JamesJive

No More Bipartisan Bailouts | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-02-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

No More Bipartisan Bailouts | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'big business and big government are all too happy to work hand in hand to thwart the free market.Confusing support for free markets with support for the corporate agenda is a bipartisan failing. In a free market, for example, corporations compete against one another on their merits. Government doesn’t pick winners and losers or prefer one type of industry over another.

Yet, Rick Santorum shares President Obama’s desire for special tax breaks for “manufacturing.” Both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney join President Obama in backing government subsidies for ethanol and other alternative energy.

And obviously, in a free market, when businesses fail because they made stupid investment decisions, they go bankrupt. But both Romney and Gingrich joined President Obama (and President Bush) in supporting TARP and the bailout of some of America’s biggest banks and investment firms.'

'The Cato Institute estimates that corporate welfare now tops $125 billion per year. Among the biggest beneficiaries are companies such as Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, Dow Chemical, and General Electric. At a time when we are facing a $15.3 trillion national debt and borrowing 34 cents out of every dollar we spend, should we really be spending money to subsidize McDonald’s advertisements for Chicken McNuggets overseas?'

'Big Pharma poured more than $150 million into advertising in favor of Obamacare. Why? Among other things, every insurance plan in America will now be required to cover pharmaceutical products. And, closing the Medicare Part D “donut hole” will encourage seniors to buy brand-name drugs rather than cheaper generics. Speaking of the Medicare prescription-drug program, guess who was the biggest lobby in favor of the entitlement expansion? The drug companies even funneled millions of dollars to Newt Gingrich’s Center for Health Transformation. No surprise, then, that Gingrich supported the Medicare expansion, calling it a cost-saving idea, even though it added $17 trillion to the Medicare’s unfunded obligations. Among the biggest supporters of Obamacare’s individual insurance mandate are the big insurance companies. After all, isn’t it great for the government to force people to buy your product?'

'General Electric is among the biggest supporters of President Obama’s “cap and trade” proposals. GE is not doing this out of some sense of altruistic global citizenship, but because it operates a unit that would trade cap-and-trade credits. The company stands to reap billions in profits were Obama’s plan to pass.'

'Walmart stunned many by coming out in support of an employer health mandate. But it’s really not that surprising. Walmart actually spends more on employee health care than its competitor Target. Mandating that all companies provide health insurance will drive up Target’s costs, benefiting Walmart.'

Copyright Case May Have Profound Effect on Treaty Power | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-02-02T05:39:00.000-08:00

Copyright Case May Have Profound Effect on Treaty Power | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'as a matter of constitutional structure, history and logic, a treaty cannot increase Congress's legislative powers. Not only is the power to "make treaties" distinct from the power to execute treaties already made, but such an expansive interpretation of the treaty power would allow Congress and the executive to circumvent the Article V amendment process.'

'JUSTICE SCALIA: It seems to me Congress either had the power to do this under the Copyright Clause or it didn't. I don't think that powers that Congress does not have under the Constitution can be acquired by simply obtaining the agreement of the Senate, the President and Zimbabwe. I do not think a treaty can expand the powers of the Federal government. I mean, this is either okay under the copyright clause or it is not.'

Obama's Odd Sense of Fairness | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-02-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Obama's Odd Sense of Fairness | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The actual tax rate Mitt Romney, Warren Buffet and most other wealthy people pay on dividends, when correctly calculated, is about 52 percent, as reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes the federal and state corporate-level-profits tax burden, plus federal and state taxes on dividends.'

'The federal government admits that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted through fraud and mismanagement. Medicare fraud alone costs tens of billions of dollars each year. Nevertheless, somehow the president thinks it is more “fair” to enact job-destroying tax increases rather than insisting that officials in his own administration clean up the fraud and waste or lose their jobs, as would happen in any private company.'

$189,000 | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-02-01T15:54:00.000-08:00

$189,000 | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'measured as a percentage of GDP (the value of all goods and services produced in a country over a year), our budget deficit is roughly a quarter larger than France’s. In fact, among European countries, only Greece and Ireland have larger deficits this year than we do.'

'If one includes all the unfunded liabilities of pension and health-care systems, Greece’s total debt equals 875% of its GDP. France, the next-most insolvent country in Europe, owes 570% of GDP. The United States, however, now owes 885% of GDP, more than any other industrialized country.'

Why There Is No Human Progress without Capitalism | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-02-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

Why There Is No Human Progress without Capitalism | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'For thousands of years, there was virtually no such thing as human progress. The great French historian Fernand Braudel observed, “Peasants represented immense numbers of people, the vast majority of human beings... constant poverty... For century upon century, clothing remained unchanged... the general rule was changelessness.” In Europe, peasant possessions were generally limited to little more than a shirt, a pair of pants, perhaps a simple jacket, a bench, a table and a straw-filled sack that served as a mattress. In India, there were hardly any chairs or tables to be found. There were few chairs in Islamic lands. Multitudes perished because of famines — France alone had hundreds of famines before 1800. Famine undermined the ability of people to resist common deadly diseases like typhoid fever, purple fever, whooping cough, sweating sickness, diphtheria, smallpox, influenza, syphilis and the plague.

Capitalism, as economic freedom is often called, has changed the world for the better by harnessing individual self-interest — the most reliable motivator there is. In markets, functioning without subsidies, special favors or bailouts, entrepreneurs have had powerful incentives to provide what consumers want.'

Revealing Slain Victims' Rap Sheets Draws Fire | Fox News

2012-02-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Revealing Slain Victims' Rap Sheets Draws Fire | Fox News: 'As Mike Ainsworth walked his two sons to a school bus stop, he heard a woman being carjacked scream, and ran to help. The woman was not hurt, police said, but the Good Samaritan was shot to death by a suspect who fled.

When police gave out the details of Ainsworth's killing, they also announced he had been arrested for drugs and other non-violent crimes, keeping with a year-old policy in which criminal records for slain victims are released — sometimes before they've been publicly identified.

New Orleans police say revealing a victim's rap sheet lets the public know that much of the violence is happening between people with similar criminal backgrounds. Families of the slain victim's say the practice is insensitive, and others outraged with the policy say it has racial overtones and sends a message that the victims got what was coming to them.'

A 'thermal battery' for villages in India | Cutting Edge - CNET News

2012-02-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

A 'thermal battery' for villages in India | Cutting Edge - CNET News: The thermal battery is a large container that stores a specially designed liquid that doesn't freeze, even below the freezing point. People pour milk, which has just been milked from cows, onto a cylinder-shaped tank, which is cooled by the thermal battery's liquid. As the milk flows over the cylinder, it's rapidly chilled to an appropriate temperature for storing.
And when the grid is not available, the thermal battery can run for several hours on a car battery, and so it avoids dirty diesel generators. The first machines Promethean Power will deploy are roughly the size of a large refrigerator. To remove heat from the cooling liquid, it circulates through a traditional compressor loop, the same used in heat pumps, air conditioners, and refrigerators, White explained.

New Science Being Used To Fight Arson Convictions | Fox News

2012-02-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

New Science Being Used To Fight Arson Convictions | Fox News: 'Research in recent decades has challenged long-held assumptions about how flames spread and the tell-tale signs they leave.

"Our scientific understandings have improved in recent years, and the effect of that has to be to say, 'We've got some innocent people who've been declared guilty based on misunderstandings,'" said John Hall, director of analysis and research for the National Fire Protection Association.

For example, decades ago, it was common for investigators to conclude an accelerant like gasoline was used if a fire burned particularly hot. In fact, the new arson science has found no such correlation, experts say. Another mistaken assumption: A V-shaped pattern on a wall of a burned building is proof of arson. All it shows is where a fire started.'

'For example, tests have found that pour-like patterns on the floor can occur because of radiant heat, even without accelerants, according to Beyler's report. Experiments have also found that melted plastics can create patterns that look like liquid spills, Beyler said.'

'But tests conducted in the 1990s showed that fires can hit the point of "flashover" — when all combustible surfaces ignite at once — in under four minutes with no accelerants.
Connections between a fire's speed and heat and the possibility of arson have "been discredited and shown to be much less significant than previously thought in the investigation of a fire," Florida-based fire scientist John Lentini, one of the country's leading independent fire analysts, said in a 2002 affidavit on Lee's behalf.
"Back in the day there were a lot more fires called arson that were actually accidents," Lentini said in an interview. "There was a lot of misinformation out there."'

Our best scientific knowledge may not always be accurate and we need to take into consideration the confidence that our best scientific knowledge has -- especially when it involves people lives!

Fearmongering Won't Make Us Healthier | Patrick Basham and John Luik | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

Fearmongering Won't Make Us Healthier | Patrick Basham and John Luik | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The case for alarmist warnings is based on four assumptions. First, people wish to avoid disease and death. Second, consumers suffer from an "information deficit," that is, they either don't understand the risks of a given behavior or they underestimate those risks. Third, once they know that a certain behavior or product can lead to disease and death, they will avoid it. And, fourth, warnings give people the information necessary for them to change their behavior.

The reality, however, is that assumptions two, three, and four are, for many people, false.'

'The truth is that more often than not, scary or detailed warnings cause many consumers to disregard the information completely. A consumer's income is the key factor in determining which foods, for example, are purchased, and that income cancels out the effects of information.

The danger, however, is not simply that labels and warnings will fail; they may also be counterproductive. For example, large numbers of excessive risktakers display what psychologists call "reactance," in which there is a high level of resistance to the demands of outside authority and control.

For these individuals, a warning label represents an attempt to unreasonably (at least from their perspective) shape their behavior and makes them more likely to ignore rather than heed the warning. Warning labels also highlight risk, and for those attracted to risk-taking, this serves to make the very thing warned about more, rather than less, attractive.'

Worship of the Mob - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily

2012-01-31T05:46:00.000-08:00

Worship of the Mob - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily: 'The reason is that democrats never regard existing democracy as their preferred political system — they regard it only as a transitory state to a democratic utopia in which the elected leaders will agree totally with their own values and social-political views. Mises has observed that "the critics of the capitalistic order always seem to believe that the socialistic system of their dreams will do precisely what they think correct."[2] Hence, when people talk about the importance of democracy, it is never democracy as it has ever actually functioned, with the politicians that have actually been elected, and the policies that have actually been implemented. It is always democracy as people imagine it will operate once they succeed in electing "the right people" — by which they mean, people who agree almost completely with their own views, and who are consistent and incorruptible in their implementation of the resulting policies. This is what allows an intelligent group of people to espouse mob rule as a desirable principle, even as they simultaneously commit acts that brand them as criminals worthy of imprisonment under the very social system they maintain.'

'Democracy, of the unlimited kind lauded today,[3] is a form of socialism, in the sense that it arrogates ultimate power over all decisions to the government. Implicit in the notion of people's present love affair with mob rule is the assumption that government, through the collective "will of the people," should have the prerogatives of ownership of all resources in society, should it choose to exercise these. The democrat brooks no limitation on the legitimate powers of government and hence gives total ownership over all of society to this institution.'

