SWCAMBORNE

A few months ago my friend Scott S. made a claim that 40 Senators represent less than 10% of the US population but because of the closure rules they can effectively kill any legislation.  His claim seemed a bit hyperbolic so I did some research.  I used the States information on Wikipedia and found that Scott is (as usual) right.

The 20 least populated states which cumulatively have 40 Senators represent 9.45% of the US population. The least populous is Wyoming the twentieth is Mississippi. In terms of land area these 20 states represent well over 60% of the land.

The US Senate therefore is much more beholden to farm interests and property interests than the House of Representatives.  It is our House of Lords.  Is this fair? Should we be moving toward a more democratic senate?  I don’t know.

When our government was getting started only white men who owned property could vote and Senators were appointed by the State Legislatures.  Now almost everybody over eighteen who is not a felon can vote.  We are evolving toward democracy.  Maybe it is time for another change.  Like a constitutional amendment that says that no State can have more Senators than Representatives.

The border map exhibit at the University of San Diego  is closing this week.  It has been one of the most successful project I’ve been involved in about immigration so I’m working hard to get a new venue in LA or Arizona.

Thanks to Charles Pope and the entire staff at the Trans-Border Institute at USD for helping make it such a success.

The way I see it, you should live everyday like its your birthday.

Anonymous (from Oscar G.)

“No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.”

Dean Acheson

US Secretary of State under Harry Truman

Moral hazard occurs when someone insulated from risk behaves differently than they would behave if they were fully exposed to the risk.

An example is people who live in coastal zones where there is a high probability of a hurricane. They get insurance subsidized by the government so it is relatively less expensive to live there.

Another example is people who live in earthquake zones and don’t buy earthquake insurance because always in the past FEMA has stepped in and made almost everybody more than whole.  This example includes me.

In finance one way moral hazard occurs is that the FDIC insures $250,000 of bank deposits for individuals.  The investors then don’t have to care about safety of the bank they only have to care about yield.

Note the common thread.  The government is stepping in to try and reduce risk and by doing so promotes risky behavior.  I have written about moral hazard in the past recently about the Gulf Oil Cleanup and a few years ago about AIG bonuses.  Life is fraught with danger.  By trying to make everyone safe we create new and potentially worse dangers.

The libertarian solution is to get the government out of the risk reduction business.  The government should make sure that there is full disclosure and that widows and orphans are protected.  After that let private insurance and private transactions figure it out.  Let them fail.  Let the lawyers allocate the costs.

The course of human history has always moved in the direction of greater freedom.

Richard Ryan

Quoted in Drive by Daniel Pink

Our very good guide on the walking tour on the Cinque Terre was Alejandro Gullo.  He allowed us to call him Alex.

Alex is one of ten children and he and his wife have seven of their own.  Between his brothers and sisters they have 35 or 40 cousins.  Even if everybody is filled with goodwill all of these interactions cause some interesting dynamics.  Alex called the study of the relationships in his family “Gullo Dynamics” and he claimed to be the worlds expert.  There are dynamics in our small family and in our circle of friends and although we haven’t given them a name yet we have enjoyed thinking about the “Gullo Dynamics” of the various groups.   It is helping me be a bit more objective.

At Ankor Wat in Cambodia many years ago we had a guide named Tim who had a very calming walk.  In our family “Walking like Tim” is a code for calming down.  Gullo Dynamics has the same potential.    It can be code for “be objective”.  Another example came from Captain Wiley, a terrific Colorado River guide, we had in the Grand Canyon about five years ago.  Wiley used the expression “have a drink of water” as code for don’t get to testy.  And now we do too.

See all of my posts about Italy 2010

“How are you going to determine what the work is worth unless you begin thinking that a day’s work is worth a certain sum of money.”

The quote above was written by Elwood Mead the famous dam builder in 1927.  He was consulting in Israel at the time and was arguing against the Socialist Zionists and the Kibbutz movement.  He was so famous that after he supervised the construction of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead was named after him.

Mead turned out to be prescient about socialism.  The kibbutz movement is coming to an end in Israel.

Here is a little known fact: Mead designed many of the water projects that made the Jezreel, Esdraelon and Jordan Valleys bloom.

In rural Italy trash is picked up from centralized plastic dumpsters.

The good news is that the amount of trash on the streets has decreased dramatically.  The bad news is people have to take their trash to these bins which are on street corners everywhere.  Some of them have great views.

There is an opportunity for a Calendar in the vein of the “Round-a-Bouts of Derby” or the “Mobile Homes of New Mexico”

The presence of trash bins in such beautiful surrounding creates paradoxical photo opportunities.

More photos of beautiful bins

This morning as a Taxpayer your share of the national debt is $118,598.  By the time you read this it will have changed.

This is a great link for lots of details that might scare you.

World Debt Clock

http://www.usdebtclock.org/