As IF Times

link  Miami airport screener accused of attack after jeers at genitals – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

You know this had to happen.  Previously I expressed that what they should really do is to have the images on public display for amusement to pass the time while being forced to shuffle forward a foot at a time like sheep in the airport lineups.   In fact as the recent NY bombing incident seems to show again, I’m not sure why they keep up the charade of screening people with current methodology at all.  The guy who is a “suspect” in the Times Square bomb attempt actually got on board a plane even though apparently he was on a  no fly list.  Somehow the undie bomber got on board a plane at Christmas time and he also was on a no fly list.

The only people airport scanning seems to inconvenience and catch are those carrying bottles of lotion or packets of gum.  So now, we have an institutionalized system in place that:

a.  is inconvenient to all of the public

b. is expensive as far as hiring all the crack security clerks

c. is expensive as far as the high tech machines involved

d. does not filter out those it should filter

e. is a source of entertainment for the staffers

It gets even worse.  If you think about it, the ‘authorities’ didn’t even catch the perps in both the cases mentioned, it was the public that brought them to attention.   So why bother with the elaborate charade to show people how secure they really are when they are better able to protect themselves without official help?  

The biggest obstacle to many of the ills facing us today are perpetrated by those in government that seek to placate the larger public while not offending a very small few, in many cases, casting  aside common sense  We’re willing to traumatize, inconvenience, embarrass, harass average people but unwilling to take a hard line against actual thugs.  Presently, the headlines are filled with bleating about the racial nature of Arizona’s toughened illegal alien laws, laws which only serve to underline existing federal laws. 

There are an estimated half million illegal immigrants in that state.  Surprisingly 99.999% are likely illegals from Mexico.  Associated crime from this constituency is out of control.  If you’re going to have a crackdown on enforcement of border issues, where do you look?  If people cannot even be allowed to use common sense in their decision making, there truly is no hope.  This logic brings to mind the old joke:

“…Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese.  And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them.  It’s either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin.Or my younger brother Ho-Chau-Chou.   But I think it’s Colin…”

$12 Cup Of Coffee Comes To New York.

Another example of why capitalism is great.  To people not living in NY city, $12 seems like a lot of money for a cup of coffee.  Bear in mind though that the cost to rent a cubbyhole in Manhattan is much higher than anywhere else in the U.S.   According to rent.com, an average rent (and this can be a meaningless statistic) is about $1600 per month plus utilities.  They go on to claim that:

“…The overall cost of living here is 364% compared to the national average, making it just slightly less than California’s Silicon Valley, the most expensive area in the nation…”

So, 12 bucks for a coffee may not be out of whack  in this context.  But here’s the salient point:   Not ALL cups of coffee are 12 bucks a shot.  Assuming you were too lazy or your apartment wasn’t big enough for a coffee maker, you could always find a coffee somewhere at a discount place….like Starbucks.  Nobody compels you to pay the top tick for a coffee.  It’s entirely at your discretion and the vendor is entirely entitled to charge whatever he thinks the market will bear.  It’s not as if everyone is forced to patronize this vendor.   If the guy can’t get enough people to buy his brew, he goes out of business.  If he gets customers, he prospers.  It’s all fair.  He can’t run to the government and claim  a subsidy.

Recently I had occasion to dine at a restaurant at a resort destination which charged $52 for a bottle of Cabernet available at the grocery stores for $14.  While this was annoying, the fact is we paid for elegant surroundings and pleasant ambiance.  Like the coffee, we are willing to pay up as a trade off for some tangible or intangible benefit.  For New Yorkers, the ultimate option is always available for them to not  live there.  At some point the cost of living is going to overwhelm whatever benefit may accrue to their continued residence.  People may come in to take their place, or they won’t. 

We’ ve fallen into the trap of thinking there is a ‘right’ price for something, a notion that is wildly irrelevant.  As the crazy theory goes, the right price for things should be a function of supply and demand.   In real life, there should not be an arbiter of what price is the right price.  At the moment, most of the U.S. is suffering from the ongoing real estate softness that began a few years ago.  Government is being asked to help out homeowners who are at risk of default because of ill timed or ill advised purchases. For most people, they were innocently caught up in the tide of rising prices and inaffordability and it must seem unfair that they now suffer for only wanting to acquire a home. 

The role of government in this disaster cannot be overstated.  Their role of essentially providing a guarantee for everyone who wanted to buy a home has backfired in the cruelest way, bankrupting many and indirectly causing the great bank debacle of 2008/2009.  While it may be compelling for state and federal governments to help out with one hand,  the fact is, it can only be done by taking with the other hand through taxation.  This is especially galling to those who were not leveraged and exposed to the housing markets because now, they too will be exposed through higher taxes and reduced services by governments because of it.   It may seem outrageous for someone to pay $12 for a cup of coffee.  It’s more outrageous when you find out you are indirectly paying  for it and didn’t have a sip.