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Free the Clogged-Nose 25! - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute: "Let's get back to our friends who were snagged in this sting operation. I'm looking through their names and the charges. In every case, the charge is 'unlawful possession of a precursor.' The 'precursor' here is Sudafed.
Can you believe it? What was lawful only a few years ago now gets you written up in the papers as a drug dealer. It ruins your life. You now have a record."
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Stimulus Scam | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary
Stimulus Scam | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "There are several ways to see if it is working as advertised. First, what did the proponents say would happen when they were pushing the plan versus what has happened? Second, how has the United States fared compared to other nations that had smaller or no stimulus programs? Third, how have the results to date compared to what pro-stimulus, Keynesian-school economic theorists advocated versus what other theorists (principally Austrian-school) who largely opposed the stimulus plans said?"
"President Obama's economic advisers said in the beginning of this year that the unemployment rate would rise to 9 percent with no stimulus package and would only rise to a maximum of 7.9 percent with the stimulus bill, peaking during this past summer. Stimulus proponents clearly have failed the first test (despite Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s revisionist statements) and there is zero evidence for their claims that more jobs would have been lost without the stimulus package."
"The three countries with the smallest deficits (the least stimulus) — Brazil, China and Germany — have all turned the corner rather quickly and are growing."
"President Obama's economic advisers said in the beginning of this year that the unemployment rate would rise to 9 percent with no stimulus package and would only rise to a maximum of 7.9 percent with the stimulus bill, peaking during this past summer. Stimulus proponents clearly have failed the first test (despite Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s revisionist statements) and there is zero evidence for their claims that more jobs would have been lost without the stimulus package."
"The three countries with the smallest deficits (the least stimulus) — Brazil, China and Germany — have all turned the corner rather quickly and are growing."
Obama Cuts Sour Deal on Sugar | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary
Obama Cuts Sour Deal on Sugar | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "A system of price supports and import quotas virtually guarantees domestic beet and cane growers an 80 percent market share. At times, this has forced American families and sugar-consuming industries to pay prices two or three times the spot world price."
"As a consequence, 'Many U.S. (sugar-containing product) manufacturers have closed or relocated to Canada where sugar prices average less than half of U.S. prices and Mexico where sugar prices average about two-thirds of U.S. prices.'"
"In all, 6,400 workers in the sugar-processing industry have lost their jobs because of their own government's deliberate policy to drive up the cost of their major input. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the sugar program "saves" only 2,200 jobs in the sugar growing and harvesting industry. So our sugar policy eliminates three jobs for every one it saves."
"As a consequence, 'Many U.S. (sugar-containing product) manufacturers have closed or relocated to Canada where sugar prices average less than half of U.S. prices and Mexico where sugar prices average about two-thirds of U.S. prices.'"
"In all, 6,400 workers in the sugar-processing industry have lost their jobs because of their own government's deliberate policy to drive up the cost of their major input. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the sugar program "saves" only 2,200 jobs in the sugar growing and harvesting industry. So our sugar policy eliminates three jobs for every one it saves."
More Is Not the Answer | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary
More Is Not the Answer | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary: "But present policy would require more troops than America could ever send — as many as 650,000 troops for the next 12 to 14 years, according to the US Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual metrics. This commitment of time and resources cannot be accomplished at a cost acceptable to Americans."
The Virtue of Hoarding - George F. Smith - Mises Institute
The Virtue of Hoarding - George F. Smith - Mises Institute: "As people increase their demand for cash balances, prices will tend to fall, and the purchasing power of the money unit will rise. The production structure of the economy remains intact — hoarding as such does not wipe out goods on store shelves, or machines in factories. If anything, it makes them cheaper."
Free Trade Has Enriched the World with More than Diverse Goods | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary
Free Trade Has Enriched the World with More than Diverse Goods | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "No consumers benefit proportionally more from trade than the poor, and nobody suffers more from existing trade barriers. The imported fresh fruit and vegetables, T-shirts and discounted sneakers sold at big-box retailers loom especially large in the budgets of poor and middle-class families.
