theory is its inability to factor the third party costs and benefits from a transaction into the price calculation. And there are others.

***

Could Workers Use An App, A Contingent-Fee Negotiator, & Flash Strikes To Get Higher Wages? Not A Union. An iGroup

Is there a business opportunity for a professional negotiator to earn a contingent fee based on the increased wages he/she obtains for workers who sign up with his app?

“Why Are Those Women Doing This To Me?” Accused Celebrity Complains. “Everyone Knows That Waving Your Weenie Is Just A Humorous Ice-Breaker When You Meet New People.”

In an accused’s celebrity’s first inappropriate-conduct therapy session he explains why he didn’t do anything he thought was wrong: “They should have warned me they didn’t want to see me naked.”

***

Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians and Gun People, Just Admit What You Really Believe. Dump The Cover Arguments And Say It Like It Is.

Let’s explore the real reasons ideologues have for their stands on assault weapons, UBI, the minimum wage and consumer-protection laws.

Personal Computer–>iPod–>iPhone–>The Next Big Thing: Cyrano. My Somewhat Tongue-In-Cheek Candidate For The Next Killer Product

The Next Big Thing takes Echo/Siri to the next step — a device that provides continuous, proactive, real-time, confidential advice.

What People Are Really Like & How Their Nature Impacts Your Political Religion

Humans act mostly from emotion, not logic or ethics, which means that political religions like communism and libertarianism don’t and can’t work.

Secret White House Plan To End Drug Crisis Revealed. Surreptitious Oval-Office Recordings Detail President’s Plan To End Overdose Epidemic

Details of the President’s secret plan to deal with the overdose crisis — let them all die and the problem fixes itself.

Hollywood Wise

The Network has tapped Wilaru to advise them on their new TV season. It seems he has just the kind of brain they’re looking for.

The Market: The Other God That Failed

The existence of the Market does not guarantee reasonable prices & terms. In fact, the consumers’ inherently weak bargaining power often results in onerous prices & terms.

***

Is There A Cheaper, More Effective Way To Deal With Criminals Than Prison?

A review of theoretical, alternative methods of deterring crime and protecting society.

Here’s A Crazy Idea — Maybe We Should Abandon Artificial Intelligence Devices For Organic Intelligence Ones

Maybe life would be better if we went back to the time when everyone with money had a butler and a maid. Might Humans Be More Cost Effective Than Robots?

A New Economic & Social “Perfect Storm” Is Heading Right For Us. Individual Transportation Is Going To Change Big Time

Autonomous cars will be joined by autonomous human-carrying drones to disrupt the American economy.

Why American Politics Has Become So Rancorous. Why People Are So Quick To Embrace Fake News. True Believers See People On The Other Side Not As Just Wrong, But As Bad

People are increasingly viewing political positions as moral choices rather than intellectual disputes, and that leads them to believing fake news.

Communism, Conservatism, & Libertarianism Are Political Religions. Let’s Abandon Government By Religion. The Only Thing That Counts Is What Works

Conservatives/Libertarians want a government based on their moral/religious principles instead of pragmatic policies that will yield the most prosperous and high-functioning society.

When The Going Gets Tough, Smart People Change Direction. When Something Isn’t Working, Quit.

You have to be smart enough to know that when something fundamentally isn’t working that you need to let it go. A fundamental rule of startups is “Quickly kill the failures in their cribs.”

“Started out with the dreams and the plans of a wise man. Ended up with the heartaches of a fool.” — Willie Nelson.

The Medium “Claps” Tool Is Fatally Flawed. How It Can & (I Think) Should Be Fixed.

The current clap system does a fatally bad job of rating articles but with a few changes it’s capable of doing a very good job.

I Can’t Wait For The Robots To Start Running Things

The govt is no more messed up than any other big organization. The real problem is people. Get rid of them and everything will work better.

Shocked To Learn That God Does Not Have A Penis. How Could They Have Lied To Me All These Years?

Instead of the “Big Guy” is God really the “Big Girl” or the “Big It”? Is God one of those glowing gas clouds that Capt. Kirk used to run into from time to time?

