Terence Corcoran has a good column in the Financial Post about how the Internet is transforming ticket sales and the predictable complaints emanating from all the usual suspects--governments and ignorant rock stars who seem pathologically incapable of understanding basic economics. Typical of this mentality, tired old lefty Bruce Springsteen is apparently very unhappy that tickets for his concerts are being resold at much higher prices on the Internet than he would like.
Here's the problem, Brucie. You are very, very popular. People like your music. A lot of people. Heck, even I like your music and would consider paying to see you live, and I think you are a jerk. Unfortunately, you are in short supply. There is only one of you, but lots of us, and only so much time in your life to devote to playing concerts and a limited number of venues in which to stage those concerts. To put all this in economic terms, you are a scarce resource for which demand is high; as a result, the price of a ticket to see you will be relatively high no matter what you do. Try as you might, there is nothing you can do about this short of (a) producing crappy music so that no one wants to listen to you anymore; or (b) refusing to go on tour at all. You've already tried to set the price of your tickets at between $90 and $250 and look what happened. People started reselling them on the Internet at their true market value, which was much higher. You could go on tour for free, but even that wouldn't help, because the venues in which you perform cannot handle all of the people who will want to attend, so they will have to be weeded out in some manner. So instead of buying tickets, they will end up standing in line for hours and probably even days to be admitted to your concerts, meaning they will pay with their time, rather than their money. Free concerts and plays are held in Central Park in New York City every summer and this is exactly what happens. People are forced to get in line usually a day in advance to wait for a "free" ticket. Many people pay others, often homeless people, to stand in line for them. It might be a good way to generate jobs for homeless people, but it's silly to claim that the tickets are "free" unless you consider people's time to be worthless. You could tell everyone that you will put on free concerts for the next ten years, non-stop, and it still would not prevent people from paying the market price for your tickets, because people will want to see you now and in the venue of their choice.
You see, Bruce, prices simply reflect the value people place on different goods and services, not just the goods and services that they actually purchase, but the goods and services that they forgo by spending their money on some things and not others. When people buy your tickets, it means they believe that the tickets are more valuable than all the other things on which they could have spent that money. If it makes you feel better, the free market is the the fairest, most "democratic" means of allocating resources ever devised. And the real beauty of it is that you don't have to do a damn thing to make it work; all you have to do is shut up and sing.
Bruce, if you really want to be the "man of the people" that you seem to think you are, then stop complaining and let the people freely choose to pay whatever they want for your tickets. They are big boys and girls; why not treat them like adults rather than the numb-skulled proletarians you seem to think they are. Learn a lesson from your fellow rock star, Mick Jagger, who, when confronted with fact that Rolling Stones tickets were selling on the open market for thousands of dollars, just said, “They’re like fish ... market price.”
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
America Punk'd
What is it with America being terrorized by children?
Did you catch the fact that the Somali "pirates" were a bunch of teenagers with AK-47s? When I read this, the first thing that occurred to me was that the 9/11 terrorists were also fairly young. This isn't entirely surprising, I suppose. Radical movements, like street gangs, are often populated by disaffected young people. But what is with the most powerful nation in the history of the world getting terrorized and hijacked by a bunch of punks?
Considering this, I wonder whether it is time to start a revolution. If a bunch of kids from the bronze age can terrorize America with surplus AK-47s and a crappy motor boat, why couldn't a bunch of militiamen fighting for America's founding principles conquer Washington, D.C.? (Note to Dep't of Homeland Security: I am not advocating armed rebellion, here; just making a point. Don't get your jack boots in a tiff).
The difference, of course, is that you can only bring America to its knees today if you are fighting against its founding principles. If you are weak little punks hailing from a backward nation that refuses to enter the 19th century, let alone the 21st, you can easily shame our President into genuflecting before you, apologizing for leading the strongest, most productive nation on earth, and allowing you to kick us in the ass for years while saying "thank you sir, may I have another." If you are fighting for freedom, individual rights, and the pursuit of happiness, our government would stamp you out like a bug. According to the morality of today, only the truly weak and pathetic can force America to turn the other cheek, for, as the good book says, the meek shall inherit the earth.
Still, if we got together a bunch of fat, bald guys and made them wear those silly pointed hats . . .
Did you catch the fact that the Somali "pirates" were a bunch of teenagers with AK-47s? When I read this, the first thing that occurred to me was that the 9/11 terrorists were also fairly young. This isn't entirely surprising, I suppose. Radical movements, like street gangs, are often populated by disaffected young people. But what is with the most powerful nation in the history of the world getting terrorized and hijacked by a bunch of punks?
