On last weeks show we talked about a topic that is happening right in my hometown of Pittsburgh. It involves UPMC and West Penn Allegheny. Steve wanted to come on the show because he was unhappy that West Penn Allegheny was trying to call UPMC a monopoly, while also making the word itself look evil. Steve shows us how this is not the case and that we should embrace UPMC for doing so well in this region and paving the way for a new Pittsburgh renaissance.
The following is a transcript of Steve’s speech on the show. I am posting here so we all have a chance to read it. If you would like to share your opinions about this subject leave a comment or talk with us live on TalkShoe.com, 8pm Sundays.
This is an approximate transcript of what Steve Sheppard had said on the “Talk Objectivism†talkcast on July 22, 2007. The following is Steve’s views and not necessarily the views of Objectivism or this website.
Continue reading ‘Monopoly vs. Coercive Monopoly (Show 019)’
I have been following the Internet Radio Royalties battle for a while now. The main reason is I like to see how corporations manipulate the government for their own benefit. This is why Rand supported separation between state and economics. By watching this issue you see that she was right.
If you read between the lines you will see that the big corporations lobbied the Copyright Royalty Board (Congress) to set royalty fees so high it would force smaller radio stations to shut down. That way the only choice you have left is theirs. If you think I am crazy for saying this, look at the internet stations that didn’t support the Internet Radio Day of Silence. The one at the top of that list is last.fm, which is owned by CBS. CBS would love to see the little guys get shut down. That would mean more money for them and less choices for you. This is a prime example of how the free-market is being destroyed by the government.
This Sunday was going to be that day when the new rates were going to take effect. So a lot of sites were ready to shut down. Then something amazing happened, SoundExchange, the people that collect royalties, told Congress that it would NOT collect. They felt that the fees were not fair and need to be reevaluated.
SoundExchange heard the cries from the radio stations and listeners. They looked at the rates that were set by the Copyright Royalty Board (Congress) and felt that something was not right about it. Now, SoundExchange and the Webmasters are negotiating their own pricing and are keeping Congress and the Copyright Royalty Board out of it. Looks like internet radio is safe for now because the free-market (you and the webmasters) is standing up to government.
On the show recorded on Sunday July 8th, 2007 we discussed global-warming and tried to give the Objectivist viewpoint on the issue. There was a defender of global-warming that attended, so there was a small debate.
Here are the key points:
1. What is global-warming? Global-warming can be interpreted in two ways: 1) The Earth has experienced a trend of increasing temperatures. 2) The temperature of the Earth is and will continue increasing unless we do something about it.
2. Does global-warming exist? If we take the first interpretation, then yes. The Earth has been observed to have a trend of increasing temperatures; this is not disputed. The problem, however, is that people use the validity of the first interpretation to assert that the latter as also true. This is where the debate begins.
3. What caused this global-warming? There are many variables that are not fully understood about what dictates the Earth’s climate. The current models that are being used to predict the future do not match the past. There is no proof to demonstrate that man, or nature, has caused this warming. There are hypotheses, but that’s all.
4. Should we act? Being environmentally friendly can indeed be a selfish act, but for the government to pass regulations that stifle the industries could be disastrous. In order to create such regulations, we must be certain that these industries are causing global-warming, but this is currently not the case.
I feel that the supporters of global-warming should spend more time educating and researching, and less time lobbying the government. It annoys me when they present their argument as fact and try to scare me with doomsday speeches. Man-made global-warming is not a fact; it is an unproven hypothesis. I bet in 10 years global-warming will be a thing of the past and there will be some new environmental catastrophe that people will be worrying about.
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The Ayn Rand Institute came out with another op-ed about the war, The Real Disgrace: Washington’s Battlefield “Ethics”. It talks about a report that was recently released by the Pentagon that says troops would not report “unethical” behavior by fellow troops. The author of this op-ed explains why he takes the side of the troops.
The author says it’s the Washington’s Rules of Engagement that are crippling our troops and pushing them to use this “unethical” behavior. He also explains how Bush is sacrificing our troops for the freedom of others, and is not really fighting our enemy (Iran). When the author brought up that Washington and Bush view this as a compassionate war, I was reminded of an essay by Rand.
The essay is called Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World. She focuses on how the idea of altruism is destroying our way of life. She mentions that both the liberals and conservatives fall victim to this train of thought. Bush was quoted saying, “sacrifice for the liberty of strangersâ€. How messed up is that! Our military was formed to protect this country and our way of life, NOT the country and way of life of others! Here is proof that the idea of altruism has found its way into the military, a place where it should not be.
Yes, our troops risk their lives, but they do it to protect their way of life. And that is moral. To force them to sacrifice themselves for others is immoral. We need to understand the difference and protect our troops from this altruism so they can protect themselves and the American way of life.
