September 6, 2017

The maximum price of the minimum wage

from The Washington Times:  When the bill for feel-good economics comes due, only the ignorant scream.
Regulation Nation

When cowards give in to looters, the American people are the losers

from The American Spectator:  Republicans wave the white flag on Obamacare as RINO senators and governors move toward a blueprint for surrender. When they ran for election, the GOP put on their masks. When they failed to act, they took them off.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Wisconsin moves to be first state ever to nullify federal cannabis prohibition through legislation

from The Free Thought Project:  State nullification of federal marijuana prohibition is completely constitutional, with the feds having little, if any, recourse to stop the process. Until now, cannabis has been legalized ONLY through direct initiative of the people, not by our so-called representatives.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Internet censorship bill would spell disaster for speech and innovation

from Electronic Frontier Foundation:  The bill, named the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, would not stop sex traffickers (its stated pretense), but it would chill free expression.
Indoctrination and Censorship

A 2020 Democratic agenda is emerging

from The Washington Post:  Intolerant and unrealistic, the party ditches pretended moderation and will openly fight for their left-wing agenda.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

September 2, 2017

Hollywood & New Yorkers Agree: We should aspire to be more like starving Venezuelans

from Squawker:  The Bernie Sanders' mentality of imposing universal poverty as a means to achieve equality.
Leftists would be wise to grasp the wisdom of Milton Friedman: “A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither.
A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”

Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Ohio’s Campus Free Speech Act helps build free minds, free people

from The Hill:  Free speech is the best antidote for poisonous ideas. That is why the intolerant left is so scared of it.
Students need to explore their ideas, not constrain them. Education is about learning how to think, not being told what to think.

Indoctrination and Censorship

FDA pushing forward with terrible menu-labeling rules

from The Hill:  Unless this idiotic provision of ObamaCare is repealed, menu labeling will continue to be abnormally costly and ineffective (since costly and ineffective is the normal state of government). 

Regulation Nation

Regulation Nation

Latest Update: August 9, 2017

Innovation drives the small manufacturing boom—if it can survive regulatory meddling
Face first into bureaucratic madness – opening a hot dog stand in California
NYC law that makes dog-sitting illegal without a license
Trump is quietly stacking the labor board with union busters

County sued for requiring 10 page permit application to play Pokemon Go in s public park

Why Is Insider Trading Illegal? It shouldn't be.

California extends water restrictions despite abundant rainfall

Adult women can't consent to sex in Louisiana

Licensing Laws Shut Young People Out Of The Job Market

by Ben Casselman.  Young people entering the job market have always faced challenges: a lack of skills and experience, limited professional networks, unfamiliarity with workplace culture and expectations. But increasingly, they are also facing another obstacle: legal requirements that can shut off avenues to jobs before they even get the chance  ... MORE

Raising Minimum Wage Is Perfect Way To Kill Summer Jobs

by Jonah Goldberg.   Expect more teenagers on the streets. I had a lot of summer jobs. I was a foot messenger in New York for a couple of summers. I worked as a receptionist and mail-room flunky. Before my junior year of high school, I briefly sold ice-cream snacks — sort of yuppie bonbons — on the street for a company called Love Bites.     ... MORE

Hyprocrisy On Steroids: California Labor Union That Fought To Impose $15 Minimum Wage Now Wants An Exemption

The point is to drive up the costs of their competition.  The labor union that led the charge for a $15 minimum wage hike in cities across California is now moving to secure an exemption for employers under union contracts. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor buried the exemption on the eighth page of its 12-page proposal for the  ... MORE

Ed Spillane: Many Judges Continue To Jail Defendants Without Money To Pay Fines. Here Are The Alternatives.

