Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune makes several excellent points in his column on the recent salmonella scare, commenting on the absurd tendency to reward government bureaucracies that screw up. But more important, he explains that there are very strong incentives…
Daily Analysis
Don’t Be Afraid of the Chinese Economic Tiger
The news that China has surpassed Japan as the world’s second-largest economy has generated a lot of attention. It shouldn’t. There are roughly 10 times as many people in China as there are in Japan, so the fact that total gross domestic product in China is now bigger…
The Private Sector Always Does a Better Job than Government
Using road management as an example, John Stossel explains that government does a worse job than the private sector, even at things that theoretically are a government responsibility. Part of this is because of the profit motive, to be sure, but a big reason is…
Government-Created Third-Party Payer Is the Number One Problem in America’s Health Care System
John Goodman of the NCPA has a great article about how the current healthcare system is heavily distorted by government policies that result in people making decision with other people’s money (or at least what they perceive as other people’s money). The excerpt below…
Obamacare Complexity vs Free Market Simplicity
Free markets are characterized by voluntary exchange between buyers and sellers. Mapping that relationship is absurdly simply, as this image indicates. Indeed, the only reason I even bothered to include that image was for purposes of comparison. Here is a new…
Abortion, Third-Party Payer, and the Cost of Health Care
A major problem with America’s healthcare system, both before and after Obamacare, is the fact that consumers very rarely spend their own money when obtaining healthcare. Known as third-party payer, this problem exists in part because government directly finances…
Wherein I Agree With The Statists: Don't Let BP Win
Iain Murray writes at the Washington Examiner that advocacy groups Change.org and the Alliance for Climate Protection are arguing – in an email entitled, “Don’t Let BP Win!” – that “Stalling climate and energy legislation would be a big win for oil…
"Price Gouging" Laws Compound Natural Disasters with Political Disaster
Florida Senator Bill Nelson is seizing on the BP oil spill as an excuse to pass federal “price gouging” legislation. It’s certainly nothing new to see anti-market politicians stirring up populist rage with these so-called “price gouging”…
Video Explains that Repealing Obamacare Should Be the First of Many Reforms to Restore Free Markets to Health Care
Eline van den Broek probably is not happy today since she was in South Africa watching her team lose a high-scoring battle with Spain, but she should be very proud of the new video she narrated that urges the repeal of Obamacare – and also points out some of the other…
Faith in Government Regulators is Misplaced
Shakespeare would likely describe the latest major legislation winding its way through Congress as a piece of legislation crafted by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Rather than address the systemic distortions created by prior government policies,…