The Stupid Party at Work Again
Talk about reinforcing stereotypes. First it was the cut in business taxes combined with Gov. Snyder’s proposal to tax senior citizens. Now comes a proposal from State Sen. Bruce Casswell (R-Hillsdale) to extract a pound of flesh from children in foster care. His idea? Require children in the state’s foster-care system to spend their clothing allowance in thrift stores. Oh yeah, those foster-care kids are bleeding […]
Our Lady of Global Warming
Due to a quirk in the calendar, we get a three-for-one Holy Week this week. Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter. Jews celebrate Passover, and everyone else (including some Christians and Jews) can celebrate “Earth Week.” Earth Week is an expansion of Earth Day, which Wikipedia describes as “is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment.” Appreciating the Earth’s natural […]
The explanation of our political troubles, in 2.5 minutes
Why is our national government broke? It’s all pretty simple, and explained in less than three minutes.A public choice perspective on government spending. First published by the Detroit News: http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/watercooler/index.php?blogid=2127
Anti-collectivism is great; Ayn Rand, not so much
While “Atlas Shrugged” is supposedly the most influential novel in America, its author indulged in one error that characterized the mis-rulers of the Soviet Union. A totalitarian government (including the Soviet Union during some of its existence) does not recognize a distinction between the civil society and the political one. That’s why a totalitarian society has thought police, churches that are forced to go underground, […]
The Daily Grope: The TSA has killed American exceptionalism
If Gene Healy is right, perhaps the terrorists have already won. Writing on two issues I mentioned the other day, he says, “I’ve always thought that what makes Americans exceptional is our ornery resistance to being bossed around.“
Governments driving us to bankruptcy through maxing out credit cards on frivolities
To put the size of the U.S. debt in perspective: It’s $14.3 trillion, as Dan Calabrese mentions. The entire U.S. economy, as measured in the last three months of last year, was $14.8 trillion. In other words, for every dollar in the economy, the U.S. government owes someone another dollar. Add in $2.4 trillion (or more) debt owed by state and local governments, and you’ve got bankruptcy […]
Democratic Congressman revels in economic ignorance
Economic ignorance abounds in Congressed, as witnessed by the comments of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.). The Chicago Democrat has decried Apple’s iPad, saying the device “is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs.” Jackson laments Chicago State University’s move towards electronic textbooks, and asks,“what becomes of … all the jobs associated with paper?” To which I might say, “Why didn’t someone stop […]