Why one judge refuses to send such folks to jail.   Melissa J. showed up in my court last year with four kids in tow. Her children quietly watched from a nearby table while I spoke with her. The charges against her — driving with an invalid license, driving without insurance, not wearing a seat belt, failure to use a child safety seat properly  ... MORE

When Did The U.S. Repeal The Laws Of Supply & Demand?

by A. Barton Hinkle. Of soda taxes & minimum wage. Back in October, The New York Times reported that the law of supply and demand still works. "Yes, Soda Taxes Seem to Cut Soda Drinking," the newspaper told its readers, relating the results of Mexico's new tax on sugary beverages. Mexico's measure imposed a 10 percent tax on soft drinks, and so  ... MORE

Federal Drug Warriors Push For Pill-Tracking Databases

Gov't wedging itself between doctors and patients.     The nation's top health officials are stepping up calls to require doctors to log in to pill-tracking databases before prescribing painkillers and other high-risk drugs. The move is part of a multi-pronged strategy by the Obama administration to tame an epidemic of abuse and death tied to   ... MORE

Higher Minimum Wage Equals Higher Prices, More Taxes

by John Seiler.     I have dinner once a week with some friends here in Orange County. I set a limit of $20 for beer and food, or $80 a month. When the state minimum wage jumped to $10 an hour from $8 a couple years back, the restaurants increased their prices. So I cut back from a full meal to appetizers. It’s less enjoyment, but, as President John F. ... MORE

Sharon Harris: Free Market or… Freed Market?

Unschackle our regulated economy.   Here’s a neat little phrase that can be very handy when talking about economics: “freed market.” No, not “free market.” Freed market. Here’s why. As we’ve discussed in the past, “capitalism” is often not a very useful word for libertarians to use to describe the economic system we advocate. Sheldon      ... MORE

The Fourth Branch Of Government Is Out Of Control

by A. Barton Hinkle.   The unelected tyrants. America has witnessed a massive shift in government authority, says George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley—one that "has occurred without a national debate and certainly not a national vote." That shift has led to the de facto creation of a "fourth branch of government containing   ... MORE

Jake Macaulay: Men Invading Women’s Restrooms

The PC politicians are insisting on it.  The mayor of San Francisco has banned all publicly-funded city employees from traveling to North Carolina. The NBA is threatening to relocate next year’s All Star game from Charlotte, North Carolina, to another city. Corporate giants like American Airlines and Hollywood giants like Disney are threatening action  ... MORE

Salim Furth: Government Regulators Have Added At Least An Extra $3,800 To The Price Of Producing A New Car

The high cost of savings-government style.  When Congress and the Obama administration passed and implemented extremely strict fuel economy regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that it would save consumers a few thousand dollars on gas and add only $948 to the price of a new car. Three teams of independent     ... MORE

California Raises Cost Of Hiring To $15 An Hour

More unemployment guaranteed.   California legislators and labor unions have reached a tentative agreement that will take the state's minimum wage from $10 to $15 an hour, a state senator said, a move that would make for the largest statewide minimum in the nation by far. "This is not a done deal," Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, told The    ... MORE

Equating Vaping With Smoking Is Medical Malpractice

by Jacob Sullum.      Credibility up in smoke. Like most professional pundits, Margaret Cuomo has perfected the art of speaking authoritatively even when she does not know what she is talking about. Unlike most professional pundits, Cuomo is in a position to cause real damage. As a celebrity doctor spreading misinformation about the hazards of  ... MORE

VIDEO: Ayn Rand On Objectivism

Kenric Ward: EPA Putting Red Light on Amateur Car Racing

Because they can.    A "power grab" by the Environmental Protection Agency threatens to crash America's amateur car-racing industry without putting so much as a dent in climate change, warns the chairman of the House Space, Science and Technology Committee. The EPA's move to regulate emissions on non-road racing vehicles contradicted    ... MORE

Bob Russell: Free Market Should Determine Wages

Give low-skill workers a chance.     I think the Minimum Wage Law is one of the worst things that government has ever done. It’s often said that people can’t live on $7.25 per hour as a reason for increasing the minimum wage. Of course, we all wish that everyone could make more, but it is not up to us or even the government to say what people  ... MORE

Stephen Chapman: No Opiates For The Masses?

Drug war becomes war against pain relief.  There is no problem so bad that government-imposed remedies cannot make it worse, spawn new problems or both. A new confirmation of that phenomenon may be on the way, thanks to new recommendations from an agency intent on curbing the use of opiates. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease   ... MORE