Category Archives: Business

We’re In Reach Of The Goal

We are less than two grand from the goal for the space-safety Kickstarter project. I have an offer from a potential donor to match the next thousand that comes in, which means that the rest of you only have to contribute a thousand on your own over the next two and a half days to get it home. Please, have at it.

Detroit

The moral of the story:

Even the best tax regimes are cannibalistic: Every tax is an incentive for the taxpayer to relocate to a more friendly jurisdiction. But tax rates are not the only incentive: Google is not going to set up shop in Somalia. Healthy governments create conditions that make it worth paying the taxes — which is to say, governments are a lot like participants in any other competitive market (with some obvious and important exceptions). The benefits of being in Detroit used to be worth the costs, but in recent decades millions of people and thousands of enterprises large and small have decided that is no longer the case. It is not as though one cannot profitably manufacture automobiles in the United States — Toyota does — you just can’t do it very well in Detroit. No one with eyes in his head could honestly think that the services provided by the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan are worth the costs.

The third lesson is moral. Detroit’s institutions have long been marked by corruption, venality, and self-serving. Healthy societies have high levels of trust. Who trusts Detroit? This is not angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin stuff. People do not invest in firms, industries, cities, or countries they do not trust. Corruption makes people poor.

And here are some recent graphic images of the results, from (Michigan ex-pat) Amy Alkon. As went Detroit, so will go the country, if the Democrats get their way on a national level, as they did in Detroit.

[Late-morning update]

“Detroit is liberalism’s Nagasaki.” Except there’s nothing “liberal” about it.

We Are Devo

Patricia’s nephew Matt, has picked up an interesting addition to his Kickstarter film project:

We have great news about the music in Charlie and Wendy. After talking with some of the band members for the last few weeks, DEVO has become involved with the film. A song by DEVO will be played during the opening and closing credits. The song works perfectly for the film. We are big fans of DEVO and many movies their music has been used in (especially by Wes Anderson). We are lucky to have them on board and are excited about using the song in the movie.

They still have a ways to go, but are off to a good start.