The body-count of laissez-faire economics

Posted by Tengrain Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Let’s be real: the explosion at the fertilizer factory was completely preventable. If Grover Norquist and his ilk were not so busy trying to starve the beast and bathtub-drown it for the 1%, there might have been some reasonable inspections that would have at least warned people that this was likely to happen.

Instead, over the past five years, exactly six fertilizer plants have been inspected. There are many more explosions waiting to happen. How is this possible, you ask?

In the US, there are more than 170 companies making 70,000 different chemicals, totaling $750 billion revenue, and so it only seems logical that Congress funded $10.5M for inspections. You can do the math. It is beyond preposterous.

And of course, we should thank Chimpy for the miracle of self-regulation and reporting that is supposed to make up the difference.

As for Texas, well, what kind of zoning laws would allow a bomb-making plant (remember, chemical fertilizers were part of the swords to plough shares at the end of WWII, but the industry really did result from bomb making) in a populated downtown, walking distance to the hospital and elementary school, and with several senior housing facilities also in the radius of the blast?

It all adds up to a perfect storm of Ayn Rand style selfishness and greed, and now it has a body count.

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave, Wingnuttia | 11 Comments »

Walmart takes crowd sourcing to logical conclusion

Posted by Tengrain Thursday, March 28th, 2013

You will work for them for free.

And please remember that collectively, the Walton Family is the wealthiest in America as you deliver packages for them without pay.

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave | 10 Comments »

Atlas Shrugged, Pt. 2

Posted by Tengrain Friday, March 8th, 2013

Hey guys, did you know that Atlas Shrugged 2: The Strike was released? Me Neither! And there I was making fun of it last year when they were begging people to donate money to it and asking unpaid labor to work on it. Galt, indeed.

Here’s some reviews (from Rotten Tomatoes):

“Seriously, if this is the best promotion of itself that the free market can manage, it really would benefit from the help of a Ministry of Culture or something.” — Village Voice

“A disaster as a film, Atlas also is laughable in its presentation of Rand’s ideology.” — Philadelphia Inquirer

“The determined, if questionably talented, cast and crew of Ayn Rand devotees continue to hack their way through the lionized author’s obtuse prose.” — OK Magazine

“Rand’s detractors will hate the movie as much as they do her, but her fans will be satisfied …” – Sacramento News and Review

Maybe if they added sparkly vampires to the Director’s cut…?

Anyway, it looks like it was released right before the election in November (perhaps to persuade assholes and libertarians to vote?), and according to the IMDB it is estimated to cost about $10M to make and to date it has earned $3,333,823.

The market has spoken! Please, dear God, no Part 3, which I assume is when The Speech (a 50-page screed by one character) would be spoken.

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave, On the take, Pop Culture | 7 Comments »

Idaho Goes Galt?

Posted by Tengrain Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

BOISE – Coeur d’Alene Sen. John Goedde, chairman of the Idaho Senate’s Education Committee, introduced legislation Tuesday to require every Idaho high school student to read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and pass a test on it to graduate from high school.

When Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, asked Goedde why he chose that particular book, Goedde said to laughter, “That book made my son a Republican.”

[snip]

Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, questioned the choice of the book for a graduation requirement. “We have a wide variety of children who will be trying to graduate and reading and grasping some of these things, and their cultural context may be different,” she said.

Goedde responded, “I don’t plan on moving this forward – it was a statement.”

Nevertheless, as a formally introduced bill, the measure will be read across the desk in the Senate Wednesday morning and will receive a bill number; it will be among the bills posted on the Legislature’s website for the session and preserved in its records.

OK, it is not moving forward, but there it is.

“When I read Atlas Shrugged, and it’s been probably 30 years since I read it, but it certainly gives one a sense of personal responsibility,” Goedde said.

Like the personal responsibility to introduce legislation you have no intention of moving forward, wasting everyone’s time and money for your own personal vendettas? Congratulations, sir, you have learned the true essence of Atlas Shrugged: Fuck you, I got mine. What an assrocket.

(Spokesman-Review)

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave, education, Feast of Saint Ronnie, Wingnuttia | 5 Comments »

The Protocol of the Elders of GOPland

Posted by Axel Grease Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

in a secret ceremony, the GOP elders plot out the protocols of their 2012 platform

ryan rand

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave, Rat Bastards, Teabaggers | 4 Comments »

Outsourcing the offshore, literally

Posted by Tengrain Thursday, July 5th, 2012

This is an example of what can happen when local governments privatize public services:

Tomas Lopez, the 21-year-old lifeguard, was fired on Monday after he left his station to help a man who had been pulled out of the water in an unprotected area of Hallandale Beach. According to the Orlando Sun Sentinel, Lopez and an off-duty nurse tended to the man, a 21-year-old from Estonia, until paramedics arrived. The man—who is recovering at a local hospital—was in a “swim at your own risk” area of the beach about 1,500 feet south of the boundary lifeguards are expected to patrol.
…snip…
“We are not a fire-rescue operation,” Jeff Ellis, head of company that manages the lifeguards, told the paper. “We are strictly a lifeguard organization—we limit what we do to the protected swimming zones that we’ve agreed to service.” The company has provided lifeguards for the area’s public beaches and pools since 2003.

And so the issue is?

“We have liability issues and can’t go out of the protected area,” Lopez’s supervisor, Susan Ellis, told WPTV. “What he did was his own decision. He knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do.”

Sweet baby Jeebus with a life preserver. Rescuing someone outside of your imaginary border could open you up to a lawsuit, while letting him drown is OK? I’d like to know what the city manager has to say about this.

“We take the safety of all visitors to our beaches very seriously,” Hallandale Beach City Manager Renee Crichton said in a statement. “Whether they are in a protected area or unprotected area, we believe aid must be rendered.”

One of the common complaints I hear from Wingnuts about Public Employees is that they say that something “is not my job.” And so here is a private sector company in charge of lifeguards saying that rescuing someone is not their job. But we probably won’t hear a single peep about that.

(The Lookout)

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave, blood sucking leeches, CEO Bastards | 10 Comments »

The Morning Quote

Posted by Tengrain Sunday, February 5th, 2012

“If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room, I would give them a shot of estrogen.”

Honest rape? Because those dishonest rapes don’t count? Or is this some sort of market forces thingie that the Rontards are always going on about?

(CNN)

Posted in 2012 Goat Rodeo, Ayn Rand's Grave, Wingnuttia, Xristian Xraxies | 8 Comments »

Update: How’s that fiscal nirvana Gov. Walker?

Posted by Tengrain Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

Read it and weep, Scott Walker, you wall-eyed git:

Gov. Scott Walker has repeatedly assured Wisconsinites that his assaults on local democracy, public services, public education and collective bargaining rights would create jobs and prosperity.

In contrast, the governor has argued, the decision of Illinois officials to tackle budget challenges with fair tax policies, respect for public employees and efforts to maintain services would cause doom and gloom for that state.

So…?

The October jobs figures for the United States were just released. Illinois led the nation in job creation, adding 30,000 new jobs.

Huzzah! Good for Illinois! But what about that Randian Job Creators’ Paradise promised by wholly-owned Koch Brothers asset and Madison’s own Herbert Hoover Scott Walker?

Under Walker, Wisconsin now leads the nation in job losses.
In fact, of the states that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics described as experiencing “statistically significant unemployment changes” in October, only one actually lost jobs: Wisconsin.

Wisconsin lost 9,700 jobs in October, almost all of them in the private sector.

(John Nichols)

Posted in Ayn Rand's Grave, Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!, Wingnuttia | 4 Comments »