Show Love to the Merchant Class - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

Show Love to the Merchant Class - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily: "We are masters of the universe as customers and as compliant as lambs when acting as citizens. And perhaps that's easy to understand. The government has a gun pointing at our heads. The merchant is trying to persuade us to part with our money in exchange for goods and services. One won't take no for an answer; the other sees no as just part of daily life.

Still, we should be more conscious of the difference, and appreciate what it means. The class of people who have chosen the path of persuasion over coercion are deserving of our gratitude even when we don't buy from them. The merchant class is that which makes everything possible in our lives: our homes, our food, our medical care, our clothing, our air conditioning, our computers, our music listening — absolutely everything that makes daily life tolerable and joyful."

An Amen for Albany | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary

An Amen for Albany | Walter Olson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "New York City had long leaned heavily on institutions affiliated with major religious groups to provide foster placements for 'their' kids — Catholic agencies making arrangements for Catholic kids and so forth. Lawyers from the ACLU sued, saying this perpetuated religious discrimination. In particular, they argued, it was unfair that Catholic and Jewish kids got the assistance of relatively strong agencies backed by long histories of community philanthropy and volunteering, while other kids, notably black Protestants, were left with whatever foster arrangements the city could cobble together.

In a settlement, the city agreed to scrap the system and cut back religious matching in favor of something more like a first-come-first-served method of assignment, turning the agencies into something closer to interchangeable outposts of a single foster system. Problem solved? No. Outcomes went from unacceptable to even worse as the new rules demoralized and drove away volunteers at the high-performing religious agencies without turning around the others."

The Bin Laden vaccine: Yes, vaccinations are a CIA plot | The Economist

The Bin Laden vaccine: Yes, vaccinations are a CIA plot | The Economist: "All over the world, poor people resist vaccination campaigns in the belief that they are part of a plot by powerful authorities to take advantage of them. The CIA operation in Pakistan turns these fears from crazy conspiracy theories into accurate and rational beliefs."

Wisconsin Schools Already In Line to Save $155 Million Through New Contracts | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor

Wisconsin Schools Already In Line to Save $155 Million Through New Contracts | Scott Walker for Wisconsin Governor: "According to 2011 head counts from the Department of Public Instruction, these changes will affect 312,567 students in Wisconsin – saving districts an average of $497.81 per student."

Why Legalize Now? - Mark Thornton - Mises Daily

Why Legalize Now? - Mark Thornton - Mises Daily: "Drug prohibition is the single biggest burden on the criminal-justice budget. It is also a large burden for more than a dozen budgets within the federal government, and it is a growing burden on state and local budgets. The incarceration of hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders often leads to the breakup of families and the loss of breadwinners, placing additional burdens on social services."

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"