Jet Levy Will Put Workers Up in the Err | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Jet Levy Will Put Workers Up in the Err | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Yachts were, after all, owned by 'millionaires and billionaires' who didn't pay their fair share of taxes. Who could object to taxing them a bit more? So Congress passed a 10 percent luxury tax on yachts priced at more than $100,000.

The result was the virtual destruction of the domestic boat-building industry. Sales of luxury boats dropped 70 percent within a year. Several manufacturers went bankrupt. More than 25,000 workers lost their jobs. And because so few boats were sold, the tax didn't even generate much new revenue.

At the end of the day, the millionaires and billionaires were still rich. But thousands of hardworking middle-class Americans ended up out of work. The tax was repealed by a lopsided and bipartisan vote in 1993."

"Obama assumes that if someone is wealthy, his or her money just sits there. In reality, individuals either spend that money or they save and invest it. If they spend it, it helps provide jobs for the people who make and sell whatever it is they buy. If the money is instead saved and invested it provides the capital that is needed to start businesses and hire workers.

Every dollar that the government takes in taxes (or borrows in debt for that matter) is one less dollar that someone has to spend, save or invest."

ObamaCare's Admission of Failure: Waivers on Demand | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

ObamaCare's Admission of Failure: Waivers on Demand | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Still, President Barack Obama defends his program. Trust him, he says, and everything will work out.

If so, why has the administration issued program waivers hither and yon? After all, if the legislation is going to help people, why deny them the benefits?

By mid-June the administration had approved 1433 waivers to companies, unions, associations, and states covering 3.2 million people."

Can a Playground Be Too Safe? - NYTimes.com

Can a Playground Be Too Safe? - NYTimes.com: "Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone."

"A child who’s hurt in a fall before the age of 9 is less likely as a teenager to have a fear of heights."

"If children and parents believe they are in an environment which is safer than it actually is, they will take more risks. An argument against softer surfacing is that children think it is safe, but because they don’t understand its properties, they overrate its performance."

Study: Kids Safer Driving With Grandparents - FoxNews.com

Study: Kids Safer Driving With Grandparents - FoxNews.com: "The study found that kids may be safer in cars with grandma or grandpa at the wheel instead of mom or dad."

I wonder if they took into account the type of driving that parents do vs. grandparents. Parents may be more likely to drive children in more dangerous traffic (i.e. driving to school during rush hour).

Chinese Ghost Towns? Get Ready to Feel Good About Being American Again

Chinese Ghost Towns? Get Ready to Feel Good About Being American Again: "It appears that a great deal of China’s economic growth has been through the strategy of the government building massive cities and universities that there is no demand for. All of the materials and labor that goes into these massive projects improves GDP. Unfortunately, its led to an estimated 64 million empty apartment units in China that are too expensive for most Chinese families to afford"

Appeals court: TSA must halt airport body scanners | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

Appeals court: TSA must halt airport body scanners | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: "The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected arguments from the Obama administration that the TSA was exempt from laws requiring federal agencies to first notify the public and seek comments."

Georgia Police Close Girls' Lemonade Stand - FoxNews.com

Georgia Police Close Girls' Lemonade Stand - FoxNews.com: "Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn't have a business license or the required permits.

Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn't know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.

The girls had been operating for one day when Morningstar and another officer cruised by.

The girls needed a business license, peddler's permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year."

US cites national security threat from secrets - FoxNews.com

US cites national security threat from secrets - FoxNews.com: "The U.S. government asked a judge Thursday to order the return of a secret document about a detention center in Afghanistan that it mistakenly gave to a civil rights group, saying its release could frustrate military and intelligence-gathering efforts and do serious damage to national security, including interfering with foreign diplomatic relations."

It sounds like they have a really low bar for "serious damage to national security"

National Security and a Less-Restrained FBI | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary

National Security and a Less-Restrained FBI | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In 2008, we were told these rules would give the FBI the flexibility it needed to 'proactively' ferret out national security threats. Now the FBI says these lax limits on its power are still too cumbersome: The next edition of the bureau's operational manual will give agents leeway to search all those databases with no approval or explanation, without opening an assessment and creating a paper trail."

"According to a 2010 report from the Office of the Inspector General, FBI analysts refused to use an electronic system that would track demands for sensitive phone and Internet records, on the grounds that entering all that data was too burdensome."

"If the FBI thinks you might make a useful informant, agents will be free to dig through your garbage in hopes of finding embarrassing trash that might encourage you to cooperate. And they will be able to do this without first having to show any evidence that you are engaged in wrongdoing."

Time to Ax Federal Jobs Programs | Chris Edwards and Daniel Murphy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Time to Ax Federal Jobs Programs | Chris Edwards and Daniel Murphy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Federal programs for unemployed and disadvantaged workers now cost $18 billion a year, yet the Government Accountability Office recently concluded that 'little is known about the effectiveness of employment and training programs we identified.' Indeed, many studies over the decades have found that these programs — though well intentioned — don't help the economy much, if at all."