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The Myth of the Voluntary Military - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily: "To leave once the war begins would amount to what the government calls desertion. This word sounds ominous, but in fact it merely describes what everyone in a civilized society takes for granted: the right to quit.
Deuteronomy's exhortation to encourage the Israelites into battle includes an invitation to freely leave: 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house.'[1] But there is no such right in the modern US military. If you try to leave, you face coercion, particularly if you try to leave in wartime. In this way, the military differs from the police and the ranks of prison guards, jobs from which people are free to walk away without penalty."
"Both North and South claimed they were fighting in order to abolish a form of captivity — the right to self-government in one case, and the right to not be employed against one's will in the other — but the ability of the military to imprison and kill fleeing soldiers was never questioned. It is not often questioned today."
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Debt Debate: A Pox on Both Parties | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary
Debt Debate: A Pox on Both Parties | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The Republicans are correct that raising tax rates is a terrible idea. By discouraging savings, work and investment, higher rates dampen economic productivity in the long run. By reducing disposable income and corporate profits, they reduce consumption and investment in the short run. And higher rates will not raise as much revenue as initial forecasts.
But closing tax loopholes — lowering tax expenditure — is a terrific idea. Many tax expenditures distort economic decision-making and therefore slow economic growth. Crucial examples include the home-mortgage interest deduction and the preferential treatment of employer-provided health insurance. Thus Republican skepticism about explicit expenditure should apply equally to tax expenditure, regardless of the revenue implications."
But closing tax loopholes — lowering tax expenditure — is a terrific idea. Many tax expenditures distort economic decision-making and therefore slow economic growth. Crucial examples include the home-mortgage interest deduction and the preferential treatment of employer-provided health insurance. Thus Republican skepticism about explicit expenditure should apply equally to tax expenditure, regardless of the revenue implications."
Solving the Long-Term Jobs Problem | Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz | Cato Institute: Commentary
Solving the Long-Term Jobs Problem | Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The problem today is that government policy is impeding innovation and job creation in these sectors. Both education and healthcare are already heavily influenced or controlled by federal and local government. That means that the evolution of those sectors is driven by top-down command and control, rather than by bottom-up innovation.
To revitalize these sectors and revive the American job market, we must open up these industries to competition and entrepreneurial reform."
"Imagine what might happen if government involvement in education were restricted to giving school vouchers to households below the median income. Entrepreneurs would be free to redesign education completely. Perhaps the very concept of a school would ultimately be replaced by different educational components with entirely different business models. Some companies might emerge as high-quality math educators and sell their services to individuals or schools or districts. Others might emerge as high-quality developers of social skills and builders of teamwork. Still other enterprises and services would emerge that no one can yet imagine.
Most importantly, as it relates to our current job problems, entrepreneurs would not be limited to a labor force consisting of people with teaching credentials. They could instead design their operations to use the available work force most efficiently. This could even mean taking workers without college diplomas (some of those hardest hit by the economic downturn) and training them to provide services to students. Perhaps less-educated workers could be involved in helping create and deliver rich-media content, based on guidance from experts with deep, specialized knowledge."
"In the corporate world, over the past century there has been rapid turnover in the companies making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Many corporate giants of three decades ago are no longer in business. In contrast, every member of the elite list of colleges of 1980 is still on such a list today.
Consider that many elite universities were founded with industrial fortunes. Think Leland Stanford, James Buchanan Duke, or Cornelius Vanderbilt. The legacy enterprises that created those fortunes have been upended, transformed, or demolished by competition and new technology. But the universities those fortunes founded remain near the top of the heap, shielded from entrepreneurial disruption."
To revitalize these sectors and revive the American job market, we must open up these industries to competition and entrepreneurial reform."
"Imagine what might happen if government involvement in education were restricted to giving school vouchers to households below the median income. Entrepreneurs would be free to redesign education completely. Perhaps the very concept of a school would ultimately be replaced by different educational components with entirely different business models. Some companies might emerge as high-quality math educators and sell their services to individuals or schools or districts. Others might emerge as high-quality developers of social skills and builders of teamwork. Still other enterprises and services would emerge that no one can yet imagine.
Most importantly, as it relates to our current job problems, entrepreneurs would not be limited to a labor force consisting of people with teaching credentials. They could instead design their operations to use the available work force most efficiently. This could even mean taking workers without college diplomas (some of those hardest hit by the economic downturn) and training them to provide services to students. Perhaps less-educated workers could be involved in helping create and deliver rich-media content, based on guidance from experts with deep, specialized knowledge."
"In the corporate world, over the past century there has been rapid turnover in the companies making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Many corporate giants of three decades ago are no longer in business. In contrast, every member of the elite list of colleges of 1980 is still on such a list today.
Consider that many elite universities were founded with industrial fortunes. Think Leland Stanford, James Buchanan Duke, or Cornelius Vanderbilt. The legacy enterprises that created those fortunes have been upended, transformed, or demolished by competition and new technology. But the universities those fortunes founded remain near the top of the heap, shielded from entrepreneurial disruption."
Lessons from Norway's Horror | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary
Lessons from Norway's Horror | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: But blaming Sarah Palin for Jared Loughner, or Al Gore for the Unabomber makes about as much sense as blaming Martin Scorsese and Jodie Foster for inciting John Hinckley. There's little to be learned from the acts of "the obsessed and deranged." But these incidents ought to teach us not to use tragedy to score partisan points.
Financial Chaos Winners | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary
Financial Chaos Winners | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The U.S. government holds gold worth about $400 billion at present market prices. The president has the legal authority to sell the gold plus many other government assets. So even if Congress has not completed a debt-ceiling increase by Aug. 3, the administration could sell gold and other assets to cover any short-term revenue need before it received the legal authority to sell more bonds.
In addition, Mercatus Institute research fellow Veronique de Rugy has identified an additional couple of trillion dollars of U.S. government physical and trust fund assets that could be legally sold to cover budget shortfalls."
"The president has had months to present a plan to avoid the debt-increase chaos — and yet he has presented nothing on paper — only vague outlines of a plan that cannot be scored. The Republicans have passed a debt-limit increase, only to see it die in the Senate. The Senate has yet to come back with an alternative, as would be normal order. If the Senate is unhappy with the House bill, it ought to modify it and then take it to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences. It is fairly obvious that the Democrats see more of an advantage in market disruptions than the Republicans."
In addition, Mercatus Institute research fellow Veronique de Rugy has identified an additional couple of trillion dollars of U.S. government physical and trust fund assets that could be legally sold to cover budget shortfalls."
"The president has had months to present a plan to avoid the debt-increase chaos — and yet he has presented nothing on paper — only vague outlines of a plan that cannot be scored. The Republicans have passed a debt-limit increase, only to see it die in the Senate. The Senate has yet to come back with an alternative, as would be normal order. If the Senate is unhappy with the House bill, it ought to modify it and then take it to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences. It is fairly obvious that the Democrats see more of an advantage in market disruptions than the Republicans."
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