A Database That Links All Fields Together In A Web. It Begins With Saving Every Field As A Separate Record

See data as a network of interconnected links instead of records where each item is further linked to relevant text, images and video

Management Failures. Avoidable Mistakes Often Made By Small Business Owners

Lots of skilled people know how to do the work — build a house, feed a crowd, build an app, — but they don’t know how to run a business.

If You Say This Confederate Statue Thing Is Just Liberal Whining Then You’re Either Blind Or You’re Too Dishonest To Say What You Really Think

People Support Keeping R.E. Lee’s Statues Because They See Nothing Wrong In Fighting For The Confederacy

Do Intelligent Entities — Artificial Constructs — Already Exist, And, If So, What Are They Like?

Artificial constructs pretend to be human but they are just rapacious, soulless entities trying to pass for human.

***

Calling Out Democrats & Liberals For Terminal Cluelessness. Like Sears, Their Brand Is Dying From Bad Management

A political party is a brand. Like every brand, to survive it has to offer a set of qualities that appeal both to its current customers and also to an audience of potential new customers.

Everyone’s Missing The Crucial Point On The Alt-Right. A Sign That Says “White Is Right” Is Really Code For “I’m A Loser”

People who say they’re terrific because they’re got white skin do that because that’s all they’ve got. They’ve never done anything that actually shows they have any real talent.

The Little Man Inside

Marlon Stump couldn’t be allowed to die, yet. So his family built a big puppet and put a dwarf inside to give it the illusion of life. But the Little Man happened to be crazy.

Guns: The NRA Was Right About One Thing & Absolutely Wrong About Everything Else

When everyone has a gun, everyone is a soldier, everyone is a target, and eventually, everyone will be a casualty.

***

Trump’s Brain: Cracking The Code, Part 2 — Understanding What Mr. Ego Does

In part 1 I revealed the secret to decoding what Mr. Ego says. Here in Part 2 I reveal the secret to predicting and understanding what he does.

***

I Don’t Carry A Smart Phone Because What I Want Isn’t Really A Phone At All. I Want An Artificial Intelligence Device That Does EVERYTHING By Voice Command

I’ve Cracked Mr. Ego’s Secret Code. “True” Means “Good For Me” And “Lie” Means “Bad For Me.” Duh!

Like multi-dimensional string theory to Joe Sixpack, to Mr. Ego the terms “truth” and “lie” are both alien and mysterious.

***

Anthony Scaramucci’s Present & Probable Future: Schadenfreude For Some, Irony For Others

What does it profit a man to gain Donald Trump as his boss in exchange for losing his marriage?

***

A Theory Of Time That Contains No Paradoxes. How Time And Time Travel Might Work Without Your Actions In The Past Affecting Your Future.

How Time And Time Travel Might Work Without Your Actions In The Past Affecting Your Future

If Mr. Ego Has Done Nothing Wrong, Why Is He So Obsessed, Inflamed, Distraught, Perturbed & Terrified(?) by Robert Mueller’s Russia Investigation?

His Defense: “You can’t prove anything! Nobody saw me do it.” — Bart Simpson

People don’t go nuts over stuff that doesn’t threaten them. Obviously, in Mr. Ego’s mind this Russia investigation is a BIG PROBLEM. What does he fear Mueller might find out?

Things That Piss Me Off — Too Many Stupid People

We Need A Scale To Measure Stupidity — A Stupidity Quotient, an SQ, If You Will

“We Can’t Raise The Minimum Wage Because That Will Put Me Out Of Business” Is A Really Bad Argument.

This Is What People Say When They Want The Government To Subsidize The Cost Of Running Their Business

***

Saying that there shouldn’t be a living-wage minimum wage because it will put you out of business is (1) probably not true and (2) if true, then you ought go out of business.

Something Else That Pisses Me Off — People With One Name

If you want to have only one name then I think you need to EARN it. Take over a country, start a major war, invent a diet pill that really works. Do something BIG.

Real-World Limitations On Bargaining Power, Not The Law Of Supply & Demand, Are The Primary Reasons For The Low Price For Unskilled Labor.

