Monthly Archives: September 2011

Bureaucrats and innovators

Posted on September 30, 2011 by

There are always tensions between these two types of folks.  There are a couple main sources of this tension. The first source comes from how they view the world.  Bureaucrats focus on intentions and inputs, on how you do things.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, Innovation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

First Mover Myth

Posted on September 30, 2011 by

Occasionally I run into someone who trots out this smart-sounding post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy that many b-school student learn about. A post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy is a fallacy of false cause.  Someone sees a business that … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan, Business, Value Proposition | Tagged , | Leave a comment

More School Choice

Posted on September 30, 2011 by

Home schooling. I seem to know quite a few folks who are home schooling their children, which represents another choice in education for parents.

Posted in Education, Markets | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What “we owe it to society…” means

Posted on September 28, 2011 by

This is well done (HT: Don Boudreaux, Cafe Hayek).

Posted in Government, Liberty | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

School Choice Exists

Posted on September 28, 2011 by

In most debates and discussions about school choice, what is usually overlooked is that a good deal of choice already exists in education. Choice exists at many levels in our education “market”.  Folks who have enough money can choose to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Education | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Blockbuster

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

With seemingly self-inflicted stumble of Netflix last week, I thought I would mention that my local Blockbuster store seems busier lately. Their 99-cent pricing for non-new releases seems to be bringing in traffic.

Posted in Art of Management, Business, Value Proposition | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Policy by anecdote

Posted on September 23, 2011 by

At the 9:30 mark of the Peter Schiff video in this post, Mr. Cummings of the Congress on Jobs Committee says of “stimulus” spending: You can say what you want about the stimulus bill, but I can bring in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Debate, Economics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

“Stupid in America”

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

Check your FoxNews lineup and set your DVR to record John Stossel’s recent education special, Stupid in America.  If you know when it will next air, let me know and I’ll provide an update. It originally aired last weekend.  I … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Experimentation, Innovation | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Government is an expense

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

In this post, I wrote about how government is overhead. If you believe this view of government, then you shouldn’t use GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as an indicator of the health of our economy. Gross Domestic Product is calculated by … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Economy, Economics, Government | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

‘…a devalued government’

Posted on September 17, 2011 by

Peter Schiff explains it well (HT: Carpe Diem) in his testimony before the Congress on Jobs Committee: In fact, some of what he said is very reminiscent of this most excellent video of Daniel Hannan from 2 years ago, dressing … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Economy, Capitalism, Critical Thinking, Debate, Government, Leadership, Liberty, Politics | Tagged , , | 4 Comments