The Case against Student Aid - Aaron Smith - Mises Daily

The Case against Student Aid - Aaron Smith - Mises Daily: "The unintended consequences of [Federal Financial Aid] are numerous, indeed. Skyrocketing tuition, high default rates, and pathetic graduation rates — to name a few — are all byproducts of a system that incentivizes inefficiency, largess, and misguided decisions. Oddly, while many students aren't legally permitted to take a sip of alcohol, they are systematically encouraged to contract into years of, essentially, indentured servitude."

"teaching loads plummeted an astounding 36 percent between 1987–1988 and 2003–2004. It has been estimated that such reductions have increased costs by $2,850 per student at public four-year colleges.

Of course some research is indeed productive. However, it is highly unlikely that many of the 21,674 scholarly publications written on Shakespeare between 1980 and 2006, for example, had a demonstrable impact on student success. Colleges have much to save — and students even more to gain — when college officials reprioritize the work of their faculties."

"The national six-year graduation rate from four-year institutions is an abysmal 57.3 percent. For African Americans, whose well-being statists are supposedly trying to promote, this figure is 42 percent. In addition to wasted time and the dark cloud of failure for those who don't graduate, 8.8 percent of all borrowers were in default in 2009. In fact, 2 million senior citizens have student-loan debt, 11.2 percent of which are in default."

"Every degree type, after all, is indiscriminately given a four-year curriculum. It is rarely questioned why a student studying engineering and another studying business are to attend college for precisely the same number of years."

"In the absence of FFA, a student would be more cognizant of their return on investment (ROI). Of course, actually having to pay for an education, and not merely buy one, would immediately increase their sensitivity to price."

"True, fewer students would eventually enroll in higher education, as critics will likely point out with vigor — but is this worse than having myriad students dropping out with debt and many more graduating with impotent degrees?"

"Currently, the costs of student-loan default are borne predominantly by taxpayers. If colleges are, indeed, confident that their programs will result in successful outcomes — then why shouldn't they assume this risk?"

Embracing Progress | Marian L. Tupy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Embracing Progress | Marian L. Tupy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In the 1970s, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.” Thus began The Population Bomb"

"Since those now infamous words were written, world population has doubled from 3.5 billion to 7 billion, inflation-adjusted average annual income per person has risen from $3,147 to $5,997, and life expectancy at birth has increased from 59 years to 69 years."

"In sub-Saharan Africa, the caloric intake increased from 2,290 to 2,420 in just 16 years."

"[Africa]’s population has more than trebled — from 280 million to 854 million — since 1968, and life expectancy has increased from 44 years to 54 years."

"In 1981, 70 percent of people in poor countries lived on less than $2 a day, while 42 percent survived on less than $1 a day. Today, 43 percent live on less than $2 a day, while 14 percent survive on less than $1. “Poverty reduction of this magnitude is unparalleled in history,”"

"“Violence has been in decline for thousands of years, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in the existence of our species.” Indeed, studies have shown that hunter-gatherer societies experienced about 524 violent deaths per 100,000. The rate of violent deaths in the war-torn 20th century, by comparison, amounted to a mere 60 per 100,000."

"Why are we as a species so willing to believe in doomsday scenarios that never quite materialize?"

Bad Idea of Cellphone-Driver Bans Could Go National | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary

Bad Idea of Cellphone-Driver Bans Could Go National | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "A federally prescribed traffic code imposes uniformity on a subject for which the optimal rule might well be different on a North Carolina country lane than in Los Angeles. That may be one reason the Constitution's framers wisely excluded such authority from among the federal government's enumerated powers."

" "states with cellphone bans have seen no real decrease in accident rates," and even bans on texting don't seem to have had the intended effects, perhaps because furtive drivers begin lowering their gaze to a phone held below dashboard level, making the risk worse."

"The feds insist that driver distraction is "linked" to 3,000 fatalities a year; even if you accept that number as accurate, most of the cases arise from distractions other than phones. But the number itself is suspect: the feds blame a crash on distraction if a cellphone is so much as "in the presence of the driver at the time of the crash." There's seldom any real effort to reconcile the supposed epidemic of phone distraction with the reality of accident statistics, which show per-mile highway fatalities continuing to fall to all-time lows."

"The near-ubiquity of cellphones in vehicles bolsters societal safety in all sorts of ways. For example, it improves the chance that other drivers will call a wreck in to 911 speedily enough for rescuers to make a difference, and it cuts crime rates by multiplying the number of "eyes on the street" in immediate touch with authorities. Disturbingly, LaHood seemed to suggest that he wants to ban cellphones even for commercial drivers, who pioneered mobile communication and have been using it reasonably safely for decades."