Supply And Demand Are Only Two Of The Many Factors That Affect Bargaining Power, And Bargaining Power, Not Supply & Demand, Is The Main Factor That Determines Price

***

Something Different — Pretty Pictures Of Flowers And Like That

As an experiment, this post is not about economics, government, or politics, but rather consists of 17 beautiful nature photographs

***

The Unfriendly Skies — Clueless United Doesn’t Even Know What Most People Think The Word “Dishonest” Means

While United thinks “overbooking” is good business, regular people might well think that deliberately selling the same seat to two different people and keeping the money from both is wrong.

***

If It’s Illegal To Rent My Building To Burglars To Use As A Stolen Property Bazaar, Should It Also Be Illegal For My Web Site To Be Used As A Bootleg Movie Emporium?

How do we respect freedom of speech while still making it difficult to for web sites to facilitate serious crimes and destroy a person’s right to privacy

The Market System’s Inherent Inability To Accurately Price Mandatory Products & Services

The Market’s Cost/Demand Pricing Mechanism Is Unable To Factor Future Costs & Benefits To 3rd Parties Into Its Pricing Equation

***

Useful Comments Versus Just Wasting Everyone’s Time

Comments and posts that just spout conclusions or insults are a waste of time. Give us a good reason to agree that what you say is true.

No Matter What The Law Says, I Have A Right To Do X. No, You Don’t

The point of this article is to consider the question of people’s rights in a practical, real-world context instead of merely accepting the dogma of innate rights granted by natural law.

The “Cobra Effect” Is When Trying To Fix Something Actually Makes It Worse. Conservatives Are Now Engaged In Their Own Version Of The Cobra Effect.

The policies the conservatives are promoting are actually increasing the number of people who reject conservative values.

What’s A Nice Spider Like You Doing In A Girl Like This? The Incredibly Disturbing Thing I Saw On TV Last Night

I saw an act on The Gong Show involving a girl, a tarantula and an harmonica. You won’t believe where she put the giant spider.

What’s Really Behind America’s Political Divide. At Its Heart, Politics Is A Personality Clash Disguised As A Policy Disagreement

The left and the right are not arguing about what would make the country more prosperous. They’re fighting a war that’s rooted in each side’s personal ideas of fairness

***

Should The Price You’re Charged Be Based On How Rich You Are? Individualized Pricing Coming To A Store Near You

***

New pricing strategies based on how rich you are, when and where you’re buying and how badly you need that product.

By The Skin Of Our Teeth. Little Noticed Near-Hits And Near-Misses That Change Our Lives

The Tiny Random Things That Separate Ordinary Life From Disaster

How To Train Americans For Good-Paying Jobs Without Rip-off Schools, Without Student Loans & Without Spending Taxpayer Money

There is a way to train people for good jobs without gov’t subsidies and without student loans

The Futile Attempt To Cram Analog Data Into A Digital Straight Jacket.

Companies Should Stop Trying To Squash Oddly-Shaped Bits Of Customer Feedback Into One-Size-Fits-All Digital Boxes

Why There Are So Few Good Movies. The Futility Of Trying To Jam A Digital Peg Into An Analog Hole

Trying to evaluate scripts by assigning digital scores to story elements is doomed to failure. But, there is another way.

***

Myths That Are Destroying America

Myth #4: Public Corporations Have Ethical Standards Just Like People Do

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Let The Robot Do It

A Science Fiction Short Story — No one wants to take an active role in government, preferring instead to, well, let the robot do it.

Myths That Are Destroying America

Myth #3: Tax Cuts For Rich People Are Good For Middle Class & Working-Class Americans

***

Myths That Are Destroying America

Myth #2: It’s Vital That We Stop Politicians From Giving Our Money Away To Lazy Losers

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On The Occasion Of Removing The Statue Of Robert E. Lee, Here Is New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Explanation About Why It Was Being Taken Down

Myths That Are Destroying America

Myth #1: In America, Everyone Has A Chance To Have A Decent Life

A Fair Fight

Satirical Short Fiction — Wilaru learns the secret to crime prevention. Just make sure that the decent people are always armed and ready for a Fair Fight

A Health Care Plan That Follows Republican Principles And Still Works

Since The Republicans Haven’t Been Able To Figure Out A Workable Health-Care Plan That Stays True To Their Principles, I’ve Done It For Them.

Healthcare for every employee without government subsidies.

