Friday, January 10, 2014

Regardless Of How You Feel About This Issue, This Is A Reminder That Ours Is A Country Founded On Resistance To Govt Authority

Gun ownership surges to 39%, ending 4-decade slump

Historically, the stronger the "control", the stronger the resistance.

[I'm not one to complain.  My grandfather, after arriving in the US from Scotland, earned his way out of debt and into home ownership by helping off-load small boats from Canada that were loaded with illegal whiskey, and all thanks to politicians and their Prohibition.  That's why he and I love this country.]

On my last trip across the breadth of New York state, I was amazed at the sheer volume of business in the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products on the Seneca reservation.  The cigarettes are tax-free, you see, so they cost approximately 80% less than they do in Manhattan. Seeking to control human behavior through punitive taxation also works great, doesn't it?

On a related note:

If Bill de Blasio keeps going the way he’s going, the Sunshine State’s going to put up a statue of him. Not since Ponce de Leon discovered the place has any one man done more to guarantee future inflows of wealth and investment to Florida than [New York City's] new mayor.