David Berube’s OLD Blog

I was having lunch with Allan, an associate of mine, the other day. The talk was tech related and then somehow it turned into a chat on civil liberties and capitalism, don’t ask me how, but it did.

I explained to Allan that I’m a strong believer in personal freedoms and civil liberties. He asked how so? I explained to him that I thought laws outlawing smoking in businesses is ridiculous since it is private property and the property owner should be able to do as he wishes within his property.

“Fair enough, but what about the employees that work here and the customers that come in?” was his response. I quickly chimed back that if an establishment allowed smoking then it would be up to the customers to decide whether or not they wanted to be in that environment and the same for the workers.

“Ok, but some people may take the job because they need it, even though they don’t want to be around the second hand smoke” was his response to that. I replied with “Oh well, that’s their personal choice.”

Then he introduced me to something that’s never come across my mind. The true cost of capitalism and personal liberties.

So an employee takes a job in a smoking establishment because it’s the only job they can get. They’re exposed to the effects of second-hand smoke and maybe sometime down the line they fall ill and need medical care. The employer doesn’t offer health insurance so the employee goes to the hospital to get treatment at the tax-payers’ expense.

This happens every day from second-hand smoke. So the cost of that pack of cigarettes was $5.00, but the true cost of that pack of cigarettes when you add in all the unforeseen or foreseen consequences might be $50.00.

The same holds true for fossil fuel consumption. A gallon of gas might be $3.00, but that price point doesn’t reflect the cost to clean up the environment from the unforeseen and foreseen consequences of consuming that gallon of gas.

You burn the gas, the emission goes into the public air, and sooner or later the government might have to clean that air up, at the tax-payers’ expense. So a gallon of gas might cost us $3.00, but the real cost of that gallon of gas might be $75.00.

This whole conversation got me thinking, and I realized that our taxes are supporting the suppression of prices of products in this free market system.

I realized that the government, at times, limits our personal liberties and freedoms to allow for this fake free-market economy to stay affordable.

Our tax dollars are paying to keep the price of cigarettes low and affordable. Our tax dollars are paying to keep the price of oil low and affordable (yes, $3/gal is affordable).

Now, why should someone who doesn’t own a car and doesn’t smoke be forced to pay to clean-up after someone who chooses to do those things?

Should we all get a tax break and then force the tax burden onto these people? Should the cost of a pack of cigarettes be $50.00? With $45 of those dollars going to treat victims of second-hand smoke? Should the government or an NGO be taking $72.00 from every gallon of gas sold at $75 to help clean up the fossil-fuel related environment disasters such as global warming and oil spills? Or do we stay the course and penalize everyone, even those that don’t partake in such activities, just to keep suppressing the true costs of products?

I might not smoke today, but if I decide tomorrow I want to take it up, I’ll know that I’ll be able to afford a pack of cigarettes because I’ve been paying taxes to keep the price artificially low.

I’m no economist, far from one. What do you think?

A report from the Wall Street Journal reports that Google could be releasing a hosted storage system in the coming months. This has been rumored for a long-long time now and has been dubbed GDrive.

This will be great, now Google will know the following about me:

• What I’m looking for on the internet (Google)
• What email I’m sending and receiving (GMail)
• Who I’m talking to via IM (GTalk) and telephone (Grand Central)
• Who visits my websites (Google Analytics)
• How much my websites make (Google AdSense)
• What I like to read (Google Reader)
• Where I like to go (Google Maps/Local)
• My documents and spreadsheets (Google Office)
• What type of files I have (Google Storage or GDrive)

Am I O.K. with Google knowing so much about me? I’m never easy about having anyone or anything know too much about me. Anyone that knows me will tell you I’m against anything the government does to ‘database’ information about me or anyone else for that matter.

I simply don’t trust anyone with too much information. But this isn’t big brother, nobody is forcing me to give Google so much information about myself. I’m giving up this information voluntarily so that I can use a generally superior product, usually free of charge.