'People still have not absorbed the lesson of democracy that should have been learned when Socrates was condemned to death by his fellow Athenians for his impiety.[5] Might is not right: whether expressed through raw physical power or through the voting booth, it is illegitimate and undesirable for people to aggress against their fellow human beings. Rejecting the rule of the mob is an important step towards peace and prosperity.'

Mr. Rubenstein, You're No Adam Smith - James E. Miller - Mises Daily

2012-01-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

Mr. Rubenstein, You're No Adam Smith - James E. Miller - Mises Daily: 'With the existence of the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and other bodies that make up the 115 regulators that oversee the financial sector in the United States, the claim that such a system constitutes free-market capitalism is preposterous. The evidence is clear that Alan Greenspan's cutting of the federal-funds target rate in the early 2000s and the expansion of the monetary base set the stage for the housing bubble. That "unfettered exuberance" on Wall Street was only a byproduct of the Fed and government's intervention in the economy. Business fluctuations brought on by changing human demand do exist in true capitalism, yet they are self-correcting and don't lead to years of prolonged unemployment.'

'No proponent of free-market capitalism denies that wealth disparity develops. For it is that exact wealth disparity that serves as an incentive for entrepreneurs to create and workers to produce in order to better their own personal standard of living. Contrary to popular belief, capitalism is not a system of rugged individualism but rather one of social cooperation that expands the division of labor and offers new opportunities of employment even for those less able to compete with more-productive workers.'

'As a rule, capitalism is blamed for the undesired effects of a policy directed at its elimination. The man who sips his morning coffee does not say, "Capitalism has brought this beverage to my breakfast table." But when he reads in the papers that the government of Brazil has ordered part of the coffee crop destroyed, he does not say, "That is government for you"; he exclaims, "That is capitalism for you."'

One Size Does Not Fit All | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

One Size Does Not Fit All | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The best way to look at education is not as a private or public good, but from the perspective of reality: All people are different, and diverse people cannot be equally served by a single school system. Some parents want their children to learn that Columbus was good, some bad. Some kids are ready for algebra in eighth grade, some as sophomores. Some students respond well to zero-tolerance discipline, others don't.

Once you acknowledge reality, there's no question that a monolithic system will be hopelessly inefficient. Worse yet, it will foster incessant conflict as people try to get the schools to teach the things they — not somebody else — want.'

'But what about the public good? Aren't there some things that we agree every child must learn?

If we all agree, then freedom is no threat; parents will choose schools that teach those things. And if we don't?

Look no further than endless warring over evolution to see what happens when we ignore reality in service of the perceived public good. As Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer recently documented, even when state standards call for the teaching of evolution, big percentages of high school biology teachers skip it. Why? To avoid conflict with objecting parents and students.

In other words, by trying to force evolution instruction on everyone, even those who want it often miss out.'

Reshaping Social Security And Our Society | William Shipman | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

Reshaping Social Security And Our Society | William Shipman | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Social Security has fundamentally changed. This is because the historical, almost sacrosanct, linkage between Social Security taxes and benefits has been severed. President Obama was able to achieve this feat with only marginal objection from supporters of the traditional system or from those who have advocated reforming Social Security to a saving-and-investment structure.'

Picture Of Sleeping Substitute Teacher Reportedly Nets Student Suspension | Fox News

2012-01-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Picture Of Sleeping Substitute Teacher Reportedly Nets Student Suspension | Fox News: 'Mustang Public Schools officials said a ninth-grader who snapped a cellphone photograph of a snoozing substitute teacher last Friday at Mustang Mid-High School was suspended following the incident'

Obama's State of the Union: Too Little Foreign Policy | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

Obama's State of the Union: Too Little Foreign Policy | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The second theme — the insistence that US global leadership is undiminished and will remain so — also ought to make Americans uneasy. Obama’s stress on that point seemed to border on shrill. On one occasion, he thundered that analysts who contend that America is in decline, or even that US power has waned, “don’t know what they’re talking about.”'

Top dogs don't need to declare it much. :-/

Romney's Tax Return: Really Nothing Unusual There | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Romney's Tax Return: Really Nothing Unusual There | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Looking around for an objective tax analyst, the New York Times settled for Bill Burton, who happens to run an Obama Super PAC.'

'Romney's seemingly low tax rate is partly illusory — a temporary reprieve rather than long-term tax savings.'

A Redistributive State of the Union | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

A Redistributive State of the Union | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'the president’s narrative ignores the fact that Buffett’s income had already been taxed at the corporate level. When the effect of both taxes is combined, the real effective tax rate is closer to 45 percent. That is quite a high rate on an inherently risky activity — investing — that our tax code should encourage.

And significantly, note that the president’s solution to this supposed problem is not to reduce taxes on Ms. Bosanek, but to raise them on Mr. Buffett.

That is because the president sees the Buffett rule and his complaints about other tax loopholes as simply a tactic, the camel’s nose under the tent, in his desire for more money for the federal government. That is why his actual tax proposals, hidden behind rhetoric about “millionaires and billionaires” and the “wealthiest 1 percent,” would actually raise taxes on people earning as little as $200,000 per year, as well as many small businesses. And many of his proposals will probably hit people with incomes even lower.'

'The president might have given lip service to the need to reduce deficits and the debt, but most of his speech was a laundry list of government programs to spend more money doing more things for more people.'

'But the evidence is now inescapable that the best way to achieve that goal is not through welfare-state redistribution of wealth, but through the creation of more wealth. We should judge the success of our efforts not by how much charity we provide to the poor, but by how few people need such charity.

Would it not be a better America if we could make it possible for Ms. Joseph to get a better job so that she could afford her mortgage and her gas? For that matter, wouldn’t we like a country where she could afford a bigger house and a second car? Nothing that the president has proposed would help bring that about.'

We Should Have Left Iraq Far Sooner | Christopher Preble | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T07:07:00.000-08:00

We Should Have Left Iraq Far Sooner | Christopher Preble | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Some claimed that the war would be cost-free, paid for by revenues from Iraqi oil. Others ventured guesses ranging between $50 billion and $200 billion. These absurdly low estimates were sustained by the belief that Iraqi citizens would embrace a foreign military presence. They didn't.

The direct costs of the war totaled nearly $1 trillion, and the costs to care for those injured in the war is likely to exceed $2 trillion.'

Is the United States in a Liquidity Trap? - Frank Shostak - Mises Daily

2012-01-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

Is the United States in a Liquidity Trap? - Frank Shostak - Mises Daily: 'people demand money not to accumulate indefinitely but to employ in exchange at some more or less definite point in the future'

"Wrong" Speech Is Also Free Speech: Citizens United at Two | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

"Wrong" Speech Is Also Free Speech: Citizens United at Two | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Rep. Sanders and Mr. Weissman thus demonstrate a crucial fact: many who oppose Citizens United do so because they want to silence speech that promotes policies they oppose. They want to silence it because they think it is bad speech that gives a disproportionate influence to bad ideas. Yet there can be no greater violation of the First Amendment than to act with this motive.'

'A dispassionate assessment of the effects of money in politics demands attention to union spending. But an ideologically committed assessment would tend to view the ideas that one finds convincing as being the result of merit, while viewing the ideas one believes unconvincing and harmful to the nation to be the result of "undue influence."'

'Although I agree with Rep. Sanders and Mr. Weissman that money may have too much influence on politics, perhaps we should address this problem by creating a government that lacks the power to reward undue influence — that is, a limited government that cannot determine whether someone succeeds or fails in life — and not by stifling free speech.'

Gingrich Rise Is Triumph of Style over Substance | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

Gingrich Rise Is Triumph of Style over Substance | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Gingrich said. "People want a leader who's forceful... Part of it is, you know, if I'd said 'The color is blue!' — it's the forcefulness... That delivery, that clearness is as important as the specific topic," he explained.'

'he made a sweet living as a "forceful" pitchman for utterly conventional center-left policies: Medicaid expansion, the individual mandate, cap and trade, "clean energy" subsidies, and the like.'

'"Gingrich Said Freddie Mac Could Be Good Model for Mars Travel" (Bloomberg, Dec. 2, 2011)'

'in 1996, Gingrich had the "big idea" of instituting the death penalty for anyone who brought more than 2 ounces of marijuana into the United States.'

'in 2006 he supported empowering "federal judges who've served in combat" to shut down "jihadist" websites.'

'This December, he advocated sending U.S. marshals to arrest activist judges who rule against religious displays in public schools '

The Falklands And Other Dangerous Disputed Territories -- A Market Solution | Steve H. Hanke | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

The Falklands And Other Dangerous Disputed Territories -- A Market Solution | Steve H. Hanke | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'For the Falklands, the governments of the United Kingdom and Argentina would agree that those Falklanders who were qualified to vote would be allowed to do so in a referendum. The referendum would allow the settlers — who are English-speaking and English by custom, institutions and loyalties — to vote on whether they prefer the status quo, or whether they would agree ("yes") to an Argentine take-over. A super-majority "yes" vote, of say 80%, would be required by the Falklanders to allow Argentina to claim sovereignty.

This is where markets come in. The Falklanders would have to be compensated by Argentina. The referendum would be designed so that Argentina could offer a cash incentive. Before the referendum, Argentina would deposit an amount (let's say USD $500,000) in escrow, in Swiss bank accounts for every man, woman and child who had proven their Falklands residence prior to the referendum.

If the referendum went in Argentina's favor (over 80% of eligible voters casting a "yes" vote), then the funds in escrow would be transferred and Argentina's unambiguous sovereignty over the Falklands would be established. Argentina's cost, in this hypothetical, would be about USD $1.6 billion.'

The Great Renewable Energy Scam: Is There A Change in the Wind? | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

The Great Renewable Energy Scam: Is There A Change in the Wind? | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Nor do RPSs allow for natural gas. There are massive quantities in shale formations around the country, and new horizontal drilling techniques are releasing so much of it that it is now the cheapest source of electrical power. If our environmentalist friends were at all serious about climate change, they would enthuse over it becaus. it produces significantly less carbon dioxide than an equivalent quantity of coal when used for power generation. Instead, they are horrified that cheap gas will destroy solar and wind.'

'One needs to look no further than ethanol as a motor fuel, mandated by the feds. Sold as “renewable” and reducing pernicious carbon dioxide emissions, it actually produces more in its life cycle than simply burning an equivalent amount of gasoline. It also—unconscionably—consumes 40% of U.S. corn production, and we are the by far the world’s largest producer of this important basic food.'

American, Dane rescued by US commandos inside Somalia - CSMonitor.com

2012-01-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

American, Dane rescued by US commandos inside Somalia - CSMonitor.com: 'Obama’s warning that abductions of Americans abroad “would not be tolerated” sent a strong signal of future missions targeting Somali pirates should they seize more US citizens.'

That sounds like something our forces should be doing but it doesn't seem like that has happened very often so it seems weird to proclaim that.