Considering this, I wonder whether it is time to start a revolution. If a bunch of kids from the bronze age can terrorize America with surplus AK-47s and a crappy motor boat, why couldn't a bunch of militiamen fighting for America's founding principles conquer Washington, D.C.? (Note to Dep't of Homeland Security: I am not advocating armed rebellion, here; just making a point. Don't get your jack boots in a tiff).
The difference, of course, is that you can only bring America to its knees today if you are fighting against its founding principles. If you are weak little punks hailing from a backward nation that refuses to enter the 19th century, let alone the 21st, you can easily shame our President into genuflecting before you, apologizing for leading the strongest, most productive nation on earth, and allowing you to kick us in the ass for years while saying "thank you sir, may I have another." If you are fighting for freedom, individual rights, and the pursuit of happiness, our government would stamp you out like a bug. According to the morality of today, only the truly weak and pathetic can force America to turn the other cheek, for, as the good book says, the meek shall inherit the earth.
Still, if we got together a bunch of fat, bald guys and made them wear those silly pointed hats . . .
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
On the Day Before Tax Day, Some Bad News and Some Good
As you prepare to file your income tax return tomorrow (if you have not already done so) and perhaps to make a check out to the U.S. government, consider for a moment what some of your money goes to pay for.
USA Today reports that "Two United Nations agencies spent millions in U.S. money on substandard Afghanistan construction projects, including a central bank without electricity and a bridge at risk of 'life threatening' collapse, according to an investigation by U.S. federal agents." Apparently, with the aid of a grant from Uncle Sam, the UN ran a "quick impact" program designed to upgrade infrastructure in Afghanistan and other "developing nations." This program "was designed to demonstrate results and promote confidence in the reconstruction effort, but the report suggests it did the opposite." As one contractor said, "the program was 'ill conceived from the beginning. This was a political idea to do quick impact projects that would look good.'"
Sound familiar? This is Keynesianism on an international scale. Make work projects, however ill-conceived, wasteful, and criminally incompetent, will somehow make us all richer. Remember the levies in New Orleans? I'm pretty sure they were built as part of a "quick impact" program run by ward healers in the famously corrupt city. When I think of the government running the health care industry or car companies or the banks, I think of examples like this, or the DMV, or the VA Hospitals, or countless others, and I wonder: do those who support this really, truly believe that this time it will be different?
Of course, there are no satisfactory answers to questions like this other than to recognize that, at this point in history, those who support gigantic government really don't care one way or another whether it will succeed. Half of them think it is right to give government control of everything; the other half are happy to oblige them and take control. All of them studiously avoid examining the nature of their actions or the consequences.
So I am happy to report some good news on the government front, namely that it still employs a few competent, highly trained individuals who excel at their jobs. Today's Washington Post reports on the demise of the three Somali "pirates" at the hands of three Navy snipers. While the lifeboat they were in bobbed in heavy seas during the night, and the kidnappers became more and more antsy and unglued, the Navy commander concluded that Captain Richard Phillips, their hostage, was in imminent danger and gave the order to remove him from harm's way. Three shots rang out, three pirates were dead, and Captain Phillips was safe.
If you have ever done any shooting, you will know how difficult it is to hit a target that is standing still during broad daylight. Even taking the time to get comfortable, wait until your heart rate has slowed and your breathing is under control, settle the cross hairs on the target, and gently squeeze the trigger, placing a bullet on a particular point even a relatively short distance away is damnably difficult. Now try it at night from one ship on rough seas when the targets are on a small craft bobbing on the waves a hundred feet away, and you can imagine what these snipers achieved. As one senior military official succinctly put it, "Three pirates, three rounds, three dead bodies." Nicely stated.
Bravo, gentlemen. If I could divert some of my tax dollars to you, I would gladly do it. You make us proud.
USA Today reports that "Two United Nations agencies spent millions in U.S. money on substandard Afghanistan construction projects, including a central bank without electricity and a bridge at risk of 'life threatening' collapse, according to an investigation by U.S. federal agents." Apparently, with the aid of a grant from Uncle Sam, the UN ran a "quick impact" program designed to upgrade infrastructure in Afghanistan and other "developing nations." This program "was designed to demonstrate results and promote confidence in the reconstruction effort, but the report suggests it did the opposite." As one contractor said, "the program was 'ill conceived from the beginning. This was a political idea to do quick impact projects that would look good.'"
Sound familiar? This is Keynesianism on an international scale. Make work projects, however ill-conceived, wasteful, and criminally incompetent, will somehow make us all richer. Remember the levies in New Orleans? I'm pretty sure they were built as part of a "quick impact" program run by ward healers in the famously corrupt city. When I think of the government running the health care industry or car companies or the banks, I think of examples like this, or the DMV, or the VA Hospitals, or countless others, and I wonder: do those who support this really, truly believe that this time it will be different?
