Quote of the Day
Every profession is a conspiracy against the laityGeorge Bernard Shaw
Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
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| Via Illinois Policy Institute |
Mark Perry of Carpe Diem reports on an e21 piece noting that all 9 movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar took advantage of lucrative state tax incentives to shoot the picture in their states. The states often justify their incentives claiming to make it all up and then some with associated increased business/job growth, etc. But many states report losing up to 70% on the tax dollar incentive, meaning other state taxpayers have to make up the difference. WalMart learned a long time ago instead of running splashy periodic specials, it would simply offer everyday low competitive prices over all its inventory. Instead of being seduced by Hollywood stars or high-profile pro sports teams, states should focus on everyday low tax/regulatory overhead and efficient, effective services for all businesses and citizens....
My Greatest Hits: Jan. 2014
- Miscellany: 12/23/13
- Miscellany: 12/25/13 Happy Christmas
- SCOTUS, the Voting Rights Act and a Rant
- Miscellany: 11/29/12
- Miscellany: 12/24/13 Christmas Eve
Facebook Corner
(Learn Liberty). Does anyone see anything problematic in this story?
Only a tiny fraction of the workforce makes minimum wage, and a large number of those are not heads of households but younger and/or inexperienced workers. There are also short-term vs. long-term effects of wage floor increases, and wages are only part of total compensation.
The problem is the thing unseen--people deprived of income and experience which they would get where the market-clearing price is below the statutory floor. Increasing the price of labor lowers the supply of jobs, plus gives the employer an incentive to invest in labor-saving technology. What you want is healthy economic growth increasing the demand for labor and labor prices intrinsically, not by some megalomaniac delusion of manipulating alleged income inequality through impotent public policy.
(Bastiat Institute). Does law have anything to do with what politicians and bureaucrats declare legal and illegal?
Certainly not when published law lacks due process, accountability, transparency or violates negative liberties and/or when the scope of law is virtually unknowable and its enforcement becomes arbitrary.
(Catholic Libertarians). « ... When libertarians speak of the “free market,” they are not talking about what today passes for capitalism, where the markets are subject to heavy regulation. The supposed purpose of government regulation is to serve the public interest, but the results do not match the rhetoric. On issue after issue, government interference is far more likely to promote special interests and to obstruct those who compete with those interests.
This is not to blame the corporations, trade organizations, or labor unions whose lobbyists roam the nation’s capitals looking for handouts. Special interests will seek favor with politicians as long as politicians have the favors to give. The blame must always be placed where it belongs: on the government, which takes what it does not own and gives what it has no right to give ... »
Excerpt from Free Is Beautiful: Why Catholics Should Be Libertarian by fellow page-admin Randy England (http://freeisbeautiful.net/about-the-book/) ~Mark
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| Via Young Americans For Liberty |
What happens is that government seeks to manipulate the economy from a megalomaniac delusion of central planning. It uses carrots and sticks; as holding monopolistic control/force, it has leverage to pick winners and losers in the economy. Opportunistic businesses attempt to co-opt the tax and regulatory regime to get their "fair share" at the expense of the competition and consumers. A corporation can't do it directly because it employs only a tiny fraction of the voting public. Hence the bugaboo of corporations "buying elections". More likely, corrupt lobbyists are politically agnostic and seek a seat at the table of whomever holds power.
The problem, of course, is that the costs of regulations are largely off the government's books, not to mention opportunity costs. It, however, inhibits the dynamic behavior of free markets. This is not the matter of the chicken or the egg; government rationalizes its own existence and growth on a lack of faith in the free market; it creates instability by, for example, introducing deposit insurance in banking. It indirectly encourages riskier lending, knowing depositors are taken care of; depositors don't need to assess bank safety, knowing they are covered by any insured bank. This would not happen under free banking.
(Independent Institute). What did you think of Obama's NSA speech yesterday?
It's good to hear him acknowledge there is a transparency problem after 5 years and initially running on concerns over government transparency and civil liberties. (Remember his campaign rhetoric opposing the Patriot Act?)
But politically he has been one to co-opt his opposition, a bait-and-switch where he tries to wed the stolen rhetoric to weak, half-ass policy reforms/"solutions". The proof is in the pudding; physician/bureaucrat, heal thyself! Where is the evidence of a proactive self-policing State on his watch?
(Illinois Policy Institute). Reforms that will empower parents, reward and retain high-quality teachers and improve student outcomes are proceeding at a snails’ pace in Illinois.
In response to the "progressive" troll whose response to Illinois' failing public school monopoly is to throw more money to teacher unions and top-heavy school bureaucracies:
From a recent Cato Institute post: "Of twelve randomized controlled trials—the gold standard of social science research—eleven found that school choice programs improve outcomes for some or all students while only one found no statistically significant difference and none found a negative impact...A 2009 literature review of the within-country studies comparing outcomes among different types of school systems worldwide revealed that the most market-like and least regulated education systems tended to produce student outcomes superior to more heavily regulated systems, including those with a substantial number state-funded and regulated private schools."
(Illinois Policy Institute). Wisconsin's budget surplus was projected Thursday to reach nearly $1 billion, money that Gov. Scott Walker and legislative leaders are eyeing for income and property tax cuts.
He's made a whole more people in WI poorer and now he's going to give the rich another bonus. He knows who butters his bread.
No, unlike your corrupt governor and legislature, he is giving taxpayers more control over their own money and curbing the abuses of corrupt self-interest groups like the public employee unions. He is trying to make his state more attractive for businesses and individuals; what has the state of Illinois done over the past decade under Dem "leadership" other than to kick the can down the road and exacerbate the ongoing pension crisis and credit downgrades? And your answer is to steal even more money from taxpayers to pay off corrupt bargains with Dem special interests?
(Drudge Report). OBAMA: 'I WOULD NOT LET MY SON PLAY PRO FOOTBALL'...
His son, by the time he was old enough for the NFL draft, would be a legal adult. (Of course, that's never stopped Barry from telling the rest of us adults what to do...) What's he going to say? 'Sonny, if you go to training camp, I'll take you off my healthcare policy...'
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall |
Peter Cetera and Amy Grant, "Next Time I Fall"
