I’ve always wondered what would happen once private equity players decided enough was enough and foreign oligarchs finished their real estate money laundering transactions. Well, we might be about to find out. According to RealtyTrac, foreclosures for homes worth $5 million or more are up 61% this year despite the fact that overall foreclosures are … Read more
The cruelty inherent in animal factory farming is something that we as a species should find completely and totally unacceptable. Indeed, evidence shows that when people are exposed to the nightmarish conditions faced by factory animals prior to consumption they demand change. This is precisely why corporate interests have pushed ag-gag laws throughout the nation … Read more
Earlier this month, I highlighted the fact that the Carlyle Group was the latest in a series of “smart money” private equity firms to decide it was time to exit the suddenly extremely crowded “buy-to rent” residential real estate trade. At the time I noted that: As it sells apartments, Carlyle is focusing investments in areas … Read more
Private prisons are antithetical to a free people. Of all the functions a civilized society should relegate to the public sector, it’s abundantly clear incarceration should be at the very top of the list. Jailing individuals is a public cost that a society takes on in order to ensure there are consequences to breaking certain … Read more
I don’t follow the commodity markets as closely as I used to, but the following article related to beef prices really caught my eye. Last year’s drought and consequent spike in grain prices led to negative margins for cattle producers, who subsequently culled their herds. As expected, this has resulted in tighter supply today. We … Read more
Yes folks this is really happening. Don’t you just love how these crony crooks give awards to each other while the vast majority of the population can’t stand the sight of them? So not only is Jeb Bush set to present the 2013 “Liberty Metal” to Hilary Clinton, but apparently Jeb Bush is also Chairman … Read more
Regular readers know that I think the concept of “private prisons” is one of the worst ideas a society can possibly embrace. While I am a small government person who strongly believes in decentralization and doing things at the local level, incarceration is something that should never, ever be driven by the profit motive. Particularly … Read more
Traffic cameras raise privacy issues for sure, but they can also be devastating to your bank account. When I see these things hovering over my head on the pleasant streets of Boulder, Colorado not only do I think of Big Brother, but also of some overbearing bureaucrat trying to get his or her hands in … Read more
I previously covered these crazy “ag-gag” laws being passed in states with large meat production industries back in March in my piece: States Move to Criminalize Whistleblowing on Food Fraud and Animal Cruelty. Such laws represent a really disturbing macro trend in America where, rather than deal with inhumane, criminal and immoral practices, large corporations … Read more
Plane tickets to Orlando? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Dad’s cholesterol medicine? Check. A disabled person to help the family cut the lines at all the rides at Disney World? Checkmate. After all, how pathetically pedestrian would it be to have to wait on long lines with the unwashed 99% just to ride in the tea cups … Read more