Exporting South Korea's economic policy to Taiwan

So there's a debate in Taiwan about whether or not Samsung threatened to "kill" Taiwan by taking over some industries there.

Here's another reason I will never have a leadership position in Taiwan. Instead of debating about whether or not Samsung had such a plan, I would visit South Korea on a fact-finding mission. I would then announce that I was going to apply South Korea's various restrictions on business on Samsung:

* Force Korean businesses operating in Taiwan to shut down their businesses at least twice a month.

* Restrict large Korean companies from expanding into other industries.

* Prevent Korean companies in Taiwan from open in randomly designated areas (such as, within 500 feet of mom and pop stores)

* Force large Korean companies in Taiwan to share their profits with smaller companies.

* Demand that they increase their CSR giving.

* Even monitor and control such things as the temperature in their buildings.

* Threaten to tax them more to pay for numerous social programs.

Well, actually, I wouldn't do such stupid things, proof that I am not a politician in South Korea.

To paraphrase Mark Twain:

Suppose you were an idiot.
Suppose you were a politician in Korea.
But I repeat myself.

Of course, that isn't true. I'm just talking about the ones intervening in the economy.

My local Lotte Mysuper. Forced to close because of the government's (national, local, regional) idiotic "economic democratization" campaign.

One night, I stopped by to go shopping, then, oh, Snap! The door was locked. Thanks, Korean government!

The Korean government's effort to slow economic growth.

I asked an employee if I could have the sign the day after. I'm sure if she knew how much I am opposed to the policy that she would have given it to me.

I guess she didn't get the memo that the store was closed, per the government's orders.

Definitely, she didn't get the memo. She walked even closer to the sign, then stomped her foot. I wonder if she voted for the politicians who supported the policy.


If I were CEO of E-mart, the banner would have a photo of the politician responsible for the closure, thanking him for his vision for helping the economy.

Manufactured cases

My former Cato Institute colleague Bob Levy is profiled by the Associated Press for his role in the challenge to the DC gun ban. One great thing about Levy is that he tells it like it is. As the article quotes: And Levy freely admits the case is manufactured, not one that bubbled up by chance from the district's steady flow of criminal cases involving guns. He wanted presentable plaintiffs to make a case for gun rights, not criminals. "We didn't want crack heads and bank robbers to be poster boys for the Second Amendment," he said. Is there a problem with this case being manufactured? I heard a talking head on the radio complaining a while ago that this case wasn't from real DC residents, that it was from outsiders. What's wrong with that? There may be some times that it takes an outsider to challenge an injustice or bad law. Did DC residents claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was an outsider who should have minded his own business? And about the case being ...

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Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

2020-11-26 My basketball story

This photo was uploaded today by my aunt Annette. This was back in the day, when 1) I had a head full of hair and 2) played basketball a lot. That first year of playing organized basketball, I focused on playing defense. It seemed that everyone wanted to shoot the ball, so I passed the ball and played defense. I probably led the league in steals, rebounds and blocked shots. I enjoyed taking on the best player from the other team, I felt like I would get better, quickly. The second year, I was a different player. I will never forget the first game that second year--we lost 29 to 26, I scored 18 points. I probably led the universe in scoring that second year, although we didn't win much. One thing I learned from that experience is that one great player 9 (at least in his own mind) can't beat a team. An eye injury ended my pro career before it began, to this day I still have floaters in my eyes because of the injury. I started wearing glasses, but the problem never went away. On t...

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