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Sweet Savage Food Marketing at the New York Times | Cato Institute: "You might want to sit down for this.
All set?
Here it is: Food companies work very, very hard to find out what will give you, the consumer, the most pleasure for your money — and then the diabolical fiends actually give it to you!
Seriously, you are supposed to be absolutely horrified by this. You can tell by the ominous language the author, Michael Moss, employs to describe how “food engineers alter a litany of variables with the sole intent of” — brace yourself — “finding the most perfect version” of a product. The most perfect version, of course, is the one that will “be most attractive to consumers.” (The horror.) The piece even quotes one food-company executive who describes the strategy: “Discover what consumers want to buy and give it to them with both barrels.”"
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
America in Denial as Fiscal Tsunami Approaches | Cato Institute
America in Denial as Fiscal Tsunami Approaches | Cato Institute: "Only cuts to foreign aid and unemployment assistance show majority support from GOP voters."
"in current dollars, a newly retired married couple with typical earnings will have paid roughly $88,000 in payroll taxes for Medicare (including the employer contribution); they can expect to receive program benefits more than four times that much."
"This complicates the “makers vs. takers” narrative that Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan and their supporters have indulged in to explain their loss. This class of net “takers” — older voters — tends to vote Republican."
"in current dollars, a newly retired married couple with typical earnings will have paid roughly $88,000 in payroll taxes for Medicare (including the employer contribution); they can expect to receive program benefits more than four times that much."
"This complicates the “makers vs. takers” narrative that Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan and their supporters have indulged in to explain their loss. This class of net “takers” — older voters — tends to vote Republican."
Ending the Corporate Tax | Cato Institute
Ending the Corporate Tax | Cato Institute: "The organization’s bureaucrats, who enjoy tax-free salaries, of course, forgot to ask the basic question of whether the corporate tax is beneficial or destructive."
"A corporation is only a legal means by which to do business. Taxes may be levied upon it, but only people pay taxes."
"Most studies show that some part of the corporate tax is passed on to workers in the form of lower wages and benefits."
"most large corporations are owned mainly by pension and mutual funds, university endowments, etc. The union-managed pension funds for firefighters, teachers and others are largely in corporate stocks. When union leaders call for higher corporate taxes, whether or not they understand it, it is a call for reduced pensions for their own members."
"A corporation is only a legal means by which to do business. Taxes may be levied upon it, but only people pay taxes."
"Most studies show that some part of the corporate tax is passed on to workers in the form of lower wages and benefits."
"most large corporations are owned mainly by pension and mutual funds, university endowments, etc. The union-managed pension funds for firefighters, teachers and others are largely in corporate stocks. When union leaders call for higher corporate taxes, whether or not they understand it, it is a call for reduced pensions for their own members."
Endangered Wartime Interpreters: The U.S. Should Protect Those Who Protect Us | Cato Institute
Endangered Wartime Interpreters: The U.S. Should Protect Those Who Protect Us | Cato Institute: "Those aiding American forces share combat dangers but also are targeted off of the battlefield for their work. By one estimate roughly 1000 interpreters so far have been killed in Iraq. Some 80 interpreters have died in battle in Afghanistan since 2007. To return home would be a death sentence for others.
Yet the U.S. government has refused to welcome those who have done so much to help America. "
“Of the more than 5,700 Afghans who have applied for U.S. visas under a special program tailored for those who have supported the American war effort, just 32 have been approved, the State Department says, leaving the rest in limbo as foreign forces begin their withdrawal.”
"Contact with armed groups, including those fighting against governments viewed as enemies of America years or even decades ago—the Karen, Hmong, and Montagnards in Burma, Laos, and Vietnam, for instance—has been deemed as providing “material support” for terrorists. Refugees similarly barred from entering America include a woman forced to cook for the Liberian rebels who raped her and a Colombian teenager forced by his paramilitary captors to bury his murdered parents.
Afghans who fought against the Soviets have been blacklisted by the same rules. Jamshid, who fled Afghanistan in 1988, and then served the U.S. as an interpreter after returning home, was denied refugee status in 2008. The State Department decided that he had aided terrorists because decades before he helped the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, part of the U.S.-supported Mujahideen which battled Moscow."
