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Black Budget in the Red | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Nobody doubts that the FBI and the NSA serve vital functions. And if $75 billion per year is the price of detecting and preventing plots to murder Americans by the thousands, it would be hard to call it money wasted.
Yet the most compelling conservative arguments for skepticism about runaway government growth have never depended on the worthiness of the goals at which government aims. Rather, conservatives have drawn on the insights of public-choice economics, which predicts that rational bureaucratic actors — often in collusion with profit-seeking firms — will more reliably act to maximize their own power and budgets than seek the general welfare."
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Court allows warrantless cell location tracking | Privacy Inc. - CNET News
Court allows warrantless cell location tracking | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: "the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permissible because Americans enjoy no 'reasonable expectation of privacy' in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers have said that 'a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records' that show where a mobile device placed and received calls."
Friday, September 03, 2010
The Ethanol Tax Credit -- It's Worse Than You Think | Jerry Taylor and Harry de Gorter | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Ethanol Tax Credit -- It's Worse Than You Think | Jerry Taylor and Harry de Gorter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently issued a report on how the corn-ethanol tax credit costs $1.78 to reduce one gallon of gasoline consumption and $754 to reduce one ton of greenhouse gases. The Wall Street Journal immediately noted that 'to put that [latter] number in perspective, the budget gnomes estimate that the price for a ton of carbon under the cap-and-tax program that the House passed last summer would be about $26 in 2019'.
While this study is being used by critics of the tax credit — which will cost about $30 billion over the next five years and is up for reauthorization this year — the CBO nonetheless severely underestimates the true costs of the ethanol tax credit in their calculations"
While this study is being used by critics of the tax credit — which will cost about $30 billion over the next five years and is up for reauthorization this year — the CBO nonetheless severely underestimates the true costs of the ethanol tax credit in their calculations"
Cutting Is So Hard to Do - Grant M. N�lle - Mises Daily
Cutting Is So Hard to Do - Grant M. N�lle - Mises Daily: "It is the base of voters with the greatest amount of time, interest, or direct personal and financial stake (unions, pensioners, government employees, government contractors) who wield the greatest amount of voting clout in the political system.
In general, citizens, particularly those voters who tend to actively participate in the political process, want government spending directed toward their favorite programs, but are reluctant to pay for it. Typically they conveniently advocate policies to force someone else — be it 'greedy corporations,' small businesses, the wealthy, or future generations — to pay for what they want."
In general, citizens, particularly those voters who tend to actively participate in the political process, want government spending directed toward their favorite programs, but are reluctant to pay for it. Typically they conveniently advocate policies to force someone else — be it 'greedy corporations,' small businesses, the wealthy, or future generations — to pay for what they want."
The Unemployment President | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Unemployment President | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "FDR's programs that were supposed to help the middle class and the poor were mainly paid for by the middle class and the poor. This was because the biggest single source of federal revenue during the New Deal period were excise taxes on beer, cigarettes, chewing gum, soda and other cheap pleasures enjoyed mainly by the middle class and the poor. To hear one of FDR's famous 'Fireside Chats,' people had to pay an excise tax for a radio and an excise tax on the electricity needed to turn it on."
Feingold says he opposed policies that led to collapse | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin
Feingold says he opposed policies that led to collapse | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin: "he pointed out that he voted against the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program signed into law by President George W. Bush in October 2008."
That is one thing for which I can thank him.
"Feingold asserted that he “didn’t vote for all of the deficit spending that occurred particularly during the Bush years.”" So he voted for some but not all -- that's not very convincing.
"He also highlighted his vote against the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which he called “a huge gift to the pharmaceutical industry.”"
True!
“Huge new tax cuts for the wealthy will cause the (deficit reduction) bus to explode,”
Tax cuts can increase revenues -- that has been proved.
"Feingold also blasted Johnson, his presumed opponent in the general election, for opposing the development of high-speed rail service in Wisconsin."
The costs will reduce jobs more than the few jobs that thr train creates!
That is one thing for which I can thank him.
"Feingold asserted that he “didn’t vote for all of the deficit spending that occurred particularly during the Bush years.”" So he voted for some but not all -- that's not very convincing.
"He also highlighted his vote against the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which he called “a huge gift to the pharmaceutical industry.”"
True!
“Huge new tax cuts for the wealthy will cause the (deficit reduction) bus to explode,”
Tax cuts can increase revenues -- that has been proved.