CNN Poll: Obama tied with Romney & Paul in November showdowns – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

2012-01-24T17:38:00.000-08:00

CNN Poll: Obama tied with Romney & Paul in November showdowns – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs: 'The poll also indicates Paul statistically tied with Obama, with the president at 48% and the longtime congressman at 46%. But according to the poll, the president is doing better against two other Republican presidential candidates. If Rick Santorum were the GOP nominee, Obama would hold a 51%-45% advantage over the former senator from Pennsylvania. And if Newt Gingrich faced off against the president, Obama would lead the former House speaker 52%-43%.'

Only Paul and Romney are close to beating Obama.

Spending Can Be Cut Our Way, Or Europe's | Jagadeesh Gokhale | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

Spending Can Be Cut Our Way, Or Europe's | Jagadeesh Gokhale | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'A recent International Monetary Fund analysis shows that closing deficits by raising more revenue tends to lead to deeper recessions and slower growth. It's far better to follow the example of Canada's mid-1990s reforms, which involved just $1 in tax increases for every $7 in cuts, and which resulted in strong economic performance over the next decade.'

Libertarianism, Rightly Conceived | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Libertarianism, Rightly Conceived | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: '"Libertarians," Sachs writes, "hold that individual liberty should never be sacrificed in the pursuit of other values or causes. Compassion, justice, civic responsibility, honesty, decency, humility, respect and even survival of the poor, weak and vulnerable — are to take a back seat."'

'the government's track record in promoting Sachs' "other values or causes" is not stellar, to say the least.'

'In short, redistribution should only come after the government stops hurting those who need the most help.'

'while they believe that the problem with government is that the right people aren't in power, we believe that the problem with government is intrinsic to government itself, and that no theory of "throw the bums out" will ever give state officials the incentives and knowledge they need to do a good job. This is true despite the fact that the vast majority of government representatives and employees are good, hard-working people.'

Does Airport Security Really Make Us Safer? | Culture | Vanity Fair

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Does Airport Security Really Make Us Safer? | Culture | Vanity Fair: 'Since 9/11, the U.S. has spent more than $1.1 trillion on homeland security.

To a large number of security analysts, this expenditure makes no sense. The vast cost is not worth the infinitesimal benefit. Not only has the actual threat from terror been exaggerated, they say, but the great bulk of the post-9/11 measures to contain it are little more than what Schneier mocks as “security theater”: actions that accomplish nothing but are designed to make the government look like it is on the job. In fact, the continuing expenditure on security may actually have made the United States less safe.'

'Washington assembled a list of potential terror targets that soon swelled to 80,000 places, including local libraries and miniature-golf courses. Accompanying the target list was a watch list of potential suspects that had grown to 1.1 million names by 2008, the most recent date for which figures are available.'

'“The only useful airport security measures since 9/11,” he says, “were locking and reinforcing the cockpit doors, so terrorists can’t break in, positive baggage matching”—ensuring that people can’t put luggage on planes, and then not board them —“and teaching the passengers to fight back. The rest is security theater.”'

'aking off your shoes is next to useless. “It’s like saying, Last time the terrorists wore red shirts, so now we’re going to ban red shirts,” Schneier says. If the T.S.A. focuses on shoes, terrorists will put their explosives elsewhere. “Focusing on specific threats like shoe bombs or snow-globe bombs simply induces the bad guys to do something else. You end up spending a lot on the screening and you haven’t reduced the total threat.”'

'As I waited at security with my fake boarding pass, a T.S.A. agent had darted out and swabbed my hands with a damp, chemically impregnated cloth: a test for explosives. Schneier said, “Apparently the idea is that al-Qaeda has never heard of latex gloves and wiping down with alcohol.” The uselessness of the swab, in his view, exemplifies why Americans should dismiss the T.S.A.’s frequent claim that it relies on “multiple levels” of security. For the extra levels of protection to be useful, each would have to test some factor that is independent of the others. But anyone with the intelligence and savvy to use a laser printer to forge a boarding pass can also pick up a stash of latex gloves to wear while making a bomb. From the standpoint of security, Schneier said, examining boarding passes and swabbing hands are tantamount to performing the same test twice because the person you miss with one test is the same person you'll miss with the other.'

'The full-body-scanner program—some 1,800 scanners operating in every airport in the country—was launched in response to the “underwear bomber” incident on Christmas Day in 2009, when a Nigerian Muslim hid the plastic explosive petn in his briefs and tried to detonate it on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. It has an annual price tag of $1.2 billion. The scanners cannot detect petn directly; instead they look for suspicious bulges under clothing. Because petn is a Silly Putty–like material, it can be fashioned into a thin pancake. Taped flat to the stomach, the pancake is invisible to scanning machines. Alternatively, attackers could stick gum-size wads of the explosive in their mouths, then go through security enough times to accumulate the desired amount.'

'Terrorists can so easily switch from target to target and weapon to weapon that focusing on preventing any one type of attack is foolish. Even if the T.S.A. were somehow to make airports impregnable, this would simply divert terrorists to other, less heavily defended targets—shopping malls, movie theaters, churches, stadiums, museums. The terrorist’s goal isn’t to attack an airplane specifically; it’s to sow terror generally. “You spend billions of dollars on the airports and force the terrorists to spend an extra $30 on gas to drive to a hotel or casino and attack it,” Schneier says. “Congratulations!”'

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

2012-01-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: 'Public interests will be harmed absent requiring defendants to make available unencrypted contents in circumstances like these. Failing to compel Ms. Fricosu amounts to a concession to her and potential criminals (be it in child exploitation, national security, terrorism, financial crimes or drug trafficking cases) that encrypting all inculpatory digital evidence will serve to defeat the efforts of law enforcement officers to obtain such evidence through judicially authorized search warrants, and thus make their prosecution impossible.'

The same arguments apply exactly to compelling a defendant to testify!

High Court: Warrant Needed For GPS Tracking | Fox News

2012-01-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

High Court: Warrant Needed For GPS Tracking | Fox News: 'The Supreme Court says police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.'

This is some hope for the 4th amendment.

Focus on Innovation Instead | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

Focus on Innovation Instead | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The government would essentially claim the right to choke off traffic and revenue to entire sites, without ever having to try or convict its owners of any crime. It should be no surprise that similar domestic authority has already led to sites being wrongfully shuttered.'

The Internet Is Not Government's to Regulate | Jim Harper | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

The Internet Is Not Government's to Regulate | Jim Harper | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Imagine that Congress passed a law setting up a procedure that could require ordinary citizens like you to remove telephone numbers from your phone book or from the "contacts" list in your phone. What about a policy that cut off the phone lines to an entire building because some of its tenants used the phone to plot thefts or fraud?'

It's Up to The Private Sector to Invest in New Technology | Jerry Taylor | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

It's Up to The Private Sector to Invest in New Technology | Jerry Taylor | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'the most credible estimates about climate externalities put the cost at no more than $12 per ton of CO2. Internalizing that cost into fossil fuel prices would increase gasoline prices by no more than 12 cents per gallon, not enough to make EVs economically efficient or commercially competitive.'

Israel says ... Iran isn't building a nuclear weapon - CSMonitor.com

2012-01-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

Israel says ... Iran isn't building a nuclear weapon - CSMonitor.com: 'If Israeli media reports are correct, Israel shares the US and European views of Iran: That it isn't seeking a nuclear weapon at the moment.'

So why do almost all of the GOP candidates completely disagree with this?

SOPA, Internet Regulation And the Economics of Piracy | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

SOPA, Internet Regulation And the Economics of Piracy | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Despite the fact that the Government Accountability Office recently concluded that it is “difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the net effect of counterfeiting and piracy on the economy as a whole,” our legislative class has somehow determined that—among all the dire challenges now facing the United States—this is an urgent priority.'

'The “core copyright industries” have, unsurprisingly, shed some jobs over the past few years, but again, compared with the rest of the economy, employment seems to have held relatively stable at a time when you might expect cash-strapped consumers to be turning to piracy to save money.'

'a recent survey study by Felix Oberholzer-Gee of the Harvard Business School concluded that “data on the supply of new works are consistent with the argument that file sharing did not discourage authors and publishers” from producing more works, at least in the US market.'

'people have a roughly constant “music budget,” and what they don’t spend on the albums they’ve downloaded gets spent on seeing that new band they discovered. For the firms that specifically make their money from the sale of recordings, that may seem like cold comfort, but if we’re concerned with the music industry as a whole, it’s a wash.'

'bleeding revenue to piracy is going to be a problem to the extent that your product is a hit, in a market where the core uncertainty about this crucial fact (at the time when the decision whether to greenlight production is made) looms a lot larger than the marginal loss from illicit downloads if you are successful.'

'the job impact estimates in that study would have been largely based on legacy assumptions from a brick-and-mortar economy. (The loss estimates relied on would also, necessarily, fail to account for the recent rise of popular, legal streaming services that have likely lured many consumers back from the pirate market. There is, alas, no very good data here, but I’d wager Hulu and Netflix have done exponentially more to reduce piracy losses than enforcement crackdowns ever will.)'

'But in the real world, where enforcement has direct costs to the taxpayer, regulation has costs on the industries it burdens, and the reduction in piracy they’re likely to produce is very small, it seems important to point out that the credible evidence for the magnitude of the harm is fairly thin.'

'As a rough analogy, since anti-piracy crusaders are fond of equating filesharing with shoplifting: suppose the CEO of Wal-Mart came to Congress demanding a $50 million program to deploy FBI agents to frisk suspicious-looking teens in towns near Wal-Marts. A lawmaker might, without for one instant doubting that shoplifting is a bad thing, question whether this is really the optimal use of federal law enforcement resources. The CEO indignantly points out that shoplifting kills one million adorable towheaded orphans each year. The proof is right here in this study by the Wal-Mart Institute for Anti-Shoplifting Studies. The study sources this dramatic claim to a newspaper article, which quotes the CEO of Wal-Mart asserting (on the basis of private data you can’t see) that shoplifting kills hundreds of orphans annually. And as a footnote explains, it seemed prudent to round up to a million. I wish this were just a joke, but as readers of my previous post will recognize, that’s literally about the level of evidence we’re dealing with here.'

Column: Why U.S. should cheer for Scott Walker – USATODAY.com

2012-01-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

Column: Why U.S. should cheer for Scott Walker – USATODAY.com: 'What's more, the reforms pushed by Walker are themselves already having a beneficial effect. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was Walker's opponent in the 2010 election and later attacked his proposals to reform collective bargaining. But with the reforms on the books, Barrett used some of the bill's provisions to help reduce the city's health care bill, saying that the alternative was to cut 300 to 400 city jobs.'

