Show Love to the Merchant Class - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

Show Love to the Merchant Class - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily: "We are masters of the universe as customers and as compliant as lambs when acting as citizens. And perhaps that's easy to understand. The government has a gun pointing at our heads. The merchant is trying to persuade us to part with our money in exchange for goods and services. One won't take no for an answer; the other sees no as just part of daily life.

Still, we should be more conscious of the difference, and appreciate what it means. The class of people who have chosen the path of persuasion over coercion are deserving of our gratitude even when we don't buy from them. The merchant class is that which makes everything possible in our lives: our homes, our food, our medical care, our clothing, our air conditioning, our computers, our music listening — absolutely everything that makes daily life tolerable and joyful."

An Amen for Albany | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary

An Amen for Albany | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "New York City had long leaned heavily on institutions affiliated with major religious groups to provide foster placements for 'their' kids — Catholic agencies making arrangements for Catholic kids and so forth. Lawyers from the ACLU sued, saying this perpetuated religious discrimination. In particular, they argued, it was unfair that Catholic and Jewish kids got the assistance of relatively strong agencies backed by long histories of community philanthropy and volunteering, while other kids, notably black Protestants, were left with whatever foster arrangements the city could cobble together.

In a settlement, the city agreed to scrap the system and cut back religious matching in favor of something more like a first-come-first-served method of assignment, turning the agencies into something closer to interchangeable outposts of a single foster system. Problem solved? No. Outcomes went from unacceptable to even worse as the new rules demoralized and drove away volunteers at the high-performing religious agencies without turning around the others."

The Bin Laden vaccine: Yes, vaccinations are a CIA plot | The Economist

The Bin Laden vaccine: Yes, vaccinations are a CIA plot | The Economist: "All over the world, poor people resist vaccination campaigns in the belief that they are part of a plot by powerful authorities to take advantage of them. The CIA operation in Pakistan turns these fears from crazy conspiracy theories into accurate and rational beliefs."

Wisconsin Schools Already In Line to Save $155 Million Through New Contracts | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor

Wisconsin Schools Already In Line to Save $155 Million Through New Contracts | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor: "According to 2011 head counts from the Department of Public Instruction, these changes will affect 312,567 students in Wisconsin – saving districts an average of $497.81 per student."