***

A Better Name For The So-Called “Sharing Economy” Is “The Shareworker Economy”

A Shareworker Is Nothing More Than An Old-Time Sharecropper In Fancy New Clothes

***

Bug Rules

A Science Fiction Short Story

The Real Reason Many Conservatives Hate A Living-Wage Minimum Wage

Their Ethical Code Says It’s Morally Wrong To Pay People More Than They Think Their Low-Level Abilities Entitle Them To Earn

The Core Reason Cops Kill Unarmed People Is Not Race. It’s Law Enforcement’s Shoot-First Rules Of Engagement

The Solution To Keeping Police From Killing Unarmed Citizens Is Forcing Police Departments To Completely Replace Their Old Rules Of Engagement

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How To Quickly Create A Neutral, Non-Gerrymandered Election Map

Creating A Politically-Neutral Election Map Is Relatively Easy. Google Could Probably Do It In A Few Weeks

A Living-Wage Minimum Wage Will Not Materially Reduce Employment

Why The Claim That Raising The Minimum Wage Will Greatly Reduce Jobs Is Just Plain Wrong

***

Hello, Inmate 43947. I’m Ron, Your Executioner. Your Choices Tonight Are Death By Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, Or Nitrogen Gas.

Death By Nitrogen

A Little Math Shows That A Universal Basic Income Is Completely, Totally, Impossible

A Modest UBI Would Cost More Than 3 Times The Entire Amount Now Collected From Income Taxes

***

The Personality Trait That Marks A Conservative. The “Exactly-Dividing-The-Dinner-Check” Compulsion

Conservatives’ political beliefs are an expression of their “It Should Be An Every Man For Himself” sort of the world.

Instead Of Obamacare or Trumpcare I Propose “Medicare Junior”

Start Fresh And Put Everyone Into Medicare Junior With Coverage Caps, Co-Pays, & Employer and Employee Monthly Premiums

Improving Capitalism

Capitalism Is A Powerful Tool But It Would Work Better If We Made A Fundamental Change To How Corporations Are Taxed

***

What Is A Bad Person?

Here Are A Few Examples Of Conduct Where You Can Decide If The Individual Involved Is Or Is Not A Bad Person

Some Ideas For Reducing Uninsured Healthcare Costs & Health Insurance Premiums

Options I Would Explore If I Were Given The Chance To “Fix” Obamacare

How Do You Define A Successful Society?

We Can’t Make Rules About How Our Society Should Work Until We Decide What Kind Of A Society We Want To Have

The Conservatives’ Core Philosophy In 300 Words

They Don’t Actually Believe What You May Think They Do

I’d Like The Sales & Ego Upgrade Package, Please

Could the President be an alien android spy who has gone rogue and slipped his programming? Only Wilaru knows for sure.

***

The Man In The Bulletproof Pants

February 27, 2017

Hypocritical Conservatives Want Taxpayers To Subsidize Their Business Costs

End The Subsidy — Businesses, Not Taxpayers, Should Pay Their Own Expenses

Social Security Has Tons Of Money

The Republicans So-Called Social Security Reform Is Just Another Scheme To Rip Off Working Americans

Dr. Von Zombie And The Slut Lady

Could the world-famous plastic surgeon, the renowned “Love Doctor,” have been murdered? Wilaru investigates!

The Conservatives’ Fatal Flaw — They Don’t Get It That There Is Always A Cost Of Doing Business

Age-Appropriate Prostitutes And Other Things That Make Me Laugh

When Greed Is Thought To Be A Virtue — When More Is Never Enough

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Dream War

A Science Fiction Short Story

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Some Of The Parts

The True Level Of The Intelligence Of The Government & Industry

Stick Him To The Wall

How The Republicans Captured The Middle Class

Is It Really Possible To Deter Companies From Shipping U.S. Jobs To Other Countries?

Let’s Review A Few Of The Schemes

Political Systems Seen As Restaurant Business Models. My Choice: The Cover-Charge Society

Replacing The Income Tax With A Different Tax System That Is Fairer, Simpler & Less Painful — REVISITED

***

This is a revised version of the column originally published on December 6, 2016, titled: Should We Replace The Income Tax With An Entirely Different Tax System? Instead Of Paying Taxes First, Why Not Pay Taxes Last?