The Tea Party Congress Comes of Age | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

The Tea Party Congress Comes of Age | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'for the first time in years, the 2012 budget of $3.65 trillion is essentially flat over the 2011 figure. For Washington, that’s progress, even though few programs were eliminated. But meager as it is, if it’s to blossom into serious checks on out-of-control government, it’s going to take a fundamental shift in popular conceptions about the very role of government, and that won’t happen overnight. Right now, we’re a deeply divided people. The 2008 “hope and change” election brought neither. The 2010 “correction” propelled huge numbers of tea party people into offices across the country, suggesting an ideological shift might be underway. But in Washington it changed only the House, leaving Congress divided and gridlocked. So look for even less coming out of the second session than the first, but that’s all right; there’s other work to be done.'

'Thus the lesson of the first session is that these budget battles, given the intransigence of the other side, cannot be ends in themselves: rather, they’re means, to be used in the real game, which is to change public opinion, to move Americans from an entitlement mindset to an independent one. Every budget battle, win or lose, is an opportunity to educate the public about the real game going on in Washington. But the game has to be played in public, not behind closed doors, as is Washington’s way. And members have to take the long view, every decision looking not only to November but far beyond. We won’t reverse course, much less restore limited constitutional government, in one session of Congress, or even over several Congresses. Indeed, the deeper political question is whether we’ve reached a tipping point, where so many people have become so dependent that it’s unrealistic to expect them to vote against their immediate interests. We shouldn’t believe that, or there’s no hope.'

Broken Promise of Change: The Obama Administration's Defense Strategy and Budget | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

Broken Promise of Change: The Obama Administration's Defense Strategy and Budget | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'An especially caustic critic is former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who ridiculed pervasive media reports that President Obama was cutting almost half a trillion dollars from the defense budget. Obama “is not cutting a single dime out of the military budget,” Armey charged. “He is actually substantially increasing military spending over the next several years. Washington has once again cleverly disguised a spending increase as a ‘cut.’”

Armey is correct. President Obama’s so-called cuts are only modest reductions from the baseline budget set by the Congressional Budget Office that projected large increases in military spending over the next decade. As Armey notes, such spending “will continue to rise under President Obama’s plan, just at a slightly slower rate.”'

'Despite the furor from those who want even more robust military outlays, the spending levels in the Obama budget are actually higher in inflation-adjusted terms than the average budgets throughout the Cold War. Critics understandably ask why that should be so when the United States no longer faces a powerful military adversary like the Soviet Union. Secretary Panetta implicitly cited the reason why spending remains at such lofty heights, when he noted that a smaller force could not sustain the missions it is assigned. He added that “if we had to do over a trillion dollars in cuts in this department,” we’d probably “have to start over” regarding defense strategy.'

Woman Arrested With Gun On American Airlines Plane | Fox News

2012-01-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

Woman Arrested With Gun On American Airlines Plane | Fox News: 'The Transportation Security Administration, which operates airport security checkpoints, says that screeners detected a gun in the woman's carry-on bag, but she left the checkpoint before giving up the gun.'

What a pathetic joke! They didn't stop her or the plane?!!!

Labor Economics with Walter Block - Walter Block - Mises Daily

2012-01-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

Labor Economics with Walter Block - Walter Block - Mises Daily: 'the entrepreneur, the residual-income claimant, brings three things to the table that workers greatly value. First, he bears risk. If the items produced by the workers cooperatives do not sell, they are plumb out of luck; in contrast, if what the worker produces for the capitalist is rejected by the consumer, the capitalist may not come to the workers and demand back the wages already paid. Second, the much reviled businessman offers time, in the form of capital goods. If 100 workers band together in a syndicalist venture, and the product will not come off the assembly line for a year, they must feed and clothe themselves for this entire duration. As well, they must have among them enough savings to purchase the machinery, the raw materials, and the marketing services necessary for a final sale. In contrast, the entrepreneur provides all this to the workers, who, all too often, do not appreciate his efforts on their (and of course his) behalf. Third, the owner of the business firm provides leadership, in setting up the entire enterprise.'

'Why do we have unemployment? One major source is when wages are pegged at higher rates than productivity. Minimum-wage laws and union legislation are responsible for this situation. Another cause of unemployment is unemployment insurance. The more you pay for something, the more of it you will have. If you subsidize unemployment, its rate will rise. Yet another cause of it is the Fed, Ron Paul's favorite institution. By artificially lowering interest rates to virtually zero levels, this central bank leads entrepreneurs to invest in excessively roundabout methods of production for items that take a long time to produce (houses, cars, mines, etc.).'

The Most Important Secret of a Prosperous Economy | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Most Important Secret of a Prosperous Economy | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Nobody could have predicted that these and countless other people would come up with improvements that helped the economy prosper. If inventing had been restricted only to individuals with political connections or individuals whom so-called experts considered worthy, there would have been far fewer people trying to make improvements. The number and value of improvements would have gone down, particularly improvements from unforeseen sources. Improvements would have come later — or not at all. Quite a few important inventions, common in one part of the world, were unknown elsewhere for centuries.

Economies prosper when multitudes of ordinary people are motivated to make improvements. This is because information and insights needed to make an economy prosper are widely dispersed. There's far more than could ever be centralized, validated and updated in a place like the federal government. The most reliable way to motivate people? Harness their self-interest: let them try making a profit by starting a business based on their information and insights. Government can best promote prosperity by, among other things, maintaining equal rights, low taxes, free trade, sound money, predictable laws and protection against force and fraud. Government should let consumers render their verdicts in open markets — no subsidies, special favors or bailouts.'

Now's the Time to Start Cutting Wasteful Government Programs | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-17T08:51:00.000-08:00

Now's the Time to Start Cutting Wasteful Government Programs | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'If they won't get rid of ridiculous programs like these, they won't take on serious programs like Social Security and the Pentagon. And if they won't do that, then Uncle Sam might as well start filling out his papers to declare bankruptcy.'

Tale of Two Small Countries | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Tale of Two Small Countries | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Back in the early 1970s, Cayman was as poor on a per capita basis as is Belize today. Both countries had ambitions to be tourist and financial centers. Cayman succeeded and has about six times the real per capita income of Belize. What did Cayman do right and Belize do wrong?

Perhaps most important is that Cayman had and maintained a competent and honest judicial system, which gave foreign investors confidence that their property would be protected. Cayman also has a very low crime rate. Tourists and other visitors walk around freely day or night in Cayman without fear.'

'There is no reason any country has to remain poor. Countries are not poor because of climate, lack of natural resources or race. Countries as locationally varied as Singapore, Mauritius, Korea, Chile, Estonia and Cayman have become relatively rich over the past few decades. Those countries that are still relatively poor are poor because they have not put in place the necessary institutions, political structures and policies.'

Doing Your Own Thing - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily

2012-01-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

Doing Your Own Thing - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily: 'Are we to be free from coercion by others — from violent interference with our bodies and our property? Are we to be free from being physically restrained or molested when we try to "do our own thing"? Or are we to be free from the adverse consequences of our actions? Even from adverse judgments by others?'

'if a person is to be free from the adverse consequences of their own actions, then this means that others must be forced to shield them from these consequences — they must be forced to contribute their resources and services to those who are "doing their own thing." But what if those others desire to keep their own property and use it for themselves and their loved ones — what if that is them "doing their own thing"? Who's "own thing" is to prevail?'

What Happened to the GOP's Free-Market Principles? | David Boaz | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

What Happened to the GOP's Free-Market Principles? | David Boaz | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'In a growing economy, companies succeed and fail every day. Technology changes. Consumer tastes change. New competitors offer a better product or a better price. Raw materials or labor becomes too expensive. Some companies just aren’t viable, and some investments turn out to have been mistaken.

That’s what the “creative destruction” of a market economy is all about. Companies constantly seek to serve consumers better. And often one company’s success means that other companies fail. Manufacturers of obsolete products often go out of business. Jobs and investments are lost, but what’s the alternative? Should we be keeping the firms that once made horse-drawn buggies, gramophones, and slide rules in business? No, we understand that the process of economic change makes us all better off, even though there can be short-term pain for the owners and employees of failed firms.

Republicans are supposed to know all this. That’s why they proclaim their devotion to free markets and oppose industrial policy, government subsidies, bailouts, and other schemes to override the market process and keep current firms in business even when they’re no longer meeting consumers’ needs.'

'We’d never get new companies like Staples, Domino’s, Bright Horizons, and Sports Authority — companies that Romney helped fund and nurture at Bain Capital — if investment capital was locked into existing companies.

And sometimes, as the movie “Other People’s Money” demonstrated, it takes a “predatory corporate raider” to go in and shake up a company, moving the land, labor, and capital to places where they can be more productive.'

Drug Mayhem Moves South | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Drug Mayhem Moves South | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The primary reason the cartels are so powerful both in Mexico and Central America has to do with the fundamental principles of economics. There is a huge demand for drugs, especially in the United States but also in Europe and, increasingly, in other portions of the world. When such a robust demand for a product exists, it is an economic certainty that profit-seeking entities will try to fulfill that demand. Prohibiting commerce of a product does not negate that dynamic; it merely perverts it. Instead of legitimate businesses engaging in lawful competition, the trade falls into the hands of elements that don’t mind breaking the law and assuming all the other risks entailed in operating in a black market. Often, that means the most ruthless, violent individuals and organizations come to dominate the trade.'

State almost caught up on concealed carry permits - 1330 WHBL Sheboygan's News Radio

2012-01-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

State almost caught up on concealed carry permits - 1330 WHBL Sheboygan's News Radio: About 71,000 people have applied for permits since the concealed carry law took effect November first.

That is about 1.6% of the adult population! That already puts us 1/3 the way up the list by license rate (of an old list).

Is Further Intervention a Cure for Prior Intervention? - Percy L. Greaves, Jr. - Mises Daily

2012-01-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

Is Further Intervention a Cure for Prior Intervention? - Percy L. Greaves, Jr. - Mises Daily: 'In the United States, an example of this trend is clearly seen in the demand arising from some employers and their associations for the individual states to enact so-called right-to-work laws. The proposed laws would outlaw all employment contracts which specify that all employees must pay dues to the union chosen by the majority of an employer's employees in a government supervised election. Such contracts, even though they represent the free and voluntary wishes of the employers and the employees concerned, would be declared to be against public policy and therefore illegal. A growing number of employers believe that such laws will bring about a better balance of the scales in the "class warfare" supposedly going on between "labor" and management. This would seem to indicate that many present-day employers have neither faith in freedom nor an understanding of the economic principles which reveal that a free market is the most efficient means that free, peaceful, and intelligent men can use for the advancement of individual men as well as the general welfare.'

WisPolitics.com: Gov. Walker: Money saved on property taxes donated to charity

2012-01-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

WisPolitics.com: Gov. Walker: Money saved on property taxes donated to charity: “The money property taxpayers are saving on their tax bills all across Wisconsin will help improve our communities, our economy, and ultimately leave our state better off for the next generation,” said Governor Walker. “By making this donation I am encouraging others to help improve our state by doing what they can to donate to charitable causes.”

