Feb 08
Almost all business regulation harms the poor and small businesses and helps the biggest industry leaders. And in the big picture, even the good ol’ boys are harmed. Look at the above graph (courtesy of CNBC, see here). It shows that the overall value of the banking industry is about the same as it was …
Feb 08
“Deregulation” is one of the great phantoms of our time. Pro-government pundits and presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders repeatedly claim that private-sector influence in political elections has produced “deregulation” in American industries. Yet regulation is easy to measure. One can count pages, paragraphs, sections, enforcement budgets or actions, etc. There has been no deregulation anywhere, …
Jan 31
Just as Michael Moore complained when GM was there and then complained because GM left, haters of Wal-Mart are now complaining that Wal-Mart’s departure from certain neighborhoods is creating “food deserts”! See the Associated Press’s article here. The “food desert” argument is a claim that poor neighborhoods in certain cities are devoid of high-quality grocery …
Jan 29
The New York Times has been a vocal supporter of government slave plantation healthcare proposals like Obamacare. Now the Times has run a story about the rationing of pills in American health care. Just like what is found in socialist countries like Venezuela, Cuba and previously in Soviet Bloc countries! See here. In recent years, …
Jan 29
Unlike a private business, which loses money and goes bankrupt after providing bad service, government agencies generally benefit from failure and crisis. Failure means even more money and power! Good money after bad. Here is an Associated Press article about Michigan lawmakers passing a bill to take $28 million more from taxpayers to divert to …
Jan 22
There seems to be a religious hatred among government trusters against fossil-fuel suppliers. A loathing almost as irrational as the unshakeable, almost hypersexual, love of self-styled “conservatives” for men in government uniforms. Even as petroleum products have been made cheaper and cheaper by private sector innovators, the government of California is poised to forcibly take …
Jan 07
In the summer of 2007, there were news reports that commercial jets were occasionally stuck for hours waiting to depart. Government responded heroically. The Obama Administration decreed that if passengers on a plane are stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours, the carrier is liable for a fine of $27,500 per passenger. Now, …
Jan 03
Shocking story from Hong Kong, one of the freest countries on earth. For a century, Hong Kong was a British colony. It has a British style court system (complete with jury trials), protections for property rights, and relatively free markets. Hong Kong attracted millions of ethnic Chinese who fled the mainland. Over time, the average …
Dec 30
It is a myth that “deregulation” caused the housing bubble (and later, the crash) of 2008. And a bigger myth that post-recession laws have improved banking. As John C. Goodman writes, almost everything said by government and pro-government economists about the 2008 recession is a myth. See here. And the “cure” hatched by Congress in …
Dec 17
In case more evidence is needed that Montana “Justice Department” officials need some budget cuts, the Department has recently targeted a Billings smoke shop because the smoke shop displayed a cigarette rolling machine. See here. The State claims the display of the cigarette rolling machine–which tobacco buyers can use to roll a couple cigarettes on …
