Dash of Calabash

The following are The Five Worst CEOs for 2007. The “winners” have allowed the liberal social agenda to drive their business decisions.

BP’s John Browne. Browne resigned this year partly because his global warming strategy failed miserably.

GE’s Jeff Immelt. “GE’s Environment Push Hits Business Realities” — a front-page Wall Street Journal story in 2007 — highlighted the downsides of its “Ecomagination” marketing campaign.

Wal-Mart’s Lee Scott. Scott’s global warming strategy has the company appealing to the liberal elite while selling out shareholders and low-income customers.

PepsiCo’s Indra K. Nooyi. The company sponsored Al Gore’s Live Earth concert to appear in sync with the environmental generation.” Bottled water, however, is the focus of activists and politicians seeking to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Caterpillar’s James Owens. The construction and mining equipment company’s global warming strategy is jeopardizing its future earnings by working against its customers in the coal industry.

Taken from www.freeenterpriser.com

I don’t like torture. Never have; never will.

Sure, I know some expert interrogators argue that they can save lives by extracting information through torture. But other such experts — and in greater number — contend that the information gleaned by thumb screws is notoriously unreliable.

Still, torture might on some occasions yield information that could save someone’s life. And, yet, I’m still against it. Why?

Well, I support human rights. Our liberties limit government. Our neighbors’ liberties limit what we may do even when we are filled with fear. (more…)

The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom marks its 13 anniversary. We could not easily duplicated the ratings of the 157 countries. Use the link at the end to ready the whole executive summary or the full report.
In order, the top 20 are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, US, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Estonia, Denmark, Netherlands, Iceland, Finland, Belgium, Japan, Germany and Cyprus.

The second 20 are: Sweden, Lithuania, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Austria, Taiwan, Spain, Barbados, El Salvador, Norway, Czech Republic, Armenia, Uruguay, Mauritius, Georgia, South Korea, Israel, Botswana, Bahrain and Slovakia.

The third 20 include: Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Hungary, France, Jamaica, Panama, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Costa Rica, South Africa, Jordan, Oman, Namibia, Belize, Kuwait, Slovenia, Uganda and Italy.

Use the link below to see the Executive Summary or read the whole report.

Index of Economic Freedom 2007 - Executive Summary

Where will the next Google or Microsoft come from? Chances are that these new global multinationals will hail from India or China. A new Boston Consulting Group study seeks to identify some of these hard-charging emerging companies. Overall, the Boston Consulting Group 100 Global Challengers (BCG 100) hail from fourteen countries. China (41 firms), followed by India (20 firms), host the larger numbers of BCG 100 firms. These firms come from a diverse mix of sectors; no one industry dominates. While the firms operate in different markets, they are all pursuing an aggressive globalization strategy by actively competing in foreign markets. Most of these companies have realized that they cannot continue to grow through their home markets alone. Continued prosperity requires that they also succeed in the global marketplace.

Access the executive summary of the December 2007 Boston Consulting Group report, The 2008 BCG 100 New Global Challengers. The full report is available for purchase.

Greed. The level of greed is astonishing. The greed for other people’s money permeates health policy discussions. Taxation is discussed as “what can we collect from politically weak groups.” There is no concern for the damage done by this grasping attitude. There is a complete lack of compassion for people who work hard to earn that money. There isn’t even any implicit acknowledgement that it is someone else’s money. Anyone who has more than someone else ought, it is presumed, to be able to get by with less. This attitude also corrupts people who are dependent on public programs. In the public hearings I’ve attended, these beneficiaries have never expressed any gratitude to those who fund them. They demand more. Always. If you have an inexhaustible source of other people’s money, it will always be spent, and the newly impoverished will be back seeking more. And more.
Linda Gorman, Independence Institute, Golden, CO

A month’s worth of clippings to amuse, irritate, or enlighten…

Manhattan residents are the best-paid workers in America, earning an average of $147,000 annually. The national average is $45,000.
— (Source: New York Post)

Minneapolis is the best American city in which to conduct business, according to Marketwatch.com’s annual rankings. New Orleans was the worst.
—(Source: Marketwatch.com)

A pair of Hispanic surnames–Garcia and Rodriguez–are for the first time among the 10 most common names in the U.S.
— (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Sixteen of the top fifty U.S. philanthropists gave more than $100 million to charitable causes this year. Nine individuals gave more than $200 million.
—(Source: BusinessWeek)

The value of U.S. toy imports from China between January and June 2007 is estimated at $33 billion.
— (U.S. Census Bureau)

Americans expect to spend about $900 on holiday gifts this season. About 30 percent will pay off their bills from the holidays within three months. A quarter will take a year.
(Source: TodayShow.com)

New York City–home to over 8 million people– has had less than 500 homicides this year. That’s the lowest number since police began keeping track in 1963.
—(The New York Times)

Wal-Mart lost $3 billion due to theft in 2006.
—(Source: Houston Chronicle)

Below are six actions our elected officials can take to make the coming years good ones for the residents of Hawaii:

1. Stop government overspending. If we cannot pay our bills, our kids and grandkids will. Wise individuals don’t overspend on an annual basis, because consequences are personal. We need to find a way to make overspending a personal issue for our elected officials.

2. Sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. This will force them to look at spending cuts when money gets scarce.

3. Usually I try to avoid new laws as they tend to backfire, but I like this one: “All lawmakers must sign a notarized pledge that they have read a proposed bill before they will be allowed to vote for or against it.” Just to add some accountability, the penalty for violation will be expulsion from the office held and a $10,000 fine or a year in jail, as the offender chooses.

4. Pass another law. (I’m on a roll.): “Effective immediately, there will be no new government retirement plans for any elected official in Hawaii.” Elected office was never intended to be a career. All current retirement plans will be frozen with no more funding. Period.

5. Starting 1/1/08, elected officials must start taking their oath of office seriously. That means that each of them must seriously ponder whether they have constitutional authority to vote to pass a law. Wow! Is that revolutionary or what?

6. Every official would sign a pledge affirming that every citizen will be treated equally under the law, no matter their ancestry, national origin, sex or religion, wealth, etc. There would be a penalty for violating this pledge, such as ten years in prison.

Now for my promise. If all the above is done and enforced, I will retire and start a career of enjoyable watching. Somehow I find myself doubtful of that retirement. Am I a pessimist, merely cynical – or a realist?

Dick Rowland is president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Compare gasoline prices state by state

To see state specific estimates, move your mouse pointer over the state on the map using the link above.

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Legal Pad - FORTUNE Magazine 3 human rights lawyers fined in Chevron case «

From a personal injury suit alleging cancer and related injuries from Texaco’s drilling in the Amazon region of Ecuador, a federal district court judge fined counsel $45,000 when it was revealed the plaintiffs neither had cancer, nor had ever met their attorneys.

Comments to the post refer to plaintiffs in another more legitimate suit, injured now by this case.

Fortune Magazine’s Legal Pad contains interesting posts about other law suits.

Yesterday, we highlighted a piece by Dave Kopel that dealt with the efforts of Washington, DC politicos to maintain their city’s unconstitutional gun ban. Why are they fighting so hard to maintain the ban? Is it because it’s so effective? This bit from The Economist makes one wonder:

“The District’s murder rate will almost certainly be higher in 2007 than in 2006. One-hundred-and-sixty-nine murders were committed in the city in the year to mid-November—as many as in all of 2006 (which had the lowest murder count in DC for over two decades). The city’s police chief, Cathy Lanier, has suggested the rise is due to gang activity and in particular the growing use of high-powered firearms, such as assault rifles.”