Yet the U.S. government has refused to welcome those who have done so much to help America. "
“Of the more than 5,700 Afghans who have applied for U.S. visas under a special program tailored for those who have supported the American war effort, just 32 have been approved, the State Department says, leaving the rest in limbo as foreign forces begin their withdrawal.”
"Contact with armed groups, including those fighting against governments viewed as enemies of America years or even decades ago—the Karen, Hmong, and Montagnards in Burma, Laos, and Vietnam, for instance—has been deemed as providing “material support” for terrorists. Refugees similarly barred from entering America include a woman forced to cook for the Liberian rebels who raped her and a Colombian teenager forced by his paramilitary captors to bury his murdered parents.
Afghans who fought against the Soviets have been blacklisted by the same rules. Jamshid, who fled Afghanistan in 1988, and then served the U.S. as an interpreter after returning home, was denied refugee status in 2008. The State Department decided that he had aided terrorists because decades before he helped the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, part of the U.S.-supported Mujahideen which battled Moscow."
New Rand Paul bill makes sure Senators (and public) can read the bills before the vote - Campaign for Liberty
New Rand Paul bill makes sure Senators (and public) can read the bills before the vote - Campaign for Liberty: "Senator Paul’s proposal would forbid the Senate from voting on legislation until after the bill is posted online and the Senate has been in session for at least one day for each 20 pages in the bill. So if a bill is forty pages long, it could not be voted on until 2 session days after the bill is introduced. If the bill is 500 pages, then it would not be voted on until twenty session days have passed."
Anarchy, State, and Gun Ownership - David Greenwald - Mises Daily
Anarchy, State, and Gun Ownership - David Greenwald - Mises Daily: "the very existence of a government security force will also tend to discourage gun ownership among those who live in more affluent, low-crime areas and who generally trust the efficiency and professionalism of the police. Here we have in view individuals who would become gun owners if there were no government police, but who, because such a force does in fact exist (and because they are compelled to pay for it despite its relatively low marginal utility), elect to forego the added expense of self-defense preparedness. Not surprisingly, most advocates of gun control fall into this category. Since, however, the police response time lag still exists even for them and can never be reduced to zero, the effect may be to induce a false sense of security among such people, leaving them unprepared for those rare instances of violent crime that do occur. Some of the more recent mass shootings may be cited as examples."
Is there a correlation between supporting gun control and having better than average police response/coverage?
Is there a correlation between supporting gun control and having better than average police response/coverage?
Immigration Parole, Not Amnesty | Cato Institute
Immigration Parole, Not Amnesty | Cato Institute: "Instead, unless they go the marriage route, even U.S.-educated scientists, engineers, and other professionals have to find employers willing to spend significant resources playing lawyer games with the Labor Department while the applicant’s life is in a state of suspended animation. The wait takes years, particularly for those unfortunate enough to be from places that export skilled workers, like India.
Unskilled workers — your stereotypical Mexican day laborer — don’t even have that. That’s why it’s so important that any immigration reform have a guest-worker component (which President Obama is resisting because union bosses oppose it). Give people the opportunity to earn an honest living and they’ll take it — and then you can deport the criminals."
"our immigration laws themselves undermine the rule of law"
"If you brainstormed a process for how foreigners enter the country, how long they can stay, and what they can do while here, it would be hard to come up with something worse than our current hodge-podge of often contradictory regulations."
"As long as we screen for criminal records, terrorism, and public health, America should stand for the idea of letting people in who seek a better life, in an orderly way: a funnel, not a necessarily leaky wall."
Unskilled workers — your stereotypical Mexican day laborer — don’t even have that. That’s why it’s so important that any immigration reform have a guest-worker component (which President Obama is resisting because union bosses oppose it). Give people the opportunity to earn an honest living and they’ll take it — and then you can deport the criminals."
"our immigration laws themselves undermine the rule of law"
"If you brainstormed a process for how foreigners enter the country, how long they can stay, and what they can do while here, it would be hard to come up with something worse than our current hodge-podge of often contradictory regulations."
"As long as we screen for criminal records, terrorism, and public health, America should stand for the idea of letting people in who seek a better life, in an orderly way: a funnel, not a necessarily leaky wall."
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