"he was not as concerned about people who eat, apply makeup or perform other distracting activities in cars because 'not everyone does that.'"

"According to Washington radio station WTOP, he personally combats the problem while driving around the capital by honking his horn at drivers he sees holding devices to their ears.

Points out Mike Riggs at Reason magazine: "Which is more of a distraction while driving: holding a phone up to your ear, or having a stranger pull up behind/beside you and lay on the horn for no apparent reason?" Riggs also notes in a second Reason article that concern about driver distraction circa 1930 led to crusades in high places to ban the newly developed car radios, which, fortunately, was resisted by the motoring public."

Herding Lizards - Doug French - Mises Daily

Herding Lizards - Doug French - Mises Daily: "The fact is, without the constant inflation of fiat money, people would (or have to) spend very little time thinking about their money or savings. Squirreling a little money out of every paycheck would suffice for retirement preparation."

"investors gravitate en masse to investments that are overpriced"

"Dopamine neurons are stimulated only if the rewards exceed the expectation. If investments work as planned, even if the result is good, there will be no rush at reward. And when results are less than expected, dopamine neurons are depressed — creating immense regret."

"Burnham points out that numerous studies show that people "reveal themselves to be proud. They are willing to lose money to retain their self-esteem." "

"Like thirsty animals on the African Savannah, humans are attracted to the speculative gains that financial markets promise. But, stopping for a drink is likely hazardous to our financial health."

Cost Shifting Does Not Justify Obamacare | Jeffrey A. Singer | Cato Institute: Commentary

Cost Shifting Does Not Justify Obamacare | Jeffrey A. Singer | Cato Institute: Commentary: "when people don’t pay their medical bills, somebody has to bear that cost. But who?

A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that in many cases, it’s other uninsured patients. Many uninsured patients who do pay their bills wind up paying the “list prices” for the services they received. The list price is well above what any provider expects to receive from an insurance company. Physicians collect more from those uninsured patients than they would from insured patients. That extra money often covers the cost of uninsured patients who don’t pay."

"cost shifting due to the uninsured raised private insurance premiums 1.7% “at most.”"

"Much of the current uncompensated care problem is due to a 1986 law called EMTALA (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act). This law bans hospitals from transferring patients to facilities set up to provide care to the indigent. In the process, it encourages people not to purchase health insurance and to use emergency rooms for primary care. People know that hospital emergency rooms must treat them, and cannot transfer them, even if they have no intention of ever paying for their care. So, for many, the urgency to purchase health insurance becomes less acute."

Inflation Isn't the Point of Monetary Easing | Timothy B. Lee | Cato Institute: Commentary

Inflation Isn't the Point of Monetary Easing | Timothy B. Lee | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In late 2008, the Federal Reserve screwed up and allowed the left-hand side of the equation, MV, to decline sharply."

They only control M and AFAIK it hasn't declined sharply.

"while NGDP fell by much more than that. Math tells us the rest of the decline had to be absorbed Q declining."

Sounds backwards. Falling NGDP didn't cause production to drop -- dropping production cause NGDP to drop.

"In other words, because prices didn’t fall fast enough, we got layoffs instead."
The government artificially restricts falling prices (especially labor)

"by expanding the money supply (M), the Fed can increase MV, which will necessarily increase PQ"

Since the Fed doesn't control V, increasing M can decrease V and not increase MV. So increasing M doesn't necessarily increase PQ. This is basic math and logic...

"If the economy is already humming along nicely, there’s not much room for Q to increase"

Productivity increases constantly increase Q and decrease P even(especially?) in a good economy.

"But if the economy is in a recession, with lots of idle workers and factories sitting around, then monetary stimulus will cause an increase in Q"

Workers and factories aren't easily changed to drastically new uses. It isn't easy for idle construction resources to be moved to manufacturing.

"We just need to convince them that a bit of extra inflation is a price worth paying for getting people back to work."

Getting people back to work is easy (force labor, drop pay, etc) but increasing NGDP isn't easy to do by just increasing M.

Lagarde expresses regret about Greece comments | Fox News

Lagarde expresses regret about Greece comments | Fox News: Rice says the IMF has "great respect for Greece and the people and the sacrifices that many are making to overcome the economic crisis."

Sacrifices?

This Is Happening in America? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

This Is Happening in America? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Attorney General Eric Holder, our chief law officer, along with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr., agreed to "new guidelines allowing the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)... to hold on to information about Americans in no way known to be connected to terrorism — about you and me, that is — for up to five years." Its previous limit was 180 days.

So, you or I would be a "person of interest" to the FBI and other intelligence agencies for five years."

