Topic: Government

Return to Normal Driven by Politics, Not “The Science”

– March 6, 2022

“While a return to normal is welcome, if the driving force behind it is political polling and stakes for reelection, we should all pause and reflect on whether these people should be making such monumental decisions about our lives.” ~ David Waugh

Crisis, Government, Science

Critique of “What Economics Can Tell Us About Mandating Vaccines”

– March 6, 2022

“The CDC and our public health agencies have now spent the better part of two years orchestrating a campaign of fear and paranoia that ignores the known properties of this disease.” ~ Robert Stewart

Education, Government, History

Affirmative Action – Help or Hindrance for the Underrepresented?

– March 5, 2022

“Scientists should carefully examine the evidence before announcing their conclusions. If you examine the evidence concerning racial preferences, you have to question whether they don’t do far more harm than good.” ~ George Leef

Economic Education, Government, International, Regulation

Solar Tariffs Are a Mistake

– March 5, 2022

“Tariff extensions burden the US solar market with slowed growth and exemplify yet another case against outdated trade policies. In the words of Gabriella Beaumont-Smith, the US should ‘let the sun set on solar tariffs.'” ~ Dorothy Chan

Authoritarianism, Government, Philosophy, Science

Who Owns Our Bodies?

– March 4, 2022

“The very suggestion that medical interventions ought to be understood as a question of property is a call for a new kind of civilization where rather than equal citizens, all people are merely property waiting to be expropriated.” ~ Chris Bateman

Economic Education, Government, Regulation

Not So Fast on the Fast Act

– March 3, 2022

“The fact that so many workers in the industry have been unwilling to voluntarily ‘buy’ the union agenda for themselves is not a reason for giving unions more power, but is reason to question their claims that they will improve workers’ lives.” ~ Gary M. Galles

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government, Science

How Threat-Free Are Americans from Covid-19? Late February 2022 Update

– March 2, 2022

“Due respect for the virus doesn’t require treating your family, friends, and neighbors as the dire threats that media, public health officials, and the fearful are making them seem to be, either now or in the future.” ~ Jon Sanders

Crisis, Government, Science

Life, Death, and Insurance

– March 2, 2022

“Perhaps the fact that life insurance actuaries are highly qualified independent analysts of mortality and regulated primarily at the state, not the national, level has made America’s PHOs reticent to encourage actuarial analysis.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Crisis, Economic Education, Government

The Real Problem with PPP Loans

– March 1, 2022

“If you love jobs you can’t hate the individuals whose ideas and capital commitments make work possible. If the PPP money had to go somewhere, it was best that it went to those who paid the taxes in the first place.” ~ John Tamny

Crisis, Government, Science

Duck, Cover, and Mask Up.

– March 1, 2022

“If you happen to be among the lucky few not vaporized in a nuclear strike launched by unknown perpetrators, you should immediately reestablish your fear of Covid-19, the virus of unknown origin. In the words of David Byrne, ‘Same as it ever was.'” ~ James R. Harrigan

Authoritarianism, Economic Education, Government, History

Business Leaders Build Trust, Politicians Compel Compliance

– February 28, 2022

“While pursuing their interests, business leaders have an incentive to serve the welfare of others. Business leaders challenge their assumptions. Politicians act on unexamined assumptions and compel others to obey.” ~ Barry Brownstein

Fiscal Policy, Government, History

The State of the Union is…

– February 28, 2022

“It would be far better that we insist on following Thomas Jefferson’s lead. While his predecessors, Washington and Adams, delivered their State of the Union addresses in person every year, Jefferson just sent letters to Congress.” ~ James R. Harrigan