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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Feb. 16, 2005
/ 7 Adar I, 5765
Selfishness is bad, right?
By
John Stossel
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
"Public" is good. Better than "private." Sharing is good.
Private property is selfish. That was what people told ABC News. As one man
put it, "Society would clearly be better off if we all shared more." Some
kids even sang, "Sharing is caring."
That's what we all are taught. But if kids get Tori Haidinger in
high school, they learn a different lesson. The California teacher invites
kids to experience basic economics firsthand: "You are the head of a family
that is fed by catching fish," she says. "Our fish are Hershey's Kisses. You
will get to eat them." Each table gets a beaker of Kisses. She tells the
kids, "Share them with your friends. You can take as many as you want, but
any left over will reproduce, just like fish, because I will double them."
What happens? The kids quickly empty their beakers. No more Kisses.
That's what has happened in the real world, too. The supply of
fish in the world's oceans has dropped because the oceans and the fish
swimming through them are public property shared property. The oceans are
full of fishermen who know that if they don't catch a fish, the next guy
might, so they have very little reason to cut back on fishing: The fish they
leave behind aren't feeding their own future they're feeding their
competitors. As one of Haidinger's students said, "I was thinking ... I
probably should share, but I didn't think anybody else was sharing, so I
took more." Economists call this "the tragedy of the commons."
Then, Haidinger tries a different tack. She gives each student a
private beaker of Kisses. "What this has actually done," she says, is
establish "a sense of privatization." It's as if each student had a private
pond and owned all the fish in it.
"Privatization" has a bad reputation, but this time, no student
overfishes. Kids leave enough in their ponds so the teacher can double their
number, and so new generations of chocolate Kisses are born. "So," asks a
student, "are you saying that if it's ours, we will care more about it?"
"Yup." Owning is caring.
Compare a typical public toilet to a private toilet. Public
toilets tend to be filthy. But private toilets, common in Europe, are clean.
Their owners, selfishly seeking a profit you have to pay a small fee to
use them work at keeping them clean. And think about your office
refrigerator. The one I use at "20/20" is disgusting. There's cottage cheese
in there that expired over a year ago. The refrigerator is covered with
ancient spills, and you can't believe the smell. When something belongs to
everyone, it really belongs to no one, and no one takes care of it. Sharing
can be a mess.
Why does the United States have so many catastrophic forest
fires? Did you know that most of them are on government land, land we share?
The feds own only a third of the forests, but they have most of the forest
fires. Private forests are less likely to burn because the livelihood of
"greedy" timber companies depends on having healthy trees. So the companies
clear out the underbrush. The government, managing land we all share, is
less careful, and so thousands of acres burn.
There are two cases where sharing may be better than private
control. As Thomas Jefferson pointed out, the "peculiar character" of an
idea is that "no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the
whole of it." If you catch a fish, I can no longer catch it, but if you
learn something I know, I still know it. That's why ideas are different from
physical goods.
The other case is where the people doing the sharing have a
special bond, for example, because they're very close friends or members of
a happy family. Mutual caring the kind of love that makes another person
more important to you than almost anyone else, when we feel another's gains
and losses as our own can make sharing work.
But most of us don't feel that way about the whole country. My
wife and I share our car, but if we shared it with the whole town, the car
would soon be trashed. Private property sounds selfish, and we're taught
that selfishness is bad. But it works.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
STOSSEL'S LATEST
Give Me a Break
Stossel explains how ambitious bureaucrats, intellectually lazy reporters, and greedy lawyers make your life worse even as they claim to protect your interests. Taking on such sacred cows as the FDA, the War on Drugs, and scaremongering environmental activists -- and backing up his trademark irreverence with careful reasoning and research -- he shows how the problems that government tries and fails to fix can be solved better by the extraordinary power of the free market. Sales help fund JWR.
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JWR contributor John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20." To comment, please click here.
02/09/05: Fifth Avenue farmers
02/02/05: Buy a bridge? This $200 Million one isn't for sale it's being paid for by taxpayers and it leads almost nowhere
01/28/05: Aren't science and scholarship supposed to ask questions and open our eyes to facts?
01/26/05: Forced altruism
© 2005, by JFS Productions, Inc.
Distributed by Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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