Separation of Art And State | David Boaz | Cato Institute: Commentary

Separation of Art And State | David Boaz | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Government involves the organization of coercion. In a free society coercion should be reserved only for such essential functions of government as protecting rights and punishing criminals. People should not be forced to contribute money to artistic endeavors that they may not approve, nor should artists be forced to trim their sails to meet government standards.

Government funding of anything involves government control."


"the NEA’s budget is about 0.2 percent of the total amount spent on the nonprofit arts in the United States. The rapidly growing crowdfunding platform Kickstarter expects to direct more funding to the arts in its third year of operation than the NEA does."

Because Angels Don't Govern Us | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Because Angels Don't Govern Us | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "the damage that government can do is far greater than the damage that can be done by business or individuals, because ultimately the state holds a monopoly on the use of force. If I make a mistake, it affects my life and perhaps the lives of my family and a few others. If a business makes a mistake, it can affect thousands more. But if government makes a mistake, it can affect everyone. That is what makes the growing reach of government so dangerous.

That means that, necessary though some restraint on the freedom of individuals and businesses may be, it is even more important to have internal and external controls on the power of government."

Geithner's Willful Negligence | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Geithner's Willful Negligence | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "While the IRS minimizes potential security issues, nonresident aliens are unlikely to feel reassured by promises that their information won’t fall into the wrong hands. These pledges could be met with apprehension when countries with questionable human rights records remain on the recipient list. This rule gives nonresident aliens every incentive to pick up and move their deposits elsewhere."

"There is more than $10 trillion in foreign-portfolio (stocks and bonds) investment in the U.S. This is not counting direct investment by foreign corporations and others. Much of this $10 trillion-plus is managed by foreign financial institutions. Now many of them are saying they are going to leave the U.S. market because of these regulations, which means the potential loss of several million U.S. jobs."

Let Student Loan Interest Rates Rise | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Let Student Loan Interest Rates Rise | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "right now a third of bachelor's holders of all ages are in jobs which don't require their credentials."

"Give everyone $100 to pay for higher education and colleges will raise their prices by $100, negating the value of the aid"

Group raises more than $70G for Texas honor student jailed for truancy | Fox News

Group raises more than $70G for Texas honor student jailed for truancy | Fox News: "Judge Moriarty told KHOU 11 News that he intended to make an example of Tran by placing her in jail.

"If you let one run loose, what are you going to do with the rest of them? Let them go, too?" Moriarty told the station."

They might work hard to provide for their family -- oh the horrors!

BBC News - Mazda bets on internal combustion engine

BBC News - Mazda bets on internal combustion engine: The most frugal diesel version of the car delivers 61.4mpg[52 mpg-US] (4.6l/100km), with carbon emissions of 119g/km, which is impressive when compared with rival crossovers with 150hp engines."

"We can provide hybrid-level fuel economy and carbon emissions levels in the CX-5 without the weight and the cost," insists Mr Guyton.

"Mazda's fuel-saving technology depends on a dramatically high compression ratio which ensures its engines are highly efficient."

"Unlike our rivals, who use catalytic converters to reduce NOx (nitrogen oxides), we aim to get the combustion right in the first place so we don't need it," says Mr Guyton.

Obama's Plan to Seize Control of Our Economy And Our Lives | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Plan to Seize Control of Our Economy And Our Lives | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "the United States is already in a state of national emergency declared by President George W. Bush on September 14, 2001 and extended last year by President Obama."

"In 1907, the State Department began compiling and numbering executive orders going back to one that Abraham Lincoln issued on October 20, 1862. That became known as executive order 1. As I write, the most recent is Obama’s executive order 13603."

"At times, TR seemed drunk with power, as when he remarked: “I don’t think that any harm comes from the concentration of power in one man’s hands.”"

"Since economic fascism was popular during the early 1930s, FDR issued executive orders to suspend antitrust laws and establish German-style cartels in dozens of industries, restricting total industry output, allocating market shares and fixing above-market wages and prices. Above-market wages discouraged employers from hiring, and above-market prices discouraged consumers from buying."

"The biggest source of federal revenue was the federal excise tax on cigarettes, beer, soda, chewing gum and other cheap pleasures consumed disproportionately by poor and middle income people. This means the cost of relief programs for poor and middle income people was borne mainly by poor and middle income people. In May 1939, FDR’s Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau lamented, “We are spending more than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. After eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when he started.”"

"In 1974, the Senate Committee on National Emergencies and Delegated Emergency Powers revealed that “Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency. There are now in effect four presidentially-proclaimed states of national emergency. In addition to the national emergency declared by President Roosevelt [during the Great Depression], there are also the national emergency proclaimed by President Truman on December 16, 1950, during the Korean conflict, and the states of national emergency declared by President Nixon on March 23, 1970 and August 15, 1971.

