Five people, places and things we really ain’t digging today:
• The fact that Charlotte resident and American Idol winner Fantasia has been receiving death threats
• Folks in Ballantyne who oppose a proposed public housing development. There’s just no way you can’t look like a spoiled rich kid when you work against people living a better lifestyle.
• And while we’re talking about that particular post on CharlotteObserver.com, I can’t help but see the comments under the story — and wow, are they incredibly racist, elitist and hate-filled. Whenever I read such venomous comments — like, “Living near low income housing drops home values and enables cockroaches of all ethnicities to be even more reliant on government and the rich to take care of them.” — written by readers online, it makes me fear for the future of this city and the nation.
• Toyota. Hey, I own one, but — in the words of Dave Chappelle — these guys are fucking up.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2010.
there’s an interesting dynamic going on with that public housing deal. I blame government mostly. Public housing is subsidy for low income folks. Public subsidy is basically tax money, which is stolen money.
The low income community would be better served by abolishing the following: Housing Authority, local business licensing and rules. These would foster entrepreneurship.
I was reading an article about taxi service. Local taxi licenses cost a boatload of money. They basically restrict competition and keep taxi fares higher than they would be in a free market situation. Imagine if there were no taxi regulations. These low income folks could buy cheap used vehicles, slap “taxi” on it and make alot of money. With all of the competition we might not even need public transportation. Low income folks who are likely low-skilled could start their own taxi business and undercut everybody. That help solve unemployment issues which are at the root of all kinds of problems. That also ties into the minimum wage law, which also restricts competition but thats for another day.
Somebody needs to put forth more free market solutions like this to deal with these social problems instead of the corporatist / fascist ideals we have today.
and that taxi article was by Dr. Walter Williams, i cant find it right now.