Perversely, the highest remaining US trade barriers are aimed at products that are disproportionately made by poor people abroad and consumed by poor people at home. The $25 billion the US government collects each year through import tariffs is the most regressive tax in the federal arsenal. According to a study by the Progressive Policy Institute, a single mother earning $20,000 a year pays a much higher share of her income for import duties than a manager earning $100,000 a year. Labor unions and other groups that oppose tariff-lowering trade agreements are unwittingly serving a status quo that is punishing the poor."
"Since the early 1990s, the US economy has lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs, but during that same period the economy has added 18 million service-sector jobs that are typically better paying. In fact, since 1991, two-thirds of the net new jobs created in US economy are in sectors such as health care, education, and business and professional service where the average pay is higher than in manufacturing."
"Between 1981 and 2005, the share of the world's population living on the equivalent of $1.25 a day dropped by half, from 52 to 25 percent, according to the World Bank. In China alone, the number in absolute poverty fell by 600 million. During this same period, real gains have been made in life expectancy, infant survival, nutrition, and literacy. Child labor rates have fallen by more than half. It is not a coincidence that the most dramatic gains against poverty have occurred in those countries that have most aggressively opened themselves to the global economy."
"Trade has spread tools of communication and spurred the growth of civil society as an alternative to centralized government. As a result, the share of the world's population living in countries that respect civil liberties and the right to vote has climbed from 35 percent in 1973 to 46 percent today, according to Freedom House.
Fewer people are dying in wars today than in past decades, in large part because commerce has replaced military competition. Global commerce has allowed nations to gain access to resources through trade rather than conquest, while deeper economic integration has brought former enemies together and raised the cost of war."
Perversely, the highest remaining US trade barriers are aimed at products that are disproportionately made by poor people abroad and consumed by poor people at home. The $25 billion the US government collects each year through import tariffs is the most regressive tax in the federal arsenal. According to a study by the Progressive Policy Institute, a single mother earning $20,000 a year pays a much higher share of her income for import duties than a manager earning $100,000 a year. Labor unions and other groups that oppose tariff-lowering trade agreements are unwittingly serving a status quo that is punishing the poor."
"Since the early 1990s, the US economy has lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs, but during that same period the economy has added 18 million service-sector jobs that are typically better paying. In fact, since 1991, two-thirds of the net new jobs created in US economy are in sectors such as health care, education, and business and professional service where the average pay is higher than in manufacturing."
"Between 1981 and 2005, the share of the world's population living on the equivalent of $1.25 a day dropped by half, from 52 to 25 percent, according to the World Bank. In China alone, the number in absolute poverty fell by 600 million. During this same period, real gains have been made in life expectancy, infant survival, nutrition, and literacy. Child labor rates have fallen by more than half. It is not a coincidence that the most dramatic gains against poverty have occurred in those countries that have most aggressively opened themselves to the global economy."
"Trade has spread tools of communication and spurred the growth of civil society as an alternative to centralized government. As a result, the share of the world's population living in countries that respect civil liberties and the right to vote has climbed from 35 percent in 1973 to 46 percent today, according to Freedom House.
Fewer people are dying in wars today than in past decades, in large part because commerce has replaced military competition. Global commerce has allowed nations to gain access to resources through trade rather than conquest, while deeper economic integration has brought former enemies together and raised the cost of war."
Time to Start Over | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary
Time to Start Over | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If you're going the wrong way down a road, the answer isn't to step on the gas, but to turn around.
It is not that the U.S. doesn't need health care reform, but it needs the right type of reform. Problematic as our system often is, it is possible to make things worse."
"Government regulations add more than $169 billion annually to the cost of health care. Other regulations limit competition between insurers and providers by, for instance, prohibiting people from buying insurance across state lines. Government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are trillions of dollars in debt and are models of waste, fraud and inefficiency.
And our current tax laws penalize people who don't receive insurance through their work, meaning that if you lose your job, you lose your insurance."
It is not that the U.S. doesn't need health care reform, but it needs the right type of reform. Problematic as our system often is, it is possible to make things worse."
"Government regulations add more than $169 billion annually to the cost of health care. Other regulations limit competition between insurers and providers by, for instance, prohibiting people from buying insurance across state lines. Government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are trillions of dollars in debt and are models of waste, fraud and inefficiency.
And our current tax laws penalize people who don't receive insurance through their work, meaning that if you lose your job, you lose your insurance."
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