The invisible had of the market at work
-Headline of the day-
"Japan's Strict Building Codes Saved Lives."
By now, everyone knows that an earthquake in Japan last night was really bad. But it turns out it could've been really badder, had it not been for burdensome, innovation-destroying, big gummint regulations. According to the report, Japan's "death toll is in the hundreds," but without a whole bunch of earthquake mitigation stuff, "tens of thousands of people might already be counted among the dead."
The Japanese government has foolishly "spent billions of dollars" on boondoggles like "warning systems set up in each home," "footpaths and other escape routes leading to higher ground" that are "clearly marked," "concrete seawalls... as high as 40 feet," "networks of sensors that can sound alarms in every residence," and "automatically closed floodgates" to "prevent waves from surging up rivers."
And look what all that government waste got them; nothing but saved lives. (New York Times)
-Family values-
Salon's War Room blog put together this handy graphic showing the number of wives and ex-wives per GOP presidential candidate over the years. I think I detect a trend.
The Republican Party: protecting traditional marriages by having them over and over. (War Room)
-Bonus HotD-
"Tsunami Relief And Preparedness Cut In GOP Budget Proposal: National Weather Service."
The Republican Party are soft on tsunamis and are probably earthquake sympathizers. (Huffington Post)
