Danson in the Dark

Posted on June 8, 2009 | Comments Off on Danson in the Dark

Actor and noted intellectual Ted Danson has a piece on CNN.com entitled “World’s Biggest Fish Are Dying.”

To his credit, it is not about whales.

Unfortunately, most of his analysis is on a similar intellectual plane. As PERC’s Terry Anderson recently pointed out on 20/20, the best way to save endangered species is to eat them. Cows, chickens, and pigs will never be threatened species as long as we need them for food.

Rising demand for buffalo meat has given entrepreneurs ample incentive to boost that endangered animal’s numbers. It works on land. Why not at sea, too?

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Posted in The New Religion

To Stimulate the Economy, Let it Be Free

Posted on June 8, 2009 | Comments Off on To Stimulate the Economy, Let it Be Free

Wayne Crews and I are in this morning’s Washington Examiner touting a deregulatory stimulus package.

For a fuller treatment of the ideas, see Wayne’s 10,000 Commandments study.

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Posted in Economics, Publications, Stimulus

Regulation of the Day 1: Taxpayer-Funded Advertising for Mushrooms

Posted on June 5, 2009 | Comments Off on Regulation of the Day 1: Taxpayer-Funded Advertising for Mushrooms

This is the first installment of an occasional series that shines a little light on what the regulatory state is up to.

Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Agricultural Marketing Service (5,500 employees, $1.3 billion 2008 budget). Farmers are apparently unique among businesses in being unable to promote themselves, and therefore need help from the federal government.

Page 26,984 of the 2009 Federal Register contains a proposed rule titled “Amendments to Mushroom Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Order and Referendum Order.”

Basically, large mushroom producers will vote in a referendum to decide if they like proposed changes in federal mushroom policy. Also at issue is membership apportionment on the all-important Mushroom Council.

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Posted in Public Choice, Regulation of the Day

Twenty Years since Tiananmen Square

Posted on June 4, 2009 | Comments Off on Twenty Years since Tiananmen Square

China is a very different place than it was twenty years ago. It was on this day in 1989 that one anonymous, brave soul halted those tanks in their tracks during the Tiananmen Square protests.

Slow but steady economic liberalization has lifted as many as half a billion people out of poverty in China since Mao’s death. Most of that progress has happened since the Tiananmen massacre. And the process has accelerated in recent years.

Economist Alex Tabarrok, speaking at a TED conference, described China’s new economic freedom as “the world’s greatest antipoverty program of the past three decades.”

But not everything has changed since Tiananmen. China still does not have a free press. There is no freedom of speech or religion. In many ways, the Chinese government is as repressive as ever. If China is to be a great nation again, it must be free. If the Chinese people follow the peaceful example of the Tiananmen Tank Man, it will happen.

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Posted in History

An Alternative Stimulus

Posted on June 3, 2009 | Comments Off on An Alternative Stimulus

Wayne Crews and I have a piece in today’s Detroit News with some ideas for getting the economy back on track.

The key line: “Doing business in America is becoming very expensive. No wonder there is less of it.”

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Posted in Economics, Publications, regulation, Stimulus

Countdown to the Postseason

Posted on May 31, 2009 | Comments Off on Countdown to the Postseason

The Brewers moved back into first place today. For those keeping track, their magic number — the combined total of Brewer wins and Cardinal losses needed to clinch the division — is down to 112. Feel the excitement.

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Posted in Sports

The Cost of Cybersecurity in Context

Posted on May 29, 2009 | Comments Off on The Cost of Cybersecurity in Context

President Obama has just announced the creation of a new “cyber czar.” During his remarks, he noted that “cyber crime has cost Americans more than $8 billion.”

He continued, “My presidency has so far cost Americans more than $4 trillion.”

Just kidding about that last part. Kind of.

(Cross-posted at Open Market)

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Posted in Economics, regulation, Spending, Technology

The Hidden Trillion

Posted on May 28, 2009 | Comments Off on The Hidden Trillion

In today’s Investor’s Business Daily, Wayne Crews and I have a piece about regulation. Federal regulations alone cost businesses and consumers $1.17 trillion last year. State and local rules are extra. We offer some ideas for lightening the load and stimulating the economy.

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Posted in Economics, Publications, regulation

Lamb Roast: Mankind’s Doom

Posted on May 26, 2009 | Comments Off on Lamb Roast: Mankind’s Doom

The Onion reports that “Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out ‘high carbon’ food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment.”

Oh, wait — that article was actually in the Times of London. It isn’t satire. At least, not intentionally.

(Hat tip to Drudge)

(Cross-posted at Open Market)

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Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion

Fulfilling Prophecies

Posted on May 21, 2009 | Comments Off on Fulfilling Prophecies

CBO estimated today that unemployment will top out at around 10.5% before it recovers. Congress is doing its part to make CBO’s dire prophecy a reality.

Rep. Alan Grayson is set to introduce the Paid Vacation Act, which would make it federal law for employers to offer paid vacation for employees (hat tip to Marc Scribner for finding the story). Rep. Grayson believes his bill will stimulate the economy. “Fewer sick days, better productivity and happier employees” will boost GDP and employment.

The Congressman may be unaware that when workers become more expensive to hire, employers hire fewer of them. Or else he is more concerned with making CBO’s predictions come true.

(Cross-posted at Open Market)

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Posted in Economics, Predicting the Future, Spending