Category: too much government

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crime and punishment folly free trade & free markets general freedom ideological culture nannyism too much government

Potluck Rites, and Rights

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Progressives are becoming increasingly defensive about nearly all forms of Big Government, relentlessly telling us that we need government for everything from money and roads to food inspection and subsidies and . . . well, the list is endless.

Food safety is one of their favorite subjects, but I’m increasingly skeptical. Do we really need to be protected from our neighbors’ produce and cooked goods, as can be found in community bake sales and potlucks?

In Arizona, legislators had long carved out an exemption from commercial food safety regulations for potluck and similar “noncommercial social events.” Great. But there was an unfortunate limitation to the exemption: it applied only to such events that took place at a workplace.

Home or church? Potlucks there are still against the law.

So of course officials took the occasion of said “loophole” to crack down on some neighborly events in an Apache Junction mobile home park, in Pinal County.

I’m sure hundreds, perhaps thousands of these events are routinely ignored by Arizona’s police. Indeed, I bet half of the state’s better cops engage in such activities themselves — just because potlucks are part of everyday life all over the country.

But the idiotic regulation allowed public servants (loosely so called) discretionary powers to attack a few people for reasons tangential to community safety. Thankfully, Rep. Kelly Townsend has introduced HB 2341, which would extend potluck freedom beyond the office or warehouse workplace.

Let us be clear: this was not a problem waiting to be solved by Big Government. It is a Big Government problem to be solved by new legislation to de-regulate home and community potlucks.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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folly general freedom ideological culture meme moral hazard nannyism national politics & policies too much government

Mega-state vs. Corporate Power

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Building a mega-state to fight corporate power…

…is like giving yourself AIDS to fight the flu.

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folly free trade & free markets ideological culture meme moral hazard nannyism national politics & policies too much government

What Kind of a Socialist is Bernie?

Bernie Sanders, monopoly, control, redistribution, central. planning, government, meme, illustration

He’s never met a government monopoly he didn’t love, or a free market service he didn’t distrust or despise…

…but don’t worry, he’s not really a socialist!

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folly ideological culture moral hazard national politics & policies tax policy too much government

The B. S. Theory

tax the rich, tax, pay, paid, paying, Common Sense

Bernie Sanders is worse than merely wrong about the rich not paying their fair share of taxes.

It’s we, the much-lauded “Ninety-nine Percenters,” who don’t pay enough!

At least, when we figure taxes paid against direct subsidies/services rendered: taxes minus transfers. And, according to the Congressional Budget Office, only the top quintile of income earners — including the much-abhorred One Percenters — pay appreciably more in taxes than they receive in “benefits.”

In a republic, you would expect the masses to pay taxes, receiving only indirect benefits, like a broadly defined “security” and “the rule of law.”

The calculation of who is and is not a net tax-payer or net tax-consumer has to be difficult. I certainly haven’t vetted the studies carefully. But previous accountings also show that the super-rich pay the bulk of income taxes in America.

How to put the system aright?

Don’t tax us more!

Bernie’s preference, to tax a whole lot more as well as to provide more subsidies and “benefits,” will only make a bigger mess.

Unfortunately, doing the right thing (cutting back on the giveaways at all levels) is politically . . . tricky.

But there’s something missing in all this: the indirect hazards of the “benefits” . . . the opportunity costs involved when we get hooked on hand-outs. The most trapped people in America are those who pay the least and take the most. The dollar-value of their received transfer payments measure neither their dependency nor their consequent lack of upward mobility.

How could we figure real harms and helps embedded in the current system, when some “benefits” are, in fact, detriments?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Accountability folly general freedom moral hazard national politics & policies responsibility too much government

Giving Up on the Future?

Social Security, wealth transfer, young, old, elderly, Germany, Japan, baby boom

Both Germany and Japan now transfer money, on net, from the young to the old. Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary, The Economist reports, do the same.

The instrument of this transfer? Well, the elephant in the room: those nation’s entitlement programs — their versions of our “Social Security.”

John O. McGinnis, George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law at Northwestern University, explains how unnatural the direction of the transfer is. Normally, societies “give more to the young than the young can ever repay.” Remember the truism, “the children are our future”? Families, McGinnis explains, “exemplify this principle. Socially too, the intergenerational flow of resources is what creates civilization as each generation receives benefits from the previous one.”

Taking from the young to give to the old, on the other hand, is not just counter-intuitive. It stifles innovation, entrepreneurship, progress itself.

What drives the trend? It is complicated. But the politics behind redistributionist programs is the main culprit:

The elderly vote more than the young, who have more distractions, and politicians are thus all too eager to give them goodies. And while individually the elderly would like to direct more resources to their young relatives, when they act in politics they face a kind of tragedy of the commons. They cannot prevent others from living off the state, so they might as well do themselves.