“These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of Federal law, delegating to the President extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by the Congress, which effect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing manners... The President may seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all Americans.”

As a result of these revelations, in 1976 Congress passed the National Emergencies Act. It limited a president’s declared emergency to two years, which may be extended."

"A 1999 congressional hearing on executive orders, before the House Rules Committee, the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process, indicated that every president since Grover Cleveland has had some of his executive orders modified or revoked by legislation."

"FDR issued executive order 9102 (1942) that established the War Relocation Authority to forcibly move Japanese-Americans away from the Pacific Coast into “relocation camps” for the duration of World War II. This was upheld by the Supreme Court, 6-3, in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944). Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinion. He asserted that protecting against potential Japanese espionage was more important than protecting Fred Korematsu’s individual rights."

"Chief Justice William Rehnquist cited statutes “indicating congressional acceptance of a broad scope for executive action in circumstances such as those presented in this case... we can conclude that Congress acquiesced in the President’s action... [Since] Congress has acquiesced in the President’s action, it cannot be said that the President lacks the power to settle such claims.”"

"[Clinton] argued that strikers can become violent when they’re replaced, so it would be better to appease strikers and support union workplace monopolies by banning replacements."

For Saudi ex-jihadis: a stipend, a wife, and a new life - CSMonitor.com

For Saudi ex-jihadis: a stipend, a wife, and a new life - CSMonitor.com: "The Mohammed bin Naif Center for Counseling and Care, where Jhari spoke recently to a US media delegation, is part of Saudi Arabia's carrot-and-stick approach to tackle both the threat of domestic terrorism and the spread of violent Islamist ideology abroad. Of the 19 9/11 hijackers, 15 were Saudis."

Ron Paul's Movement Can Make GOP Consistently Conservative | Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Ron Paul's Movement Can Make GOP Consistently Conservative | Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee: "Many conservatives draw a battle line between Republicans and Democrats. Paul draws his line between those who support limited government and those in both parties who consider it unlimited.

Indeed, Ron Paul is the conservative constant in US politics. To the extent that the American Right is consistently conservative, it is generally in line with Paul. To the extent that the American Right gets distracted from conservative principles—typically in the name of Republican partisanship or some emotional attachment to a particular aspect of statism conservatives generally like—it finds itself at war with Paul…"

Study: 2,000 convicted then exonerated in 23 years | Fox News

Study: 2,000 convicted then exonerated in 23 years | Fox News: "In half of the 873 exonerations studied in detail, the most common factor leading to false convictions was perjured testimony or false accusations. Forty-three percent of the cases involved mistaken eyewitness identification, and 24 percent of the cases involved false or misleading forensic evidence.

In two out of three homicides, perjury or false accusation was the most common factor leading to false conviction. In four out of five sexual assaults, mistaken eyewitness identification was the leading cause of false conviction."

House OKs indefinite definition of terror suspects | Fox News

House OKs indefinite definition of terror suspects | Fox News: "The House has backed indefinite detention without trial of terrorist suspects, even for U.S. citizens seized on American soil.

The Republican-controlled House rejected an amendment that would have barred indefinite detention of suspected terrorists without charge or trial and rolled back mandatory military custody. The vote was 238-182.

A coalition of Democrats and tea party lawmakers argued the current law gives the government extraordinary authority to enter people's homes, seize them and hold them indefinitely."

Natural and Forced Inequality | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary

Natural and Forced Inequality | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The Declaration of Independence, rejecting the political inequalities of the Old World, proclaims that “all Men are created equal.” But in so writing, Jefferson meant simply that we all have equal rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” plus the right to secure those rights — the right of self-rule — through governments whose just powers are grounded in “the consent of the governed.”

If self-rule is to be enjoyed equally, however, government must be limited. It can pursue neither equality of result nor equality even of opportunity through redistributive schemes"

Conservative group slams Duffy voting record | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com

Conservative group slams Duffy voting record | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com: "Club for Growth rated the first-term lawmakers on 34 votes related to reducing federal spending and trimming the size of government. Duffy supported the group's position on 58 percent of the votes, going against the Club for Growth on 12 of the 34 measures.

While the Weston Republican's score was not the lowest in his class, it was well below the average of 71 percent among freshmen and 69 percent among veterans. Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia received the lowest score of 37 percent."

"Duffy opposed defunding the National Labor Relations Board, a 5.5 percent reduction in spending for the remainder of the fiscal year, a 5 percent cut in agriculture spending and a $3 billion cut in the budget for Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Sherwood, also a freshman, scored 90 percent. He voted against the Club for Growth position on three of the 34 measures the group reviewed."