Super PACs: Money Well Spent | John Samples | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

Super PACs: Money Well Spent | John Samples | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'So are super PACs shaping up to be a disaster for democracy in 2012? Hardly. The $14 million in Iowa super PAC spending funded an assault on Gingrich for committing ethics violations, being soft on illegal immigrants and teaming with Nancy Pelosi on global warming issues. The Gingrich ad to come apparently says Romney's company, Bain Capital, looted companies and left people unemployed.'

'Do these ads constitute legitimate political speech? Wouldn't voters want to know if Gingrich had violated ethics rules, received large payments from Freddie Mac despite claiming to be against big government and had supported positions contrary to the views of most Iowa Republicans? Romney says he is a businessman who knows how to create jobs. Should voters hear claims to the contrary? Of course.'

'John Coleman, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that spending on negative ads increased voter information about candidates, especially among those who were least informed prior to the ads.

Other political scientists have found that, contrary to the caricature, negative advertising increases voter turnout and reduces the advantages normally held by incumbent officials. Perhaps it is not surprising that Republican turnout in Iowa was higher than experts expected.'

'the alternative is greatly restricting the rights of outside individuals to fund speech criticizing politicians (a right that many paid commentators on television, the radio and online, many of them wealthy, already happen to have, by virtue of being members of the media).

This seems to me to be a far scarier outcome.'

Sen. Paul Announces Taxpayer Savings at Louisville Press Conference Rand Paul | United States Senator

2012-01-12T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sen. Paul Announces Taxpayer Savings at Louisville Press Conference Rand Paul | United States Senator: 'U.S. Sen. Rand Paul today announced that he is returning $500,000 to the United States Treasury - money unspent from his official operating budget. The total amount being returned is more than 16 percent of Paul's original office budget. As far as is known, no U.S. Senator has returned as much to taxpayers.'

'Paul achieved the savings while also having the most active office for a freshman in the U.S. Senate. In his first year, he introduced more legislation and amendments than any other freshman legislator, often teaming-up with fellow Senators to support legislation.'

'Paul's office was one of only three in Washington to produce an entire fiscal blueprint for the federal government, a promise he made while campaigning in 2010. His plan, introduced in the first few weeks of his term, would balance the federal budget in five years.

Paul also kept his promise to work to reform Social Security. His proposal, introduced with Sens. Lindsay Graham and Mike Lee, would fix the entire system for 75 years. Later this month, Sen. Paul will introduce a plan to save Medicare.'

Will Romney End PBS, Public Radio Funding? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Will Romney End PBS, Public Radio Funding? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'For decades as a reporter, I have continually found vital information on public radio and television that at first was available nowhere else.'

Just because a program has benefits doesn't mean that it is good overall? The "bridge to nowhere" also had benefits.

More importantly, where is the constitutional authority for the federal government to fund that?

'"In the commercial market ... the stuff for kids is targeted to sell things to kids, not to educate them"'

If children and parents choose to watch those shows, then that is the kind of shows that will be produced. I do see popular shows that sell products related to the show but I don't see popular shows that advertise to kids -- but maybe those shows exist and we don't watch them.

'In an era of media consolidation, fewer national and foreign bureaus and mass newsroom layoffs, NPR is one of the only media outlets actually bringing listeners more reporting (actual reporting, not warped pontificating) from around the country and around the world.'

TV broadcast media isn't the only media anymore -- welcome to the 21st century! I think mass-broadcast media is outdated and on its way out. It is being replaced by media where the time, place, and content can be much more customized to the user (i.e. internet delivery).

Investment or Malinvestment? - Igor Karbinovskiy - Mises Daily

2012-01-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Investment or Malinvestment? - Igor Karbinovskiy - Mises Daily: 'Suppose I write an article on the economy that no one wants to read, much less pay me for. Now suppose that the government pays me for it anyway — as part of a jobs bill. Presto! A new job has been created; a person who was previously unemployed is now working. Better yet, that person is me! This job certainly increased my standard of living. But what have I produced? What have I contributed to the economy? Because no one wants my article, the value of my contribution to the economy is zero. The time I've spent in writing, and the money the government paid me, have been wasted. Worse, because this money allows me to consume things that I (and other people) want — things like food and shelter — the net effect on the economy is negative: zero value in, positive value out. This, then, is an example of a "bad" job.'

The Income-Inequality Myth | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Income-Inequality Myth | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Poverty, of course, is a bad thing. But is inequality? After all, if we doubled everyone's income tomorrow, we would eliminate an enormous amount of economic hardship. Yet, inequality would actually increase. As Margaret Thatcher said about those who obsess over inequality, "So long as the [income] gap is smaller, they would rather have the poor poorer."

In what way does someone else's success harm me?'

'But as Nobel Prize–winning economist Gary Becker pointed out, "It would be hard to motivate most people if everyone had the same earnings, status, prestige, and other rewards."

Another Nobel Prize winner, F. A. Hayek, concluded, "The rapid economic advance that we have come to expect seems to be in large measure a result of this inequality and to be impossible without it. Progress at such a fast rate cannot take place on a uniform front but must take place in an echelon fashion, with some far in front of the rest."'

Snooker -- Democrats' Favorite Pastime | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

Snooker -- Democrats' Favorite Pastime | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Republicans should prepare a specific list of spending non—starters and make it known to all. They need to be clear that if any of the items are contained in a future appropriations bill or continuing resolution, they will make sure it is defeated. The list should contain only those items that would cause the president to have a politically impossible public—relations problem if he threatened to veto the specific appropriation bill or continuing resolution and thereby shut down the government if the items were not included.

Republicans could start by insisting that no expenditure for salaries could be made for people not properly appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate as called for in the Constitution — that is, phony, non—recess appointments would not be funded.

A number of the international organizations for which the United States provides major support have gone rogue and spent monies on programs of which most fiscally responsible Americans disapprove (or would disapprove it they knew about them). These programs should be cut. Examples are the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which ignores much sound science), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Fiscal Affairs Committee (which is attempting to create a high tax cartel) and possibly the International Monetary Fund, which keeps flirting with bailing out European economic mismanagement.

The GOP and others have rightly complained about regulatory excess, but they need to put some teeth in these complaints by refusing to allow funding for regulations that have not been justified by a truly independent cost—benefit analysis, so the Environmental Protection Agency could not get away with unnecessarily attempting to shut down many needed power plants. The cost—benefit requirement also should be applied to the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury so they could not continue such outrages as making it almost impossible for Americans living abroad to get bank accounts and driving hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign capital out of the United States.'

Will Congress Stop King Barack the First? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

Will Congress Stop King Barack the First? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The Recess Appointments Clause was, "Federalist 67" explains, merely an "auxiliary method" adopted because "it would have been improper to oblige this body to be continually in session."

That stopgap measure met the needs of an era of horseback travel, part-time Congresses, and recesses lasting between six and nine months. It wasn't supposed to let the president do regular end-runs around the requirement of Senate confirmation.'

'But the worst hypocrisy here is Obama's. "I've studied the Constitution as a student, I've taught it as a teacher," he piously intoned in 2009: "I know that we must never, ever, turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience's sake."'

No Child -- And the Latest Lost Decade | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

No Child -- And the Latest Lost Decade | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Despite federal k-12 spending rising from $27 billion in 2001, the year before NCLB, to $38 billion in 2011, reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the so-called “Nation’s Report Card” — have either been stagnant, or grown at slower rates than many periods before No Child.'

'education bureaucrats around the country created wildly varying tests, definitions of “proficiency,” and played lots of other tricks that have made it nearly impossible to know if a child is truly proficient, or just so labeled by a system dodging punishment.

There’s also a serious question of whether rising test scores for historic strugglers have reflected increasing knowledge or just better testing strategies.'

Iran's Bluster Proves Its Weakness | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

Iran's Bluster Proves Its Weakness | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The obviousness of Iran's bluster suggests its weakness. Empty threats generally show desperation, not security. And Iran's weakness is not confined to water. Though Iran is more populous and wealthier than most of its neighbors, its military isn't equipped for conquest. Like other militaries in its region, Iran's suffers from coup-proofing, the practice of designing a military more to prevent coups than to fight rival states. Economic problems and limited weapons-import options have also undermined it ability to modernize its military, while its rivals buy American arms.'

Mitt Romney declares that Ron Paul is the constitutionalist!

2012-01-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

Is Global Warming a Bipolar Disorder? | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

Is Global Warming a Bipolar Disorder? | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'We now have a full one-third of a century of satellite-measured lower atmospheric temperatures, and what an interesting story the machines are revealing. I think it’s fair to say that they provide increasing evidence in favor of the “lukewarm” view of climate change, or the hypothesis of modest warming. In climate change, “it’s not the heat, it’s the sensitivity”, or the amount of warming that a change in carbon dioxide causes, that is important.'

'For a number of reasons, computer models with added atmospheric carbon dioxide preferentially warm the mid-and high-latitude land areas of the northern hemisphere that are ice-free, which also enhances summer melting of the relatively shallow ice in the Arctic Ocean. That, in turn, results in an increased absorption of solar radiation by the darker ocean surface, which also contributes to warming.'

A Sustainable Depression | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

A Sustainable Depression | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'If the Dow fell 85 percent, most folks would call that a depression. So why doesn't that apply to the "sustainable" energy business — mainly solar and wind power — where shares have fallen an average of 85 percent to 90 percent, even excluding the bankrupt Solyndras, Evergreens and Solons? This depression is global, hitting Chinese Suntech, the world's largest producer of solar panels, as well. Suntech has seen its shares plunge 88 percent.'

2nd Amendment Voters Should Vote RON PAUL

2012-01-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

2nd Amendment Voters Should Vote RON PAUL: Mitt Romney said 'I likewise support the right of law abiding citizens to be able to purchase firearms for hunting purposes and target practice and so forth. We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts. I support them. I won’t chip away at them. I believe they help protect us and provide for our safety, but I want our law abiding citizens likewise to have the right to purchase and use a weapon for hunting and other purposes.'

'When [Gringrich] was Speaker of the House during the latter half of the Clinton years, he never agreed to support legislation to repeal the Clinton “assault weapons ban.” He even called it a “very reasonable position.”'

Is Ron Paul really the only candidate that supports your rights to preserve your life? The article mentions Romney and Gingrich but what about the other candidates?

Concealed Carry Information & News | U.S. Concealed Carry Association

2012-01-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

Concealed Carry Information & News | U.S. Concealed Carry Association: 'it is 3 times more likely that a child will be struck by lightning than die from a firearm accident.

Firearm accidents accounted for 0.5% of all accidental deaths; well below the percentages accounted for by motor vehicle accidents, falls, fires, poisonings, and several other more common types of mishaps.'

Obama's Sham Constitutionalism | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Obama's Sham Constitutionalism | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Article 1, Section 5 says that "Neither House ... shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days" — and the Republican-controlled House did not consent, precisely to block the president from making recess appointments, just as the Democratic Congress did in November 2007 and for the rest of George W. Bush's presidency.'