Up until this point Google has not given me a reason to NOT trust them. And I don’t suppose they’ll give me a good reason anytime soon since their underlying business depends on their users trusting them with vital information about themselves. So if Google ever decides to get evil with my information, I will simply stop using their services — as will most other users — so there isn’t really any ‘incentives’ for Google to do anything devious with my information.

Google’s really on a quest to know and understand all of the world’s information. And since Futurama is coming back today, I will compare Google to the brains as seen in the episode from season 3 of the great show titled The Day the Earth Stood Stupid where brains come to earth in a quest to garner all of the known knowledge in the universe. That folks, is Google.

Note: In that episodes the brains want to get all the information and then destroy the Universe. Don’t read too far into it, I don’t think Google wants to destroy the Universe, let alone the Internet.

Hey guys, I know this blog has turned 100% entrepreneurial/tech over the past month or so. But I just want to give my main man Ron Paul a shout out.

If you believe the internet shouldn’t be regulated, if you believe in personal responsibility, if you believe in less government is better government, check out www.ronpaul2008.com.

He’s trying to raise $12MM before Dec 31st, so help him out, and join me in donating to his campaign. This country is going bankrupt with it’s spending, it’s our generations’ responsibility to stop it. Donate to his campaign if you can, if not, spread the word.

ron paul

I know this question and debate has been proposed many times since the last Republican Presidential Debate, but does Rudy Guilliani really believe that the terrorist who attacked us on September 11, 2001 did so in total disgust of our freedom and riches?

Do those two motives drive a man, 19 in this case, to suicide and mass homicide? No, you know what does though? A foreign country involved in what they consider to be sacred, or on what they consider to be sacred lands.

Osama Bin Laden has stated numerous times that the reason for his hatred towards America is the fact that we have forces in Saudi Arabia, the holy land. I’ve never heard him say anything about our freedoms.

This multi-millionaire lives in caves, is always hiding in fear from the next attack from US forces and is not living like any other multi-millionaire on the planet. Now do you think this is because he hates our freedom? He hates it so much that he is willing to sacrifice his own freedom? Absolutely not.

Now I don’t give much credence into peering into the mind of a mad-man, he is a mad-man without question. But when Ron Paul comes out and states the truth to the matter, and Rudy Guilliani says that Ron Pauls statement is one of the most absurd statements he has heard, that makes me angry. Especially since he is a frontrunner to be MY next President. He can’t or refuses to understand why it exactly is that they hate us, and that just scares me.

I’ve been following Congressman Ron Paul for years now, and I must say he really impresses me at every step. I love the fact that he is a Constitutionalist that believes in a less intrusive government. Because as we stand right now, with the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act among other things, I’m begging to be more scared of the government than the terrorist.

And I am not making excuses for the act committed on September 11th, I merely think it is important atleast to understand why people who hate us, hate us. I look forward to the day when justice is brought to Osama Bin Laden.

congressman ron paul, freedom, osama bin laden, presidential debate, real id act, ron paul, rudy guilliani, september 11 2001, terrorist

Sevenload, the German based media sharing startup I talked about yesterday, has decided to take down it’s special on Guantanamo Bay, the US detention facility housing Al-Qaeda and Taliban regime members.

My post here explains why I wouldn’t be using the site in the future. I still might not, but I’m glad they decided to take it down.

Their official line, as stated in a comment on the post, is that “this [Guantanamo Bay] discussion has now passed it’s prime”, but it’s clear that they got my message, I just wish they would be a little more upfront about it in the comment.

As you can see from that screen shot of where the Guantanamo Bay section was located, it says it was shutdown due to complaints.

I applaud them for taking this step, I still probably won’t be using their service in the near future, but if you find it of interest to you then I say you should go ahead and try it out.

afghanistan, al qaeda, guantanamo, guantanamo bay, iraq, sevenload, taliban, youtube