Wait, the U.S. is Fining Toyota?

Okay, Toyota fucked up, we get it. They should have fixed those cars, they should have stopped selling them, and they shouldn't have "hidden" any of the problems, but this is not an issue for the federal government to handle. Of course, it has been made into one.

16.4 million dollars is the total damage done by the Federal government. That's only the fine; just think about how much Toyota is going to have to shell out to fix those thousands of cars as well as handle other lawsuits. I doubt that we will lose the auto company, but you have to wonder: when does it become too much.

Oh jeez, and then Congress had to question the company's management, in order to find out what happened and where new regulation is needed because, for some reason, the current paradigm at play here in America subconsciously forces us to regulate everything. Even though these things are none of the governments damn business.

And now this. The company is being fined a huge amount of money, in addition to the mounting number of lawsuits it's going to have to settle and the millions that will be spent fixing the damn cars. It is not officially too much.

Since when did it become necessary for the federal government to step in on behalf of us? All that we are going to get out of this is regulation, which does nothing to fix the original problem and in fact, worsens it in the long run. You know what would have fixed it though? The free market. If the GD federal government would have just let us, the citizens, deal with the company, this problem could have been solved quickly and painlessly. The people who had problems with the product can sue, the company can pay for damages and repairs, it can learn from its mistakes, and then take the steps to ensure that it won't happen again. This is how it works; we don't need the government to step in on our part. When did we lose the ability to handle things for ourselves, and become weak?

This is what the U.S. has devolved to. Soon as something goes even moderately wrong, the damn government has to get involved and regulate it to ensure our "safety". And of course, the people allow it to happen by complaining and electing others who think this regulation is necessary. We've totally forgotten what made us a powerful nation in the first place: the measure of a nation's status is not in the power, strength, or compassion of its government, but in the strength and prosperity of its people.

We are not weak.

We do not need help.

We don't need protection from ourselves.

We, the people, are the best insurers of our "safety", thank you very much.

Restaurant Menu Reform: The Real Issue of the Day!

Somewhere buried in that 2,000 page healthcare bill is a new restriction on restaurants. Congress is now mandating that restaurants place a calorie count on menus, somehow trying to make us healthier. Now, this does not apply to all restaurants, but rather only chains with more than 20 locations. It also applies to vending machines apparently . . .

There are going to be two problems with this mandate.

1. Those companies will have to reprint millions of menus, costing them huge amounts of money. This could mean that those extra costs are going to be covered by us, the consumer.
2. How on earth is this going to make America healthier? What is the evidence behind making this decision? You can't expect people to change habits and lifestyles just because you tell them how much weight the will gain by eating the angus burger. It just isn't possible.

To elaborate on the second position, I have to quote someone from a newspaper interview in Idaho who said that, "If revealing the consequences of a decision like that had any effect, then putting the stickers of the miles per gallon on a Hummer would mean nobody would buy a Hummer, it's not going to work". My sentiments exactly.

People are looking for two things when they eat out: price, and quality (taste, etc). You can't make people healthier if you can't make the healthy things cheaper and better tasting. Since the matter of quality has only to do with the restaurant, you have to make it more economically desirable to eat healthy. One way this is going to happen? Get the government out of the agriculture business. Stop subsidizing farmers and mandating what they grow. Let the market decide that, and allow competition to lower prices. To go further, lets stop subsidizing food altogether; we might actually see some change then, but until then . . .

Ahh, the government. You think the problems are bad? Wait until you see the solutions.