'as Professor John Yoo noted yesterday, "it is up to the Senate to decide when it is in session or not." Consistent with the separation of powers, "the President cannot decide the legitimacy of the activities of the Senate any more than he could for the other branches, and vice versa."'

'These vacancies did not "happen during the Recess of the Senate." They happened when the Senate was in session, and the nominees for them were before the Senate when it was in session.'

Cutting Through the Rhetoric on Defense Sequestration | Benjamin H. Friedman and Veronique de Rugy | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

Cutting Through the Rhetoric on Defense Sequestration | Benjamin H. Friedman and Veronique de Rugy | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta repeated his warning that such cuts would lead to a “demoralized and hollow force.” One of his deputies has called the cuts the equivalent of “self-castration.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina recently warned that the cuts will “destroy” the Department of Defense.'

'In nominal terms, sequestration is not even a cut; it would see nonwar military spending grow by about 10 percent from today, as opposed to the 18 percent the administration wants.'

'Adjusting for the CBO’s predictions for inflation, sequestration would allow the military budget to remain almost flat. The process would leave the 2021 Pentagon with purchasing power equivalent to what it had in 2006, leaving out the wars. That would be a bigger budget in real terms than what the U.S. spent on the military at the height of the Cold War.'

'Because the Budget Control Act leaves war spending uncapped, Congress can effectively take defense programs off the books, evading caps by declaring them to be war-related. Already, the defense appropriation for 2012 includes that gimmick, and it can be expected to continue as long as the Budget Control Act is in place and there are wars to fund.'

'sequestration will not occur until January 2013' ... 'with the president’s signature, Congress can always undo previously passed legislation, including the Budget Control Act and sequestration'

'If the military were to agree to come up with a 2013 defense budget that spends $492 billion or less — the amount it would have after sequestration — it could avoid sequestration while allowing defense officials to choose which programs to cut. Under this scenario, the administration could ask Congress to alter the Budget Control Act to spread the planned savings over time, avoiding a sudden bite.

The extra time could be put to good use identifying not just which programs to cut, but how to reform strategy accordingly. Such a strategic shift could allow the Pentagon to achieve savings equivalent to sequestration while avoiding its worst features, and might even improve American security in the process. Unfortunately, given the cultivated hysteria about defense sequestration, those are discussions that we are unlikely to have.'

NCLB: Perspectives on the Law | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

NCLB: Perspectives on the Law | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The idea is that a single standard will keep states from "gaming" accountability. But this assumes that those who would be held accountable won't gut standards at the federal level, an irrational assumption.'

Should Christians Ask: Who Would Jesus Vote For? | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

Should Christians Ask: Who Would Jesus Vote For? | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'It's not that every profession of faith is false. But offering political rewards for personal testimonies encourages politicians to lie.'

Campaign Finance 'Reform' Has Failed Nation, Voters | John Samples | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

Campaign Finance 'Reform' Has Failed Nation, Voters | John Samples | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Moreover, there is little evidence that money has much influence on policy-makers. Political scientists have found that contributions explain little about lawmaking once ideology, party and constituency are accounted for. One scholarly study of lobbying concluded that "the direct correlation between money and outcomes that so many political scientists have sought simply is not there."'

'Even as they fail to deliver benefits, campaign finance regulations impose costs. The incumbents who write them are tempted to make it harder for challengers to raise money. Scholars also have found that reducing campaign spending leads to fewer and less-informed voters.

In addition, those engaged in politics seek to legally evade regulations. So reformers constantly demand new regulations to close "loopholes," producing a complex body of law. Legal advice becomes vital for electoral engagement, discouraging participation — a perverse result for rules purporting to advance democracy.'

The Ongoing War On Computing; Legacy Players Trying To Control The Uncontrollable | Techdirt

2012-01-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Ongoing War On Computing; Legacy Players Trying To Control The Uncontrollable | Techdirt: 'If I turned up and said "well, everyone knows that wheels are good and right, but have you noticed that every single bank robber has four wheels on his car when he drives away from the bank robbery? Can't we do something about this?", the answer would of course be "no". Because we don't know how to make a wheel that is still generally useful for legitimate wheel applications but useless to bad guys. And we can all see that the general benefits of wheels are so profound that we'd be foolish to risk them in a foolish errand to stop bank robberies by changing wheels. Even if there were an /epidemic/ of bank robberies, even if society were on the verge of collapse thanks to bank robberies, no-one would think that wheels were the right place to start solving our problems.
[[762.0]] But. If I were to show up in that same body to say that I had absolute proof that hands-free phones were making cars dangerous, and I said, "I would like you to pass a law that says it's illegal to put a hands-free phone in a car", the regulator might say "Yeah, I'd take your point, we'd do that". And we might disagree about whether or not this is a good idea, or whether or not my evidence made sense, but very few of us would say "well, once you take the hands-free phones out of the car, they stop being cars". We understand that we can keep cars cars even if we remove features from them. Cars are special purpose, at least in comparison to wheels, and all that the addition of a hands-free phone does is add one more feature to an already-specialized technology. In fact, there's that heuristic that we can apply here -- special-purpose technologies are complex. And you can remove features from them without doing fundamental disfiguring violence to their underlying utility.
[[816.5]] This rule of thumb serves regulators well, by and large, but it is rendered null and void by the general-purpose computer and the general-purpose network -- the PC and the Internet. Because if you think of computer software as a feature, that is a computer with spreadsheets running on it has a spreadsheet feature, and one that's running World of Warcraft has an MMORPG feature, then this heuristic leads you to think that you could reasonably say, "make me a computer that doesn't run spreadsheets", and that it would be no more of an attack on computing than "make me a car without a hands-free phone" is an attack on cars. And if you think of protocols and sites as features of the network, then saying "fix the Internet so that it doesn't run BitTorrent", or "fix the Internet so that thepiratebay.org no longer resolves", then it sounds a lot like "change the sound of busy signals", or "take that pizzeria on the corner off the phone network", and not like an attack on the fundamental principles of internetworking.

The end result, then, is that any attempt to pass these kinds of laws really results not in building a task-specific computing system or application, but in deliberately crippling a general purpose machine -- and that's kind of crazy for all sorts of reasons.'

'In fact, the proponents of SOPA, the Motion Picture Association of America, circulated a memo, citing research that SOPA would probably work, because it uses the same measures as are used in Syria, China, and Uzbekistan, and they argued that these measures are effective in those countries, and so they would work in America, too!'

'But just as we saw with the copyright wars, banning certain instructions, or protocols, or messages, will be wholly ineffective as a means of prevention and remedy; and as we saw in the copyright wars, all attempts at controlling PCs will converge on rootkits; all attempts at controlling the Internet will converge on surveillance and censorship, which is why all this stuff matters.'

Barack Obama, Ron Paul Lead in Campaign Cash From Military Donors - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets

2012-01-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama, Ron Paul Lead in Campaign Cash From Military Donors - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets: 'On the Republican side of the aisle, Paul has collected the most contributions from active military members and DoD employees. Paul, who stresses a non-interventionist approach on the campaign trail, has received about $32,100 from these sources, according to the Center's research -- nearly as much as Obama.

Paul's haul is nearly eight times larger than that of his GOP rival Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, who has said that he favors bringing troops home from Afghanistan "as soon as the generals think it's okay."'

People say that Ron Paul is weak on defense but why do the military support him so much? They must agree with him!

Expert: WI’s budget repair begets flat property taxes

2012-01-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

Expert: WI’s budget repair begets flat property taxes: 'The WTA, a nonpartisan organization that studies tax issues, attributes the “nearly flat” trend to the budget changes pushed through by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature, which cut aid to local governments and set stricter limits on property tax increases.'

'“What we’re seeing this year with all the limits ratcheted down, we’re probably going to see the lowest increase in property taxes really in a long, long time,” said Dale Knapp, the WTA’s research director.'

In Africa, using ants and termites to increase crop yields - CSMonitor.com

2012-01-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

In Africa, using ants and termites to increase crop yields - CSMonitor.com: 'The findings show that termites and ants improve soil fertility in drylands by digging tunnels that allow plants greater access to water.

The research also found that termites provide plants additional nutrients because they increase the amount of nitrogen contained in soil. This is done through nitrogen-heavy bacteria in their stomachs, which allows them to transmit nitrogen into soil through their saliva and feces.

Land that was treated with ants and termites showed a 36 percent increase in the amount of wheat produced.'

Ten Illusions Shattered in 2011 | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

Ten Illusions Shattered in 2011 | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan destroyed any remaining illusion that Afghanistan is necessary for al-Qaeda. Now come reports that the organization in Pakistan has been largely destroyed and elements are moving to Africa—without an American or NATO occupation of Pakistan.'

'Until last year, Libya was highlighted as a great success story. Dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi traded his nuclear program for acceptance by the West. However, the moment he was vulnerable, the West launched a campaign of regime change under cover of humanitarian intervention. The North Koreans gleefully took note of Qaddafi’s foolish decision to negotiate. No other government in America’s gun sites is likely to yield the one sure deterrent to attack.'

'Last year, however, the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea demonstrated that it was more monarchy than communist dictatorship.'

'There was a time when liberal Democrats purported to be advocates of civil liberties and international peace. President Barack Obama cultivated this image when he ran in 2008. Although candidate Obama said little of note on these issues, he let voters extrapolate from his early and prescient opposition to the Iraq war.

However, after taking office Obama largely adopted the policies of the Bush administration. Other than promising to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, he sounded little different than his predecessor. But the prison remains open, and he twice increased troops levels in Afghanistan.

Last year, the president started his own war against Libya, where even his own defense secretary admitted that the United States had no vital interests at stake. Moreover, the conflict was ostentatiously illegal, criticized by administration legal officials. The president also sought to extend America’s military presence in Iraq, putting him at odds with his original opposition to the war. By the end of 2011, it was hard to tell the difference between neoconservatives and liberal hawks.'

'During the Cold War, conservative presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan tended to be practical realists. All took diplomatic steps to resolve confrontations with communist regimes. All were criticized by the Right for choosing peace.

That commitment to prudence has largely disappeared from Republican leadership ranks. This year only Ron Paul, Gary Johnson (who has been excluded from most of the debates) and Jon Huntsman (to a limited degree) resisted the neoconservative perpetual-war consensus. Über-hawks like Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are not recognizable as traditional conservatives.'

How the Mideast Was Lost | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-05T05:12:00.000-08:00

How the Mideast Was Lost | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Not surprisingly, the United States has taken a far more pro-active stance against dictatorial regimes that were hostile to Washington than those considered friends—however corrupt and authoritarian those friends might be. American condemnation of the dictator of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was noticeably milder than the denunciations of Gaddafi, Assad, and the clerical regime in Iran. And Washington’s criticism of the Saudi-backed monarchy in Bahrain barely reached the level of perfunctory.'

'How Muslim populations react to Washington’s double standard, though, is another matter. De facto U.S. support of Saleh, for example, did not save his regime—he has conceded to step down in February. And the Obama administration’s conveniently selective stance regarding democracy and human rights in Muslim countries certainly has done nothing to refurbish America’s tattered image with aggrieved populations.'

