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How to Recognize a Bad Idea

 

It's not hard to spot a bad idea. It's usually presented by someone who can easily play the victim card - and almost instantaneously does when criticized.

When Obama presented socialism to America, immediately he suggested that such criticism was born out of the fact that he didn't "look like other presidents" (his words). Never mind that socialism always fails.

Good ideas area exactly that - good ideas. The ideas aren't attacked, but instead their proponents are attacked - as racists, as fill-in-the-blank-ophobes, as privileged, and so on. You recognize an inarguable idea when the people pushing the idea are insulted and not the idea itself.

 

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by Brett Rogers, 4/2/2018 9:48:36 AM
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The Insurance Industry is Not a Free Market Solution

 

There's an idea floating out there that police officers should carry liability insurance.

That's the dumbest idea ever. It's like trying to hire a babysitter to watch over the bad babysitter who occasionally hurts your children. The right thing to do is just fire the bad babysitter. But with bad police officers come unions and the likely inept municipal government that hires them.

Forcing everyone to get liability insurance will only reward insurance companies. Can you imagine the rates? Can you imagine how much an officer would hesitate to do their job because proper action might drive up their rates?

Good God, no. Inserting a third party to solve crappy human resources issues is beyond moronic.

Root cause: we can't get rid of bad employees in government. Whether it's teachers, bureaucrats, cops...

All attention ought to be focused on stupid retention policies. Public sector unions ought to be eradicated. Bad managers in government ought to be fired and then the bad eggs thrown out with them.

But not the purchase of insurance.

Bonds for contractors, malpractice insurance for doctors, liability insurance for engineering firms... some would argue that these work, but all they do is jack up our price for doing business with these companies and their people. That cost is passed on to us, and these companies and people can raise their rates to cover these costs.

Police officers can't "raise their salary" in response to high insurance rates. Their salary is fixed - unless they get a second job or do something illegal.

Want better police officers?

1) Make firing the bad ones easy.
2) Take the issuance of speeding tickets away from them. It has ruined their relationship with the public.

These two things will better enable them to truly "keep the peace" and make them peace officers once again.

 

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by Brett Rogers, 4/3/2018 10:47:18 AM
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Conformity is a Recipe for Personal Disaster

 

Mr. Rogers became famous for his message of treasuring uniqueness. His show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, started the late 60's and finished in the 90's. That's also about the time that conformity began to trump individualism.

The irony is that the 90's saw the rise of the Internet search engine, where uniqueness is the key to being found. For example, if you put yourself out there as a business consultant, Google yields over 14 million results. But if you're a business consultant who specializes in employee retention after a downsizing event, there are just 200K results. In that environment, the more niched you are, the more unique you are, the more likely it is that you'll be found and noticed.

The rise of social media pushed back against unique voices. The desire for Likes cut any drive for edginess. The Left found that they could shut the mouth of others by feigning indignity at the mere hint of slight.

Being "Liked" and steering clear of offending anyone became all-important.

For that reason, there's never been a better time to be an individual, deeply invested in uniqueness and unafraid to say what needs to be said. By doing so, you'll stand out in an ever-thinning crowd.

 

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by Brett Rogers, 4/11/2018 10:53:13 AM
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The Threat to People

 

As society dumbs itself downward (re: Idiocracy) and artificial intelligence (AI) asserts itself as an alternative to the inconsistency of humans, humans are understandably concerned.

Whether it's driving for us or manufacturing for us or making hamburgers for us, AI threatens the opportunity for humans to work and earn a living. The smarter among us can program these machines and maintain these machines, but those without keen design or engineering or programming skills will have to fight machines for work.

Like it or not, AI is a euphemism for human replacement. Employers will, of course, be tempted to choose machines to staff the jobs where possible.

So where do humans fit in?

The agricultural society gave way to the industrial society, which gave way to the service economy... and in each movement, it was hard to predict what would come next.

Humans are inventive and creative. Given the freedom to do so, we adapt.

Whatever the next phase of economy is for humans, the biggest threat to it is not AI. In fact, AI might even assist this next phase.

What would inhibit the freedom of people to nimbly adjust with innovation is government. Just as the Internet grew wildly in the 1990's and created so much of the business opportunity that exists today, what now constrains innovation is government regulation and interference.

Big players love government regulation because the costs of regulation are just passed on to their existing customers. Compliance with those same regulations, however, keep the small upstarts from successfully launching innovative products and services. Regulation limits competition, which favors business continuity for the big players - who also happen to write big campaign checks to the politicians who promote such regulation.

Sadly, many of those who love technology buy into the notion that government is their friend. Nothing could be further from the truth, and a little explanation about it can maybe foster some healthy skepticism. The last people we should ever trust are those in government - especially when it comes to new ideas and technology.

 

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by Brett Rogers, 4/25/2018 2:00:19 PM
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