USPS: The Cursed Carriers - Brian Anderson - Mises Daily

USPS: The Cursed Carriers - Brian Anderson - Mises Daily: 'The 12 cent stamps sold by the USPS were no match for Spooner's 3 cent stamps, so the US government, in order to oppose the inevitable, officially declared that all city streets were to be deemed post roads, available only to the USPS in letter delivery.'

'While labor costs represent only 32 percent and 53 percent of expenses for FedEx and United Parcel Service, respectively, they represent an astounding 80 percent for the USPS.'

Fed Low Interest Rate Policy Distorts the Economy | James A. Dorn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Fed Low Interest Rate Policy Distorts the Economy | James A. Dorn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Can anyone seriously believe that the runup in bond prices can continue indefinitely, or that the Fed's low interest-rate policy hasn't helped push up other asset prices, including gold and stocks?

Manipulating interest rates via central bank policy distorts the structure of asset prices and penalizes savers. Low nominal interest rates, even at low rates of inflation, can mean negative real rates. Pension plans are also harmed as promised benefits cannot be fulfilled.'

'Monetizing government debt and pegging interest rates are experiments in market socialism, not capitalism. The longer the Fed fails to let market forces determine rates, the more difficult the eventual adjustment will become.'

' the chief architect of the Constitution, James Madison, held that:

"It is sufficiently obvious that persons and property (not aggregate demand management) are the two great subjects on which governments are to act; and that the rights of persons and the rights of property are the objects for the protection of which Government was instituted."'

Taxpayers Shouldn't Have to Pay for Underwater Mortgages | Mark A. Calabria | Cato Institute: Commentary

Taxpayers Shouldn't Have to Pay for Underwater Mortgages | Mark A. Calabria | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'In effect, it would punish potential borrowers by reducing the availability of credit while also increasing its costs, simply to benefit existing borrowers.'

Meet the Parents of the Super PACs | Edward H. Crane and David Keating | Cato Institute: Commentary

Meet the Parents of the Super PACs | Edward H. Crane and David Keating | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Americans spend as much on potato chips as they do on all federal elections ($3.6 billion in 2010)'

Texans On Wrong Side Of Border Fence Grow Anxious | Fox News

Texans On Wrong Side Of Border Fence Grow Anxious | Fox News: 'In this lush area, the Rio Grande's wide floodplain precluded building the fence right on the border so it was set back more than a mile in places, running behind the levees. The result is a no-man's-land of hundreds of properties, and the people who work on them, on the wrong side of the divide.'

'Some landowners also worry they'll become kidnapping targets for smugglers seeking passage through the 18-foot-tall metal fence.'

On the Right Side of the Bullet | Clayton E. Cramer | Cato Institute: Commentary

On the Right Side of the Bullet | Clayton E. Cramer | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'How often do [defensive gun] incidents happen? While the results from studies vary, the numbers are large. The National Crime Victimization Survey, for various procedural reasons, is at the low end, showing 108,000 such cases a year (although this was some years back, when crime rates were higher than now). The widely reported Kleck/Gertz study, which has its own set of problems, showed a range of 830,000 to 2.45 million defensive gun uses per year. Other studies have fallen solidly in the middle, with hundreds of thousands of defensive gun uses per year.'

'Over a period of more than seven years, we compiled almost 5,000 such accounts. Most ended happily, with a burglar, carjacker or robber held for police. Some ended in bloodshed, as in the case of Sarah McKinley. Very few ended with the victim injured or killed.'

'Do law-abiding adults responsibly use guns in self-defense? The evidence we have amassed says yes, and frequently.'

The Pagan View - Henry Grady Weaver - Mises Daily

The Pagan View - Henry Grady Weaver - Mises Daily: 'From the pagan viewpoint, man is not self-controlling, not responsible for his own acts. The pagan universe is timeless, changeless, static. There is no such thing as progress. Any apparent change is merely a human illusion. Man is passive. His place is fixed. He has no freedom of will. His fate is decreed. If he tries to resist, his efforts will be futile.'

'most of the major ills of the world have been caused by well-meaning people who ignored the principle of individual freedom, except as applied to themselves, and who were obsessed with fanatical zeal to improve the lot of mankind-in-the-mass through some pet formula of their own. "It is at this point," she says, "that the humanitarian sets up the guillotine."'

Why Does President Obama Dislike Freedom of Conscience? | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Does President Obama Dislike Freedom of Conscience? | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Insurance is supposed to counter the risk of unlikely but potentially catastrophic events, such as having an accident or contracting cancer. Using birth control, a voluntary, routine and inexpensive decision, obviously is not such an occurrence. “Insuring” against something over which one has full control makes no sense.'

'Imagine if auto “insurance” covered routine maintenance and even gasoline fill-ups. Yet this perversion of “health insurance” already is far advanced, and has contributed to the dramatic rise in health care costs in recent years.'

'But what makes contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients more important than life-saving treatment for cancer and other deadly diseases, which receive less complete coverage? And contraception still will not be free, since women will be paying increased premiums—for something a number of them would not freely choose.'

'As government takes over ever more private responsibilities, it imposes the beliefs of those who have seized control of the state. In practice today that usually means a secularist and paternalist orientation.'

Will Currency Devaluation Fix the Eurozone? - Frank Shostak - Mises Daily

Will Currency Devaluation Fix the Eurozone? - Frank Shostak - Mises Daily: 'The so-called improved competitiveness resulting from currency depreciation in fact amounts to economic impoverishment. The "improved competitiveness" means that the citizens of a country are now getting fewer real imports for a given amount of real exports. While the country is getting rich in terms of foreign currency, it is getting poor in terms of real wealth — i.e., in terms of the goods and services required for maintaining people's lives and well-being.'

The Real Trouble with the Birth-Control Mandate | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Real Trouble with the Birth-Control Mandate | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The pre-existing conditions crisis is largely a creature of tax law. You don’t lose your car insurance when you change jobs.'