'Given its record, the United States has little credibility with Muslim populations as a champion of freedom and democracy.'

The Genius of "One Percenters" Is Their Amazing Command of the Obvious | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

The Genius of "One Percenters" Is Their Amazing Command of the Obvious | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The U.S. Post Office doesn't seem to deliver routine mail any faster than it did one or two hundred years ago, yet postal rates keep going up. Why, then, did it take so long for someone — Mississippi-born college student Fred Smith — to do the obvious thing and start pursuing the idea of a nation-wide overnight delivery service in the form of FedEx? He too became a billionaire.'

Santorum's Big-Government Conservatism | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

Santorum's Big-Government Conservatism | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'When Hillary Clinton was justly excoriated by conservatives for her book It Takes A Village, which advocated greater government involvement in our lives, Rick Santorum countered with his book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, which advocated greater government involvement in our lives. Among the many government programs he supported: national service, publicly financed trust funds for children, community-investment incentives, and economic-literacy programs in “every school in America” (italics in original).

Santorum’s voting record shows that he embraced George Bush–style “big-government conservatism.” For example, he supported the Medicare prescription-drug benefit and No Child Left Behind.

He never met an earmark that he didn’t like. In fact, it wasn’t just earmarks for his own state that he favored, which might be forgiven as pure electoral pragmatism, but earmarks for everyone, including the notorious “Bridge to Nowhere.” The quintessential Washington insider, he worked closely with Tom DeLay to set up the “K Street Project,” linking lobbyists with the GOP leadership.

He voted against NAFTA and has long opposed free trade. He backed higher tariffs on everything from steel to honey. He still supports an industrial policy with the government tilting the playing field toward manufacturing industries and picking winners and losers.'

'True liberty, he writes, is not “the freedom to be left alone,” but “the freedom to attend to one’s duties to God, to family, and to neighbors.” And he seems fully prepared to use the power of government to support his interpretation of those duties.'

Will Republicans Hand the Left a VAT Victory? | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

Will Republicans Hand the Left a VAT Victory? | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The most important thing to realize is that many people in Washington want bigger government, and a VAT is a necessary condition for that to happen. Simply stated, there is no way to turn America into a European-style welfare state without this new source of revenue.'

Attack Iran? Ask Congress to Declare War | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-04T10:38:00.001-08:00

Attack Iran? Ask Congress to Declare War | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Declarations of war have gone out of fashion. The last one was 70 years ago, in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, less formal authorizations of force are common. While not quite the same, Congress still voted on war with Iraq. And President George W. Bush did not deny that he was fighting a war. In contrast, President Obama channeled George Orwell in claiming the absence of hostilities in Libya as U.S. drones, missiles, and planes destroyed military materiel and killed military personnel.'

'the Founders gave Congress several important war-making powers, including raising an army, approving military expenditures, ratifying treaties, setting rules of war, and issuing letters of marquee. Moreover, the legislative branch was to decide whether there would be a war for the president to fight.'

GOP Candidates Betray the Spirit of Reagan on Immigration | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

GOP Candidates Betray the Spirit of Reagan on Immigration | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'If legal immigration were expanded, the kind of workers now sneaking across the border illegally would instead enter legally through established ports of entry. We know from the Bracero program in the 1950s that an increase in guest-worker visas led to a sharp drop in illegal traffic across the border. With far fewer workers entering illegally, the Border Patrol and local law-enforcement officers could concentrate their resources on apprehending real criminals.'

'In April 1980, when Ronald Reagan was competing in the presidential primaries, he rejected the building of a wall between the United States and Mexico: "Rather than talking about putting up a fence, why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems? Make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit — and then while they're working and earning here, they pay taxes here. And when they want to go back, they can go back. And open the border both ways by understanding their problems."'

Purveyors of Financial Destruction | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

Purveyors of Financial Destruction | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'How is it that since 2008, a self-proclaimed communist country [China] raises more capital and has more new firms going public than the great bastion of free-market capitalism, the United States? Answer: Members of Congress have been killing the U.S. financial markets because of hubris, incompetence and a lust for power and money.

On Dec. 21, 2008, a Wall Street Journal editorial correctly stated after the U.S. lost the lead in initial public offerings (IPOs) for the first time: “For all of this, we can thank Sarbanes-Oxley [accounting reform act, passed in 2002]. Cooked up in the wake of accounting scandals earlier this decade, it has essentially killed the creation of new public companies in America.”'

'Thanks largely to the tireless efforts of a former general counsel of the Treasury, Peter Wallison, and his American Enterprise Institute colleague Edward Pinto, we now know “the financial crisis would not have occurred but for government housing policy implemented principally through Fannie and Freddie and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).” The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that Mr. Wallison and Mr. Pinto correctly exposed the wrongdoing of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), including Fannie and Freddie. The SEC has documented $1.03 trillion in previously undisclosed subprime and alternative-documentation loans in Fannie’s and Freddie’s credit guaranty portfolios, and it goes on and on.

The bottom line of all of this is that it was members of Congress who were responsible for the financial crisis because of bills they passed and their lack of oversight of the GSEs. Rather than admit their own complicity, Congress, the president and much of the Washington establishment blamed it on greedy bankers.'

'A prime example of how worthless the new regulations are is Jon Corzine, former Democratic senator and governor of New Jersey, who was a major supporter of the new legislation. His firm, MF Global, somehow lost $1.2 billion of its customers’ money because it apparently commingled client funds with the firm’s money. This is exactly one of the acts the Dodd-Frank Act was supposed to prevent. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has stated that Mr. Corzine was the person to whom he and President Obama first turned for economic and financial advice.'

'The United States is in the process of driving hundreds of billions of dollars, if not a trillion or more of needed foreign investment that creates jobs and fuels new technologies, out of the country because of the new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The law would hit with draconian fines foreign financial institutions that might have a U.S. citizen among their clients if they fail to identify that person as such. In an era when dual citizenships are common, it is practically impossible for any financial institution to know with absolute certainty the tax homes of all of its clients. The fines for noncompliance are so massive that many foreign financial institutions say they will no longer invest in the United States. You might ask, what kind of idiot would put perhaps a trillion dollars or more of investment at risk for an illusionary gain of $8 billion in tax revenue?'

Bernanke (in 2005): There's No Housing Bubble to Go Bust

2012-01-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

Bernanke (in 2005): There's No Housing Bubble to Go Bust: 'Ben S. Bernanke does not think the national housing boom is a bubble that is about to burst, he indicated to Congress last week, just a few days before President Bush nominated him to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

U.S. house prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years, noted Bernanke, currently chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, in testimony to Congress's Joint Economic Committee. But these increases, he said, "largely reflect strong economic fundamentals," such as strong growth in jobs, incomes and the number of new households.'

'Greenspan has said recently that he sees no national bubble in home prices, but rather "froth" in some local markets. Prices may fall in some areas, he indicated. And he warned in a speech last month that some borrowers and lenders may suffer "significant losses" if cooling house prices make it difficult to repay new types of riskier home loans -- such as interest-only adjustable-rate mortgages.'

'[Greenspan] and Bernanke have both said it is unrealistic to expect the Fed to identify a bubble in stock or real estate prices as it is inflating, or to be able to pop it without hurting the economy. Instead, the Fed should stand ready to mop up the economic aftermath of a bubble.'

'In late 2000, looking ahead to the possibility of a sharp fall in then-lofty stock prices, Bernanke concluded, "history proves . . . that a smart central bank can protect the economy and the financial sector from the nastier side effects of a stock market collapse."'

Why Ron Paul Matters | Edward H. Crane | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

Why Ron Paul Matters | Edward H. Crane | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The Bush and Obama administrations have claimed the right to incarcerate an American citizen on American soil, without charge, without access to an attorney, for an indefinite period.

President Obama even claims the right to kill American citizens on foreign soil, without due process of law, for suspected terrorist activities.'

Irresponsible Foreign Policy: The Republican Establishment, Not Ron Paul | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

2012-01-03T05:19:00.000-08:00

Irresponsible Foreign Policy: The Republican Establishment, Not Ron Paul | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Rick Santorum warned: as commander-in-chief Ron Paul "can shut down our bases in Germany. He can shut down the bases in Japan. He can pull our fleets back."

Why would this be bad? The European nations have a larger GDP and population than America. The U.S. faces fiscal crisis: after 66 years, it is time for the Europeans to defend themselves. Japan, long possessing the world's second largest economy, also could take care of itself.'

'Gingrich apocalyptically claimed that the U.S. "would never, ever be safe" with the current regime in Tehran. Yet America survived decades of Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China, and Kim Il-sung's and Kim Jong-il's North Korea. Deterrence worked. America's military power remains overwhelming; any attack on the U.S. would lead to Tehran's destruction. And no Republican has offered evidence that Iran's rulers are suicidal.'

'Paul's willingness to rethink U.S. foreign policy means he is the only candidate to propose a realistic military budget, one that supports the "common defense" of America, not the rest of the world. The other GOP candidates decry nonexistent spending cuts. Military outlays under President Obama are higher than under President Bush. Only in Washington is slowing the rate of increased called a "cut."

In real terms U.S. military outlays have doubled over the last decade. America today spends more in real terms than it did during the Cold War, Korean War, or Vietnam War. Washington accounts for roughly half the globe's military outlays, while allied with every major industrialized state other than China and Russia. America's closest competitor is China, yet Washington alone spends several times as much on the military as Beijing, and many U.S. friends in Asia are arming against China.'

What Does Being American Mean Now? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

What Does Being American Mean Now? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'And, despite George Washington's warning, this legislation also would "deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the (U.S.) nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention." This is America?'

'The Patriot Act itself passed the Senate 98-1. The only dissenter was Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who, on Oct. 11, 2001, on the floor of the Senate, said:

"There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country where the police were allowed to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country where the government was entitled to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your email communications ... the government would probably discover and arrest more terrorists or would-be terrorists, just as it would find more lawbreakers generally"'

'In the present Congress, Rep. Paul is not the only defender of what we used to tell other countries were our fundamental value'

Obama Officials Say We Don't Trust the Government Enough. Why Would We? | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-30T16:02:00.000-08:00

Obama Officials Say We Don't Trust the Government Enough. Why Would We? | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'No doubt we all make mistakes in our lives. But in the last few years, we’ve seen the government invade a country that turned out not to have weapons of mass destruction, ran up $15 trillion in debt, all but bankrupted Medicare and Social Security and nudged us toward a housing bubble that nearly brought down the economy. Should we really trust a government that thought shipping guns to Mexican drug lords and giving $535 million to a money-losing solar panel company were good ideas?'

Does Constitution Allow Supremes to Hide from Us? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-30T15:09:00.000-08:00

Does Constitution Allow Supremes to Hide from Us? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'If I were teaching a high-school civics class, I don't know how I would explain to the students that they, like the rest of us ordinary citizens, are banned by the court from seeing and hearing how these top interpreters of our rule of law decide cases, thereby preventing us from learning who they are and how they think.'

