Not even close. Samsung accounts for nearly 20% of the Korean economy. Much of the rest of the economy is controlled by one of the other four big chaebol (conglomerates). Samsung has their tentacles into every part of the economy and government. Many politicians have close links to company, and many are open about being in their pocket because "what's good for Samsung is good for Korea!" In the past, whenever Samsung wanted to enter a new line of business, the government would inform their incumbent competitors to either sell out, shut down, or face the consequences (audits, arson, arrest, etc.). Today it is just a bit more subtle.

It is already happening. The press engaged in a lot of intentionally inaccurate reporting, but NBC's behavior was especially egregious. I hope Zimmerman wins his case. There needs to be some consequences for slimy journalism.

Except that when Martin assaulted Zimmerman, Zimmerman was no longer following him.

There was no black woman on the jury. The six person jury was made up of five white women and one Hispanic woman.

Which is far above the market rate. If it was not, there would not be a queue of applicants, and taxi medallions would have zero value. A NYC taxi medallion (a license to operate a taxi) costs more than a MILLION DOLLARS.

I am not sure what your point is. The fact taxi fares are so high that rent-seekers can sponge money off the top is not evidence that they are market priced.

I am NOT bitching about the "little guy". I am bitching about the government who are exactly "the people who put this in place."

Nope. Limousine drivers provide that service, and they are not regulated or licensed as taxis, and there is no government price-fixing of their rates*. They do have to have a "chauffeur" driver's license, but that is just a little extra testing and a small fee beyond a normal driver's license.

*One exception: There is usually a government enforced racket to jack up prices for limos and shuttles going to/from airports. So there is usually a special permit required for that. When I have taken a ride share to an airport, the driver usually asks me to pay before reaching the drop off, so the government goons patrolling the curb don't see the money changing hands.

True. But on any other basis it would be a terrible choice. There is no industrial infrastructure, a shallow labor pool, and a sky high cost of living. Nearly everything would need to be shipped from the mainland, adding delay and cost.

Velocity is important. Altitude is not. To escape earth orbit, you need to be going eleven kilometers (seven miles) per second. A few thousand feet of altitude is going to make almost no difference.

It is not a taxi service because the transaction is pre-negotiated with a specific driver. When I hail a taxi off the street, I do not know the driver, he does not know me, and at least one of us usually does not want to negotiate the fare (me on a rainy night; him at a taxi-stand with twenty other cabs). So it is reasonable for the government to step in with regulations and standard fares. But with ride sharing, I can read the driver's reviews and ratings, and negotiate the rate in the comfort of my home or office. It is a different type of transaction.

The real problem here is not "regulation", but pricing. In nearly all cities, taxi fares are far above what they would be in a competitive market, which results in under utilization. Maybe we should fix the taxi system instead of trying to outlaw the competition.

I live in Santa Clara County, California, directly on a fault-line. I have experienced a 7.1, a 5.6, a 5.1 and plenty of smaller quakes over the years. All except the 7.1 were on the fault-line under my house. The 5.1 rattled the dishes.

A senior member of the government is going to receive thousands of emails every day from citizens, maybe a few dozen from staffers, and a few from family or friends. Those should be three different addresses.

Are you seriously suggesting that the number for the phone on Obama's desk in the Oval Office should be public information?

A work email address is private information, but it is not a "personal account".

No one ever claimed that fracking doesn't cause earthquakes. But it doesn't produce earthquakes that are big enough to be dangerous. A 5.0 earthquake is noticeable, but is unlikely to cause any damage. A 5.6 may crack the plaster a little. So, sure, the gas companies should pay to fix these 14 houses. But it is silly to suggest that we should shut down fracking because of these tremors, and go back to burning a billion of tons of coal annually, and paying billions for imported LNG. America's transition from coal to NG for electricity generation has done more to reduce CO2 emissions than all the solar and wind generation in the world. We shouldn't reverse that because of a few panels of cracked drywall.

Comparing that to normal avionics software is silly. Before critical avionics software is deployed, it is run on an test plane with a human pilot backup. If something goes wrong, you switch it off, the pilot lands the plane, and then you debug the logs. This occasionally exposes bugs that were not caught in simulation. For an unmanned mission to Mars, this sort of testing is not possible. You just do the simulation testing as best you can, and then pray.

Nope. The days of "one job for life" were a myth that never existed in the first place. Average job tenure is actually higher today than it was in the 1950s and 1960s, and about the same as 1980-2000.

Yes, it is accurate. But it is not criticism, it is praise. Competitive markets do indeed squeeze profits, but that is a good thing because it means more value goes to the consumer, and it forces capitalists to innovate to become more productive. Likewise, declining unit labor inputs are another good thing. This just another way to say productivity has improved, and it the main reason that living standards go up.

Ethiopia has been a Christian nation since the 1st century A.D. That was several centuries before Europeans stopped worshiping their "fire gods", like Vulcan, Surtr, and Thor.