Business raids cost Kansas City millions in taxes | Fox News

Business raids cost Kansas City millions in taxes | Fox News: "The two states have burned through hundreds of millions of dollars to lure businesses to one side of that stripe or the other in the pursuit of jobs. Yet sometimes, those jobs merely have shifted to different buildings across the border with little real growth for the region's economy."

"You get to a point where you have to say we are wasting taxpayer money"

That takes a long, long, long time for most politicians!

"Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, was unapologetic about so freely giving away public revenue that otherwise would go for schools, police and public services."

"Continental Tire moved in 2009 from Charlotte, N.C., to adjoining Lancaster County, S.C., which South Carolina scored as a gain of 300 jobs."

How many employees actually moved to S.C.? Did they really gain any jobs?

"A group of 17 Kansas City area business owners — from both sides of the state line — sent a letter to the governors of Kansas and Missouri decrying the "economic arms race" and urging them to concentrate on attracting businesses from outside the Kansas City area."

A local economic arms race is bad but a regional economic arms race is good?!?!?

Judge dismisses piracy suits, says IP address doesn't confirm state | Politics and Law - CNET News

Judge dismisses piracy suits, says IP address doesn't confirm state | Politics and Law - CNET News: "Based on plaintiff's own reliability claims, there may still be a 20 to 50 percent chance that this court lacks jurisdiction"

Multitasking too much? Brain sensor lightens the load | Cutting Edge - CNET News

Multitasking too much? Brain sensor lightens the load | Cutting Edge - CNET News: "The multitasking brain sensor could also be used in other areas, such as complex data analytics, air traffic control, and managing multiple unmanned vehicles."

The Death of Economic Liberty and the Birth of Crony Capitalism | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Death of Economic Liberty and the Birth of Crony Capitalism | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Hein Hettinga is a Dutch-born immigrant who, by bottling milk from his own cows, was able to work outside the antiquated, industry-backed system of milk regulation. This "loophole" allowed him to charge 20 cents less per gallon than his competition. Unfortunately for him, his competition was "big dairy," and they didn't appreciate being undercut in price. According to an economist for the Dairy Farmers of America, Hettinga's cheaper milk was "damaging to the marketplace," even though the existing regulatory system raises costs to American consumers by nearly $1.5 billion per year.

Big dairy eliminated their competitor by lobbying Washington, D.C. lawmakers to close the "loophole" that was being "exploited" by Mr. Hettinga. Senators John Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) compromised on a deal that would exempt milk producers in Nevada from the regulatory framework and make Mr. Hettinga pay dues into the price-controlled pool, effectively subsidizing his competitors."

"America's cowboy capitalism was long ago disarmed by a democratic process increasingly dominated by powerful groups with economic interests antithetical to competitors and consumers. And the courts, from which the victims of burdensome regulation sought protection, have been negotiating the terms of surrender since the 1930s."

"large, unionized bakeshops were hoping to hamstring their smaller, often family-run competitors whose employees worked longer hours in order to compete against larger, mechanized bakeshops. Lochner even has undertones of xenophobia, as the smaller competitors were often run by recent immigrants."

Detroit groundskeeper fired after finding loaded gun, handing it to cops | Fox News

Detroit groundskeeper fired after finding loaded gun, handing it to cops | Fox News: "A Detroit groundskeeper, who turned in a loaded handgun he found hidden in weeds while working, was fired by the city’s Department of Public Services, MyFoxDetroit reports."

USDA seeks change to regulate Internet pet sales | Fox News

USDA seeks change to regulate Internet pet sales | Fox News: "breeders would have to open their doors to buyers, or be subject to inspection."

Any buyers that would already avoid sellers that don't allow that. :-/ How is this going to help?

Bigger Government in 2012: Romney $2.1 Trillion in Defense Spending, Obama $1.2 �|�Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Bigger Government in 2012: Romney $2.1 Trillion in Defense Spending, Obama $1.2 |Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee: "President Obama’s current military spending is about $1.2 trillion.

Mitt Romney’s proposed plan calls for $2.1 trillion in military spending. Romney’s military budget alone dwarfs ObamaCare."

Journalist Kevin Fagan looked for solutions to homelessness - CSMonitor.com

Journalist Kevin Fagan looked for solutions to homelessness - CSMonitor.com: "There was a program called Homeward Bound created in response to my reporting on [a homeless person I profiled named] Rita. Her family saw my stories and they flew out from Florida, and got Rita and took her home, and fixed her. She had HIV, was on crack, heroin, and she got stabilized, and now she’s this vibrant, wonderful woman who I talk to every month or so. And I wrote about this, and about a dentist who fixed up her teeth for free. Mayor Newsom of San Francisco saw these stories and said hey, if you can reunite people and it’s successful, I want to encourage that. So the Homeward Bound program he created sends people out into the streets and they find homeless people and if the people want to go home, they help them call home and help them get reunited with them. To date, the program has reunited thousands of people and it’s still going on."

