Life and Science

They go together so well because one shows just how amazing the other is.

Transit Woes

I lived in Chicago for a couple years and I thought the Chicago Card used for transit was fucking brilliant.  It was my model for how transit should be done.  I mentioned it to friends and family, I probably mentioned it on this mess of a blog a time or two.  It worked well, it was inexpensive to catch rides, encouraging more ridership, and it just made sense.  Apparently, that is no more.  And why this change from a good, functioning, efficient system:

...under the old system, rich investors didn’t get a piece of the action. Under this one, they most decidedly do.

Ah, yes: privatization makes things better dontcha know?

Waiting for a "Let Them Eat Cake" Response...

I think one of the things that a national income could very conceivably do is increase (not decrease) wages for lots of folks.  Think about the protesting fast food workers.  Now imagine that they all got $15k/year national income (roughly the equivalent of $7.50/hr).  On the one hand, it may seem like they would be fairly happy with only $5/hr for working, but that isn't quite right.  We have placed a value on non-working life of $7.50/hr, and have given those people the opportunity to reject working for wages that are insufficient.  Many people, could now afford to look into better opportunities, including going into business for themselves.  The pool of individuals willing to work for the current $8/hr mentioned may actually go down, while the number of customers, and the need to fill slots goes up.  This would mean that McDonald's would need to pay higher salaries in order to fill enough spaces to deal with their business.

Starting to Dread the Race for Guv

I'm at the point that I really hope Allyson Schwartz looses in the primary.  No Democrat should be able to vote to cut Social Security and ever again hope to win a primary election.