The blog was down this morning – a computer at WordPress identified it as a source of spam or some such thing. Having been raised Catholic, my first move was to examine my conscience – have I used copyrighted photos? Offended people? And second thoughts – blogging is such a merry-go-round, nothing ever changes, hardly anyone reads or thinks independently, and those who do know who they are.
And, of course, I was frustrated that some unknown person somewhere had such power over me. I hate it when people have power over me!!! I pay $99 a year for a domain name and was under the impression I owned my content here. Apparently not.
Anyway, all’s well, but I will be more careful about copyrights and stuff. That was a jolt. And I will be nicer. Starting now.
Ah, screw that.
Piece of Mindful 
WordPress=rent seekers?
LikeLike
They actually offer a service and face stiff competition.
LikeLike
OK, I rent pasture and farmland. Am I a rent seeker?
LikeLike
“Rent” seeking is a little bit misnamed as you use the term. I prefer “leeching.”
Take health care for example: Insurance companies have encircled the health care system, and charge a fee for entry, like 20% of every insurance dollar. They have not added so much as a band aid to actually caring for sick people, but you have to pay them money to access the system. That’s classic rent seeking.
They took an existing economic activity, and drained money off it (“rents”) without making it better, part of why American health care is crazy expensive. That, if you check out wiki, is the classic definition.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Like this?
“Warren rose to political prominence in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as a crusader against big banks and a dispenser of common-sense economic advice. She campaigned for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, intended to shield people from the predations of the mortgage and credit-card industries, among others. In her 2006 book All Your Worth, co-authored with her daughter, Amelia, Warren lists as a top myth the idea that “you can make big money buying houses and flipping them quickly.” She has made a career out of telling people how to behave in financially responsible ways, and out of creating laws that will make it illegal for them to do otherwise.
But Warren bought and sold at least five properties for profit at a different time in her life, before the cratering economy and a political career made her a star. Her life story has been the subject of much interest, and her 2014 memoir, A Fighting Chance, chronicled her rise from humble beginnings in small-town Oklahoma and her struggle to make ends meet. It didn’t much mention, though, the early 1990s, years when her children were teenagers and she was once again happily married. These are years when she wasn’t yet the multimillionaire she is today, and, she has said, she was voting Republican.”
LikeLike
I suppose, kinda. There’s a much bigger picture out there to behold, however.
Monsanto, for instance, by use of GMO seeds, is able to force farmers to use its product under threat of lawsuit. Classic enclosure and rent seeking behavior.
LikeLike