Walker easily wins primary in Wisconsin recall - 620 WTMJ - Milwaukee's Source for Local News and Weather

Walker easily wins primary in Wisconsin recall - 620 WTMJ - Milwaukee's Source for Local News and Weather: "Walker ended up getting almost as many voted as all the Democratic candidates combined."

The Governor Democratic Primary candidates got 670,278 votes vs. 626,538 for Walker. That probably bodes well for Walker because the Democrats have more reason to participate in the primary.

Less than 1/3 of the Walker voters voted for the Lieutenant Governor Democratic Primary protest candidate. Did people know know about the protest candidate or do people just not like protest candidates?

Indiana high school student faces expulsion over bringing stun gun to school to ward off bullies | Fox News

Indiana high school student faces expulsion over bringing stun gun to school to ward off bullies | Fox News: "Young says he's been bullied for a while at the school. He says he's been called gay slurs and has been the target of thrown bottles and rocks. The bullying has gotten so bad, Young says he considered killing himself.

Young's mother, Chelisa Grimes, told the station that she armed her son with a stun gun after complaining to school administrators several times about the bullying."

Zero-tolerance weapons polices are simplistic, don't address the problem (violence), and punish behaviour that is ok.

Christie the Prophet | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Christie the Prophet | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In 1965, just 22 percent of all federal spending was transfer payments. Today it has doubled to 44 percent. That means that nearly half of all federal spending is simply government taking money from one person and giving it to another.

Or look at it another way: In 1965, transfer payments from the federal government made up less than 10 percent of wages and salaries. As recently as 2000, that percentage was just 21 percent. Today, transfer payments are more than a third of salary and wages. Worse, if one includes salaries from government employment, more than half of Americans receive a substantial portion of their income from the government."

" The welfare state started with small programs targeted toward a small number of genuinely needy people. But as politicians figured out the electoral benefits of expanding programs and people realized they could let others work on their behalf, those programs grew until the point at which, today, every problem in society prompts calls for government action, response, or funding.

At the same time, as Governor Christie also noted, this implicitly tells people, “stop dreaming, stop striving.” We demonize those who do succeed, damning them as part of the evil “1 percent.”

This is the real danger of the welfare state. It’s not that it will bankrupt us — though it will. It is that it slowly and insidiously destroys our national character, saps our will to be great, and makes us content with the way things are rather than how they could be."

Marching toward Taxmageddon | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Marching toward Taxmageddon | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "It is hard for most Americans to imagine, but government in America once was small. In 1900 [Tax Freedom Day] fell on January 22. Americans paid just 5.9 percent of their incomes to government at all levels."

CIA derails plot with al-Qaida underwear bomb | Fox News

CIA derails plot with al-Qaida underwear bomb | Fox News: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "The device did not appear to pose a threat to the public air service"

If it wasn't a threat then why the big announcements?!?

From Innovation to Rent Seeking - Doug French - Mises Daily

From Innovation to Rent Seeking - Doug French - Mises Daily: "It is possible that companies would have an even greater incentive to innovate if they could not rely on a near twenty-year monopoly.
Instead of spurring innovation, IP appears to be a rat's nest of litigation. For example, Google's chief legal officer, David C. Drummond, estimates that a modern smartphone might be susceptible to as many as 250,000 potential patent claims.

In a study published in 2008, James E. Bessen and a colleague, Michael J. Meurer, professors at the Boston University School of Law, concluded that the costs of litigation were twice the benefits in the areas of software and telecommunications, where "the claims are often so broad and vague that it is completely unpredictable what the patents cover and don't.""

Why Inflation Isn't a Moral Issue | Timothy B. Lee | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Inflation Isn't a Moral Issue | Timothy B. Lee | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The problem with this line of argument is that even stable money is a bad long-term store of value. That’s because modern capital markets offer you the opportunity to not just preserve the value of your money but dramatically increase it by investing in productive assets. You can buy stocks, bonds, or real estate, all of which generate a stream of income that increases the value of your investment."

Those options have more risk (than zero inflation money), variability, are harder to convert, and have higher barriers to entry. Those options are great for rich but not for poor.

"If I invest my life savings in oil, and then Saudi Arabia discovers a massive new oil well that causes the price of oil to drop by 10 percent, it would be silly to say that Saudi Arabia has stolen 10 percent of my life savings. I just made a bad bet. Exactly the same point applies to money."

