Ten Ways That Profits Help the Poor

Jerry Agar has another thought provoking list for us. His latest (Oct. 8) is called "10 Ways Profits Help the Poor." Jerry can be heard on WGN 720 AM in Chicago Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-9 p.m., and on Sundays Noon-4 p.m. (depending on live sports coverage). He has worked at other superstations, such as WLS in Chicago and WABC New York. He is currently also involved with the Illinois Policy Institute. Jerry prefaces his list with a quote from William Easterly, professor of economics at New York University and visiting fellow at Brookings: by Jerry Agar "The number of poor people who can't afford food for their children is a lot smaller than it used to be -- thanks to capitalism. Capitalism didn't create malnutrition, it reduced it. The globalization of capitalism from 1950 to the present has increased annual average income in the world to $7,000 from $2,000. Contrary to popular legend, poor countries grew at about the same rate as the rich ones. This growth gave us the greatest mass exit from poverty in world history. The parts of the world that are still poor are suffering from too little capitalism. Foreign direct investment in Africa today, although rising, amounts to only 1% of global flows. That's because the environment for private business in Africa is still hostile. There are some industry and country success stories in Africa, but not enough." ~ William Easterly, professor of economics at New York University and visiting fellow at Brookings Contrary to those claims that capitalism only favors the rich and that capitalists are in competition with the poor, profits are of immense help to the poor, whether or not they directly receive it. Here are ten reasons: 1. Employment. Profit equals investment which equals employment. The paychecks that employees get are a slice of the gross profits that any business makes. The best way to overcome poverty is to work. 2. Education. The best way to get work is to be educated. The poor can’t pay for it, so others do, out of their profits, and provide it free of charge to the poor. 3. Health. Miraculous medical advances and drugs come from profitable companies in capitalist nations, but the poor of the world benefit. AIDS drugs for Africa, for example. Hospitals in America will treat, free of charge, any person showing up at the emergency room, regardless of ability to pay. But someone pays, and that is someone who has made a profit and has the available funds. See the rest of Jerry Agar's list at the Illinois Policy Institute web site! Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Jerry Agar: 10 Governors I Wish We Had in Illinois

"10 Governors I Wish We Had in Illinois" is a great wish list from Jerry Agar:
Why does Illinois keep getting schmuck after putz after schmuck in Springfield?

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10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media

Friend Jerry Agar wrote a great piece about the influence of blogs and bloggers on American politics. He came up with a great list of "transformative moments" in recent political history. Those moments range from the influence that bloggers and micro-bloggers (Twitter) had on the aftermath of the Iranian election to major elected officials being taken down. It's a fascinating list that serves as a touchstone for any researcher. Jerry Agar can be heard on WGN 720 AM in Chicago. He has worked at other superstations, such as WLS in Chicago and WABC New York. He is currently also involved with the Illinois Policy Institute. 10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media by Jerry Agar Not so long ago in America if it wasn’t on Walter Cronkite’s news report or in the pages of the New York Times, it wasn’t news. Most of the rest of the electronic and print reporters and commentators relied on those two entities to show them what was important. A person who knew something the big news operations did not, especially if their news contrasted with the way the media chieftains saw the world, was labeled as a crank and dismissed. The cost of setting up a competing news operation was a barrier to entry only a select few could penetrate. It is so cost prohibitive to start a daily paper that former KGB General Oleg Kalugin told me that it was the only piece of the “long march through the institutions” the Russians were unable to achieve. No more. The recent explosive story exposing the depths some ACORN employees were willing to sink to in order to thwart “the man” is the latest example of how powerful a tool the Internet is to the little guy and gal. With the help of local bloggers listed below I have compiled a list of the “10 Great Events in the Rise of the New Media.” We have tried to make a list of transformative moments.The Virginia Tech shootings, the landing on the Hudson and the 7/7 Tube bombings in London were initially reported by cell phone and blog, showing the power of on-site reporting with new media, but were perhaps not seminal moments, as they would have been reported anyway, and quickly, by the mainstream media (MSM). The list is an attempt to put these events in order of importance, rather than chronology, but it is not presented as definitive. Lists like this are inevitably arguable and worthy of discussion. Please, leave comments and discuss. That is the point. SEE THE LIST at Illinois Policy Institute The following bloggers helped with the list: The Chicago News Bench, Wilmette, Publius' Forum and Thoughts of a Regular Guy Conservative Hats & Shirts Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

WLS and Mancow: WTF???

