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Monday, July 23, 2012
'A Republic — If You Can Keep It' | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary
'A Republic — If You Can Keep It' | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "As Roberts wrote, “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”"
A Taxing Decision | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary
A Taxing Decision | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If I park in a "no parking zone" and get a ticket, can I just call that a "tax" that I pay for choosing to park there? Are speeding fines now just taxes on "moving fast.""
"the individual mandate is one of the biggest gifts, if not the biggest gift, ever given by a government to a private industry. To get the government to compel the purchase of your product is the ultimate dream of every businessman."
"the individual mandate is one of the biggest gifts, if not the biggest gift, ever given by a government to a private industry. To get the government to compel the purchase of your product is the ultimate dream of every businessman."
Government Medical "Insurance" - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily
Government Medical "Insurance" - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily: " it is impossible, under third-party insurance, to prevent a gross decline in the quality of medical care, along with a severe shortage of the supply of such care in relation to the swelling demand.
Everyone old enough to remember the good old days of family physicians making house calls, spending a great deal of time with and getting to know the patient, and charging low fees to boot, is deeply and properly resentful of the current assembly-line care. But all too few understand the role of the much-beloved medical insurance itself in bringing about this sorry decline in quality, as well as the astronomical rise in prices."
Everyone old enough to remember the good old days of family physicians making house calls, spending a great deal of time with and getting to know the patient, and charging low fees to boot, is deeply and properly resentful of the current assembly-line care. But all too few understand the role of the much-beloved medical insurance itself in bringing about this sorry decline in quality, as well as the astronomical rise in prices."
Laissez-Faire Learning - David Greenwald - Mises Daily
Laissez-Faire Learning - David Greenwald - Mises Daily: "Since it is obvious that the wealthiest few have far more purchasing power per capita than those in the middle- and lower-income strata, why does the market not produce only for the former group and leave the latter two homeless and starving?"
To paraphase, high price initially limits products to the rich, but high price also encourages competition that drives down the price.
"Education, if it is to be worthy of the name, demands a method opposite to that of bureaucratic management and entirely irreconcilable with it. It requires flexibility, parsimony, innovation, and above all, a means of daily subjecting the producers of educational services to the competition of their peers and the approval or disapproval of their clients."
To paraphase, high price initially limits products to the rich, but high price also encourages competition that drives down the price.
"Education, if it is to be worthy of the name, demands a method opposite to that of bureaucratic management and entirely irreconcilable with it. It requires flexibility, parsimony, innovation, and above all, a means of daily subjecting the producers of educational services to the competition of their peers and the approval or disapproval of their clients."
Heading toward National Insolvency | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
Heading toward National Insolvency | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The full national debt already is 100 percent of GDP, compared to about 84 percent for Europe."
"Putative Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney promises to be tough on federal spending, but nothing in his past behavior suggests that he takes this promise any more seriously than he has treated the many positions he has cheerfully tossed aside when he thought doing so was to his political advantage. Believing that Republicans, if victorious come November, will rein in Uncle Sam, is, like a second marriage, the triumph of hope over experience."
"Putative Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney promises to be tough on federal spending, but nothing in his past behavior suggests that he takes this promise any more seriously than he has treated the many positions he has cheerfully tossed aside when he thought doing so was to his political advantage. Believing that Republicans, if victorious come November, will rein in Uncle Sam, is, like a second marriage, the triumph of hope over experience."
How to Fix the Supreme Court After the ObamaCare Judgment | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
How to Fix the Supreme Court After the ObamaCare Judgment | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "To have momentous cases decided by a five-four vote carries more than a hint of arbitrariness. Happenstance in one appointment three or more decades before could effectively set important areas of government policy today.
A larger court—Turley proposes adding justices slowly, to prevent any single president from dominating the institution—would reduce the likelihood of decisions by a small, idiosyncratic majority. Where a true consensus developed, the Supreme Court would speak with a large and authoritative majority. A larger court also would allow more diverse membership. Today the high court is dominated by former appellate court judges. That’s good training, but the body would benefit from a greater mix of backgrounds."
"The jurist pool should be leavened with a few judges who understand economics, history, and more. They would need to become conversant with the law, but the average bright college graduate could do far better than some past Supreme Court justices in interpreting the Constitution."
"members of the high court should be appointed for a fixed term of five or ten years. Lifetime appointment is intended to shield jurists from political currents, but it also ensures that bad jurists are able to inflict themselves on the American people for decades in some cases. The greater their perceived insulation from reality, the greater will be the attacks on justices for their decisions."
"The natural churning of justices would be more orderly and less arbitrary if they served fixed terms."
"Unless the starting point is what the relevant text was intended to mean, interpretation is but a sophisticated fraud, an eloquent rationalization for one ideology or another. There always will be disagreements, even among jurists with similar philosophies, but a commitment to the rule of law rather than the rule of man is critical."
"President George W. Bush signed into law a campaign “reform” measure he believed to be unconstitutional and said that he could arrest American citizens on American soil and lock them away without legal due process."
A larger court—Turley proposes adding justices slowly, to prevent any single president from dominating the institution—would reduce the likelihood of decisions by a small, idiosyncratic majority. Where a true consensus developed, the Supreme Court would speak with a large and authoritative majority. A larger court also would allow more diverse membership. Today the high court is dominated by former appellate court judges. That’s good training, but the body would benefit from a greater mix of backgrounds."
"The jurist pool should be leavened with a few judges who understand economics, history, and more. They would need to become conversant with the law, but the average bright college graduate could do far better than some past Supreme Court justices in interpreting the Constitution."
"members of the high court should be appointed for a fixed term of five or ten years. Lifetime appointment is intended to shield jurists from political currents, but it also ensures that bad jurists are able to inflict themselves on the American people for decades in some cases. The greater their perceived insulation from reality, the greater will be the attacks on justices for their decisions."
"The natural churning of justices would be more orderly and less arbitrary if they served fixed terms."
"Unless the starting point is what the relevant text was intended to mean, interpretation is but a sophisticated fraud, an eloquent rationalization for one ideology or another. There always will be disagreements, even among jurists with similar philosophies, but a commitment to the rule of law rather than the rule of man is critical."
"President George W. Bush signed into law a campaign “reform” measure he believed to be unconstitutional and said that he could arrest American citizens on American soil and lock them away without legal due process."
Government Transparency Is Becoming a Joke | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary
Government Transparency Is Becoming a Joke | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "the National Security Agency refused to provide Congress with a rough estimate of how many Americans have had their communications monitored by the agency since 2008, on the grounds that revealing that information might violate Americans' privacy."
Man accused of breaking into homes purely to view porn | Technically Incorrect - CNET News
Man accused of breaking into homes purely to view porn | Technically Incorrect - CNET News:
Another reason not to charge someone with a crime just because it was committed from an IP address or computer that was assigned to them!
Another reason not to charge someone with a crime just because it was committed from an IP address or computer that was assigned to them!
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