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Hiram Foster

Crystal, MN
Commenter for
5 years 26 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 01/22/13 at 04:15 pm in response to Supporters say electronic gaming will succeed ... eventually

I have never understood why gamblers would prefer a form of gambling, the profits of which go to a private business and not a charity.

Posted on 01/23/13 at 11:55 am in response to Supporters say electronic gaming will succeed ... eventually

I am not a gambler myself, and quite frankly not knowledgeable about gambling. I generally view it as a surtax on stupidity, and in policy terms, that particular model works quite well. But as I understand it, gamblers have a choice here. They can gamble in ways that benefit a private profit making business, or in ways where that same money can be used to benefit may a local kids hockey team. All other things being equal, if they are, why would anyone the former rather than latter...

Posted on 01/22/13 at 07:27 am in response to How will conservatives view Obama's speech?

Many will disagree with my description that the greatest problems we face as a nation are debt and spending.

Are they? Or are they the things that drive our spending and our debt? Are we in a situation in which we spend too much generally, but just the right amount on the military, health care and Social Security. And by the way, do we pay too much in taxes in any case?

Posted on 01/22/13 at 10:13 am in response to How will conservatives view Obama's speech?

Maybe what's fundamental about government is that it doesn't have fundamental questions. How many fundamental questions does the constitution answer? And how many of the real biggies did it carefully avoid?

Is it possible that maybe the basic debate that divides us is that one segment believes that ghere are fundamental questions about the role of government that need to be answered and that the other segment of believes that there aren't?

Posted on 01/22/13 at 10:48 am in response to How will conservatives view Obama's speech?

'Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.'

And, sadly, so are those who do.

Posted on 01/21/13 at 09:12 am in response to Obama's best argument for getting around debt ceiling? Lex posterior derogat priori

Just because a phrase is in Latin, doesn't give it any special legal authority. The fact it is, it's pretty easy to construct a very legitimate sound argument for just about any course of action the president chooses to take. And it's also the case that you can construct a very sound argument for doing nothing at all. The ease, and even the plausibility of such arguments isn't important, rather it's whether such arguments are persuasive to the constituency to which they are directed. The...

Posted on 01/21/13 at 10:03 am in response to Obama's best argument for getting around debt ceiling? Lex posterior derogat priori

If the "confidence" of the market is shaken by the US actions--where would people go?

Very often when the confidence in markets is shaken, they become increasingly illiquid, sometimes to the point where they cease to exist. A piece of paper with a picture of George Washington on it has value because we have confidence in it that it is money, negotiable in markets like your local Walgreen's. If we lose confidence in it, it just becomes nothing more than a piece of paper.

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Posted on 01/21/13 at 11:32 am in response to Obama's best argument for getting around debt ceiling? Lex posterior derogat priori

Efficient markets are markets where all pertinent information is available to all participants. It's fairly obvious that no market is perfectly efficient, there is lots of pertinent information that some although not necessarily everyone knows, but stock and bond markets are usually considered very efficient. To say that a market is efficient is a very different thing from saying it's participants are either efficient or right. Markets don't support prices, but participants in markets can....

Posted on 01/21/13 at 11:42 am in response to Obama's best argument for getting around debt ceiling? Lex posterior derogat priori

There are all sorts legal issues involved. Among others, would bonds arguably issued in violation of a debt ceiling be legally enforceable. I think they would be, but hey what do I know? It's been argued elsewhere that by issuing such bonds, the president might be committing an impeachable offense. That's quite possibly true, but the reality is this president along with his predecessors, has commits potentially impeachable offenses on a daily basis, and nobody seems to notice or care.

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Posted on 01/16/13 at 03:49 pm in response to NRA video: Obama thinks his kids deserve protection, not yours

The fact these politicians and media figures in Washington who send their kids to what my NRA friends describe as schools which are in effect armed enclaves is in no way relevant to the rest of us, who do not have the means to arrange round the clock protection for our children.