Topic: Policy

So-Called Stablecoins

– August 2, 2020

“Regular consumers are slowly becoming more interested in financial privacy. But they shouldn’t have to rely on systems that ignore the law. A more durable solution is to work towards changing those laws.” ~ J.P. Koning

History, Policy

How FDR Killed Federal Anti-Lynching Legislation

– July 31, 2020

“Roosevelt’s wife Eleanor publicly signaled her support for the measure, but the president himself remained silent and declined to spend his political capital on securing the bill at a time when the legislative success of the New Deal economic agenda depended on southern Democrats. After a complex succession of parliamentary maneuvers in the Senate the measure was effectively sidelined in exchange for the southerners dropping their filibuster, which had also unintentionally impeded the New Deal farm relief bill at the top of the president’s legislative agenda.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Policy

Government, Govern Thyself

– July 30, 2020

“Most people seem to think that the problem with government power is that the wrong people are in office. That’s not right; the problem is that we want to rely on a physician who suffers an illness that cannot be cured.” ~ Michael Munger

Crisis, Healthcare, Policy

Effort Matters: The Pioneering Work of Anders Ericsson

– July 29, 2020

“A regime of purposeful and deliberate practice has a big up-side: It cultivates resilience. Faced with a tough challenge, you know you can work through it; your experience with purposeful practice proves this to you.” ~ Barry Brownstein

Crisis, Education, Policy

Restoring Our Troubled Academy

– July 27, 2020

” Shared governance has produced an educational and political crisis. As long as the faculty and top administrators are in charge, the academy will continue to be wasteful, self-serving, and inappropriately political. Change must come from above, where the board is supposed to be.” ~ Jay Schalin

Capitalism, Free Markets, Policy

The Latest Investment Fad Is Unsustainable

– July 24, 2020

“Just as Greens can destroy the environment, corporate social responsibility can wreck society while tricking ESG investors to feel good about themselves in the process.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Crisis, Government, Policy

Government’s Credibility Crisis

– July 23, 2020

“The readiness with which Americans accepted one of the most distilled forms of authoritarianism in a lifetime should shake us from our slumber, prompting an energetic return to Spencer’s liberalism, the humbler liberalism of granting a presumption in favor of individual people and their dignity.” ~ David S. D’Amato

Policy, Video

Policing Can and Should Be Privately Provided (Video)

– July 23, 2020

The U.S. is at a crossroads on the topic of policing. The usual binary has framed the debate: support the police or defund the police. There is a third and better option. I was very pleased to be invited by Reason to appear in a video about private alt …

Authoritarianism, Policy, Regulation

After 30 Years, Did the Disabilities Act Work?

– July 22, 2020

“The ADA’s absurdities and ritualized legal racketeering are occurring in an era when Americans have become far more humane, rational, and compassionate towards the disabled. It is time to end the flying kangaroos, college testing scams, and torpedoed websites and to finally curb the parasite lawyers.” ~ James Brovard

Crisis, Economic Education, Policy

Free to Choose: Human Challenge Trials for Vaccines

– July 20, 2020

“Libertarians believe that adults should be free to choose large risks in the pursuit of adventures like free diving, extreme skiing, and space exploration. The case is all the stronger that adults should be free to choose smaller risks in the pursuit of stopping COVID-19.” ~ Arthur M. Diamond Jr.

Crisis, Education, Policy

This Pandemic Is Not Homeschooling’s Moment

– July 20, 2020

“Proponents of alternative education would be wise to reflect on their praise of America’s forced experiment in ‘homeschooling.’ Because while this experience may compel some parents to keep their kids at home, there will be millions of students who return to physical schools with nothing but disenchantment with a system that may have held all their answers.” ~ Fiona Harrigan

Crisis, Healthcare, Policy

Month Four of the Panic: Where Is the Evidence?

– July 19, 2020

“If there is no extraordinary evidence, why are there such extraordinary claims and responses? Why has the world medical, social, and economic order been torn apart for a pandemic that looks much like a normal influenza pandemic? These are the questions for which we will be seeking answers for years to come.” ~ Roger W. Koops