Voting for President: The Lesser Evil Is Still Rather Evil | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Voting for President: The Lesser Evil Is Still Rather Evil | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "After a quarter century, the Republican Party default option has resulted in a government which is vastly more expensive and expansive. It didn't matter whether the Democrat or Republican actually was elected. Government was bigger after every president left office. So much for the claim that the latest GOP presidential candidate would "stop the expansion of government and give the marketplace an opportunity to repair our nation.""

"voting for the lesser of two evils irrespective of how evil they are should be the definition of futility. As long as Americans vote for big-spending war-mongers, America's leaders will be big-spending war-mongers. A libertarian wouldn't have to be elected to exert influence. Perennial Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs transformed American politics because both major parties ended up adopting much of his agenda. A philosophical libertarian candidate, whatever his party, could do the same if he demonstrated increasing political support for liberty.

As for November, the best outcome would be divided government. The Republican Congress worked overtime to constrain President Bill Clinton. In contrast, the same legislative body gave President George W. Bush every outlay and war that he wanted. The Democratic Congress worked to limit President Bush before later joining with President Obama to greatly expand government. The Republican House has battled the Democratic president."

Fixing Medicare Requires Seniors to Pay Quite a Bit More | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary

Fixing Medicare Requires Seniors to Pay Quite a Bit More | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: "It makes no sense to buy insurance against the "risk" of routine medical care, such as annual checkups, or against the risk of moderate expenses, such as many medication regimes, minor surgeries or treatments. Homeowners insurance does not cover broken toilets or snow removal, only major events such as a fire. These expenditures may well be worthwhile. For example, annual checkups might help avoid larger medical expenses in future. But most consumers can afford these without insurance.

In addition, insurance can make the healthcare market less efficient by reducing consumer incentive to economize on health costs. This "moral hazard" is a major reason behind escalating costs. When consumers are not paying for their care, the incentives for excessive utilization are huge: unnecessary tests, too much surgery rather than watchful waiting, doctor visits with minimal value, brand name versus generic drugs and more."

President Obama's Alleged "War on Coal" - Climate Change Edition | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

President Obama's Alleged "War on Coal" - Climate Change Edition | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The regulation at issue proposes an emissions target of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour of generation — something impossible for coal-fired power plants to meet without expensive carbon capture technology — but it applies only to brand-spanking-new, non-peaking natural gas power plants and coal-fired power plants that might be built some day in the future. Not to existing power plants. Not to existing power plants that undertake extensive upgrades that might deem them a "new source" for regulatory purposes under the Clean Air Act. And not to peaking gas-fired power generators.

That's the key to understanding this regulation because — as the EPA points out (and as CEOs in the utility sector confirm) — there are no new coal-fired power plants in the pipeline that this rule might cover and no prospect of the same unless natural gas prices hit at least $9.60 per million BTU (in 2007 dollars) on a sustained basis. Moreover, almost all of the gas-fired power plants that will be built will meet these standards without any additional costs.

Hence the regulation will impose negligible costs and, as the EPA itself confesses, negligible benefits."

"They could have gone after existing coal-fired generation, but didn't. They could have gone after coal-fired power plants that upgraded into "new source" status, but didn't. They could have imposed steep requirements on old and/or new gas-fired generators, but didn't. They essentially ... did nothing: And this from an administration that had long argued that political opponents better come to the negotiating table and sign-on to a cap-and-trade bill lest the administration grow tired of talk and ram something through unilaterally."