The Debacle of Margarine's Utility - Morgan A. Brown - Mises Daily

2011-12-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

The Debacle of Margarine's Utility - Morgan A. Brown - Mises Daily: 'It is hard to believe that there ever was a time when uttering "I can't believe it's not butter" would have provided ample warrant to arraign a hapless margarine producer for crimes against the state.'

'Peonage laws were in effect in states like Mississippi, but had other protective measures not been in place — i.e., the federal protection of butter's sacred yellow coloring — southern blacks would have made longer strides for economic success through vertical integration despite the oppressive commercial restrictions of Jim Crow.'

'The Federal and State antimargarine laws increase the cost of margarine, a food product as good and nutritious as butter. In many instances, due to these discriminatory laws, families cannot buy margarine. As we have stated, when it is purchased, the discriminatory laws force them to spend extra time in the kitchen, mixing color into margarine and wasting margarine in the process.
On behalf of the 14,300,000 colored consumers in this country, we plead with you to do away with all punitive Federal laws aimed at margarine.
The proposed color ban against margarine is as unfair and unjust as discriminatory race and class laws.

Who's to Blame for Washington Gridlock | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

Who's to Blame for Washington Gridlock | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'This shows that the current debate is not really over the payroll tax; it is over the size and scope of government. That is an important topic, but it is not one that will get resolved now. Both sides have too much to lose if they make concessions on policy issues that can be used against them in the upcoming elections.'

'It is tempting to blame this outcome on the "extreme" or misguided views of one party or the other (take your pick, depending on your own views). But that is too simple.

The key problem is that, in one crucial respect, all politicians are alike: They want to get re-elected. In attempting to do so, however, they face different constraints depending on the district they represent. Republicans, especially the more conservative ones, are from states or districts with conservative voters. Democrats the reverse.

Thus even if behind closed doors every member of Congress held the same views on good versus bad policies, gridlock is still likely. Given the current distribution of voter preferences in the United States, roughly half the elected politicians are going to support conservative positions and half the opposite on most issues. Democracy may be the least bad form of government, but it is far from perfect.

This stand-off will only change if voters convince politicians that, on average, their views have evolved in the direction of either bigger or smaller government. This is what the November 2012 elections may reveal. Until then, politics rather than economic common sense will dominate the policy debate.'

King Newt Takes on the Judges | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

King Newt Takes on the Judges | Roger Pilon | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'He claims, for example, that since the New Deal, the judiciary's power has "increased exponentially" at the expense of the political branches. Yet Franklin Roosevelt accomplished exactly what Gingrich is calling for: His infamous 1937 threat to "pack" the Supreme Court with additional justices intimidated it into discovering new congressional powers and approving New Deal legislation.'

Voters Like Paul's Honesty | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-29T07:20:00.000-08:00

Voters Like Paul's Honesty | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'At a time when our country is drowning in debt, the other GOP candidates seem unwilling to venture much beyond the idea of cutting “fraud, waste, and abuse.” Paul, on the other hand, has a specific plan to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget next year, including abolishing five cabinet agencies. That may or may not be practical, but it speaks to those seeking a smaller, less costly, less intrusive government, in a way that other candidates, with their 59-point plans for carefully trimming this agency or that, do not.'

Some Additional Reflections on the Economic Crisis and the Theory of the Cycle - Jesus Huerta de Soto - Mises Daily

2011-12-29T07:13:00.000-08:00

Some Additional Reflections on the Economic Crisis and the Theory of the Cycle - Jesus Huerta de Soto - Mises Daily: 'the best way to preserve the environment is to extend entrepreneurial creativity and the principles of the free market to all natural resources, which requires their complete privatization and the efficient definition and defense of the property rights that pertain to them. In the absence of these rights, economic calculation becomes impossible, the appropriate allocation of resources to the most highly valued uses is prevented, and all sorts of irresponsible behaviors are encouraged, as is the unjustified consumption and destruction of many natural resources.'

'the credit expansion that central banks orchestrate and cyclically inject into the economic process through the private banking system' ... 'ends up placing an unwarranted strain on the real economy by making many unprofitable projects appear profitable (Huerta de Soto 2009). The result is unnecessary pressure on the entire natural environment: trees that should not be cut down are cut down; the atmosphere is polluted; rivers are contaminated; mountains are drilled; cement is produced; and minerals, gas, oil, etc., are extracted in an attempt to complete overly ambitious projects that in reality consumers are not willing to demand, etc.'

RAHN: Government spending jobs myth - Washington Times

2011-12-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

RAHN: Government spending jobs myth - Washington Times: 'As can be seen in the accompanying chart, there is an inverse relationship between increasing the size of government and job creation.'

'there is an enormous tax extraction cost for the government to obtain each additional dollar. Estimates of this extraction cost typically run from $1.40 to well over $2.50 of lost output for each dollar the government obtains.'

'If additional government spending could create more jobs, it would be expected that over the long run, the socialist or semisocialist economies would have full employment and the smaller-government, developed economies would have higher unemployment. Again, the empirical evidence shows just the opposite.'

Do We Need Big Government? | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

Do We Need Big Government? | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Government payouts now account for more than a third of all wages and salaries in the United States. Worse, if one includes government employees’ salaries, more than half of Americans receive a substantial portion of their income from the government.'

'People talk about America’s free-market health-care system, but government pays for more than half of all health-care spending in this country.

Federal-government spending now consumes roughly a quarter of all the goods and services produced in this country over the course of a year. Throw in state- and local-government spending, and it’s more than a third. And, according the Congressional Budget Office, unless there is a drastic change in our current policies, we are on course for government to consume nearly 60 percent of GDP by mid-century.'

'The Federal Register now stands at an all time high of 81,405 pages. Nearly every product you buy and everything you do is regulated by the federal government in some way.'

This Is No Middle Class Tax Cut | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

This Is No Middle Class Tax Cut | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Calling this perennial payroll tax holiday a “middle class tax cut” is an outright hoax.

Former Census Bureau economists at Sentier Research, John Coder and Gordon Green, estimate that more than half of this year’s payroll tax cuts went to the most affluent 20%, while only 15% went to those with incomes below the median.'

No Free Lunch in Subsidy Programs | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

No Free Lunch in Subsidy Programs | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'any stimulus from UI benefits will be counteracted by the anti-stimulus of the higher taxes needed to pay for them. Many states have been raising their UI taxes on businesses in order to replenish their unemployment funds, and these tax increases are surely harming job creation.

Another negative effect of UI benefits is that they increase unemployment because they reduce the incentive for people to find work. Higher UI benefits delay the need for people to make tough choices about their careers, such as switching industries, taking lower pay, or moving to a different city. It's a basic rule that when the government subsidizes something, we get more of it.'

'Larry Summers, a former top economist to Presidents Clinton and Obama, concluded in his academic work that unemployment benefits contribute to long-term unemployment.

Our UI system causes other problems. It suppresses personal savings because people expect the government to care for them when they are unemployed. That is harmful because personal savings are a key source of economic growth—savings get channeled into capital investment, which ultimately raises productivity and wages.

Another problem is the waste and fraud in the current UI system stemming from people getting benefits that they are not entitled to. The Department of Labor estimated that improper UI payments totaled $17 billion in 2010. As UI benefits expand, the waste grows.'

Here is another idea: Decrease UI amount by 1% each week. It would avoid the hard cliff of completely losing benefits while gradually increasing the incentive to find a job. After 1 year, the compound effect would be a 41% decrease.

Obama and Teddy Roosevelt: Both Progressives, Both Clueless about the Economy | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

Obama and Teddy Roosevelt: Both Progressives, Both Clueless about the Economy | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Since the rise of industrial capitalism, however, the greatest fortunes generally have been made by serving millions of ordinary people.'

'TR confused the size of businesses with the size of markets. Many businesses were big, but markets were bigger, they were growing faster, and even the biggest businesses were losing market share.

Far from being monopolistic, the American economy of TR's time was intensely competitive.'

How Bad Economies Recover Fast When Governments Get out of the Way | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

2011-12-27T08:31:00.000-08:00

How Bad Economies Recover Fast When Governments Get out of the Way | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'A new currency, however, wouldn't buy anything as long as chronic shortages persisted, so Erhard announced that price controls and rationing regulations would be abolished. Price controls simultaneously (1) discourage suppliers from providing more goods and (2) encourage consumers to line up for whatever might be available, which is why such controls cause shortages. U.S. commander Gen. Lucius Clay reportedly warned Erhard, "My advisers tell me you're making a terrible mistake." Erhard said, "Don't listen to them, General. My advisers tell me the same thing."

Within hours after Erhard's announcement, goods that had been reserved for black market deals began to reappear on long-empty store shelves. During the 1950s, West Germany's industrial production soared 225 percent. West Germany became a leading exporter. Overall, West Germany turned in the best economic performance of any developed country during this period. West Germany charged through the 1970s without the stagflation that afflicted the United States and other countries.

Although it's well-known that a devastated economy like Germany's could grow at above-average rates, the fact is nobody predicted the German economic miracle.'

In Third White House Bid, Paul's Message The Same | Fox News

2011-12-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

In Third White House Bid, Paul's Message The Same | Fox News: His pledge to "never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution" earned him a nickname: Dr. No.

He refused to vote for any tax increase or any budget that was not balanced, and eschewed most "pork barrel" projects for his district. He even voted against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Mother Teresa, Nancy and Ronald Reagan, and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — though he suggested his colleagues "each put in 100 bucks" to pay for the $30,000 cost of a medal for Parks.

He has refused to enroll in the House pension program, saying it would be "hypocritical and immoral" to accept a benefit unavailable to the taxpayers who fund it. He also discouraged his five children — including the future Kentucky U.S. senator and tea party darling Rand Paul — from applying for government-backed student loans.

Police Aim To Crack Down On Violent New Trend, 'Knock Out' | Fox News

2011-12-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

Police Aim To Crack Down On Violent New Trend, 'Knock Out' | Fox News: 'It isn't clear how long Knockout King has been around, nor is the exact number of attacks known. The FBI doesn't track it separately, but Slay said he has heard from several mayors about similar attacks and criminologists agree versions of the game are going on in many places.

St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom said the city has had about 10 Knockout King attacks over the past 15 months.'

Wis. Gov. Has Hard Time Living Up To Jobs Pledge | Fox News

2011-12-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

Wis. Gov. Has Hard Time Living Up To Jobs Pledge | Fox News: 'A recent report by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance backed up complaints about the national economy dragging down job creation in the state. The report found job growth and unemployment in Wisconsin has been closely tied with the national economy both during recessions like the one that began in 2008, and economic booms like when Thompson was governor in the 1990s.

State officials can change attitudes about the economy, but because it is so closely tied to national and global forces, there's little they can do to affect the actual direction of the economy, said Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry.'