WeblogBahamas.com

WeblogBahamas commenter upset. We recant.

by Rick Lowe

"G", as s/he signs his/her comments, is annoyed that I stopped the comments to Dr. Machan's essays, Lessons in Freedom.

I took this action based on the fact that while Dr. Machan gave permission to reprint his essays here, he cannot answer comments, and I do not want to presume to answer for him.

On second thought, G raises a valid point about good discussions so I have rethought it and opened Dr. Machan's essays for comments.

Thanks "G". Comment away.

Economic Freedom and The Bahamas

by Rick Lowe

According to the Fraser Insitute's, Free The World.com project:

"Economic freedom has been shown in numerous peer-reviewed studies to promote prosperity and other positive outcomes. It is a necessary condition for democratic development. It liberates people from dependence on government in a planned economy, and allows them to make their own economic and political choices."

They go on to point out:

The universal 5 C's of Credit in The Bahamas and twitching in very private places.

by Rick Lowe

This recent post about banks in The Bahamas becoming more restrictive with their credit requirements, reminded me of the 5 C's of Credit.

When I worked for CIBC, I was taught the 5 C's are:

Traffic lights in Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas

by Sidney Sweeting, DDS

The issue of malfunctioning traffic lights on the island of Nassau has been a concern for a lot of us in the past couple of years. Regardless of how much we have called and written about it, the situation has grown progressively worse. Some lights have been flashing for at least two years. It has become a very dangerous situation.

The driving public does not know what a flashing light means. Does the crosssing traffic have a green light, a flashing light or a red light. A call to the Ministry of Works today was actually answered by a real person and not a machine - that's one small step. We were told that they are aware of the situation and "they are working on it". We had to presume that a lot of people have been calling because the Ministry was obviously not aware of it for the past two years. Do they not drive?

Lessons in Freedom: Futility of Egalitarianism

by Tibor R. Machan

The ancient Greek myth of Procrustes’ bed has it that the bed had the attribute of being exactly as long as anyone who lay down on it. Procrustes didn't disclose to his guests his scheme that those who lay down on this extraordinary bed got manipulated so that if they were too short for the bed they had their legs chopped off and if too long, the legs got forcibly stretched. This, it appears, is where the expression “one size fits all” originated.

Egalitarianism is the political view whereby everyone must be subject to equal benefits and burdens, as a matter of public policy. Arguably the mess with the current loan defaults originated with this idea, namely, that all citizens, never mind their particular circumstances, must be treated as if they were the same, as if they could handle mortgages of the same size, purchase equally fancy homes, etc.

The Six Miracles of Socialism

With Socialism on the rise once again, these points are worth considering:

1. There's no unemployment, but nobody actually works.

2. No one works, but everyone gets paid.

3. Everyone gets paid, but there's nothing to buy with the money.

4. No one can buy anything, but everyone owns everything.

5. Everyone owns everything, but no one is satisfied.

6. No one is satisfied, but 99% of the people vote for the system.

From Bennett Owen, National Review in 1990.

Found at Carpe Diem.

Lessons in Freedom: "Gifts" from Government

by Tibor R. Machan

It was as if President Bush became Santa Clause.  An MSNBC-TV anchor announced that the president signed into law a bill that extend unemployment compensation payments to jobless Americans and said, without flinching, that this is "good news." Only mainstream nonpartisan media can carry this off.

For starters, extending the period of time the unemployed will receive money from Uncle Sam is not such good news, even for the unemployed.  It doesn't encourage them to find a new line of work from which they could then make an honest living, perhaps even a better one than they made from their old job.  Also, the source of the unemployment funds are not personal wealth of donors who do not need to be paid back but come from members of current and future generations, thus making the unemployment payments a kind of loan from unwilling strangers.  Overall, the funds turn out to be a loan which will be a burden on the unemployed once they get a job again.  Then--and this one is a real lulu--the unemployment funds will be a burden on millions of yet unborn Americans while they had no opportunity to have any say about how the funds should be spent.  There goes "No taxation without representation" down the drain even though it was one of the victories that had been won at the founding of the country.

What's with the Tribune? The Bahamas leading newspaper and filler stories.

by Sidney Sweeting, DDS

Two articles in the Tribune recently, one last week and the other this morning (November 26th) has made me wonder if the Tribune is now placing nonsense articles just in an effort to fill space. One would think that there is enough significant news that this should not be necessary.

Is there anyone in the Bahamas who has an IQ high enough that they are allowed to walk around unaccompanied by someone responsible who can possibly care if Larry Birkenhead would like for his child to have a baby sister and would want this story to have a headline in a prominent section of the Tribune?

Banks in The Bahamas too restrictive with credit?

by Rick Lowe

Your not so humble blogger received a call from The Nassau Guardian on Monday, November 24, 2008 regarding the apparent restrictive lending policies recently implemented by the banks.

The question was something to the effect of whether or not I thought this practice is fair.

What can The Bahamas do about poverty?

Ever wondered what we can do about poverty?

Well Dr. Walter Williams provides some food for thought.

He tells us:

"Academics, politicians, clerics and others always seem perplexed by the question; why is there poverty? Answers usually range from allegations of exploitation and selfishness to slavery and colonialism and other forms of less than moral behavior..."

Read the entire essay by clicking here...