Super PACs: Money Well Spent | John Samples | Cato Institute: Commentary

Super PACs: Money Well Spent | John Samples | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'So are super PACs shaping up to be a disaster for democracy in 2012? Hardly. The $14 million in Iowa super PAC spending funded an assault on Gingrich for committing ethics violations, being soft on illegal immigrants and teaming with Nancy Pelosi on global warming issues. The Gingrich ad to come apparently says Romney's company, Bain Capital, looted companies and left people unemployed.'

'Do these ads constitute legitimate political speech? Wouldn't voters want to know if Gingrich had violated ethics rules, received large payments from Freddie Mac despite claiming to be against big government and had supported positions contrary to the views of most Iowa Republicans? Romney says he is a businessman who knows how to create jobs. Should voters hear claims to the contrary? Of course.'

'John Coleman, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that spending on negative ads increased voter information about candidates, especially among those who were least informed prior to the ads.

Other political scientists have found that, contrary to the caricature, negative advertising increases voter turnout and reduces the advantages normally held by incumbent officials. Perhaps it is not surprising that Republican turnout in Iowa was higher than experts expected.'

'the alternative is greatly restricting the rights of outside individuals to fund speech criticizing politicians (a right that many paid commentators on television, the radio and online, many of them wealthy, already happen to have, by virtue of being members of the media).

This seems to me to be a far scarier outcome.'

Sen. Paul Announces Taxpayer Savings at Louisville Press Conference Rand Paul | United States Senator

Sen. Paul Announces Taxpayer Savings at Louisville Press Conference Rand Paul | United States Senator: 'U.S. Sen. Rand Paul today announced that he is returning $500,000 to the United States Treasury - money unspent from his official operating budget. The total amount being returned is more than 16 percent of Paul's original office budget. As far as is known, no U.S. Senator has returned as much to taxpayers.'

'Paul achieved the savings while also having the most active office for a freshman in the U.S. Senate. In his first year, he introduced more legislation and amendments than any other freshman legislator, often teaming-up with fellow Senators to support legislation.'

'Paul's office was one of only three in Washington to produce an entire fiscal blueprint for the federal government, a promise he made while campaigning in 2010. His plan, introduced in the first few weeks of his term, would balance the federal budget in five years.

Paul also kept his promise to work to reform Social Security. His proposal, introduced with Sens. Lindsay Graham and Mike Lee, would fix the entire system for 75 years. Later this month, Sen. Paul will introduce a plan to save Medicare.'

Will Romney End PBS, Public Radio Funding? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Will Romney End PBS, Public Radio Funding? | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'For decades as a reporter, I have continually found vital information on public radio and television that at first was available nowhere else.'

Just because a program has benefits doesn't mean that it is good overall? The "bridge to nowhere" also had benefits.

More importantly, where is the constitutional authority for the federal government to fund that?

'"In the commercial market ... the stuff for kids is targeted to sell things to kids, not to educate them"'

If children and parents choose to watch those shows, then that is the kind of shows that will be produced. I do see popular shows that sell products related to the show but I don't see popular shows that advertise to kids -- but maybe those shows exist and we don't watch them.

'In an era of media consolidation, fewer national and foreign bureaus and mass newsroom layoffs, NPR is one of the only media outlets actually bringing listeners more reporting (actual reporting, not warped pontificating) from around the country and around the world.'

TV broadcast media isn't the only media anymore -- welcome to the 21st century! I think mass-broadcast media is outdated and on its way out. It is being replaced by media where the time, place, and content can be much more customized to the user (i.e. internet delivery).

Investment or Malinvestment? - Igor Karbinovskiy - Mises Daily

Investment or Malinvestment? - Igor Karbinovskiy - Mises Daily: 'Suppose I write an article on the economy that no one wants to read, much less pay me for. Now suppose that the government pays me for it anyway — as part of a jobs bill. Presto! A new job has been created; a person who was previously unemployed is now working. Better yet, that person is me! This job certainly increased my standard of living. But what have I produced? What have I contributed to the economy? Because no one wants my article, the value of my contribution to the economy is zero. The time I've spent in writing, and the money the government paid me, have been wasted. Worse, because this money allows me to consume things that I (and other people) want — things like food and shelter — the net effect on the economy is negative: zero value in, positive value out. This, then, is an example of a "bad" job.'