Shrink Wrapped

What Happens When Silicon City High Tech Meets The World Of Psychiatry? Can the nerds beat the shrinks? Might there possibly be a problem in trying to automate psychotherapy? Only Wilaru knows for sure.

Lawyers & Juries. Make Way For The JusticeBot 1000

An Outlandish But Oddly Appealing Proposal

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The Fantasy Of The A La Carte Society

Almost Down To The Red

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The Caged Bird Stands On The Grave Of Dreams

***

Only The Good Die Rich

The Big Lie: Higher Corporate Profits Are Always A Good Thing

More For The Sake Of Having More Is Never A Good Reason For Anything

***

No, No, Raul

Wilaru interviews a man who has turned a most unlikely condition into a talent that has made him rich. Now, if only he can restrain his darker proclivities.

***

Take Two Pills & Call Me In The Morning

Some Side Effects May Occur

Should We Replace The Income Tax With An Entirely Different Tax System?

Instead Of Paying Taxes First, Why Not Pay Taxes Last?

Replacing The Income Tax With A Different Tax System That Is Fairer, Simpler & Less Painful — Revisited

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — ### — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Government, Or Do We?

Robot Fears And Machine Tears

***

The Anatomy Of Foolish Choices. When Common Sense Took A Holiday

The recent election has incited me to comment on the various ways humans find to make and justify foolish decisions.

A Guaranteed Minimum Income Is The Wrong Answer To The Right Question.

The Solution To The Shortage Of Living-Wage, Low-Skilled Jobs Is Publicly Funded, Non-Profit Corporations That Will Pay A Living Wage

***

Conservatives’ Society That Only Benefits Winners Is Bad For Everyone

Discover Your Personality Blueprint, Your Psychometric Index?

A Sci-Fi Classic & A Powerful Neural Net Computer May Be The Keys To Cracking Your Code

Is It Right Or Wrong To Vote For Neither Trump Nor Hillary?

Your Answer Is Not Based On Your Politics But Rather On Your Personality

After “Lying’ Ted Cruz” “Crooked Hillary Clinton” and “Little Marco Rubio” It’s Clear That Donald J. Trump Also Needs A New Name

A Better Mousetrap

Intrepid reporter for the American Inquisitor Weekly News Magazine, David Wilaru*, is recruited for Wordsmith duty by a team competing for the contract to design the new H-Bomb, Version 3.0.

He is shocked to discover that the scientists don’t have the slightest clue about creating a successful new product, but, luckily, Wilaru knows just how to push his team’s new H-Bomb over the top.

***

A New Form Of Business Entity That Will Stop Companies From Behaving Badly

The Battle: Bad Business Behavior Vs. Expensive & Inefficient Gov’t Regulations

***

Police Are Trained To Shoot To Kill And Punished If They Fire A Warning Shot. And You Wonder Why So Many Citizens Are Killed By Cops

Why Trump’s Supporters Don’t Care What He Says Or Does & Why Clinton’s Negative Campaign Ads Will Mostly Fail

How We Got Stuck With Two Candidates We Don’t Like And How We Can Stop That From Happening Again

Discouraging Big Businesses From Behaving Badly Without New Major Gov’t Regulations

How To Stop Event-Ticket Rip Offs. More Money For Artists, Free Tickets For Fans, Nothing For Scammers

***

Juries NEVER Find A Criminal Defendant Innocent

Our Unfortunate Habit Of Creating Tribes

Another Strategy To Avoid More Government Bureaucracy. Breaking The Cycle That Drives Government Regulations

If You Become What You Hate, Who Will Be Left To Speak For You?

Could This Be The New Trillion Dollar Product That Vastly Reduces Bureaucracy?

Should A Police Chief Be A Former Police Officer?

The Chief of Police is a management position that should be held by an experienced executive, not a police officer.

Uber For Hit Men, Kidnappers, and Child Molesters Is Coming. Buckle Up!

