Subduction Zone

Northwest Dealings

Category: Economics

Economics / Law Enforcement / Washington

Turn It Over To The Police

There was an article in today’s Seattle Times about a phenomena called curbstoning which, given their liberal definition of the article, any of us who have bought a vehicle from a private party have been involved with. Read the article for the juice on curbstoning. What really struck me was that apparently our fine legislature has found some need to require that anyone who sells 5 or more vehicles during a year must buy a $500 license, have a commercial place of business and more. You fall under this legislation even if you simply negotiate on the part of another...

Economics / Seattle / Taxation / Transportation

Urban Transportation Projects as Market Failures

The Seattle Times today presented one of the best arguments I have seen for terminating the Monorail Project: • Operations would almost certainly have to be subsidized somehow Koupit Clomid , as no public-finance expert interviewed by The Times believes the monorail’s claims that it can support itself from fares, ads and self-generated revenue. “Typically, urban transportation projects in the United States are not self-supporting,” said Scott Trommer, senior director at Fitch Ratings, one of the nation’s three bond-rating agencies. “They require subsidy support, from some kind of dedicated tax or government grants.” And, terminate all the other analogous projects....

Economics / Law Enforcement / Washington

Good Riddance?

She stole $143,000 from the Edmonds School District and is going to jail for 14 months: Lewin, a former district bookkeeper, has no criminal history, and she stood to spend just three months or less in the county jail under the state’s sentencing laws. By law, Bowden was able to go beyond the standard sentencing range because Lewin had agreed that what she did was a major economic offense against the school district. Deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell asked for only four months in jail. Lynnwood defense lawyer Michael Mulvihill recommended three months or less. Bowden acknowledged that Lewin cooperated with...

Economics / Law Enforcement / Seattle

Who Is the Seattle City Council Protecting?

The Binary Circumstance suggests that there may be more than “protecting the community” to Seattle’s strip club moratorium: Locally it has been suggested that the real purpose of the moratorium has been to insure that existing strip clubs don’t lose their monopoly on the market Well Kauf von Bactrim online , sure, monopolies are the natural result of any government imposed restriction on entry whether it is stip clubs, hospitals, lawyers, pharaceuticals, or….well, the list is near endless.

Economics / Law Enforcement / Washington

mckenna Announces Failed Program

Plastered on front pages across the Washington is mckenna’s announcement of increased use of failed policies: McKenna said that by June 1 he will have two new assistant attorneys general to assist in local prosecution of meth crimes across the state. He also will create a statewide task force of local and state law enforcement officials to determine the best meth-prevention strategy. The task force will help draft bills for next year’s legislative session. He also is setting up a program to work with local community organizations and professional associations to raise awareness of the meth problem. “State government needs...

Economics / Oregon

Free Market and Gasoline Distribution

Over at Blue Oregon Kari Chisholm attempts to misplace blame in telling the unsurprising story of a Salem service station operator, Brent DeHart, who appears to be getting screwed by Shell Oil which is both his supplier and the owner of an adjacent corporate station which underprices Dehart. At first glance I’ll accept that DeHart is getting screwed and I suspect is in the company of many others in the Northwest who have had the same thing happen at the hands of one or another of the big oil vendors right along with a lot of drivers who are hammered...