Head Slapper of the Week

As teachers in MN have their union-backed conference this week, giving students two free vacation days, let's see what the Socialist President of France, François Hollande, has proposed:

Socialist Hollande worries that privileged children benefit from parental assistance on take-home assignments and that disadvantaged children do not.

"An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home," Hollande said at La Sorbonne in Paris last week.

Although students will likely celebrate the axing of homework, they might lament Hollande's plan extend the school week from four days to 4 ½ days. Schools will dismiss children earlier than they already do most days and after lunchtime on the extra day, but the planned schedule is not without criticism.

So France's President has decided that despite high unemployment and economic malaise throughout Europe that banning homework was a burning issue.  Sometimes priorities appear to be mixed up for some folks.  Three and Half Head Slaps.

Head Slapper of the Week

For all those Andrew Zimmern fans, the following news will be of great disappointment and sadness.   A Florida man, Edward Archbold, passed away  on Friday after winning a cockroach eating contest.   The debate over the over-exposure to alternative protein sources can perhaps wait.  I'm not so sure that eating both cockroaches and super worms on the same evening would be beneficial to anyone's diet.

Here's the news story:

Hopefully no one's eating habits will need to be changed.  Two Head Slaps

What's up and Debate Thoughts

As you can guess from the frequency of my posts, I've been quite busy with work.  Work at Best Buy has been going at high intensity.  It seems like I'm working 10 plus hours many days.  But it is what it is.

I was also up in Duluth this past weekend to help out with my duties at the Golden Inn.  I learned a couple things while I was up there.  One, it's getting a bit nippy in Duluth these days.  Two, I probably should get up there more often to see my mother.  

Regarding that Presidential Debate over 60 million folks saw, I read and hear that Mitt Romney proved that he was well prepared for the debate in sharp contrast to the President.  I have to agree with that assessment.  I saw much of the debate and I have to say that the President's body language was terrible and his answers to the questions appeared cliches while Mitt's body language was quite energized and engaged.  

His answers, while eloquent, were certainly not stuff that would appeal to small government conservatives.  When did we think Republicans would cheer Romneycare as a triumph of bipartisanship and that they are fan of green energy too?  These are strange days in a strange election season.

Regarding the debate tomorrow, perhaps Rep. Paul Ryan can ask the VP about the following (which I do give Mitt credit for bringing up against the President):

  Who says the Road to Serfdom is not already here?

Head Slapper of the Week

In relation to Head Slappers, this week's winner is a physical accomplishment.   A 40 year old man in India created a record by smashing 18 coconuts on his head in 18 seconds.  Why?  To create a record of course.  See the feat via this link:

http://www.keyc.tv/story/19707176/man-breaks-record-by-breaking-coconuts?clienttype=printable&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7792300

Some folks may need to prioritize their time a bit differently.  Three Head Slaps.

Short Takes

As you may know, work has kept me quite busy last week.  However, at Best Buy they occasionally bring guests around for different promotions.  Last week, Best Buy was promoting the expansion of it's Wellness Center facilities.  These facilities include a nap room, health assessment center (body fat, weight, blood pressure), a work/fitness center (i.e. workstation on a treadmill), etc.  As part of the grand opening, Best Buy brought in Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Chad Greenway to take pictures with the employees.  So i dropped by for a quick chat and a picture.

The fitness center folks said that this was a great looking picture.  But I think it's just shows that both Mr. Greenway and I like to show off our dental work.

The only other news is that my supervisor comes back this week, so I may be down to helping replace some of the functions of two instead of three of my co-workers.

Other bits:

- Well, the Presidential debates are this week.  But frankly, I don't know if I've ever been so bored with a Presidential campaign.  I hear that we have two candidates, the President and Mitt Romney, that have distinctly different visions for the country.  However, while it's become quite clear what the President believes,  I don't know anything distinctive of what Mitt Romney beliefs.  I have not heard him distinctively talk about specific issues such as unemployment, the deficits, the Middle East, traditional values, etc. that would make him materially different than the President.  I have heard that he would "replace" Obamacare with "sensible reforms."  Well, if the man who signed government-run health care in Massachusetts talks about "sensible reforms," that sounds quite vague. So perhaps the debates will change the tenor of the campaign, but currently I've very bored with this election season.

- I went to my second wedding last weekend.  As I said, I don't go to many weddings, but I have to say it was once again a very nice occasion.  However, I don't see myself attending any other weddings anytime soon.  I guess this would be a good poll question though, hmm..

