Juveniles in Charge | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Juveniles in Charge | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Why are sea turtles endangered, while chickens and cows are not? The answer, quite simply, is that chickens and cows are privately owned and turtles are not — thus they suffer from the tragedy of the commons. When things are owned in common — socialism — no person takes responsibility for protecting the property, and thus it most often ends up being neglected or even destroyed — hence the fate of the sea turtle.

Sea turtles like to lay their eggs on nice beaches in tropical areas — the very same places where people like to live and vacation. This is a battle for space that the sea turtle is bound to lose, despite the best efforts of environmentalist do-gooders to keep people from having a good time and enjoying beaches. The better solution is to farm turtles similar to the way we farm chickens and cows, while also requiring the release of some turtles in order to replenish the wild stocks. Virtually every part of the turtle is useful — tasty lean meat for turtle soup, shells for jewelry, etc. If people were allowed to farm them, there would be many millions more turtles."

"Recently, a chairman of a substantial European bank explained to me why he can no longer take American clients or invest in the United States. Under some of the new U.S. laws and regulations that were designed to get a few billion more dollars for the IRS, those who run foreign banks and have U.S. 'tax persons' (citizens and green card holders, etc.) as clients can be held liable both civilly and criminally for not reporting them to the IRS. But, in an age when millions of people have multiple passports and citizenships, there is no way any banker can know with certainty who is and who is not an American 'tax person.' As a result, the United States is in the process of driving away, perhaps, trillions of dollars in needed foreign investment and millions of U.S. jobs because a majority of those in Congress are unable to see the very costly consequences of their juvenile actions."