Topic: Government

Free Expression

– May 10, 2021

“Government can punish those found after due process to have willfully abused tools like speech (or firearms) to the detriment of others but it cannot Constitutionally limit the availability of such crucial tools simply because some people might use them to cause harm. The best policies reduce asymmetries of information or power rather than exacerbate them and that usually means freeing expression, not excluding ideas or the people who espouse them.” ~ Robert E. Wright

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Biden’s “America the Beautiful” Vision Ignores Feds’ Dreadful Record

– May 10, 2021

“Biden’s ’30 by 30′ will likely become simply another pork barrel environmental program which deluges their friends and donors with subsidies. But there is no reason to expect ‘America the Beautiful’ to be less of a debacle than FDR’s farm programs, Eisenhower’s Soil Bank, or the Conservation Reserve Program. If political hot air was all that was required to achieve ‘America the Beautiful,’ the United States would have become paradise long ago.” ~ James Bovard

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The Dubious Premise for Expanding the Regulatory State

– May 10, 2021

“Arbitrary political interests are meant to be enacted by the legislative process where they can be debated, vetted and their architects ultimately held accountable. Looking to the regulatory state, which can essentially act as judge, jury, and executioner, to pass one’s political mandate not only exhibits a disdain for the lives of individual citizens but is also tyrannical in nature.” ~ Ethan Yang

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The Inevitable Yo-Yo Ride of Pandemic Fortresses

– May 10, 2021

“In a world where people suddenly ceased traveling it was inevitable that end stations should do comparatively well in every way except economically. Crediting their ‘success’ to government policies is a mistake. Instead, geography appears to be the dominant factor.” ~ Phillip W. Magness & Joakim Book

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Arthur Okun, Class Warfare, Redistribution, and Income Growth

– May 7, 2021

“The low-income worker is a net beneficiary of bigger government for about 10 years. But as time goes on, the worker would be far better off with smaller government and faster growth. Different assumptions will lead to different results, of course. My goal is simply to help readers understand two things: bigger government leads to less economic growth, and less growth leads to big income losses over time.” ~ Daniel J. Mitchell

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The New York Times Argues With Itself About Biden and Taxes

– May 6, 2021

“Government spending by its very name is the politicized allocation of precious wealth first created in the private sector. In other words, government spending delays the mass production of yesterday’s luxuries and tomorrow’s must-haves by limiting investment. Page B1 in the April 29th New York Times shows us why this is true.” ~ John Tamny

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Competing With China Shouldn’t Entail Becoming More Like China

– May 6, 2021

“When we talk about competing with China to win the 21st century we first need to be very clear on what that means. President Biden’s rhetoric seems to suggest he just wants to use the geopolitical tensions between the US and China as an excuse to pass his list of big government policies. The massive expansion of state power into the American economy is not a novel innovation in response to China but a failed and tired dream held by Progressives since the early 20th century.” ~ Ethan Yang

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GosFed Looming at the Fed?

– May 5, 2021

“It’s easy to see why the comrades of Gosbank showed so little dissent. Say, or think, the wrong thing in the Soviet Union, and you risked a one-way ticket to Siberia. What in the world is GosFed’s excuse?” ~The New York Sun

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Policy Uncertainty Causes Sundry Shortages

– May 5, 2021

“Policymakers seem determined to force through as many policy changes as rapidly as possible, possibly in an attempt to create confusion over causes, much the way Covid and lockdowns became conflated in the public mind. They need to tread carefully, though, because our technological and military might will not save us if the core cause of our prosperity withers.” ~ Robert E. Wright

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Imperial College Predicted Catastrophe in Every Country on Earth. Then the Models Failed.

– May 5, 2021

“Why is Ferguson, who has a long history of absurdly exaggerated modeling predictions, still viewed as a leading authority on pandemic forecasting? And why is the ICL team still advising governments around the world on how to deal with Covid-19 through its flawed modeling approach? In March 2020 ICL sold its credibility for future delivery. That future has arrived, and the results are not pretty.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

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Biden’s Infrastructure Boondoggle

– May 4, 2021

“The immediate lesson from all of this is that Biden’s plan is a boondoggle waiting to happen (just as would have been the case with Trump). The longer-term lesson is that we should get the federal government out of the business of infrastructure.” ~ Daniel J. Mitchell

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From AI to UBI?

– May 4, 2021

“AI cannot credibly justify a radical policy like UBI at this point. Misunderstanding AI adds to a natural fear of the unknown though we know that technological change always proves beneficial to the economy and that society will have ample resources to aid anyone who might be displaced by AI in the future. People should concentrate on how AI can automate mundane tasks and stop technological fear mongering. Your job, like the world, will still be here tomorrow.” ~ Robert E. Wright & Aleksandra Przegalinska

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