As IF Times

Price ranges for glasses prove real eye-opener – chicagotribune.com.

For all the yak about how the modern information age has ushered in a new era of advantages for the modern consumer, the fact is, business models still favour the dumb consumer approach.   Which is to say, price things for as much as people will pay, the epitome of a free market system. 

Take the area of eyeglasses.  Logically, with the progress of industrialization, the employment of  high tech machinery, with efficiencies of distribution, how can it be that people are willing to pay upwards of over $1000 for  a pair of eyeglasses?  Years ago, I had the unfortunate need to pay for a cracked windshield on my car.  Insurance would cover the cost if I paid the deductible, or I could opt to pay for the “factory” glass from Stuttgart for $900.  Naturally, being an idiot, I paid to have the factory glass in order to maintain the ‘integrity’ of the car.

Still, I rationalize, $900 seems like a deal when you consider the expanse of glass, the weight for shipment etc etc.  It seems like even more of a bargain when you consider that people will pay $1000 for a couple of silver dollar sized pieces of glass in  a frame.  You would think somebody could set up a frame factory near a coke bottle plant and churn out spectacles for 5 bucks apiece.  These days, for less than a thousand bucks, you can buy the most recent technology flat screen TV.  This is what makes capitalism so great.  In a free market, there is no set price for things.  We are able to strike a good deal or get fleeced according to our needs and wants.

Think about the price of a car.  A very entry level car can be had these days for about $15,000.  Think of the materials, the engineering, the salaries, etc etc that are involved in creating that product for sale at a price to the public for approximately 15 pairs of expensive eyeglasses.  Competition in that space must be truly intense and the end result is that the consumer benefits.  Consider the price of a pair of jeans.  Some of today’s “designer” jeans are offered at $300 per pair.  Undoubtedly, these are made at the same turn of the century factories in China as the $15 work jeans that you can buy at Costco. 

The takeaway from this discussion is that the West may not be the industrial giant it once was, but they sure can market.  The wisdom is that cost of things has not as much to do with value recieved but more to do with price extracted.  These days it seems, we’re surrounded by hucksters.

 link Putin calls for bombers to be ‘scraped from sewers’ | Reuters.

What a tyrant.  Though only a short comment, we don’t see any contriteness for any Russian activities that may have brought on the bombings.  No introspecting touchy feely blather about how Russia may have brought this upon themselves.  No mollifying words to the Muslim community to assure them that they will not  be vilified. 

Pretty unambiguous words, “scrape from sewer”,  which to my mind, doesn’t imply let’s bring them to trial and see how it goes.  Putin voices the anger and frustration of an entire nation expressing outrage at the unprovoked attack on civilians. 

Despite a somewhat different way of running an economy, the Russians too have fallen victim to terror acts, much as Spain and Bali, Indonesia some years back.   Only in the U.S. do we observe official tiptoeing around sensibilities and rights.  Something tells me Putin is not going to worry about offending any one’s sensibilities in pursuit of those responsible.  A leader of a country has as his primary obligation, to maintain the safety of his nation.  Putin gets it.

link It’s About Government, Not Health Care – Mark Steyn – National Review Online.

Steyn has always been one of my favourite writers because he is able to incisively  dissect an issue favored by the left and expose the truth with a skewering wit.  This is a very thoughtful piece on what the real issue is behind almost any program offered by governments.  They are always launched under the disguise of the common good, but wind up being an apparatus for statists who then use the mechanisms for ratcheting up spending and taxation. 

As we have seen in many of our modern institutions, dismantling them once erected becomes almost impossible as entrenched participants carve out their turf like so many fiefdoms.  Think even of the institution of government itself, of the never decreasing bureacracies and  regulations to navigate in order to do anything.  Unlike private sector businesses which have to constantly justify and rationalize their existence, government institutions have no incentive to improve or become efficient.  Their source of funds are captive and guaranteed. 

The great fear in the U.S. is the very noticeable and alarming trend of the government taking over control of some of their biggest industries, from banking, to autos, to now health care and insurance.  Extrapolating this trend points to an economy entirely dependant on bureaucrats making decisions that were once made by a dynamic and free industrial culture.  It’s possible that the entire economy will be controlled by unelected assignees.  We all know how that works.  Think Post Office.  As Steyn distressingly points out, the people in power make very little difference once the machinery is built.  Right now, it appears the most massive machinery in history is being assembled down there.  Only a few seem to get it.