Supreme Court Super-majorities

With so many supreme court decisions being decided on a 5-4 basis, maybe such important changes shouldn't be so easy. Maybe the supreme court would have less contraversial decisions if a super-majority was required (i.e. at least 6-3). That would also reduce the impact that one president can have over the supreme court.

Senator Russ Feingold: The Control Spending Now Act

Senator Russ Feingold: The Control Spending Now Act: "For years, oil and gas companies have gotten huge taxpayer-funded giveaways in the form of subsidies to pay for their administrative costs, such as processing permits. There is no reason the taxpayers should be footing the bill for these companie"

Financial Lessons from 1946 | Jason E. Taylor | Cato Institute: Commentary

Financial Lessons from 1946 | Jason E. Taylor | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Keynesian economists of the day ([1946]) argued forcefully that if the government disbanded the army and stopped producing armaments, unemployment would rise back to Depression-era levels. Despite these protests, the government sent most soldiers home, canceled war contracts and removed wartime economic controls. Forecasts of economic Armageddon followed. In September 1945 forecasters predicted that the U.S. unemployment rate would rise to anywhere between 12% and 35%.

Despite these warnings government spending fell from $84 billion in 1945 to under $30 billion by 1946, and by 1947 the U.S. was running a budget surplus of close to 6% of GDP to pay off the debt it had accrued during the war. It was the 'Great De-stimulus' — the largest and fastest turnaround from deficit to surplus in history. And here's the kicker: Despite widespread predictions to the contrary, unemployment remained under 4.5% between 1945 and 1948.

How did this happen? Labor markets adjusted quickly and efficiently once they were finally unfettered. Most economists today acknowledge that constant intervention during the 1930s, particularly on wages, extended the length and depth of the Great Depression."

"the data show that despite the huge withdrawal of government stimulus from the economy, civilian employment grew by over 4 million between 1945 and 1947 at a time when Keynesian models forecast that it would drop like a stone.

The irony is that just three short years ago, Keynesian fiscal policy was considered an intellectual dead end. History (via a substantial body of empirical research) has shown that fiscal stimuli are a largely ineffective tonic for an ailing economy."

FOXBusiness.com - Shouting the Best Kept Secrets in D.C.

FOXBusiness.com - Shouting the Best Kept Secrets in D.C.: "$100 billion is wasted on improper payments each year. That's $100 billion of your money in 2009."

Russ Feingold: In the News - Press Releases

Russ Feingold: In the News - Press Releases: "The Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act would enable any president to single out earmarks or other non-entitlement spending in legislation that arrives on his desk for signature.� The president could then send these specific items back to Congress for expedited votes on whether to cancel or reduce funding for the provision."

"Respect and preserve Congress’ constitutional responsibilities by requiring that both the House and Senate pass a rescission request before it can become law. If either the House or Senate votes against a rescission by a simple majority, it is not enacted."

Sound like it might work well.

Authority, Responsibility and Accountability | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Authority, Responsibility and Accountability | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "BP stockholders are being severely punished because of the failure of BP's management to prevent this crisis — and you can bet many heads will roll at BP. Yet how many heads will roll in the U.S. government, which had the responsibility to make sure BP operated safely and that the beaches and marshes were protected? Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal had been asking the federal government for permission to build barrier sandbars to protect the marshes, but the Obama administration dithered for weeks in making a decision, and now the oil is in the marshes.

Those who want more government ignore the fact that the U.S. government, on a daily basis, seems unable to do the simplest tasks. For instance, how often have you had to wait in line 40 minutes to buy something at Wal-Mart or McDonald's? The answer is probably never, because you can choose to go somewhere else, and companies like Wal-Mart are acutely aware of this, so they work hard to minimize waiting times by developing elaborate statistical programs to determine how many employees they are likely to need to service the customers in a reasonably short time. They manage to do this even though they never know exactly how many customers they will have at a given time.

