Mar 10
We’ve all been told the science is settled; look no further. Surrender even more power, money and freedom to governments, and allow governments to impose drastic restrictions on fossil-fuel consumption to save us all from manmade global warming. In 2001, Canadian reporter Donna Laframboise, a former National Post and Toronto Star columnist, began looking into …
Mar 09
If the power of capitalism and free markets were unleashed on health care, we would immediately see costs go down. The poorest people in society could afford high-quality health care products and services. Witness this story about fifty-cent microscopes. Private sector innovators have developed microscopes that can be sold for less than the price of …
Mar 07
Entitlements such as Social Security change people’s behaviors. Where people expect to be supported by a government program, they tend to work less, retire earlier, save less, and invest less. The world is much poorer because of such programs. The United States (and the world) is less prosperous, much poorer, less productive and less comfortable …
Mar 06
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew just notified Congress that U.S. Government spending will hit its debt limit by March 16. U.S. tax revenues are now at an all-time high, with personal income taxes significantly higher than a decade ago, the world’s highest corporate tax rates, and zealous efforts by the IRS to collect more revenue. But …
Mar 05
A new study of the financial condition of America’s workers finds that federal employees are far better off financially than average American workers. Federal workers are not just paid better. They have far better benefits than most workers, more days off per year and more vacation time. Other studies have found that federal workers work …
Mar 05
The Institute For Justice reports a bizarre case of government licensing overreach. The State of North Carolina sought to shut down the blog and Facebook page of a man who shared advice on losing weight with a “paleo” diet (heavy on nuts, fruits and meats, light on grains and breads). The State claimed that Steve …
Mar 05
Last week, 3 of 5 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners voted—without the slightest enabling legislation by Congress and in the face of substantial case law against their position—for the government to take over control of the internet and to treat the internet as a “public utility.” The two dissenting commissioners offered the following observations: Commissioner …
Mar 04
Remember that press conference when the governor of Massachusetts, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with FBI officials, claimed he had seen “the video” of the Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev placing a bomb-filled backpack at the finish line of the Marathon? Remember how government officials reassured the public that they had the right guys by claiming that …
Mar 02
The Washington Post, the voice of the Washington government establishment if there ever was one, has launched a scary news story about the purported growth of private (meaning, in this sense, contract, or privately-owned police companies licensed under a special Virginia statute) policing. The Washington Post story warns of private officers who may be undertrained. …
Mar 02
The great economist Robert Higgs has recently pointed out the importance of “real disposable income per capita” as a measure for economic health. Arguably the best single, currently available measure of the entire public’s payoff from economic activity is real disposable income per capita. This is the average amount per annum that Americans receive in …
