Author's posts
Mar 05
Another Example of How Government Licensing Rules Harm the Poor and Suppress Innovation
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
FCC Dissenters: So-Called Net Neutrality is a Solution That Won’t Work to a Problem that Does Not Exist
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
Bombshell News: Feds Now Claim Their ‘Smoking Gun’ Video of Boston Bombing Suspects Doesn’t Exist!
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
Washington Post Offers Dire Warnings About Private Policing; Even While Private Policing is Shown To Be Cheaper and Safer than Government Policing
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
real disposable income per capita for Americans has remained flat for almost a decade
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 …
Mar 02
Government Hydrologist Says World Temps Will Rise 2 Degrees in 10 Years If Voters Adopt More Socialism; “Double That” If Voters Fail To Do So
Many government officials and others seeking to build an even more socialistic and centrally-planned global economy offer alarming predictions. Now we hear that a federal government official—National Weather Service Senior Hydrologist Gina Loss—told Montana audiences in 2014 that there are two possible future weather patterns. If policymakers adopt more central planning and empower governments to …
Mar 02
Another Climate Heretic Comes Under Government Investigation
For a decade, governments worldwide–already gorged on money and power–have been demanding ever more power under the guise of climate policy. Untold millions–and probably billions–of dollars taken by force from taxpayers have been channeled into research and development of alleged climate science which supports expansive government control over industry and commerce. The most common tool …
Feb 28
China Employs More than 100,000 Bureaucrats To Regulate the Internet
In the wake of this week’s takeover of the internet by the FCC, paleolibertarian economist Gary North points to a 2013 Economist article reporting that the government of China employs 100,000 government workers to monitor and regulate Chinese internet users. (We think that number is probably quite low.) Gary North writes today that “The FCC …
Feb 28
Courts Continue Abandoning Surveillance Restrictions, While Congress and the President Slowly Abandon Plans to Limit NSA
February 27, 2015. In the immediate wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations that the NSA is unconstitutionally intercepting, seizing and storing virtually every American email and phone record, there were many promises by congressional candidates and President Obama to stop the NSA’s mass surveillance. Now, months later, a federal court has again renewed an order allowing …
Feb 28
THE DATA IS IN: AMERICA BECOMING LESS “EXCEPTIONAL”
We often hear of “American exceptionalism.” America has been—since its inception—the world’s flagship of freedom, property rights, invention and capitalism. Hard work and ingenuity has fueled thousands of economic miracles, and produced a nation of unparalleled abundance and prosperity. The poor in modern America live better than the kings and queens of Europe a hundred …
