End the DOE - Aaron Smith - Mises Daily

End the DOE - Aaron Smith - Mises Daily: 'while the income potential for a college dropout is virtually unchanged, she must now bear the dual burdens of servicing student debt and the emotional scars of failure. Oddly, the supposedly "compassionate" policies espoused by left-liberals rarely account for the human toll of market distortions. Credit-rating agency Moody's summarized the grim prospects for students burdened by debt:

Unless students limit their debt burdens, choose fields of study that are in demand, and successfully complete their degrees on time, they will find themselves in worse financial positions and unable to earn the projected income that justified taking out their loans in the first place.'

'Increases in institutional aid, however, are not accompanied by cost reductions for students. Instead, schools are using state and federal funds to grow their administrative empires.'

Imprisonment is not the answer | Wide White

Imprisonment is not the answer | Wide White: 'When considering imprisonment as a punishment for a crime, we have to ask ourselves three questions. First, will imprisonment teach this person a lesson that they could not otherwise learn outside of prison? Second, do the crimes committed by this person warrant separating them from the rest of society for a period of time? Third, is imprisonment necessary to keep this person from causing anymore problems for society than they already have? I’m not convinced that negligence warrants a prison sentence under these guidelines.'

It's Not about Consumption! - Robert Higgs - Mises Daily

It's Not about Consumption! - Robert Higgs - Mises Daily: 'real personal consumption expenditure recovered from its recession decline by the fourth quarter of 2010. Continuing to grow, it now stands (as of the most recent data, for the second quarter of 2011) even farther above its prerecession peak.'

'The economy remains moribund not because consumption spending has failed to recover and not because government spending has failed to increase but because the true driver of economic growth — private investment — remains deeply depressed. Gross private domestic fixed investment fell steeply after the second quarter of 2007, and in the second quarter of 2011 it remained 19 percent below its prerecession peak. This figure fails to show how bad the investment situation really is, however, because the bulk of the investment spending now taking place is for what the accountants call the "capital-consumption allowance," the amount estimated as necessary to compensate for the wear and tear and obsolescence of the existing capital stock.'

Cut Defense before Raising Taxes | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Cut Defense before Raising Taxes | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Last week, Rep. Howard McKeon (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Daily Beast that he would support a tax increase rather than accept any further cuts in defense spending. McKeon is not a supercommittee member, but his remarks reflect the pressure from Republican hawks and defense contractors now being brought to bear.

This position seems remarkably shortsighted. First, the sequester would not go into effect until 2013, leaving Republicans with plenty of time to change the mix of domestic and defense cuts after the 2012 elections. But even if the cuts were to occur, they amount to just a bit more than 8 percent of expected defense spending over the next decade. With the U.S. spending more on its military than the rest of the world combined, does anyone really believe that if we stop protecting Germany from a Russian invasion, cancel weapon systems that don't work, or reduce the number of generals and admirals populating the Pentagon, that al-Qaeda will come swarming across our border?'