UPDATE, FEB. 11, 2010: Pink slip for Erich 'Mancow' Muller - Chicago Tribune Chicago talk show host Jerry Agar no longer has his Monday-Friday gig at WLS 890 AM Chicago. That's a shame. Agar, a native of Canada, has an all-American attitude and was a welcome voice of reasoned political critique on the local airwaves. WLS, however, seemed to thing differently. Agar, a smart, decent and funny man, is being replaced by a Mancow Muller, a guy who for years had a sidekick named "Turd." Mancow debuts on Monday, Oct. 27 in the 9-11:00 a.m. slot. Let us hope that Mancow - and WLS management - will keep "Turd" off the new show. But then, a turd by any other name... ChicagoRadio&TV.com wonders what the hell the geniuses at WLS were thinking, too. They present some of the back story: It was the rumor that wouldn’t die. For over two years, the rumblings within the Chicago broadcast community had been that Mancow Muller would be resurfacing on WLS after being unceremoniously bounced from Q101. The signs all seemed to be pointing to the certainty of such a move. After all, WLS PD Kipper McGee came to WLS from Talk Radio Network, where he helped launch the national syndication of Mancow Muller. At the same time, WLS was facing the prospect of having to replace its heritage morning show of Don Wade & Roma, who have held sway in morning drive for nearly two decades. FULL ARTICLE.... RELATED: The Bench: Jerry Agar, Regular Guy

If True, WLS 890 AM Now SUCKS

UPDATE, FEB. 11, 2010: Pink slip for Erich 'Mancow' Muller - Chicago Tribune Now even conservative WLS 890 AM in Chicago is joining in the Dumbing Down of America. In a bizarre move, management of WLS has decided to replace funny, intelligent host Jerry Agar with vulgar, idiot host Mancow Muller. The Chicago Tribune reports today: Erich "Mancow" Muller, who lost his last full-time Chicago radio job 27 months ago, has agreed to host a weekday talk show for Citadel Broadcasting's WLS-AM 890.Mike Fowler, WLS-AM's president and general manager, confirmed that Muller will replace Jerry Agar in the 9-to-11 a.m. slot, beginning Monday. For his first week, he will be paired with Pat Cassidy, who joined WLS from WBBM-AM 780 this summer. Tragic. I guess I'll have to start listening to WIND 560 AM more. Sorry WLS, you've lost a lot of listeners with this stupid move. Agar has been a frequent sit-in for nationally syndicated talk show host Mark Levin. I have a feeling that we haven't heard the last of Jerry Agar. RELATED: The Bench - On the Air at WLS * Agar the Magnificent * Jerry Agar, Regular Guy

Recycled Denver Nacho Chips

Jerry Agar of WLS 890 AM found a great story about how some folks think they're being oh-so-green at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Agar quotes Jeff Katz of WBT/Charlotte, who is in Denver covering the circus: It's absolutely hysterical to watch the greener-than-thou types stand there for ten or fifteen minutes carefully separating nacho chips from guacamole and sour cream to place each in the proper canister. Is it refuse? Compost? Recycling?...... Find out what happens to those nacho chips here... (The VIDEO is priceless!) See more fun stuff everyday at Jerry Agar's Blog, and listen to Jerry's talk show on WLS 890 AM in Chicago from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Monday throught Friday. Jerry proves that conservatives can be very entertaining. RELATED: Jeff Katz Show, WBT Charlotte

Jerry Agar, Regular Guy

A reader asks The Bench: Have you ever met Jerry Agar? I love his show, and think that it is way better than Eileen Burns', which was the show that he replaced. Yes, I met Jerry when I was in the WLS 890 AM studios [on August 5] with him as he interviewed John Powers of the Chicago Daily Observer and me [along with John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit via telephone]. Jerry is a cool guy, down to earth. He's the kind of guy anybody would be comfortable having a beer with and shooting the breeze - but you'd just want to be quiet and listen to Jerry because he's so entertaining and informative. P.S.: Unfortunately, I did not meet the lovely Maura Myles, newsgal and Agar's sidekick weekdays 9-11 a.m. Don't tell Jerry, but the only reason I accepted the invitation was my hope of meeting Maura!

