Desperate Drivers Pay The Price At NMB Gas Station « CBS Miami

Desperate Drivers Pay The Price At NMB Gas Station « CBS Miami



MIAMI (CBS4) — Some South Florida drivers double checked their gas bills as they pulled away from the pumps ahead of Tropical Storm Isaac and wondered why it cost so much to fill up.
It’s no surprise now to learn the State of Florida could be very busy with alleged price-gouging cases around South Florida.
Cory Davis thinks the $4.49 a gallon price tag of regular unleaded at his local North Miami Beach gas station gouges local consumers.
He thinks the price hike came as desperate drivers were looking to fill up as Tropical Storm Isaac threatened South Florida.
“They‘re taking advantage of us man, $4.49, the gas prices are ridiculous. Come on man,” complained Davis.
CBS4 found other gas stations in the area selling unleaded regular from about $3.79 to $3.89 a gallon. The $4.49 price tag at the station Cory Davis visited is about sixty-cents more a gallon than other stations in the area.
Under the state’s price gouging laws, it’s illegal to raise prices on critical emergency supplies like gas, but only after a state of emergency is declared.
Formal complaints can be filed with The State Division of Consumer Services at 800-HELPFL or  800-435-7352. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi also activated the Price Gouging Hotline on Saturday.
She urged Floridians to report any suspected price gouging at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM (1-866-966-7226).
The cashier at the station charging $4.49 said he doesn’t know when prices were raised and told CBS4′s Al Sunshine that the manager was not working.
If any business is found to have violated state or local  price-gouging laws, they can face up to a $10,000 fine.

Nike to sell new LeBron James sneakers for $300 | Sports - Home

Nike to sell new LeBron James sneakers for $300 | Sports - Home

"Nike is selling LeBron James' newest sneaker for over $300. According the Wall Street Journal, LeBron's next shoe, the "LeBron X" will cost around $315. The shoe debuted at the 2012 Olympic gold-medal game between Spain and the United States.

This will be LeBron's 10th shoe release. His first shoe was released in 2003. It was called the Nike Zoom Generation and cost around $110. Nike told the Journal that it is passing along price increases because of the increased cost of materials like cotton.

Alan Reynolds discusses measures of income inequality on C-SPAN

Alan Reynolds discusses measures of income inequality on C-SPAN

No Horses, But Detroit Water Department Employs 'Horseshoer' [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

No Horses, But Detroit Water Department Employs 'Horseshoer' [Michigan Capitol Confidential]

EXCERPTS:

"Despite having no horses, the water and sewerage department for the city of Detroit employs a horseshoer.

Yet even with a department so bloated that it has a horseshoer and no horses, the local union president said it is "not possible" to eliminate positions.

Union rules have turned the department into a government jobs program, some critics say.
The horseshoer’s job description is "to shoe horses and to do general blacksmith work … and to perform related work as required." The description was last updated in 1967.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) has a large debt, rising water prices and inefficient services — using almost twice the number of employees per gallon as other cities like Chicago.

MWF 10 Class

1. First day. 8/20/12 Monday. Comments about the course. Print and read the syllabus. Read chapter 1 of the text.
2.  Wednesday. Definition of economics through scarcity.

To protect ethanol, Obama seeks to inflate meat prices | WashingtonExaminer.com

Examiner Editorial: To protect ethanol, Obama seeks to inflate meat prices | WashingtonExaminer.com

EXCERPTS:

"Campaigning in Missouri Valley, Iowa, yesterday, President Obama announced yet another government spending program -- this time designed to inflate meat prices in Midwest swing states. "Today the Department of Agriculture announced that it will buy up to $100 million worth of pork products, $50 million worth of chicken, and $20 million worth of lamb and farm-raised catfish," Obama explained to reporters in front of a drought-stricken cornfield.

"Prices are low, farmers and ranchers need help, so it makes sense," Obama explained. "It makes sense for farmers who get to sell more of their product, and it makes sense for taxpayers who will save money because we're getting food we would have bought anyway at a better price."

QUESTIONS:

1.  Who will benefit from the government purchasing more agricultural products (increasing the demand)?
2. Who will be hurt (bear the cost) by this plan?

Economic Lessons from the Olympics | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Economic Lessons from the Olympics | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

EXCERPTS:

"Civilization can only advance when individuals are both encouraged and rewarded for excellence. The men and women who designed, built, and succeeded in placing the new SUV-sized rover on Mars receive and deserve our acclaim. The late Steve Jobs is widely admired for creating the world's most valuable company and for being a genius in product innovation and marketing. Thomas Edison was even more innovative a century earlier — the light bulb, the phonograph, the electrical generation and distribution system, etc. — and he also built one of the world's largest companies, General Electric.

