Category: too much government

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too much government

The Really Slow Fast COVID-​19 Test

virus, Covid, mask, testing

A rapid test for COVID-​19 that you could perform in homes, workplaces, and classrooms would be less accurate than the best slower tests. But even somewhat accurate fast tests would help many to cope with the disease more effectively.

If necessary, asymptomatic persons who test positive could be retested by another method while staying isolated. If test-​takers have already exhibited COVID-​like symptoms (but also bad-​cold-​like symptoms), a quick positive result means that they could more quickly start appropriate treatment.

An easy, rapid test would be a godsend in situations where it is advisable for people to be retested continually.

In late August, Abbott Labs announced that production of a credit-​card-​sized, “$5, 15-​minute, easy-​to-​use” test is being increased “to 50 million tests a month.” The U.S. has approved its mass-​scale use.

Hooray! Another positive development in efforts to cope with a scourge that is not the Black Death but not just-​the-​flu either.

Not so fast. 

Great as far as it goes, but as FEE writer James Anthony notes, this is only one approval of one test produced by one company. And the test can be performed only at “point-​of-​care” sites able to flourish special regulatory approval. So not at every workplace, classroom, or home. 

Yet, according to Abbott, the test delivers results “in just 15 minutes with no instrumentation.” 

Sounds like mere lay persons like you and me would have to . . . follow instructions. 

Like governments should follow ours … and get out of the way.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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too much government

How Quickly Can California Be Destroyed?

Gavin Newsom, California, fires

It’s hard to destroy a state. Or rather, the advanced industrial economy of a state.

Mud slides, eco-​policy-​abetted wildfires, exploding taxes and spending and regulations, riots, pandemics — such things go only so far. After the latest holocausts and catastrophes abate (if they do), survivors can still soldier on. Mow the lawn, say hello to neighbors, hop in the car to get to work, and so forth.

Is there a solution? Yes! Pile on the calamities thicker, faster, harder. While people are still reeling from one natural disaster or lunatic policy decision, slug them again!

California Governor Gavin Newsom is taking this lesson to heart, bless him. He has signed an order banning production of emission-​emitting cars and light trucks by 2035, in hopes of eliminating “sales of internal combustion engines.”

He also wants lawmakers to get cracking on banning fracking. No point helping to produce abundant means of combustion if you’re outlawing combustion.

Alas, though Newsom’s heart is in the right place, he’s still somewhat pandering to friends of civilization and transportation. If gas be so wicked, turn off the spigot ipso pronto. Well, maybe in a month or two to give people a chance to practice their walking. Then shutter all carbon-​emitting factories that make all the cars, including electric cars.

If the key to life is paying fealty to environmentalist pieties immunized from cogent analysis, we must end industry ASAP. Stopping plastic straws and internal combustion isn’t enough.

Sock it to ’em!

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Today too much government

Blasphemy? Independence?

Botswanans celebrate their independence from Great Britain with an official day on September 30.

Also, September 30 has served as Blasphemy Rights Day since 2009, when it was initiated by the Center for Inquiry.

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too much government

Sweet Grape Victory of 2020

grapes, regulation, law

Raise a long-​stemmed glass to the wineries of Minnesota. And to the Institute for Justice, which fought for their rights in court.

Minnesota wine makers may now make wine with whatever grapes they like! They may make wines that were illegal for them to make before.

Early in September, a federal judge struck down a 1980 Minnesota law which prevented Minnesota wineries from crushing grapes into wine unless most of the grapes being used had been grown in Minnesota. Winemakers were thus thwarted from producing popular varietals requiring grapes that can’t be grown in the state. Temporary exemptions from the law were possible but could not be counted on.

Judge Wilhelmina Wright’s ruling may well inspire challenges to similar prohibitions in other states. You know you’re a fifth of the way into the twenty-​first century when dramatic modernistic advancements like letting wineries buy whatever grapes they wish have become possible.

You may be thinking: “Huh? I had no idea that wine makers in Minnesota were not allowed to buy grapes from other states. That’s painfully stupid!”

Of course, that is probably not the opinion of the proponents of the law. At least some Minnesota grape growers no doubt believe that persuading lawmakers to block out-​of-​state grapes was a smart move. 

But is it really so very wise to hobble business competitors for the sake of short-​term advantages regardless of the long-​term costs to the freedom — not to mention the palates — of all?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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deficits and debt tax policy too much government

No Shock and Awe

Benjamin Franklin, Death and Taxes,

They’ve crunched the numbers and the shocking truth is … Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden wants to raise taxes and debt.

The word “shocking” needs quotation marks, of course, for sheer lack of any shock whatsoever.

Also not shocking is who pays.

You see, “80 to 90 percent of the total proposed tax increases in Biden’s plan would fall on the top five percent of earners,” according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. That is the target taxpayer cohort, anyway. Economists know a hidden truth: the incidence of a tax’s burden shifts. All taxes siphon off production, but — because production is engaged in for consumption’s sake — in the end consumers pay.

In politics, of course, the idea is not to acknowledge this, instead focusing on the targets, tempting voters to get on board with spending and taxing and borrowing just so long as some other (preferably non-​voting) people pay. 

“While tax burdens would rise by 0.2 to 0.6 percent for most households, they would rise by 2.3 to 5.7 percent for the top 20 percent of earners and by 13.0 to 17.8 percent for those in the top 1 percent in 2021.” The Democrats would have the highest earners in America pay an extra “$300,000 per year” and call that a benefit … to those who would pay less.

Meanwhile, the “additional revenue that would be raised through Biden’s tax plan would only pay for a portion of his overall spending agenda.” It would take “$6 trillion more … to stabilize debt-​to-​GDP at today’s near-​record levels.”

According to the CRFB, because of pandemic panic spending, and before any proposed Biden add-​ons, “debt will grow from 79 percent of GDP before the crisis to 101 percent by the end of 2020 and 118 percent of GDP by 2030.”

Have our politicians set out to revise Ben Franklin’s maxim? There is nothing more certain than death and taxes — and debt.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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free trade & free markets too much government

Leave California

California, gig economy, freelancing, contractor

Should Uber and Lyft abandon California? 

At issue is the anti-​freelancer statute AB 5, passed last year in the Golden State, which outlaws independent contractors in many industries.

Including the wildly successful ride-​sharing business.

Horrified, threatened, Uber and Lyft have declared their willingness to suspend operations in California if they are forced to reclassify independent contractors as employees. 

You see, wage and salary contracts are heavily regulated already, and switching from independent contractors to employees means drivers would be entitled to expensive benefits. 

Which would upset the gig economy business model.

A model Democrats hate. This assault on independent contractors is something that Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden wants to impose nationwide. 

The Democrat-​controlled U.S. House passed such legislation in February.

For now, a court order has given the companies a temporary reprieve from another court’s order mandating compliance. 

Maybe the dueling decrees will end well for the ride-​sharing companies, allowing them to function. Maybe not. There’s also a citizen initiative in the mix. Proposition 22 on the fall ballot would substantially modify AB5 to make it possible for at least some freelancers to do their jobs in the state of nearly 40 million people.

On the other hand, should California officials succeed in imposing their mandate on the ride-​sharing firms, Uber and Lyft should follow through on their threat and leave.

The consequences of such attacks on the market should be made as plain as possible as rapidly as possible so that as many people as possible can make the connection between cause and effect.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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