As my generation, the infamous Baby Boom, retires, the demographics turn Social Security against society’s main purpose: building a future. The culture refocuses on retirement . . . preparing for death.

Another way — on top of growing debt and increasing regulatory burden — we’re leaving our kids with less than we had.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Accountability folly free trade & free markets moral hazard porkbarrel politics too much government

Crony Corn

pig, port, corn, ethanol, subsidies, gas, fuel, Common Sense, Paul Jacob

The presidential campaign officially begins in Iowa. The Hawkeye State is also the nation’s corn-growing champion. Each year, Iowans sell 47 percent of that crop to produce ethanol, which accounts for a not-insignificant 8 percent of the state’s gross product.

Ethanol has friends in Washington, too. Congressional wizards have mandated that the gasoline pumped into cars throughout the land be diluted with ethanol — talk about a market guarantee!

At National Review, Jeremy Carl explains that “energy-policy experts of all political stripes can agree . . . mandates and subsidies to promote the use of corn ethanol (a policy first implemented by Jimmy Carter) are wasteful boondoggles that harm our environment and food supply while imposing billions of dollars of hidden costs on consumers. However, most energy-policy experts are not running for president in the Iowa caucuses.”

In 2008, both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain flip-flopped to support the ethanol subsidies they had previously opposed.

But, this year, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul haven’t pandered along.

When Cruz rose to first place in the polls, Gov. Terry Branstad attacked, arguing, “It would be a big mistake for Iowa to support [Cruz]” because “his anti-renewable fuel stand . . . will cost us jobs, and will further reduce farm income . . .”

Yesterday, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Cruz, “Why should [Iowa] voters side with you over the six-term governor of this state?”

“I think there should be no mandates and no subsidies whatsoever,” Cruz replied.

In today’s Iowa caucus, can Cruz overcome the forces of crony corn?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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crime and punishment folly general freedom ideological culture meme property rights too much government

Human Interest Story

Income inequality, newspaper clipping, humor, satire, social justice, socialism, Common Sense, meme, illustration, Jim Gill, Paul Jacob

“Local Moralist Doing His Part to End Income Inequality”

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Income inequality, newspaper clipping, humor, satire, social justice, socialism, Common Sense, meme, illustration, Jim Gill, Paul Jacob

Mugger photo by Flikr user cometstarmoon

 

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folly free trade & free markets meme moral hazard national politics & policies too much government

Why government is (almost) never the solution. . .

big government, solutions, toxic assets, bank bailout, meme, illustration, Jim Gill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

When you systematically reward failure, incompetence and irresponsibility…what results should you expect?

Bank Bailout

QE – Toxic Asset Government Purchases

Moral Hazard

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folly free trade & free markets ideological culture meme moral hazard nannyism responsibility too much government

Flint Water Crisis

Flint, water, crisis, poison, government, free market, austerity, failure, Common Sense, Meme, James Gill, Paul Jacob

Government failure checklist. . .

Reference:

The Government Poisoned Flint’s Water—
So Stop Blaming Everyone Else

Flint’s water crisis isn’t a failure of austerity. It’s a failure of government.

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Flint, water, crisis, poison, government, free market, austerity, failure, Common Sense, Meme, James Gill, Paul Jacob

 

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Accountability folly general freedom government transparency moral hazard too much government

Buying Quality of Life

Indiana, pork, Mike Pence, Regional Cities initiative, Common Sense, illustration

People who spend other people’s money in Indiana are applauding their amazing ability to write big checks and hand them out.

The Regional Cities initiative — enacted by the Republican legislature and heralded by the Republican governor — just awarded grants of $42 million of taxpayer dough to three of seven county consortia in the Hoosier State.

“This is big. This is a big deal in Indiana,” Gov. Mike Pence told reporters, “and I believe it’s part of a third century strategy for growth that will pay dividends for generations.”

Really? Government redistribution will fuel “growth” . . . and “pay dividends”?

The more-spending “strategy” is “geared toward quality of life projects ranging from economic development and job creation, to improved recreational and arts opportunities,” according to WNDU-TV in South Bend, adding that, “The Regional Cities Initiative is aimed at the younger generation and giving those people more reasons to love — than leave the state.”

Love it or leave it, eh?

“The public has been told that we have some sort of $42-million jackpot to spend on wonderful things,” explains Fort Wayne City Councilman Jason Arp in his Indiana Policy Review. “What hasn’t been made clear is that with the award comes [an] obligation not only to match that $42 million with taxpayer and private money but a separate eight-year commitment to a portfolio of $1.4 billion in projects. . . .”

In other words, it’s a classic government-spends-our-money-better-than-we-can program.

The Regional Development Authority will, in the end, “have discouraged actual entrepreneurship, innovation and free enterprise,” Arp explains. In their place? A “sort of unaccountable directorate.”

Growing ever bigger to better spend our hard-earned dough.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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