The good side of humanity is revealed when we praise and reward such people. The bad side of humanity is shown by those who wish to punish success. According to legend, Ivan the Terrible was so impressed by the stellar achievement of the architect he had commissioned to design St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow that he had him blinded so no other ruler could hire him to produce an equal or greater feat.

The modern day equivalents of Ivan the Terrible are those who pander to the envious and jealous by demanding higher and higher tax rates on the successful. They seek to punish success with the childish demand that they "give back." We pay our successful athletes and musicians a great deal of money because their performances "give" us great pleasure. Sam Walton made tens of billions of dollars because he developed and "gave" us a superior marketing and distribution system that enabled all of us to buy tens of thousands of products at lower prices. Those "evil" real estate developers are the ones who take great risks to build hugely expensive buildings and hire great architects who "give" the rest of us the profile and structures of the cities where we live and work.

We want an economy that produces many well-paying jobs. These are produced by entrepreneurs and businessmen, many of whom have spent considerable time developing their skills, learning from their own mistakes, and often risking their own money. Every job they create is "giving" something to those who are not as equally ambitious, talented, resourceful, hard working or skilled. Why then should the job creators be expected to "give" even more?"

Obama: "A New Vision Of An America In Which Prosperity Is Shared"

Obama: "A New Vision Of An America In Which Prosperity Is Shared" | RealClearPolitics

"Too many folks still don't have a sense that tomorrow will be better than today. And so, the question in this election is which way do we go?" President Obama asked at a fundraiser in Chicago on Sunday.

"Do we go forward towards a new vision of an America in which prosperity is shared?" Obama asked. "Or do we go backward to the same policies that got us in the mess in the first place?"

"I believe we have to go forward," Obama said. "I believe we have to keep working to create an America where no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, no matter what your last name is, no matter who you love, you can make it here if you try. That's what's at stake in November. That's what is why I am running for a second term as president of the United States of America."

Obama: Let's repeat auto industry success - POLITICO.com

Obama: Let's repeat auto industry success - POLITICO.com



PUEBLO, Colo. – President Obama, while villifying Mitt Romney for opposing the auto industry bailout, bragged about the success of his decision to provide government assistance and said he now wants to see every manufacturing industry come roaring back. “I said, I believe in American workers, I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has come roaring back,” he said.

“Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry. “I don’t want those jobs taking root in places like China, I want those jobs taking root in places like Pueblo,” Obama told a crowd gathered for a campaign rally at the Palace of Agriculture at the Colorado State Fairgrounds here.

QUESTIONS:

1. If the government tries to provide assistance to every industry, will there be any unintended consequences?
2. If every industry is supported by the government, who's going to bear the cost of providing this assistance?
3.  President Obama says he doesn't want manufacturing jobs to "take root" in China. If you agree, which jobs do you think should take root in China? If no jobs take root in China, and China doesn't produce anything, would that make people in the U.S. better off or worse off? (Before you answer, check your television to see where it was produced.)

Milton Friedman, A Centennial Appreciation | Donald J. Boudreaux | Cato Institute: Commentary

Milton Friedman, A Centennial Appreciation | Donald J. Boudreaux | Cato Institute: Commentary

EXCERPTS:

"But at least as important as Friedman's scholarship was his lucid and energetic public advocacy of limited government and free markets. He explained with unmatched clarity how a modern economy's complexities, nuances, and dynamism almost always thwart even the best-intentioned efforts by government officials to intervene into markets.

In a scene from the opening episode of his successful 10-part 1980 PBS series "Free to Choose," Friedman held in his hand an ordinary pencil. Looking into the camera, and speaking without a script, he explained that a pencil — so seemingly simple — requires for its production the knowledge and labors of millions of people from around the world.

Some workers cut down the trees; other workers make the chainsaws used to cut down the trees; yet other workers make the steel used to manufacture the chainsaws; and yet other workers specialize in mining the iron ore used to make the steel. Still other workers mine the graphite to make the "lead" for the pencil, while many others work in factories to make the yellow paint that commonly adorns pencils, while still other workers perform the many tasks required to produce the rubber for each pencil's eraser.

Just to list the number of different, highly specialized jobs that must be performed to produce a commonplace pencil would take volumes. Few of these workers know each other, and none of them knows how to do any more than one or two of the countless jobs that must be done if we are to be well-supplied with pencils.
Friedman explained how free-market prices, along with the lure of profit and the fear of loss, guide entrepreneurs, firms, and workers from across the globe to produce just the right amounts of wood, graphite, paint, erasers, and the many other parts of pencils.

No government commissars are involved. There's no central plan for the production of pencils. Yet we have high-quality pencils in abundance and for sale at low prices. What's true for pencils, of course, is true also for more complex items such as automobiles, electric lighting, MRI machines, and on and on — that is, for nearly every good commonly found in modern industrial society.