"Feingold also blasted Johnson, his presumed opponent in the general election, for opposing the development of high-speed rail service in Wisconsin."
The costs will reduce jobs more than the few jobs that thr train creates!
FOXNews.com - Man Who Cut Off Whale's Tail to Eat is Detained by Police in Florida
FOXNews.com - Man Who Cut Off Whale's Tail to Eat is Detained by Police in Florida: "Police detained Hogan, and another man, for questioning, explaining that mutilating a federally protected species is illegal, even if the animal is found dead."
What? Does the government think it is better to just let it rot?
What? Does the government think it is better to just let it rot?
Thursday, September 02, 2010
The Popular Interpretation of the "Industrial Revolution" - Ludwig von Mises - Mises Daily
The Popular Interpretation of the "Industrial Revolution" - Ludwig von Mises - Mises Daily: "The factories freed the authorities and the ruling landed aristocracy from an embarrassing problem that had grown too large for them. They provided sustenance for the masses of paupers. They emptied the poorhouses, the workhouses, and the prisons. They converted starving beggars into self-supporting breadwinners.
The factory owners did not have the power to compel anybody to take a factory job. They could only hire people who were ready to work for the wages offered to them. Low as these wage rates were, they were nonetheless much more than these paupers could earn in any other field open to them. It is a distortion of facts to say that the factories carried off the housewives from the nurseries and the kitchens and the children from their play. These women had nothing to cook with and to feed their children. These children were destitute and starving. Their only refuge was the factory. It saved them, in the strict sense of the term, from death by starvation."
"The factories turned to the production of more refined and therefore more expensive goods only at a later stage, when the unprecedented improvement in the masses' standard of living they had caused made it profitable to apply the methods of mass production also to these better articles."
"The outstanding fact about the Industrial Revolution is that it opened an age of mass production for the needs of the masses. The wage earners are no longer people toiling merely for other people's well-being. They themselves are the main consumers of the products the factories turn out. Big business depends upon mass consumption. There is, in present-day America, not a single branch of big business that would not cater to the needs of the masses. The very principle of capitalist entrepreneurship is to provide for the common man. In his capacity as consumer the common man is the sovereign whose buying or abstention from buying decides the fate of entrepreneurial activities. There is in the market economy no other means of acquiring and preserving wealth than by supplying the masses in the best and cheapest way with all the goods they ask for."
"The early industrialists were for the most part men who had their origin in the same social strata from which their workers came. They lived very modestly, spent only a fraction of their earnings for their households and put the rest back into the business. But as the entrepreneurs grew richer, the sons of successful businessmen began to intrude into the circles of the ruling class. The highborn gentlemen envied the wealth of the parvenus and resented their sympathies with the reform movement. They hit back by investigating the material and moral conditions of the factory hands and enacting factory legislation."
"Vast areas — Eastern Asia, the East Indies, Southern and Southeastern Europe, Latin America — are only superficially affected by modern capitalism. Conditions in these countries by and large do not differ from those of England on the eve of the "Industrial Revolution." There are millions and millions of people for whom there is no secure place left in the traditional economic setting. The fate of these wretched masses can be improved only by industrialization. What they need most is entrepreneurs and capitalists. As their own foolish policies have deprived these nations of the further enjoyment of the assistance imported foreign capital hitherto gave them, they must embark upon domestic capital accumulation. They must go through all the stages through which the evolution of Western industrialism had to pass. They must start with comparatively low wage rates and long hours of work. But, deluded by the doctrines prevailing in present-day Western Europe and North America, their statesmen think that they can proceed in a different way. They encourage labor-union pressure and alleged prolabor legislation. Their interventionist radicalism nips in the bud all attempts to create domestic industries."
The factory owners did not have the power to compel anybody to take a factory job. They could only hire people who were ready to work for the wages offered to them. Low as these wage rates were, they were nonetheless much more than these paupers could earn in any other field open to them. It is a distortion of facts to say that the factories carried off the housewives from the nurseries and the kitchens and the children from their play. These women had nothing to cook with and to feed their children. These children were destitute and starving. Their only refuge was the factory. It saved them, in the strict sense of the term, from death by starvation."
"The factories turned to the production of more refined and therefore more expensive goods only at a later stage, when the unprecedented improvement in the masses' standard of living they had caused made it profitable to apply the methods of mass production also to these better articles."
