News Story of the Day: so you have two of the worst candidates running for United States President, you have ISIS killing everyone, you have failing government schools and you have bureaucrats sucking the taxpayers dry, but apparently the biggest issue in the country is… a transgendered washroom? Oy vey.
Target announced that it would be spending $20 million to install single-stall bathrooms to all of its stores. The retailer made the decision after there were threats of boycotts from consumers. Or, in other words, a group of people on social media didn’t like that a private company didn’t abide by their line of thinking. You must obey or these social justice warriors will destroy your reputation by… sending out a tweet.
“Some guests like and dislike our bathroom policy,” Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith said in an earnings call with investors on Wednesday. “Based on the best evidence I have today, the results really haven’t been material.”
It’s really interesting that people tend to hate blackmail, but boycotting is a form of blackmail, and is thus justified! Here is what legendary free market economist Walter Block writes about the blackmailer in “Defending the Undefendable”:
“Many actions in the public arena qualify as acts of blackmail, but, instead of being vilified, they have often attained a status of respectability! For example, the recent lettuce boycott is a form of blackmail. Through the lettuce boycott (or any boycott), threats are made to retailers and wholesalers of fruits and vegetables. If they handle nonunion lettuce, the boycotters assert, people will be asked not to patronize their establishments. This conforms perfectly to the definition: a threat that something, not in itself illegal, will take place unless certain demands are met.”
Also, must we police the actions of every private business?
Chart of the Day: ever since hitting a 12-year low in February, United States Crude has been on a tear, climbing about 70 percent. After there has been speculation about a potential production freeze, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude futures officially entered a bull market. U.S. crude is trading close to $50 a barrel, and this Bloomberg chart suggests it’s rather bullish.
Illustration of the Day: Hillary Clinton’s plan regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which has mostly nothing to do with trade at all, is very simple:
Quote of the Day: Black Lives Matter is a popular saying by not just black people but also politicians. But legendary free market economist Thomas Sowell has a different question to ask: does black success matter? Here is what one of the great economists of our time has to say:
Black success is a threat to political empires and to a whole social vision behind those empires. That social vision has politicians such as de Blasio and Hillary Clinton cast in the role of rescuers and protectors of blacks from enemies threatening on all sides. If politicians can promote paranoia, that means bigger voter turnout, which is what really matters to them.
That same social vision allows the intelligentsia, whether in the media or in academia, to be on the side of the angels against the forces of evil. That’s heady stuff.
And a bunch of kids taking tests doesn’t look nearly as exciting on TV as a mob marching through the streets, chanting that they want “dead cops.”
Black success has very little to offer politicians or the intelligentsia. But black children’s lives and futures ought to matter – and would, if politicians and the intelligentsia were for real.
Video of the Day: Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, believes if he is able to tax you more than you will be better off for it. Of course, these remarks were directed at high-income level individuals. But it’s nonsense to believe that a government can forcefully extract money from you and then create wealth for everyone else. The private sector as well as the rich can do a lot more for the poor than a state-sponsored program can ever do.
That which is seen and that which is unseen…
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