Wealth, Poverty & The Middle Class

***

The Fundamental Change That Is Wrecking The Old Rules About Work & Poverty

***

How & Why The Anti-Gun People Will Likely Screw Up Marketing Their New Initiative

I Had A Strange Dream Starring Donald Trump, Mel Brooks & Dr. Melfi

Lots Of People Think They Know What Capitalism Is, But Many Don’t

***

Where Brock Turner’s Judge Went Wrong

The American Dream Is On Life Support, And Most Of You Have No Idea What It Really Was

An Open Plea To Google: Build The Foundation For Internet Voting In California

A Blueprint For How Google Could Make California The First State To Offer Internet Voting

If I Had A Billion Dollars To Make The World Better, I Would Totally Disrupt The Educational System

Education

Phone Password Security Explained In A Simple-Minded Way

11% Of Registered Voters Elect 80% Of The Congressmen — Why Congress Is So Horrible And How We Can Fix It

Senate Republicans = Cheaters. Nobody Respects A Cheater, Nor Should They

Here’s How Apple CAN Make iPhones That Are BOTH Secure And Accessible By Search Warrant, And Why It Should Do That

***

Do iPhone-Owning Criminals Have A Right To Be Immune From A Search Warrant? Don’t Samsung Owners’ Lives Matter?

Have You Been Listening To The Republican Debates? What Hard-Core Republicans Really Believe

The Civil War Was Not Fought To Protect The “Right” To Own Human Beings. It Was Fought To Protect The Notion That Black People Were Not Human At All

***

Two questions divided the country and sparked the Civil War:

“Are Black people really human at all?” and

“Does a political subdivision have the right to legalize activities that are illegal under the laws of the larger body of which it is a member?”

Radical Muslims LOVE Donald Trump — He’s Doing Exactly What They Had Hoped For

Radical Muslims want to incite a full-scale Everyone-versus-Muslims war and to do that they need to provoke material attacks on and mistreatment of mainstream Muslims. Lucky for them Donald Trump is only too happy to oblige.

If You’re For (Or Against) Government Regulations, This Post Is For You

The Real Force Driving Government Regulations Isn’t Left-Wing Ideology. The prime driver behind government regulations is human nature, the normal human response to a negative stimulus.

I Know Why Donald Trump Is So Popular. Do You?

To be as popular as Donald Trump, here’s what you do

Why Drug Pricing Has Almost Nothing To Do With Research Costs. A Few Minutes With A Calculator Reveals The Real Reason For High Drug Prices

***

Risk/Reward Analysis Doesn’t Work The Way You Think It Does. People Often Ignore The Hidden Dimension Of Time

***

The Right Part For The Right Job

Will Gay Marriage Ever Come To Dead Pig County, Texas?

Raising The Minimum Wage Has Little To Do With Helping People. It’s Real Value Is As A Tool To Reduce Welfare And The Size And Cost of Government

***

Shocked To Learn That God Does Not Have A Penis. How Could They Have Lied To Me All These Years?

Libertarianism And Socialism Are Both Failed Systems. We Need Another, Better Way: A Troika Of Dictators

***

The Maddening Personality Trait That Screws Up The World. It’s Not Arrogance Or Greed Or Any Of The Usual Suspects. It’s “The Ostrich Syndrome”

Why Some People Are Dead Wrong About Privacy. There Is No Right To Anonymous Speech

A Replacement For Incentive Stock Options — A New Long-Term Incentive Tool For Executives. Abolish ISOs In Favor Of PIUs (Profit Incentive Units)

***

“Shareholder Value” Isn’t What You Think It Is

***

A Pragmatic Look At Market Pricing. Market Pricing Both Efficiently Allocates Scarce Resources And Exacerbates The Scarcity Of Those Same Resources

***

An App To Turn Product Ratings From Junk Into Gold. Today, Customer Ratings Aren’t Very Useful, But They Could Be

What Is A Smart Person? Why Do Smart People Sometimes Say & Do Stupid Things?

***

A New Financial Instrument — Not Debt — Not Equity. A Different Form Of Investment Product

***

A New Form Of Business Organization. Replacing The Public Corporation With A Customer Controlled Company

***

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More from David Grace

Graduate of Stanford University & U.C. Berkeley Law School. Author of 16 novels and over 400 Medium columns on Economics, Politics, Law, Humor & Satire.

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David Grace

David Grace

Graduate of Stanford University & U.C. Berkeley Law School. Author of 16 novels and over 400 Medium columns on Economics, Politics, Law, Humor & Satire.

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