That’s what Bart Simpson told his family in “Homer v. the Eighteenth Amendment.” “I’ll go with you!” said Homer. Marge put a stop to it, and that was that—except, of course, that Bart’s drinking started a temperance campaign that led to prohibition. As the episode illustrates, things get complicated when the government [...]
Archive for the ‘regulation’ Category
“I’m going down to Moe’s for a couple of beers.”
Posted in Children, Politics, law, liberty, regulation, tagged alcohol, law on April 29, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Kling on Inequality
Posted in Equality, Politics, regulation, tagged Equality, power on April 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Arnold Kling reflects on the fact that the Clintons made $109 million over the past seven years. (Maybe John Edwards is on to something with that “Two Americas” thing.) What’s remarkable is not the amount of private wealth, however, but the amount of wealth and power that government officials control:
Montgomery County, Maryland, has [...]
Pigs Fly!
Posted in liberty, regulation, tagged liberty, regulation on March 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
And George McGovern has discovered the value of liberty and the limitations of government.
Since leaving office I’ve written about public policy from a new perspective: outside looking in. I’ve come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.
Why do we think we are helping [...]
The Future of Free Speech
Posted in liberty, regulation, tagged freedom of speech, liberty, regulation on February 9, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Mark Tapscott (HT: Instapundit):
I don’t see how McCain could avoid being a vigorous supporter of proposals to expand the regulatory reach and severity of campaign finance law. Otherwise, it will take the Democrats about 10 seconds to accuse McCain of flip-flopping, or worse, if he doesn’t aggressively support their certain efforts to expand the FEC’s [...]
Another Ponzi Scheme
Posted in Distributive Justice, Equality, economics, regulation, tagged Health Care, insurance, mandates, regulation on February 3, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Many have noticed that the Social Security system is essentially a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid that depends on the entry of increasing numbers of people. People who entered the system early profited immensely. People entering it when I did are fated to receive poor returns, assuming the system survives. People entering it [...]
Mandates
Posted in economics, regulation, tagged Health Care, insurance, mandates, regulation on December 18, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Various pundits and Democratic candidates for President have been arguing about ways of bringing health insurance to those who currently lack it. One idea is health insurance mandates—require people to buy health insurance, and subsidize the cost for those who have trouble affording it.
Greg Mankiw today says what I’ve been thinking about this: “a [...]