Head Slapper of the Week

Note: This is a pop culture alert!!! Please considered yourself warned

As a Minnesota Golden Gopher football season ticket holder, I'm as enthused as anyone for the team's fast 4-0 start.  One thing that has been lacking for this team is student attendance at the games.  As a former student, I can see two reasons for this.  One, the team wasn't too entertaining to watch (the team is just showing some respectability after the failed Tim Brewster coaching era).  Two, the tickets are expensive for students.  Season tickets were 90 bucks a piece, a tough pill for a poor undergrad to pay to watch a subpar football team.  

Well, the team is trying to gin up enthusiasm by putting up a short dance video.  All I can say is when I saw this on my local news the first thought in my head was "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"

I think Max Shortell should stick staying in the pocket.  Three Head Slaps!!

A time with Authority and Revisiting Hayek

To say the least, I've been very busy recently.  At Best Buy, I'm currently not only covering requests for my everyday tasks, but also most of the tasks of a couple of co-workers who are out on leave.  These 10+ hour days even have my Director asking me questions on when I'm taking vacation.  It is what it is.

I have though, had a chance to meet Best Buy's new Chief Executive Officer, Hubert Joly.  The Frenchman spent a little time to introduce himself to others at the Richfield corporate office.  As you can see, I had a chance for a short conversation.

I have to say Mr. Joly did not have the firmest handshake.  He had a friendly demeanor to him though.

The conversation was simply me introducing myself and talking about how well Mr. Joly has been able to integrate himself into the company.  The man has led the turnaround of three companies.  He'll have his work cut out here though.

At the end of our conversation, Mr. Joly asked me to hold a "V for Victory" sign in our picture together.  I'm working to see that victory actually happens and I'm confident that they will not be a dull moment in the next few months pursuing it.

I'll just say that there's never a dull moment working at Best Buy.

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As we enter the final stretch of this election year, I thought it would be interesting to take a contextual view of how this election fits into the evolution of our society.  Call me a pessimist, but I generally see us following the path that was dictated by Friedrich A. Hayek in his famous book, "The Road to Serfdom"

 I have a copy of this book which I first read as a sophomore at Carleton.  However, I will have to recollect facts of the book mainly by memory since I loaned the book out months ago.  Hopefully whoever has it is gaining some enlightenment from it (they know who they are).

Anyways, I'm quite concerned that the issues that Hayek talked about in the 1940s are quite relevant now.  Hayek wrote the the book to  "warn of the danger of tyranny that inevitably results from government control of economic decision-making through central planning,"^[1] 

^{Hayek discussed that back in post WWI Germany, the Nazi part was simply against individualism, capitalism, democracy and classical liberalism.  However, they used the} democratic system to gain power by convincing the electorate that socialism (economic control and guidance by the government) could be mixed with democracy and freedom would not be lost.  Well, we know how that story ended.

But way did it happen?  Let's think about what was happening about the time Hayek wrote the Road to Serfdom:

• Germany as wells as the world was recovering from a great economic crisis;
• A growing consensus that the solution of – trust in government to solve the problems of this crisis (Hitler was the ultimate Keynesian, pursuing a massive public works program to rebuild the economy, but also help his own ends);
• A growing acceptance to the concentration of power on part of the government through the message crisis (greater emphasis on nationalism)
• laws that are passed to legitimizes economic control over people lives
• loss of personal freedom (in Hitler's Germany, you know what that meant, I hope).

Does this sound familiar? Does the economic crisis in 2008, greater financial regulation, the increase of federal power in education, immigration, healthcare, etc. make you think about how much power has been centralized in our society today.   Personal freedoms lost to greater regulation and more invasive tracking techniques make you pause in thought of the devaluation of individualism that was seen for many years an integral facet of American Exceptionalism?

Going back to Hayek, another idea that he discussed in the Road to Serfdom is that the diversity of expectations in a democracy often leads to elected officials not being able to implement the policies they promised.  This generally leads to gridlock, which I'm generally a fan of due to my pessimistic view of the quality of any policies that are implemented these days.  However, the public at large over time can become disenchanted with government's inability to get things done (fiscal cliff, anyone?).

Hayek also talked about the the importance of economic freedom and economic security in relation to a more centralized state.  Hayek said that "Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends."  If one is expecting government intervention for mere subsistence, then a loss of economic freedom with inevitably result.  When one thinks that about 2 out of every 5 Americans are living under the poverty line and we hear folks expecting public assistance to pay their mortgage and/or their student loans, there's the potential for much loss of economic freedom and greater public disenchantment.

When the public becomes disenchanted, they can eventually unify behind one leader or group of leaders who promises to address their needs.  Over time that leader can gain greater centralized power the leads to the bullet points above.  That's pretty much what I recall from the book.  Does history repeat itself?  We'll see.