Click the picture to enlarge.
Original here. The relevant text reads, “Directions for use: it is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. Use only as a facial tissue.”
Tissue abuse must be rampant if there needs to be a law on the books to prevent it.
Comments Off on Laws for Everything
Posted in regulation
Over at RealClearMarkets, my colleague Wayne Crews and I argue that the law of demand holds. Hard to believe that’s actually controversial, but that’s Washington for you. Here’s our conclusion:
Eberly was put in an uncomfortable position when she came to Washington. Just as a lawyer’s job is to vigorously defend clients even if she knows they are guilty, Eberly’s job is to vigorously defend policies that are obviously harmful to the economy. Try as she might, she cannot argue against the law of demand.
Regulations make hiring costlier and thus make jobs scarcer. And regulatory uncertainty makes companies reluctant to hire employees they might not be able to afford down the road. Case closed.
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Posted in Business Cycles, Economics, Publications, regulation
Tagged basic economics, jan eberly, law of demand, realclearmarkets
This video is well worth the few minutes it takes to watch. Click here if the embedded video below doesn’t work.
Tom also plugs a new book he edited, The Morality of Capitalism. I’m a little over half way through it right now, and it is excellent. You can buy a hard copy here, and download a free electronic version (PDF format) here.
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Posted in Books, International
Tagged arab spring, morality of capitalism, reason tv, tom palmer
Yet another batch of regulatory bloopers:
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Posted in regulation
Tagged dumb regulations, go metric, silly regulations
Tomorrow morning I will appear on Pittsburgh Now, the morning news show on Pittsburgh’s NBC affiliate. Chris Moore is the host. We’ll be talking about the teacher’s pension scandal in Illinois, which I wrote about here. The segment will start a little after 10:00 am EST.
Seeing as I’m in DC, it will be a phone interview. They might put my picture on screen if they want to give viewers a good fright, but I will not be in the studio.
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Posted in Media Appearances
A widely cited study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform claims that undocumented immigrants cost taxpayers $113 billion per year. Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh, author of the new CEI Web Memo “A FAIR Criticism: A Critique of the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s ‘The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers.'” finds that the study counts costs but ignores benefits, uses shoddy data, and is harmful to the ongoing immigration debate.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast for October 27, 2011: How Much Do Undocumented Immigrants Cost?
Posted in CEI Podcast, Fun with Statistics, Immigration
Tagged cost of immigration, fair, Federation for American Immigration Reform, illegal immigration, Immigration, immigration costs, undocumented immigration
A New York Times/CBS poll finds that a record high 89 percent of Americans don’t trust the government to do the right thing.
Seeing as 26 percent of the workforce makes it living one way or another through the government, at least some of them apparently distrust their colleagues and possibly even themselves.
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Posted in Political Animals
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Posted in regulation
Today’s quote of the day from The Wall Street Journal‘s Political Diary newsletter is good stuff. Here it is in full:
“With Rick Perry suddenly pushing a flat tax and Herman Cain substantively revising his 9-9-9 revenue plan, GOP candidates may finally relinquish their feverish immigration obsession — one that’s destructive, distracting, demented, and downright dumb. Why spend a wildly disproportionate amount of energy exploring an issue that few voters consider a top priority, and where all Republican candidates fundamentally agree, rather than emphasizing real differences on the economic problems that will decide the election?
“Listening to the toxic trash talk at the Las Vegas debate, or watching attack ads that are already polluting the Internet, one might assume that the public viewed illegal immigration as the greatest challenge facing our civilization and believed the fate of the republic hinged on Mitt Romney’s past reliance on a lawn-service company that hired undocumented workers.
“Actually, no major poll of the last year — no, not one of them — showed robust public interest in immigration. This month, CBS News asked respondents to name ‘the most important problem facing this country today.’ Less than 2 percent came up with ‘illegal immigration,’ while a dozen other concerns, led by ‘the economy and jobs,’ of course, finished higher on the list. Over the summer, surveys from Bloomberg and Fox News found 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively, who identified immigration as a priority, with gas prices, the war in Afghanistan, health care, the deficit, education, and even nebulous concerns like ‘partisan politics’ and ‘moral values’ more frequently mentioned by the public” — syndicated columnist Michael Medved writing at thedailybeast.com on Oct. 24.
Republicans are even worse than Democrats on immigration issues. Medved is right. It would be nice if the GOP candidates would just stop talking about it. I don’t care if doing so would help them at the polls or not; I just think that economically illiterate anti-foreign bias is an ugly thing to behold.
Comments Off on Demagoguing Immigrants Wins No Votes
Posted in Elections, Immigration, Political Animals
The people of Illinois don’t expect their government to be corrupt; they insist on it. That’s why nary an eyebrow was raised when it recently came out that two lobbyists for the Illinois Federation of Teachers were able to qualify for generous teachers’ pensions by working as substitute teachers for one day.
One man could receive up to $3.8 million if he lives to age 84. This is in addition to the 401(k) the union gives him as an employee. The Chicago Tribune reports:
Preckwinkle’s one day of subbing qualified him to become a participant in the state teachers pension fund, allowing him to pick up 16 years of previous union work and nearly five more years since he joined. He’s 59, and at age 60 he’ll be eligible for a state pension based on the four-highest consecutive years of his last 10 years of work.
His paycheck fluctuates as a union lobbyist, but pension records show his earnings in the last school year were at least $245,000. Based on his salary history so far, he could earn a pension of about $108,000 a year, more than double what the average teacher receives.
Nationwide spending on K-12 education is around $13,000 per child per year. Not all of that spending is actually for the children, contrary to popular rhetoric. Fortunately, it appears only two people took advantage of this scheme. But the real kicker is that one of the two actually helped write the legislation that made it possible.
Posted in education, Political Animals, Public Choice, Spending
Tagged corruption, education unions, illinois, public pensions, spending, union pensions
Inertia Wins! 