Money inflation is different. For one, it is government arbitrarily increasing the money supply.. No one has the ability to just increase the oil supply. Two, the government gets to use all of the benefits of the increased money supply. In effect it is a tax on people who hold money. Three, a massive increase in the amount of oil would hurt owners of oil but would help buyers of oil and would be good for the economy. But since the rate of inflation doesn't matter (as you say) there is no benefit to the economy from inflation. The only benefit is to the organization that inflates.

"if there aren’t enough dollars to go around, people start cutting back on their spending and the economy goes into recession"

There is plenty of money around -- people hardly worry about keeping pennies anymore because they have such little value. If there were problems where people needed to split a penny in order to do a transaction then you could say that there isn't enough money.

Why High Taxes Will Never Soak Rich | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why High Taxes Will Never Soak Rich | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "trying to get more money from upper-income taxpayers is like playing whack-a-mole. So long as tax rates are high, rich people will figure out ways to protect their income.

It doesn’t take a tax genius; any rich person can make a phone call or hit a few computer keys and shift his or her investments to tax-free municipal bonds. It’s not good for the economy when capital gets diverted to help finance the excess spending of Detroit or California, but it’s an effective way of stiff-arming the IRS.

Or the rich can play the green-energy scam, getting all sorts of credits to offset their tax liabilities. That’s one way General Electric made lots of money and kept it all for shareholders."

"When the government taxes income, it raises the price of work compared to leisure. And because the tax code penalizes capital gains with higher rates, it also raises the price of saving and investment compared to consumption.

Yet work, production, saving and investment are how we generate national income, so it doesn’t make sense to discourage taxable income with higher tax rates."

"In 1980, when the top tax rate was 70 percent, rich people (those with incomes of more than $200,000) reported about $36 billion of income; the IRS collected about $19 billion of that amount. So what happened when President Ronald Reagan lowered the top tax rate to 28 percent by 1988? Did revenue fall proportionately, to about $8 billion?

Folks on the left thought that would happen, complaining that Reagan’s “tax cuts for the rich” would starve the government of revenue and give upper-income taxpayers a free ride.

But if we look at the 1988 IRS data, rich people paid more than $99 billion to Uncle Sam. That is, because rich taxpayers were willing to earn and report much more income, the government collected five times as much revenue with a lower rate."

Failed plot to blow up Ohio bridge highlights potential 'Occupy' link to violence | Fox News

Failed plot to blow up Ohio bridge highlights potential 'Occupy' link to violence | Fox News: "According to the Occupy Threat Center, a database established by data analytics company ListenLogic to analyze social media posts for threats to corporations from those associated with the 'Occupy' movement, leaders have called for physical destruction of buildings and violent action, and associated "hacktivist" groups have targeted financial and law enforcement institutions. Speakers at rallies around the nation have called for an uprising similar to the French Revolution."

I couldn't easily find any documentation of that. Is there documentation?

Buffett Rule's Deceitful Consequences | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Buffett Rule's Deceitful Consequences | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The president and many in his party keep telling us that the government needs more money, but if they believe this, why are they taking charitable deductions? I expect the reason is that most of us implicitly believe (for good empirical reasons) that private charities and other tax-exempt groups spend our money more wisely and carefully than the government."

"Even if the Buffett tax ever passes, it was crafted by members of Congress to hit few of their own. Very rich members of Congress, such as Sens. John F. Kerry and John D. Rockefeller IV, receive much of their income from tax-exempt state and local bonds and from trust funds, which largely avoid the tax. Members of Congress generally are restricted from entrepreneurial activities. So, of course, they have decided to increase the tax on entrepreneurs — the capital gains tax — which is a tax on becoming rich, not a tax on being rich."

"By increasing the tax on capital gains and marginal rates, the government makes it more difficult to move into higher income brackets, thus actually reducing income-class mobility."

The Libertarian Manifesto on Pollution - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

The Libertarian Manifesto on Pollution - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily: "The vital fact about air pollution is that the polluter sends unwanted and unbidden pollutants — from smoke to nuclear radiation to sulfur oxides — through the air and into the lungs of innocent victims, as well as onto their material property. All such emanations which injure person or property constitute aggression against the private property of the victims. Air pollution, after all, is just as much aggression as committing arson against another's property or injuring him physically. Air pollution that injures others is aggression pure and simple. The major function of government — of courts and police — is to stop aggression; instead, the government has failed in this task and has failed grievously to exercise its defense function against air pollution."

"American courts, during the late — and as far back as the early 19th century made the deliberate decision to allow property rights to be violated by industrial smoke. To do so, the courts had to — and did — systematically change and weaken the defenses of property right embedded in Anglo-Saxon common law. Before the mid and late 19th century, any injurious air pollution was considered a tort, a nuisance against which the victim could sue for damages and against which he could take out an injunction to cease and desist from any further invasion of his property rights. But during the 19th century, the courts systematically altered the law of negligence and the law of nuisance to permit any air pollution which was not unusually greater than any similar manufacturing firm, one that was not more extensive than the customary practice of fellow polluters.

