I’ve already had a couple of blog posts commenting on how Texas is kicking California’s you-know-what. Being a fiscal policy person, I always point to California’s punitive state income tax as an example of bad policy and highlight the absence of any income tax in…
Daily Analysis
Not-so-Great Moments in Government Regulation
I’m not a coffee drinker, but I might change my mind if I had the option to patronize a drive-through establishment featuring bikini-clad baristas. And such establishments apparently do exist in the Pacific Northwest. But some people are not happy about…
The Politicians Are Taking Away Our Light, so We Should Make Them Feel the Heat
I’ve already commented here and here on the government forcing us to use inferior lightbulbs. The bad news is becoming worse news. Here’s a story from England that was linked on Instapundit, showing how big business (which conspired with the politicians to get rid of…
Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011
The mid-term elections were a rejection of President Obama’s big-government agenda, but those results don’t necessarily mean better policy. We should not forget, after all, that Democrats rammed through Obamacare even after losing the special election to replace Ted…
The Prize for the Most Bizarre Example of Government Regulation? Japan’s Licensing Rules for Providing Coffee Enemas
Too bad the gift-giving season is already over. Thanks to this story about three men who were arrested by Japanese police for providing coffee enemas without regulatory approval, I now know that I could have purchased a “rectal infusion kit” for only $110. But since…
Should the Clowns at the United Nations Be Given Power to Regulate the Internet?!?
Some ideas are so horrible that I’m almost at a loss for words. The United Nations is a grotesquely wasteful and corrupt international bureaucracy with a long track record of failure and incompetence. Yet some people think this collection of looters, moochers, and…
Great Moments in Local Government
The South Los Angelos City Council is not satisfied with the culinary choices of the people of South Los Angelos. While consumers have been voting one way with their wallets, the City Council has voted to use government force to override their preferences. How many…
Free Labor For Me, But Not For Thee
Government bureaucrats think it is their business to prevent individuals from entering voluntary contracts with companies or organizations if the level of compensation does not meet some arbitrary threshold. Congress has used minimum wage laws to prevent certain…
Government Insurance Meddling Costs Kids Coverage
Consider this a prelude to Obamacare: Tens of thousands of Texas children will be directly affected by the 11th-hour decision of a number of major health insurance companies to stop selling child-only policies rather than comply with the new federal law that requires…
Strangling Entrepreneurship and Job Creation with $1.75 Trillion of Regulation and Red Tape
A new study from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy concludes that annual regulatory costs jumped by nearly $600 billion between 2005 and 2008. Thanks to the Obama Administration’s big-government agenda, the burden of red tape today doubtlessly is…