Even if we had a giant budget surplus, federal subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be misguided and improper. In an environment where excessive federal spending is strangling growth and threatening the nation’s solvency, the argument to defund…
Daily Analysis
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…
Assuming We Can Stop Obama from Giving another Federal Bailout, the Gravy Train May Have Ended for State and Local Bureaucrats
This blog repeatedly has chronicled the huge discrepancy between the gold-plated compensation for government employees and the meager salaries and benefits of people in the productive sector of the economy, including a video conclusively demonstrating that bureaucrats…
The Only Fair Trade Is Free Trade
Walter Williams explains why politicians and bureaucrats shouldn’t have the power to tell us what we’re allowed to buy. At first blush, the mercantilists’ call for “free trade but fair trade” sounds reasonable. After all, who can be against fairness? Giving the idea…
If I Got to Write New Year’s Resolutions for the GOP…
Republicans did a terrible job last time they were in power. The created a new entitlement program for prescription drugs. They further centralized education with the no-bureaucrat-left-behind legislation. They undid the positive reforms of the 1990s with…
Government-Run Healthcare Can Be Emasculating…Literally
Courtesy of Powerline Blog, we have a story about how Sweden’s bureaucratic health system made a mistake and…well, I’m not sure how to delicately phrase this…so let’s just give you the headline of the story: “Man’s penis amputated following misdiagnosis.” Here are…
Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics
Previous posts on this blog have featured charts showing that Obama’s policies are not working (see here and here). I even showed a cartoon making the same point. And I cited a column with data comparing Reagan and Obama. The Heritage Foundation has a very powerful…
Why Can’t We Copy those Radical Free-Market Canadians and Privatize the Air Traffic Control System?
Like most federal agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration is a costly bureaucracy. Its $16.4 billion budget is enormous, but that is just the direct cost borne by taxpayers. The indirect costs, such as inefficiencies imposed on the air transportation system,…
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…