As factories began to arise and emit smoke, blighting the orchards of neighboring farmers, the farmers would take the manufacturers to court, asking for damages and injunctions against further invasion of their property. But the judges said, in effect, "Sorry. We know that industrial smoke (i.e., air pollution) invades and interferes with your property rights. But there is something more important than mere property rights: and that is public policy, the 'common good.' And the common good decrees that industry is a good thing, industrial progress is a good thing, and therefore your mere private property rights must be overridden on behalf of the general welfare." And now all of us are paying the bitter price for this overriding of private property"

The Tax-Code Mess | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Tax-Code Mess | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The total quantity of federal tax rules is gigantic. Tax publisher CCH collects all the paperwork in one volume, and it currently spans 73,608 pages and covers nine feet of shelf space. That is more than triple the volume of tax rules as recently as the 1970s, as shown in the chart."

The chart shows that it was only 400 pages in 1913

"In a recent report, the IRS Taxpayer Advocate said that the compliance or paperwork costs for the federal tax code are more than $160 billion a year. That cost represents pure waste to the economy — it's like throwing in the trash the entire retail sales of Target, Home Depot and Safeway every year.

In addition to being complex, the federal tax code is constantly changing. The Taxpayer Advocate found that there have been 4,428 changes to the tax code in just the last 10 years. Those changes stem not just from a hyperactive Congress, but also from the constant gushing forth of new tax regulations from the Treasury. The result is growing tax instability, which undermines financial planning, business investment and other decision-making in the economy."

"Emblazoned on the Supreme Court building’s façade is the promise of “equal justice under law.” Yet the horrendously complicated tax code illustrates how far the government has strayed from that promise. Sadly, the purpose of those 73,608 pages of federal tax rules is not equal treatment but the top-down manipulation of society by Washington."

Tenn. governor vetoes college discrimination bill | Fox News

Tenn. governor vetoes college discrimination bill | Fox News: "The Republican governor said Wednesday that he disagrees with Vanderbilt's policy, but it's "inappropriate for government to mandate the policies of a private institution.""

Congressional Quarterly: Panel Votes to Boost NASA Funding in Fiscal 2013 Spending Bill - In the News - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin

Congressional Quarterly: Panel Votes to Boost NASA Funding in Fiscal 2013 Spending Bill - In the News - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin: "The Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee approved a draft fiscal 2013 spending bill 17-1, with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., voting against it.

Overall, the panel’s Democratic leaders stayed mostly in line with President Obama’s budget request in shaping the bill. The measure would provide $51.9 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Commerce and Justice Departments, NASA and other agencies. The total represents a $1 billion cut from the fiscal 2012 enacted level, according the panel."

California college student forgotten in jail cell says he drank urine to survive | Fox News

California college student forgotten in jail cell says he drank urine to survive | Fox News: "A college student who federal drug agents forgot and left in a holding cell for five days without food, water or access to a toilet said Tuesday that he drank his own urine to survive."

NYTimes Realizes That The FBI Keeps Celebrating Breaking Up Its Own Terrorist Plots | Techdirt

NYTimes Realizes That The FBI Keeps Celebrating Breaking Up Its Own Terrorist Plots | Techdirt: "Over the last few years, we've noticed that nearly every victory the FBI celebrates against terrorism is actually about stopping its own terrorist plots that it feeds to hapless individuals, often nudging them and pushing them down the road to "become" terrorists, despite commonly displaying little to no aptitude for actual terrorism."

"In one case, the judge -- even as she was sentencing the guy to decades in prison -- admitted that the guy wouldn't be a "terrorist" if it weren't for the FBI:"

Obama Worse than Bush on Civil Liberties - Romney No Different From Obama | Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Obama Worse than Bush on Civil Liberties - Romney No Different From Obama | Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee: "When Obama signed NDAA he said ”My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens.”

This pretty much cemented the conservative consensus on NDAA–no president, and especially Obama, should be able to throw American citizens in jail indefinitely without trial or due process.

Mitt Romney disagrees. Not only would he sign NDAA without hesitation, his position is essentially no different from Obama’s.

Said Romney: “There are a lot of things that I think this president does wrong. Lots of them. But I don’t think he’s going to abuse this power. I know that if I were president I wouldn’t abuse this power.”"

Tenn. police arrest man for paying with real $50 | Fox News

Tenn. police arrest man for paying with real $50 | Fox News: "But a police evidence technician told the arresting officer that some old bills don't react to the markers. So police gave the money to two banks to check, and they said it was real but just very old."

Be careful with old money. :-/