Author: Redactor

Categories
too much government

Up and Down and Up and …

The stock market won’t serve as a crystal ball. How about a Magic 8‑Ball?

I’ve never asked “the stock market” for advice. But millions of people trade stocks. Their actions are presumably reflective of their judgments … some sober and rational, others panicky and irrational.

Often there’s no way to tell. But note how, in the push for ever-​more government intervention in the economy, traders are said to be dull-​witted if they don’t respond with exuberant glee to bailout news. They are thought smart only if they buy, buy, buy when government repeats the same mistakes that got us into this easy-​credit-​slathered mess to begin with.

Banks fail. Stocks decline. More banks fail. Stocks decline. Government announces a trillion-​dollar bailout. Stocks rise.

Then there’s trouble passing the bailout in Congress. The stock market dives hundreds of points!

Oh no! Obviously, we “need” the bailout! So there’s arm-​twisting, pork-​larding, another hundred billion in taxpayer dollars added to the biggest one-​day mortgaging of children’s future ever. Finally, the bailout passes.

And stocks dive even harder! Huh? The capitalists were supposed to be ecstatic about the feast of a free lunch. Therefore, the market must have fallen “despite” — not “because of” — the giant hit taxpayers are taking.

Some science, where 20/​20 hindsight imputes particular reasons to a process filled with conflicting reasons.

Me, I’m going to take up tea leaves.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
too much government

The More They Speak of Change

The more the presidential candidates promise change, the more it seems things are likely to stay just the way they are.

And I’m not the only one to notice. Washington Post columnist David Broder recently called it “the strangest of all presidential contests.” He argued, “The longer it goes on, the less we know about what either of these men would do if he were in the Oval Office next year.”

Both candidates are slinging promises of billions for this and billions for that, claiming to be everyone’s Mr. Everything. In the second presidential debate, Senator John McCain declared that if he were president, he “would order the Secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and … let people be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.”

No matter how much more house I buy than I can afford, the government will pay my mortgage?

Obama promises even more: “But most importantly, we’re going to have to help ordinary families be able to stay in their homes, make sure that they can pay their bills, deal with critical issues like health care and energy.…”

Obama’s administration is covering all my bills. Wow.

Both men seem oblivious to the reality that the next president will be handed a country badly in debt and unable to pay for the massive commitments it has already taken on. He won’t be handed a magic wand.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Common Sense free trade & free markets

Why Plant Crops?

With the financial crisis and bailout bill, our energy problems have been pushed off the front page. But they’re not gone. We still need energy to run our cars, homes, businesses, you name it.

So, I wanted to address a goofy argument that has been made a lot about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, way up north in Alaska. Some say that we shouldn’t drill because it won’t do anything at all to help lower the price of gas now.

We’re continually told that it will take seven to ten years for the oil found there to be pumped out, processed and pumped into our cars as gasoline.

Not shocking. It’s true. Most things do take some length of time to fully accomplish.

Say you order an appliance. It’s days before delivery. Have an idea for a book? It takes time to write, edit, and publish it. You’ll have to wait to get your first copy.

You know, the price of food is up, too, in part because of America’s stupid ethanol policy, which we’ve talked about before. Apply the logic of anti-​drilling advocates and we won’t plant crops anymore because, after all, no food pops into existence ex nihilo, instantaneously. It takes months before harvest. Even longer for the food to trundle off to market.

So, why plant? Why drill? Why buy that book, knowing that you can’t read it until you get home?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
First Amendment rights insider corruption

Shocker: Criminal Web Links!

Aliens take over government! Soviets control U.S. weather! Ancient Mayan temple has Sandisk flash drive!

If you’ve ever been to a supermarket, you’ve seen these and other ludicrous mile-​high headlines blaring from the newsstands.

Here’s another impossible headline that might issue from the pen of any zany, unscrupulous tabloid fabulist: BLOGGER TREATED AS CRIMINAL FOR POSTING WEB LINK TO CITY AGENCY!

Not a concoction, I’m afraid. The city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, did indeed harass a blogger named Jennifer Reisinger for linking to the website of the city police department. No alleged libel, alleged copyright violation, or other alleged crime. Ms. Reisinger and her lawyer believe the threat was retaliation for her role in trying to recall the Sheboygan mayor, Juan Perez.

Intimidated by the unprecedented cease-​and-​desist order she received from the city attorney, Reisinger at first removed the link. But then, after being threatened with a criminal investigation for her dastardly providing of information, she hired a lawyer. The lawyer advised her to restore the Web link, which she did. The mayor’s office dropped its threat, but Reisinger is suing anyway.

Mayor Perez and his henchmen deserve to be stomped in court — if only to pre-​empt similar stupidity and contempt for First Amendment rights by other vindictive politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
general freedom

The Crime of Being Robbed

Here’s one way to reduce your crime statistics: jail victims who report crime.

That’s the latest method of crime-​stopping in Shreveport, Louisiana. Starting October 15, gas station owners and even attendees will be culpable if a thief gases up and drives away without paying. Owners and employees will face fines and even jail time. The reasoning is that they are partly “responsible” for the crime by not requiring all customers to pre-pay.

I can’t say it’s the dumbest law out there because, well, there are so many dumb laws. It’s a very competitive field.

Councilman Monty Walford, who voted against the new ordinance, wonders whether the city will now require that grocery customers give a deposit before entering the store.

Police Chief Henry Whitehorn came up with the idea of penalizing Shreveport gas stations when drivers rob them. Whitehorn babbles that it’s a crime prevention measure. Station owners protest that it’s more customer-​friendly to let customers pay after gassing up. In any case, how they conduct business is, obviously, their own business.

All kinds of mandatory restrictions on ways of doing business might “prevent crime.” How about forcing shop owners to force customers to crawl through a concrete maze before reaching the shelves … then submit to strip searches as they leave? Sure, such a law would be costly, but it would “prevent crime.”

Except for the crime of the law itself.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets too much government

Designing a Cartel

Interior design: Most homeowners wing it, but a few call in the professionals.

Regulation of interior design: Most states just let our nation’s Graces freely contract with willing Wills. But a significant number of states, including Oklahoma and Connecticut, regulate these designing women and men.

Why? Have you heard a horrified outcry of Upton Sinclairesque proportions? I sure haven’t. I’m sure old Upton would have cooked up some story, if it had crossed his mind. He believed in regulating everything. He hated free enterprise, enough to lie for his cause.

So, who hates freedom of contract enough to regulate the industry?

Why, the industry itself!

A study released last year by the Institute for Justice shows that one group of interior designers, the American Society of Interior Designers, has been pushing regulation for years. Why? For one clear reason: to clear out the competition.

On the bright — or at least pastel — side, the group hasn’t been all that successful recently. So the group has raised its membership fees, redoubled lobbying efforts.

In response, a competing group, the Interior Design Protection Council, joined with the Institute for Justice to declare the month just passed, September, as Interior Design Freedom Month.

It’s too late to celebrate. But — wait a second — shouldn’t every month be Interior Design Freedom Month?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.