Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1573

Realpolitik

The Wall Street Journal's irrepressible Americas columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady is a national treasure: here's her latest column on Honduras – and on the Obama administration's coziness with tyrants.  Some key 'grafs:

The image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wielding what resembled an oversized mallet while leading a mob of congressmen across Capitol Hill on the day of the health-care vote is the stuff of nightmares. It is also instructive. As a metaphor for how the Democrats view their...

Klinging to Hope

Arnold Kling's op-ed on the political significance of March 21, 2010 – the day Obamacare succeeded in Congress – deserves a lot of light of day.

Some Links

Bob Higgs, here and here, disabuses anyone with open eyes of the notion that a mania for laissez faire swept the USA over the past thirty years.

And here, Scott Horton interviews Bob Higgs on Antiwar Radio about the current economic crisis.

Tony Blankley sees socialism – or what the translated Tocqueville called "soft despotism" – dividing America.  (HT Lyle Albaugh)

Nelson Schwartz, writing in the New York Times, has some nice things to say about speculators.  (HT Peter Minowitz)

And, on (much) ...

Remarks on Free Trade

Sven Normann discovered this video recording of my opening remarks in a debate that I had a few years ago, at Bucknell University, with the AFL-CIO's Thea Lea.  Sven graciously asks that I post this video here at the Cafe.  Being incurably vain, I do so.

What Government Does

Nancy Pelosi can't quite bring herself to admit it publicly, but she understands the essence of the state: coercion.

Investment Advice

Here's a letter sent today to the Wall Street Journal:

Rep. Henry Waxman is angry that corporations are now writing down the losses they anticipate they'll incur as a result of Obamacare.  So he's demanding that many of these firms' executives testify before Congress to explain this practice that he says "appears to conflict with independent analyses, which show that the new law will expand coverage and bring down costs" ("The ObamaCare Writedowns," March 27).

Overlook Mr. Waxman's arrogant...

'War on Drugs' = War on Peace

As noted earlier, the Wall Street Journal's own Mary Anastasia O'Grady understand that Uncle Sam's 'war on drugs' promotes violence.  This letter, from someone on the scene, confirms Mary's wisdom:

Mary O'Grady's March 22 Americas column "The War on Drugs Is Doomed" is one of the best pieces ever written on the connection between U.S. drug policy and drug violence in Mexico. I just hope it can inform public policy discussions.

I am on the City Council of El Paso, Texas, across the border from...

Don't Call it "Stimulus"

My GMU colleague Tom Hazlett is co-author of this outstanding essay, at Real Clear Markets, on the "jobs bill."  Some select passages:

Counter to the predictions put forward a year ago by the Administration, when it claimed that "more than 90 percent of the jobs created are likely to be in the private sector," U.S. companies employed 3.9 million fewer workers in January 2010 than they did one year earlier. Public employment bucked the trend, staying constant even as governments contended with...

Less now, more later

In the comments to this post, Rayllove writes:

If Greece were to default the Euro would tank and a flight to safety would very probably drive up the dollar. That would worsen the US debt and the export situation while helping the Euro exports. The cost of bailing out Greece seems to be the less evil of the choices, what are the alternatives?

The alternative is to let someone, anyone, pay a price for recklessness. Otherwise, you get more recklessness and eventually, you have a catastrophe...

Other people's money

So you live beyond your means and rack up a bunch of bills you can't cover. So you go to your rich uncle. He's tapped out, alas. And tired of supporting you. So he goes to his rich uncle who's even richer and known for his desire to keep the family name unsullied. But what if he's tapped out? Those are my thoughts when I read this story that Sarkozy is supporting Merkel in getting the IMF to bail out the Greeks. The IMF is the richer uncle. Eventually the other guy runs out of money. We're...