"The outstanding fact about the Industrial Revolution is that it opened an age of mass production for the needs of the masses. The wage earners are no longer people toiling merely for other people's well-being. They themselves are the main consumers of the products the factories turn out. Big business depends upon mass consumption. There is, in present-day America, not a single branch of big business that would not cater to the needs of the masses. The very principle of capitalist entrepreneurship is to provide for the common man. In his capacity as consumer the common man is the sovereign whose buying or abstention from buying decides the fate of entrepreneurial activities. There is in the market economy no other means of acquiring and preserving wealth than by supplying the masses in the best and cheapest way with all the goods they ask for."
"The early industrialists were for the most part men who had their origin in the same social strata from which their workers came. They lived very modestly, spent only a fraction of their earnings for their households and put the rest back into the business. But as the entrepreneurs grew richer, the sons of successful businessmen began to intrude into the circles of the ruling class. The highborn gentlemen envied the wealth of the parvenus and resented their sympathies with the reform movement. They hit back by investigating the material and moral conditions of the factory hands and enacting factory legislation."
"Vast areas — Eastern Asia, the East Indies, Southern and Southeastern Europe, Latin America — are only superficially affected by modern capitalism. Conditions in these countries by and large do not differ from those of England on the eve of the "Industrial Revolution." There are millions and millions of people for whom there is no secure place left in the traditional economic setting. The fate of these wretched masses can be improved only by industrialization. What they need most is entrepreneurs and capitalists. As their own foolish policies have deprived these nations of the further enjoyment of the assistance imported foreign capital hitherto gave them, they must embark upon domestic capital accumulation. They must go through all the stages through which the evolution of Western industrialism had to pass. They must start with comparatively low wage rates and long hours of work. But, deluded by the doctrines prevailing in present-day Western Europe and North America, their statesmen think that they can proceed in a different way. They encourage labor-union pressure and alleged prolabor legislation. Their interventionist radicalism nips in the bud all attempts to create domestic industries."
It's a WikiLeaks World, Get Used to It | Jim Harper | Cato Institute: Commentary
It's a WikiLeaks World, Get Used to It | Jim Harper | Cato Institute: Commentary: "No matter where right or wrong lie in the posting of classified military reports on WikiLeaks.org, one lesson should be clear: This is how it's going to be. Technology will continue to undercut secrecy — not just in the military, but in all large organizations."
"Secrecy should be treated as a weakness, to be avoided whenever possible."
"Secrecy is sometimes necessary, and propaganda is a legitimate dimension of war, but as technology and tools of transparency make their way even to remote battlefields, secrecy and propaganda that are at odds with the evidence on the ground will necessarily be less effective."
"Secrecy should be treated as a weakness, to be avoided whenever possible."
"Secrecy is sometimes necessary, and propaganda is a legitimate dimension of war, but as technology and tools of transparency make their way even to remote battlefields, secrecy and propaganda that are at odds with the evidence on the ground will necessarily be less effective."
Saying No Is Not Nihilism | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary
Saying No Is Not Nihilism | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "It was shortly after Rand Paul won the GOP Senate primary in Kentucky, and MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell was mystified. Why would anyone want to be a senator, she wondered, if he opposed most government programs? 'After all,' she mused, 'isn't that what [legislators] do? They legislate.'
And therein, perfectly encapsulated, is the bias of the mainstream media and the elite political classes, a belief that if there is a problem — any problem — then government must do something to fix it."
"Republicans should not try to do things like the Democrats — only a little less expensively or with a little less bureaucracy — but instead should present an agenda of personal and economic liberty. After all, cutting taxes and reducing regulation is a positive alternative to a Democratic jobs program. Repealing the government takeover of the health-care system is a way to give people better health care. Allowing younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes is a positive alternative to the debt and taxes to come from a bankrupt system."
And therein, perfectly encapsulated, is the bias of the mainstream media and the elite political classes, a belief that if there is a problem — any problem — then government must do something to fix it."
"Republicans should not try to do things like the Democrats — only a little less expensively or with a little less bureaucracy — but instead should present an agenda of personal and economic liberty. After all, cutting taxes and reducing regulation is a positive alternative to a Democratic jobs program. Repealing the government takeover of the health-care system is a way to give people better health care. Allowing younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes is a positive alternative to the debt and taxes to come from a bankrupt system."
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