Of course, there are no satisfactory answers to questions like this other than to recognize that, at this point in history, those who support gigantic government really don't care one way or another whether it will succeed. Half of them think it is right to give government control of everything; the other half are happy to oblige them and take control. All of them studiously avoid examining the nature of their actions or the consequences.
So I am happy to report some good news on the government front, namely that it still employs a few competent, highly trained individuals who excel at their jobs. Today's Washington Post reports on the demise of the three Somali "pirates" at the hands of three Navy snipers. While the lifeboat they were in bobbed in heavy seas during the night, and the kidnappers became more and more antsy and unglued, the Navy commander concluded that Captain Richard Phillips, their hostage, was in imminent danger and gave the order to remove him from harm's way. Three shots rang out, three pirates were dead, and Captain Phillips was safe.
If you have ever done any shooting, you will know how difficult it is to hit a target that is standing still during broad daylight. Even taking the time to get comfortable, wait until your heart rate has slowed and your breathing is under control, settle the cross hairs on the target, and gently squeeze the trigger, placing a bullet on a particular point even a relatively short distance away is damnably difficult. Now try it at night from one ship on rough seas when the targets are on a small craft bobbing on the waves a hundred feet away, and you can imagine what these snipers achieved. As one senior military official succinctly put it, "Three pirates, three rounds, three dead bodies." Nicely stated.
Bravo, gentlemen. If I could divert some of my tax dollars to you, I would gladly do it. You make us proud.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Jesus and the Tax Man
It is entirely fitting that Easter should come this year a scant three days before tax day. The holiest day for our primary religion followed closely by the holiest day for those secular religionists who pray at the alter of big government. On Easter, the magical Jesus Christ allegedly rose from the dead after supposedly dying for all of our sins. On tax day, our newly anointed president gets to spend our hard-earned wealth for all of our sins. Christians just tithed 10% or more to a magical, supposedly all powerful God on Sunday, and on Wednesday we all get to be forced to tithe another 30% or so to an allegedly magical, all powerful government. Hallelujah! We are saved.
I spent Easter weekend with my family being productive. When the weather warms, the grass begins to green, and the trees and flowers bloom, I am moved to get my hands dirty, not my nose. No prostrators we, the ground of liberty family kept our heads in the air, albeit at times with our knees on the floor (mimicking the pious in form only, but, I assure you, entirely for practical purposes; to clean a child's room, sometimes one must assume the perspective of the very short), and cleaned house, performing the amazing logistical feat of switching two little girls' bedrooms, and managing to clean and reorganize those two and a third. The weekend began with the house in that precarious state of barely controlled chaos, roughly the equivalent of a Jenga tower in a late state of play, and ended in a slightly more controlled state of chaos, with lots of toys and books and mysterious plastic thingies stowed in bags and boxes for sale, storage or donation (once again, an entirely pragmatic nod to the pious, Caesar being good enough to allow a tax deduction for things given away that cannot be sold). We celebrated the conclusion of our productive weekend in that distinctly American way--hiding, finding, and then eating chocolate eggs and other sweet, yummy goodies.
The kids loved their new rooms, especially the youngest, who just turned four and is now the proud mistress of her own bedroom, no longer forced to share a corner in the family office and guestroom. Most importantly, she has graduated from the converted crib to a full-fledged big girl bed with a pink lace canopy above it. There she sat, at the end of the day, playing and singing softly to herself, alone and very, very happy. Her very own space in her very own room. We adults call it private property; kids call it "mine." The level of understanding is vastly different, but the pride and contentment at having a space of one's own is very similar.
It is hard to allow the concept of "sin" into the same universe in which that little girl--indeed, this entire family--exists, and yet both the religious and the secular altruists would heap sin upon our entire weekend. We are atheists, for starters; we did not attend church, and, indeed, spend a good part of the weekend amusing ourselves by making fun of Jesus (Dad even proposed renaming Easter "make fun of Jesus day" but Mom was not a big fan of focusing on the negative, and preferred instead to mark the holiday as one standing for productivity). Some religious sects would stone us just for that. We decided to spend the weekend selfishly enjoying life instead of prostrating ourselves before some magical being in the sky and his tiresome, preachy son. We worked entirely for ourselves and felt enormous pride, a cardinal sin according to the religious and the secular alike. We hope to profit from the eventual sale of the items we've decided to discard, and if we donate anything, it will be for the express purpose of obtaining a tax write off, not to help the poor or the homeless or fat people or stupid people or people who can't pay their mortgages or the auto industry or animals or any of the other millions of "brothers" whose keepers we are supposed to be. We enjoyed yummy chocolate. We threw lots of things in the garbage and didn't recycle anything.
