National Unity Is Highly Overrated by Ambitious Politicos | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

National Unity Is Highly Overrated by Ambitious Politicos | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Rare indeed is the call for 'national unity' that doesn't reduce to 'Let's all come together — on my terms.'"

"Obama is right that Red Team/Blue Team politicking shouldn't govern our response to our looming fiscal catastrophe. But it's a little rich to hear that from a guy who just got done denouncing House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan to control Medicaid costs as an un-American scheme to put seniors on Alpo rations."

When Capital Is Nowhere in View - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

When Capital Is Nowhere in View - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily: "One gets the sense that most [Haitian] people never have any face time with a government official and never deal with paperwork or bureaucracy really. The state strikes only when there is something to loot. And loot it does: predictably and consistently. And that alone is enough to guarantee a permanent state of poverty.

Now, to be sure, there are plenty of Americans who are firmly convinced that we would all be better off if we grew our own food, bought only locally, kept firms small, eschewed modern conveniences like home appliances, went back to using only natural products, expropriated wealthy savers, harassed the capitalistic class until it felt itself unwelcome and vanished. This paradise has a name, and it is Haiti."

Domestic Military Detention Isn't Necessary | David Rittgers | Cato Institute: Commentary

Domestic Military Detention Isn't Necessary | David Rittgers | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Proponents of using military detention for domestic 'combatants' claim that it is weakness to treat terrorists the same as petty thieves and armed robbers.

That's great rhetoric, but the law of war is the law of necessity, meant to be applied when civil authorities are overwhelmed. If the civil rule of law handles terrorist threats adequately, then invoking military jurisdiction is a counterproductive overreaction."

Yes, Cut Medicaid — It Won't Be as Painful as You Think | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary

Yes, Cut Medicaid — It Won't Be as Painful as You Think | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In 1996, Congress eliminated Medicaid eligibility for many non-citizen immigrants.Coverage among non-citizen immigrants actually increased — the opposite of what one might expect — because non-citizen immigrants responded to the cuts by obtaining jobs with health benefits.

In 2005, Missouri cut 100,000 people from its Medicaid rolls. The number of adults with health insurance fell, but by a smaller amount than the number cut from the Medicaid rolls, because private insurance filled part of the gap. With children, the news was even better. Missouri cut loose one fifth of all low-income children enrolled in Medicaid, yet the coverage rate among low-income children did not change. Private insurance filled the entire gap."

State or Private-Law Society - Hans-Hermann Hoppe - Mises Daily

State or Private-Law Society - Hans-Hermann Hoppe - Mises Daily: "If an agency is the ultimate judge in every case of conflict, then it is also judge in all conflicts involving itself. Consequently, instead of merely preventing and resolving conflict, a monopolist of ultimate decision making will also cause and provoke conflict in order to settle it to his own advantage. That is, if one can only appeal to the state for justice, justice will be perverted in the favor of the state, constitutions and supreme courts notwithstanding.

These constitutions and courts are state constitutions and courts, and whatever limitations on state action they may set or find are invariably decided by agents of the very same institution under consideration. Predictably, the definition of property and protection will be continually altered and the range of jurisdiction expanded to the state's advantage."

Why the Terrible Destruction of the Civil War? - Jeff Riggenbach - Mises Daily

Why the Terrible Destruction of the Civil War? - Jeff Riggenbach - Mises Daily: "the war's direct costs amounted to $6.7 billion. If upon Lincoln's inauguration, the government had purchased the freedom of four million slaves and granted a forty-acre farm to each slave family, the total cost would have been $3.1 billion, leaving $3.6 billion for reparations to make up for a century of lost wages. And not a single life would have been lost."

GOP Shouldn't Be Afraid to Challenge Reckless Spending | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary

GOP Shouldn't Be Afraid to Challenge Reckless Spending | Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Instead of using the growing debt as an excuse, Republicans should package their reforms as worth undertaking even if the government had a surplus. If the GOP fails to articulate a positive message about the benefits of spending cuts and keeps leaning into the Democrats' strong hand, it could find itself on its back staring up at the lights."

Kids Prefer Cheese: Fair Trade Revealed As Feel-Good Hoax

Kids Prefer Cheese: Fair Trade Revealed As Feel-Good Hoax: "The result is that, after a fairly short period, three years at most, the 'fair trade' farmers are getting no more, and maybe less, than everyone else, and no more than they got before the 'fair trade' scam was started. The scam artists, it's true, are skimming the profits"

"the certification process is so corrupt many don't even bother, and just mislabel the coffee as 'fair trade' from the get-go"

A Strategic Defeat for Educational Freedom | Adam B. Schaeffer | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Strategic Defeat for Educational Freedom | Adam B. Schaeffer | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Private voucher schools will not only be forced to make this fabrication available to students, they are also prohibited from lowering a student's grade, if he should, for example, cite the letter as a primary source in the course of his school work.

Unfortunately, this is just the peak of the regulatory mountain being dropped on participating private schools. The legislation will greatly expand state regulation of and authority over participating private schools."

Auction Off the State - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily

Auction Off the State - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily: "if people say that $750 billion in spending cuts (between now and September 30) is simply 'impossible,' then we still don't have to either borrow more or raise taxes. We have another option: namely, the federal government could auction off some of its holdings and fill the gap that way."

"the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (as of late November) had almost 727 million barrels of crude oil. At current market prices, this inventory is worth more than $80 billion."

"the federal government owned 14,000 buildings and structures that were 'excess' and 55,000 that were 'under- or not-utilized."'