Assorted

Hope you're enjoying the Week of Five Scandals, Gentle Reader. I know I am!

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1. Underground.

This article on the rapidly expanding underground economy makes the critical point:

The question is, what are the consequences? There are the obvious: The government does not collect taxes on the income of such workers. Because otherwise legitimate businesses can and indeed must pay "informal" workers in cash and therefore cannot deduct those wages as expense, we imagine most owners are, er, qualifying their own reported income. Also, we cannot count off-the-books workers, so government figures probably understate employment and economic growth, which might result in poorly-reasoned fiscal policy (in the alternative universe where actual economic conditions drive the political decision to increase or decrease the size of government).

But there is this, too, which concerns us far more than even hundreds of billions in lost tax revenue: When with regulation and taxation we drive the legitimate economy in to the shadows, we turn otherwise honest people who are only trying to earn a living in to dishonest people. Just as broken windows, litter, and graffiti beget more serious crime, underground business corrupts the soul, and makes people more likely to take or pay bribes, evade taxes, or otherwise break the law more comprehensively. Increasing quotidian dishonesty is a symptom of a culture in decline, and we ignore its consequences for posterity at the peril of our children.

The underground economy is an assemblage of black markets.
Black markets are outlaw markets.
Those who work or trade in outlaw markets eventually see themselves as outlaws.
Outlaws have no respect for the law.
When law receives insufficient respect, it ceases to operate -- at all.

Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

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2. The Beat-Down Is Working.

Ponder this observation of our current inanition:

Occasionally, I miss the Bush years.

Not because I’m a “compassionate conservative” or because I have a hawkish foreign policy outlook, or even because I miss the leader of the free world routinely asking after my lunch plans (and the lunch plans of everyone in a large crowd). I miss the Bush years because, back then, when someone in the government did something ridiculous to infringe on the personal liberty of American citizens, people would turn out in droves to Hula Hoop for Peace on Pennsylvania Avenue, and plaster what social media sites existed with Ben Franklin quotes about how people are stupid for giving up their rights to the illusion of security.

But now, the government just does sh*t like this and everyone is like, “meh.”

Outrage when outrage is appropriate is a sign of a healthy polity. Ours ceased to be healthy some time ago -- but we managed not to notice. We're certainly not terribly disturbed by it. That would require us to turn off Real Housewives Of Orange County and actually do something. Who has the energy?

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3. At Last!

You know, I've always wanted one of these -- they're so useful! -- but as a white man, and a conservative to boot, I was told I couldn't have one:

Thank you, Sister Toldjah!