The Bench - On the Air at WLS

I had the great pleasure yesterday to meet talk show host Jerry Agar at WLS 890 AM studios, high atop the Pot Belly sandwich shop at State and Lake in the Loop. Jerry interviewed John Powers of the Chicago Daily Observer and me about the impact of citizen journalists (the term "blogger" is so yesterday) and their impact on news reporting and current events. You can hear the archived interview here. Jerry is a fun guy with a passion and energy like few in the media. In fact, last night, he was the guest host for the Mark Levin Show, one of the top nationally syndicated talk shows. Check out his show on WLS 890 AM, weekdays from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Hint: If you have trouble opening the archived interview and you have Windows Media Player, right click on the top tool bar, choose "File" then "Open URL" and paste this URL in: http://wlsam.1871dev.com/content/img/f47480/Agar__Citizen_Journalism_August_5th_10am.mp3 You'll need an Internet connection for this. It should open as an MP3 in your player. Once open, you can right click again and select File, Save As... to keep a copy. This might work in other players, too, I dunno.

The Bench on WLS 890 AM Today

Listen in as The Bench joins talk show host Jerry Agar in the studios of WLS 890 AM Chicago this morning, between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. We will be having a discussion about citizen journalists and how they affect politics locally and nationally. RELATED: Jerry Agar Show Newsmaker Interviews (audio archives) - Today's major newsmakers join Jerry Agar to give him the Inside Story.

Obama: The Audacity of Jokes

Heard a good Barack Obama joke lately? They're out there, but mostly on the Internet. Of course, many of us consider Obama's entire campaign to be a joke. The candidate is himself a joke, the creation of the corrupt Daley-Rezko-Stroger-Chicago Democrat Machine, and he has the audacity to call himself a candidate "of change." His campaign staff seem to be hyper-sensitive about any kind of humor about the man, from the size of his ears to his actuall middle name (Hussein) to anything else. The New York Times has noticed this, and recently wrote about the dilemma Barack Obama poses for professional comedians - those who pander the to Left, anyway. Bill Carter of the NY Times wrote: When Mr. Stewart on “The Daily Show” recently tried to joke about Mr. Obama changing his position on campaign financing, for instance, he met with such obvious resistance from the audience, he said, “You know, you’re allowed to laugh at him.” Mr. Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, “People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them." A Chicago talk show host has no reservations about mocking Barack H. Obama, however. Jerry Agar, WLS 890 AM (Chicago) will have a fun event on Monday, July 21 that will pay tribute to the old art of mocking politicians and authority figures - and poke some fun at the supposedly unfunny Obama. Friend of the blog Agar has a great morning talk show from 9:00 to 11:00, M-F. He is a sharp political observer and commentator and a very funny guy. Agar even has his own comedy troupe of sorts, called "Jerry's Kidders." Jerry's Kidders plan a special edition of their regular gathering on WLS this coming Monday [July 21]. Our position is that no presidential candidate is above the mocking criticism that has become a part of American culture and communication, going back to Mark Twain, and if the late night TV comics won't do it, we will. [WLS press release] Most big time political candidates get it: You throw yourself into the public arena, ask people to allow you to influence their lives and create laws, and you have to expect that (a) some folks will disagree with you and (b) some of those who disagree with you will criticize you, and furthermore (c) some of your critics will mock you without mercy. The WLS release continues: "...if the late night TV comics won't do it, we will. Starting at 10:00 am Monday [July 21], a Special One Hour Edition of Jerry's Kidders, Barack-no-phobia; No Kidding Aside." Little fish in small ponds often don't understand this basic fact, which has been true since just before the first tribal leader had his first open critic hacked to death. While that still happens today, most tribal leaders in 2008 are smart enough to ignore the critics. They know that the more they protest the mockery, the more encouraged their mocking critics become. Two Chicago examples: Alderman Joe Moore and Mayor Richard Daley. They love to whine about the criticism they get in the media, and the media laps it up and spits it out as more mockery. Moore, Daley and their ilk just don't understand this. Those engaged in mockery, such as I, are most grateful for that. RELATED: Jerry's Kidders Obama Releases List of Approved Jokes About Himself Want Obama in a Punch Line? First, Find a Joke Barack Obama Jokes - Late-Night Jokes about Obama The Obama joke deficit Barack Obama Jokes - Encyclopedia of Humor

