Monday stuff

I was already sure how I felt about the Social Security scam, but it is refreshing to have a economics genius take the same position. Here is Milton Friedman's take:

"I've always been opposed to Social Security," Friedman said in a recent interview at his home in San Francisco. "I think it's a very unethical program. "

Read the rest.
Hal McCoy's weekly Baseball Insider column is dedicated to losers, without whom there would be no winners. The column can be summed up with this quote:

Good luck, Buddy.

How does a society determine if they are releasing the wrong crooks on parole? Possibly if the former convict chops up his parole officer as a birthday gift to himself.
What does baseball a team do if their previously fearsome offense becomes one of the most anemic attacks? Oh yeah, it says in the GM handbook that the next step is to fire the hitting coach. The GM signs Aaron Boone, Casey Blake and others and then fires Eddie Murray when those players don't hit. Okay, whatever. Murray is the same guy now as he was when the team was scoring runs in bunches last year. Sometimes a coach is fired just to shake up the team. We'll see.