John Stossel: The Economy Needs No Conductor
We spend too much time waiting for orders —and money—from Washington. The collapse of the housing bubble gave politicians a license to do what they wanted to do all along: spend. The usual checks on extravagance, weak as they are, were washed away. Budgets? We’ll worry about that later. Inflation? We’ll worry about that later. As I point out ... MOREF. Vincent Vernuccio: Compulsory 'Free' Speech
How unions turn the meaning of words upside down. What is free speech? Is it the right to speak out and give money to causes, politicians and push ideas? Is it the ability to keep silent and not support that with which a person disagrees? Or is it the power of a group to force its individual members to fund political causes and candidates they do ... MORESteve Chapman: Mixing Ignorance And Democracy
Mindlessly exercising a right. This is an election year, which means all of us will spend the next few months carefully following the campaigns, finding out all we can about the candidates' proposals and pondering what issues are most vital for the nation's future. Just kidding. Most of us wouldn't do that if you Tased us to within an inch of our lives. In fact, ... MOREDunn & Milloy: EPA's Faulty Science Can Be Stopped
Time to rein in unreliable, irresponsible and outrageous claims. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-sponsored and funded "human health effects science" research is unreliable and makes irresponsible and outrageous claims about how air pollution causes thousands of deaths. Then the EPA claims that it can prevent those deaths with its ... MOREJanet Levy: Shredding the Constitution
Public servants have morphed themselves into masters. The U.S. Constitution, which has guided American society for over two centuries, inspiring nations worldwide and serving as a model for governance, is under serious threat today. Ironically, that threat comes from the very individuals charged with protecting the Constitution -- federal, state, and local ... MORE
Crony Capitalism & The Expansive Central State
by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds. Crony capitalism arises when an expansive Central State dominates the economy.The Central State can then protect crony-capitalist perquisites, cartels, quasi-monopolies and financialization skimming operations of the sort which now dominate the U.S. economy's primary profit centers. If we step back, the larger ... MOREKevin Glass: Tax Code Cost Taxpayers $228 Billion
So says the latest new study. The National Taxpayers Union put out a policy paper looking at the increasing complexity in the tax code and came up with some shocking results. Americans spent over six billion hours filing their taxes this year and used professionals to figure the tax code out for them at an alarming rate. The study, "A Taxing Trend: The Rise In ... MORELeonard Pitts Jr: Obama Off Base On Drug Legalization
Is Obama anti-Black? If President Obama had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin. So the president famously said. And the president's son would thereby find himself at significantly greater risk of running afoul of the so-called "War on Drugs" than, say, a son of George W. Bush. Depending on what state he lived in, a Trayvon Obama might be 57 times more ... MOREJacob Sullum: From Hackers To Slackers
How to prosecute almost anyone with a computer. If you are reading this column online at work, you may be committing a federal crime. Or so says the Justice Department, which reads the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) broadly enough to encompass personal use of company computers as well as violations of fine-print website rules that ... MOREHolman W. Jenkins Jr: The Inequality Obsession
Do we want to persuade the rich to report less income? If it were learned that the car driven by the average American is 10 times more likely to burst into flames than the car driven by the richest 1%, what should the policy response be? Should it be to mandate that cars driven by the rich burst into flames more often? Income inequality is a strange obsession, at least ... MORERichard Epstein: Term Limits For Judges
Why should politicians in robes be treated differently? In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton famously argued that the federal courts were “the least dangerous” branch of government. What he did not understand was that they also proved, over time, to be the worst constructed. The problems here start at the top and work their way down to the ... MORE3 Crucial Things About The Apple Antitrust Case
by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins. Just when Apple was introducing its latest iPad, the government announced that Apple was among six companies being investigated over ebook pricing. As that investigation appears to be nearing its conclusion, here are three things everyone needs to know about the case. 1. The government is targeting voluntary agreements ... MOREWashington Times: Making Tax Day Worse
Dems push more expensive and complicated system. Americans who thought Tax Day was bad this year could find it far worse next year. Tuesday happens to be Tax Freedom Day, the date by which taxpayers have earned enough to pay off Uncle Sam and start earning for themselves. This occasion will fall even later next year if President Obama succeeds ... MORECould The Rats Be Fleeing A Sinking Ship?
Congressional retirements highest since 1996. Rep. Ed Towns' (D-NY) retirement announcement "makes him the 25th House retirement of this cycle. Add in the 10 Senate retirements, and you've got the most combined retirements since 1996, when Democratic lawmakers retired in droves after the Republican Revolution of 1994 (and many ... MOREVeronique de Rugy: Taxation, American Style
The tax code is more progressive than you think. Americans often tout the contrast between the bloated, tax-funded welfare states of the Old World and our leaner, cheaper government. But the data reveal that the U.S. may be closer to Europe than we think. Contrary to common belief, the American tax system is more progressive than those of ... MOREScott Holleran Movies: The Hunger Games
A LibertyPen movie recommendation. In mythology, Diana was a huntress who set upon the woods with bow and arrows, precision in her aim and a desire to protect youth and life. Essentially, The Hunger Games, based on the book by Suzanne Collins and the third highest-grossing movie debut ever, is a version of Diana’s story. It is not fast and flashy. It is slow ... MORE
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