Global Warming and Mass Suicide

Jerry Agar, talk show host extraordinaire on WLS 890 AM in Chicago, has a good post on his blog that was written by Tim Slagle, a regularly guest on Agar's show. Jerry tells me that Slagle is a contributing writer to his blog. Slagle quotes a news story that tells of "a patient was [who] admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital of Melbourne with the first case ever documented of climate change delusion." That's right: Climate change delusion. Now, many of us already suspected that the world wide mass hysteria about climate change was a form of mental illness. Now, however, we have clinical proof. Slagle continues: I might suggest that this isn’t the first case documented, probably just the first case treated. Since, according to the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, “The patient ... quoted internet research to substantiate this. The patient described that “I feel guilty about it,” [and] was unable to acknowledge that the belief was unreasonable when challenged.” Well that sounds like every single environmentalist I’ve ever met. Perhaps Slagle exaggerates a wee bit. I mean, I'm an "environmentalist" inasmuch as I favor clean air, clean water, and so on. Unlike the variety of "environmentalist" that Slagle refers to however, I do not put snail darters or any other life form above the welfare of my fellow humans. To do so makes you a cultist, as Slagle explains: Global warming is a dangerous cult because it is a doomsday cult. Most of these cults meet their fate in horrendous fashion. As it becomes clear that the apocalyptic prophesy is not going as foretold, the leaders usually panic, and lead the believers to mass suicide. READ THE FULL POST by TIM SLAGLE at JERRY AGAR'S BLOG...

Agar the Magnificent

Jerry Agar is a rising star. You may not know him yet, but he's a guy to watch. He follows the popular Don Wade and Roma on WLS-AM 890 here in Chicago (from 9 to 11 a.m.), but that blow torch gets his voice out over most of the Midwest. Agar also does fill-in duty for national talk show hosts, too, such as a recent stint filling in for the nationally syndicated Mark Levin Show. This morning, Agar talked about the ongoing battle to keep the Children's Museum from moving into protected Grant Park. On his own blog, Agar writes that he and his production staff "attempted to get the Chicago Aldermen to state their position on whether or not the Children's Museum should be allowed to relocate to Grant Park." They called each Chicago alderman more than once, and you can see the results at Agar's blog. He urges his listeners and readers to "Call the aldermen yourself, especially those who didn't call us back and give your opinion." IT'S "BURMA," NOT "MYANMAR" Prior to Agar this morning, Don Wade talked about Burma, and why those in the American media insist on calling it "Myanmar." We shouldn't, said Wade, because the name was changed by executive fiat nearly 20 years ago by the military junta, without it being voted on. That's the same group that's denying international aid from coming into Burma to help millions of people suffering from the effects of the recent cyclone that killed over 100,000 people. According to the CIA World Fact Book, "Despite multiparty legislative elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - winning a landslide victory, the ruling junta refused to hand over power." The opposition parties in Burma still call the country "Burma," not "Myanmar," and "Burma" is the accepted colloquial name used by most Burmese people. The name "Myanmar" has been recognized mainly by a few neighboring countries, but mostly by Communist countries such as China and Russia. "Burma" is still the name officially recognized by most Western democracies, because they know that "Myanmar" is a name imposed on the country by a vicious, tyrannical military junta. To call it "Burma" is to symbolically oppose those tyrants. So why do the American media call it "Burma?" My own theory: To sound hip and worldly. Think National Public Radio, for example. How many times have you heard an announcer on NPR pronounce "Mexico" as "May-hee-koh," or "Chile" as "Chee-lay?" Now, how often have you heard an announcer on NPR refer to Germany as "Bundesrepublik Deutschland," or pronounce "France" as "Frahnce?" (And by the way, I'll start pronouncing "Mexico" like a Mexican as soon as everyone in Mexico starts calling us "The United States" and not "Los Estados Unidos.") They try so hard to sound worldly, but media do it selectively. The communist nations call it "Myanmar," so NPR and other media trendyites think it's cool to do so as well. But what these media idiots do not understand is that calling the country "Myanmar" is to give a little bit of legitimacy to the military dictators there - the ones the same media are reporting about now, about the injustices and horrors being inflicted on the Burmese people. So quick to be trendy, so slow to be correct, that's the mainstream media for you. RELATED: WLS 890 AM Chicago