Now, contrast this with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These two agencies know precisely the number of passengers who will be showing up, and when. Their task is simple compared to that of almost all retailers, but they cannot seem to manage it — because no one is held accountable for the failure to treat airline passengers in a civil manner and respect the fact that their time is valuable."

Defending the Speculator - Walter Block - Mises Daily

Defending the Speculator - Walter Block - Mises Daily: "the speculator lessens the effects of famine by storing food in times of plenty, through a motive of personal profit. He buys and stores food against the day when it might be scarce, enabling him to sell at a higher price. The consequences of his activity are far-reaching. They act as a signal to other people in the society, who are encouraged by the speculator's activity to do likewise. Consumers are encouraged to eat less and save more, importers to import more, farmers to improve their crop yields, builders to erect more storage facilities, and merchants to store more food. Thus, fulfilling the doctrine of the 'invisible hand,' the speculator, by his profit-seeking activity, causes more food to be stored during years of plenty than otherwise would have been the case, thereby lessening the effects of the lean years to come."

"Contrast this with the activity of governmental agencies when they assume the speculator's task of stabilizing the food market. They too try to steer a fine line between storing up too little food and storing up too much. But if they are in error, there is no weeding-out process. The salary of a government employee does not rise and fall with the success of his speculative ventures. Since it is not his own money that will be gained or lost, the care with which bureaucrats can be expected to attend to their speculations leaves much to be desired. There is no automatic, ongoing daily improvement in the accuracy of bureaucrats, as there is for private speculators."

"Of course, food will be costly during a famine, and the speculator will sell it for more than his original purchase price. But food will not be as costly as it would have been without his activity."

Government Codes vs. Innovation - Aaron Everitt - Mises Daily

Government Codes vs. Innovation - Aaron Everitt - Mises Daily: "Think of the recent mining accident in West Virginia, the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, or the so-called fruit-of-kaboom bomber. The commonality in all cases is that the safety of employees and consumers was in the hands of a preestablished government agency that was supposedly ensuring safety.

When a government agency fails, does it face the threat of bankruptcy or sacrifice as a result of its failure — as would any private agency in charge of such weighty matters? Of course they don't. Instead, they are generally awarded more money and a larger scope of powers to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Another unintended consequence of state codification of safety are the resulting disincentives to innovate. Instead of putting efforts toward the risky endeavor of product innovation, a business is forced to put its effort towards finding a way to meet or overcome the code."

"Corporations, understanding the power of a universal housing code and its governing bodies, have made an effort to get their products and brand included in the code. (Tyvek house wrap, Simpson Strong Ties, and DOW blue board are just a few of the major companies who have their product mentioned by name in the code.) Major changes occur in this code every two-to-three years that require homebuilders to revise their plans, layouts, and product selections in order to meet the code."

Italian Union Too Strong For Its Own Good? � Liveshots

Italian Union Too Strong For Its Own Good? � Liveshots: "But the strike came at a time when car maker Fiat must decide whether to make its profitable Panda city car in Poland or in Pomigliano, outside of Naples. And unions will play a key role in that decision.

Fiat has talked about investing some 700 million euros in the Pomigliano plant to re-fit it for the Panda, but wants assurances from workers to boost productivity and reliability there."

Stop the Federal Spending Spree | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary

Stop the Federal Spending Spree | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Republican lack of credibility on cutting spending can be seen in the House Republican leadership's new YouCut Web site. Each week the Web site lists five possible spending cuts for citizens to vote on. The 'winning' cut proposal then goes to the House floor for a vote.

Engaging citizens in the government's spending crisis is a good idea. The problem: the cuts the Republican leadership has selected thus far are minuscule.

For instance, one item recently proposed for cutting was $1 million in mohair subsidies. In the world of federal agriculture subsidies, this cut represents chump change.

Republicans can't be considered serious about restraining the budget unless they put subsidies for wheat, corn, soybeans, rice and cotton on the chopping block."