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Business, City, Hip & Prosperous

Brief Remarks on Downtown Whitewater, Inc.

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I promised a post on Downtown Whitewater, Inc.’s search for a new, full-time leader.  They’ve a committee that drafted a job description.  Of that committee, there are truly impressive members : smart, talented people. How their search will turn out I do not know – one hopes for a good outcome. I do know, however, that Whitewater’s success doesn’t…

Business, Food, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations

Institute for Justice Fights Anti-Competitive Ban on Baked Goods

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Wisconsin is lousy with anti-competitive statutes, designed to protect incumbents from free-market competition. One would prefer that private parties did not have to file lawsuits to protect their economic rights.  Unfortunately, some laws (and some official actions) compel private citizens to seek redress from the courts to protect their liberties.  Fortunately, the Institute for Justice…

Business, Economy, Free Markets, Hip & Prosperous, Poll

Friday Poll: Preferred Shopping Times, 2015

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Preferred Shopping Times, 2015 View image | gettyimages.com The Friday FW poll asks about how you’ll shop over the weekend.  It’s third year that I’ve run this poll (versions of it ran in 2012 and 2013).  Let’s see how this year’s answers compare with those earlier versions.  (Multiple selections are possible for those who’ll shop in…

Business, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government

On Big Banks, Big Businesses

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In the video above, Sec. Clinton tells Steven Colbert that she’d let big banks fail. There’s something in her (briefly stated) position for a libertarian to admire, although other points to doubt. (I’d not urge breaking banks up, but would surely urge government to allow large banks or businesses to fail. Clinton, admittedly, is referring…

Business, CDA, City, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, State Government

Gov. Thompson Rejects WEDC-Style Loans

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Republican Tommy Thompson, who served for fourteen years as governor, has written in opposition to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s loan program.  It’s the right position to take, and shows that Thompson understands the problems with WEDC.  Explicitly, Gov. Thompson’s opposition to WEDC-style loans includes local communities’ doling of loans through their own programs.  (Whitewater’s Community…

Blogging, Business, CDA, City, Free Markets, Gluttony, Local Government, New Media, New Whitewater, Politics

If Market-Based Solutions Are Superior to Cronyism, Why Are There So Many Cronies?

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Here’s a question, concerning even small towns like Whitewater, for which the Financial Times publishes an answer: If market-based solutions are superior to cronyism, why are there so many cronies? First, there aren’t that many cronies (or insistent insiders) in Whitewater or elsewhere, but the few there are manipulate or intimidate weak reporters at local papers into representing their numbers as…

Business, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Liberty, Local Government, WEDC

Business v. Free Markets

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Over at Cato, David Boaz writes about The Divide between Pro-Market and Pro-Business. (I’ve also linked to Boaz’s post at my libertarian website, Daily Adams.) Boaz observes that, too often, business (especially big business) is an opponent of free markets: In 2014 big business opposed several of the most free-market members of Congress, and even a Ron Paul-aligned…

Business, Food, Restaurant

The End of Tipping?

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View image | gettyimages.com I’m not sure what to make of this, but New York restaurateur Danny Meyer contends that ending tipping at his establishments is the right decision: Big news out of Manhattan: Dining out is about to get turned on its head. Union Square Hospitality Group, the force behind some of New York’s…

Business, Restaurant, Technology

Are Automats Restaurants?

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There’s a story over at the New York Times about a new business in San Francisco, Eatsa, that’s like an old-fashioned automat: “[a]t this restaurant, customers order, pay and receive their food and never interact with a person.” See, Restaurant of the Future? Service With an Impersonal Touch @ NYT. (The story’s somewhat puzzling because reporter Claire…