The Income-Inequality Myth | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Income-Inequality Myth | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Poverty, of course, is a bad thing. But is inequality? After all, if we doubled everyone's income tomorrow, we would eliminate an enormous amount of economic hardship. Yet, inequality would actually increase. As Margaret Thatcher said about those who obsess over inequality, "So long as the [income] gap is smaller, they would rather have the poor poorer."

In what way does someone else's success harm me?'

'But as Nobel Prize–winning economist Gary Becker pointed out, "It would be hard to motivate most people if everyone had the same earnings, status, prestige, and other rewards."

Another Nobel Prize winner, F. A. Hayek, concluded, "The rapid economic advance that we have come to expect seems to be in large measure a result of this inequality and to be impossible without it. Progress at such a fast rate cannot take place on a uniform front but must take place in an echelon fashion, with some far in front of the rest."'

Snooker -- Democrats' Favorite Pastime | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Snooker -- Democrats' Favorite Pastime | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Republicans should prepare a specific list of spending non—starters and make it known to all. They need to be clear that if any of the items are contained in a future appropriations bill or continuing resolution, they will make sure it is defeated. The list should contain only those items that would cause the president to have a politically impossible public—relations problem if he threatened to veto the specific appropriation bill or continuing resolution and thereby shut down the government if the items were not included.

Republicans could start by insisting that no expenditure for salaries could be made for people not properly appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate as called for in the Constitution — that is, phony, non—recess appointments would not be funded.

A number of the international organizations for which the United States provides major support have gone rogue and spent monies on programs of which most fiscally responsible Americans disapprove (or would disapprove it they knew about them). These programs should be cut. Examples are the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which ignores much sound science), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Fiscal Affairs Committee (which is attempting to create a high tax cartel) and possibly the International Monetary Fund, which keeps flirting with bailing out European economic mismanagement.

The GOP and others have rightly complained about regulatory excess, but they need to put some teeth in these complaints by refusing to allow funding for regulations that have not been justified by a truly independent cost—benefit analysis, so the Environmental Protection Agency could not get away with unnecessarily attempting to shut down many needed power plants. The cost—benefit requirement also should be applied to the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury so they could not continue such outrages as making it almost impossible for Americans living abroad to get bank accounts and driving hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign capital out of the United States.'

Will Congress Stop King Barack the First? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Will Congress Stop King Barack the First? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The Recess Appointments Clause was, "Federalist 67" explains, merely an "auxiliary method" adopted because "it would have been improper to oblige this body to be continually in session."

That stopgap measure met the needs of an era of horseback travel, part-time Congresses, and recesses lasting between six and nine months. It wasn't supposed to let the president do regular end-runs around the requirement of Senate confirmation.'

'But the worst hypocrisy here is Obama's. "I've studied the Constitution as a student, I've taught it as a teacher," he piously intoned in 2009: "I know that we must never, ever, turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience's sake."'

No Child -- And the Latest Lost Decade | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

No Child -- And the Latest Lost Decade | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Despite federal k-12 spending rising from $27 billion in 2001, the year before NCLB, to $38 billion in 2011, reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the so-called “Nation’s Report Card” — have either been stagnant, or grown at slower rates than many periods before No Child.'

'education bureaucrats around the country created wildly varying tests, definitions of “proficiency,” and played lots of other tricks that have made it nearly impossible to know if a child is truly proficient, or just so labeled by a system dodging punishment.

There’s also a serious question of whether rising test scores for historic strugglers have reflected increasing knowledge or just better testing strategies.'

Iran's Bluster Proves Its Weakness | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary

Iran's Bluster Proves Its Weakness | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The obviousness of Iran's bluster suggests its weakness. Empty threats generally show desperation, not security. And Iran's weakness is not confined to water. Though Iran is more populous and wealthier than most of its neighbors, its military isn't equipped for conquest. Like other militaries in its region, Iran's suffers from coup-proofing, the practice of designing a military more to prevent coups than to fight rival states. Economic problems and limited weapons-import options have also undermined it ability to modernize its military, while its rivals buy American arms.'

Mitt Romney declares that Ron Paul is the constitutionalist!