Fortunately for the altruists, tax day approacheth. Today, I experienced a few moments of darkness while contemplating the many hundreds of thousands of dollars I have been forced to pay to governments at all levels, the hours, days, and months of my life that I have been forced to work for the benefit of others, all for the privilege of having them throw up obstacles to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, erect a multitude of new offices and send hither swarms of officers to harass us and eat out our substance, and generally work hard to ruin the government we have instituted among men, and the civilized society that it sustains.
Then I returned home to find my four girls happily going about their lives, as if to say we never had to take any of it seriously did we. My family, in my home, on my property. My life. Those are ideas, ultimately, and they will survive their material expressions no matter how hard those who tax us try to take them away, provided we don't give them up willingly. They can tax the home, the property, the income, the belongings. But they cannot tax my soul unless I let them. And I don't.
I spent Easter weekend with my family being productive. When the weather warms, the grass begins to green, and the trees and flowers bloom, I am moved to get my hands dirty, not my nose. No prostrators we, the ground of liberty family kept our heads in the air, albeit at times with our knees on the floor (mimicking the pious in form only, but, I assure you, entirely for practical purposes; to clean a child's room, sometimes one must assume the perspective of the very short), and cleaned house, performing the amazing logistical feat of switching two little girls' bedrooms, and managing to clean and reorganize those two and a third. The weekend began with the house in that precarious state of barely controlled chaos, roughly the equivalent of a Jenga tower in a late state of play, and ended in a slightly more controlled state of chaos, with lots of toys and books and mysterious plastic thingies stowed in bags and boxes for sale, storage or donation (once again, an entirely pragmatic nod to the pious, Caesar being good enough to allow a tax deduction for things given away that cannot be sold). We celebrated the conclusion of our productive weekend in that distinctly American way--hiding, finding, and then eating chocolate eggs and other sweet, yummy goodies.
The kids loved their new rooms, especially the youngest, who just turned four and is now the proud mistress of her own bedroom, no longer forced to share a corner in the family office and guestroom. Most importantly, she has graduated from the converted crib to a full-fledged big girl bed with a pink lace canopy above it. There she sat, at the end of the day, playing and singing softly to herself, alone and very, very happy. Her very own space in her very own room. We adults call it private property; kids call it "mine." The level of understanding is vastly different, but the pride and contentment at having a space of one's own is very similar.
It is hard to allow the concept of "sin" into the same universe in which that little girl--indeed, this entire family--exists, and yet both the religious and the secular altruists would heap sin upon our entire weekend. We are atheists, for starters; we did not attend church, and, indeed, spend a good part of the weekend amusing ourselves by making fun of Jesus (Dad even proposed renaming Easter "make fun of Jesus day" but Mom was not a big fan of focusing on the negative, and preferred instead to mark the holiday as one standing for productivity). Some religious sects would stone us just for that. We decided to spend the weekend selfishly enjoying life instead of prostrating ourselves before some magical being in the sky and his tiresome, preachy son. We worked entirely for ourselves and felt enormous pride, a cardinal sin according to the religious and the secular alike. We hope to profit from the eventual sale of the items we've decided to discard, and if we donate anything, it will be for the express purpose of obtaining a tax write off, not to help the poor or the homeless or fat people or stupid people or people who can't pay their mortgages or the auto industry or animals or any of the other millions of "brothers" whose keepers we are supposed to be. We enjoyed yummy chocolate. We threw lots of things in the garbage and didn't recycle anything.
Fortunately for the altruists, tax day approacheth. Today, I experienced a few moments of darkness while contemplating the many hundreds of thousands of dollars I have been forced to pay to governments at all levels, the hours, days, and months of my life that I have been forced to work for the benefit of others, all for the privilege of having them throw up obstacles to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, erect a multitude of new offices and send hither swarms of officers to harass us and eat out our substance, and generally work hard to ruin the government we have instituted among men, and the civilized society that it sustains.
Then I returned home to find my four girls happily going about their lives, as if to say we never had to take any of it seriously did we. My family, in my home, on my property. My life. Those are ideas, ultimately, and they will survive their material expressions no matter how hard those who tax us try to take them away, provided we don't give them up willingly. They can tax the home, the property, the income, the belongings. But they cannot tax my soul unless I let them. And I don't.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Ayn Rand in the Financial Post
The Financial Post has two good articles involving Ayn Rand. In the first, FP editor Peter Foster defends Atlas Shrugged against some of the more common leftist misstatements about the book and about Objectivism, such as that Alan Greenspan's sell-out of Objectivism shows that Rand and Atlas were wrong. In the second, Alex Epstein of the Ayn Rand Center criticizes Obama for failing to understand that government is the problem, not the solution. Ayn Rand is gaining more and more traction in the media everyday, which is good news for all.
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