Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1576

Poof! Problem Solved.

On the 11pm local news last night – NBC News 4 (WRC) here in DC – U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) smilingly told a reporter that, now that Obamacare has passed, the health-care costs that until now troubled her district in Maryland "will go away."

Why is a person such as the Hon. Ms. Edwards portrayed as being anything other than a clown?  Why are her pronouncements about reality accorded more respect and treated as being more worthy than are pronouncements about string theory issued by a...

Venting

Watching tonight on television the charlatans who infest Pennsylvania Avenue gaudily pronounce their saintly motives and their deity-like powers to "guarantee world-class health care for every American" (as one creep put it to a NewsChannel 8 reporter here in DC) makes me want to vomit.

These people look like serious adults; the timber of their voices make them sound like serious adults; and their titles are ones that are assumed to be reserved for serious adults.  But, in fact, these people –...

A Tax to Support

Here are two letters that I sent to the New York Times:

New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines alleges that the low prices, generous serving sizes, and vigorous marketing of sugary drinks are evidence of "market failure" (Letters, March 21).  As far as I can tell, though, Mr. Daines's lone rationale for accusing the market of "failing" is that he and other 'experts' disapprove of suppliers competing hard to satisfy people's demands for sugary drinks.

If Mr. Daines's allegation is...

Universal Values

My former student Clark Mann asked that I post here at the Cafe an essay that I wrote nearly ten years ago – on my son's first day at pre-school – about the values that Karol and I hope to instill in our son.  So far, I'm pleased to report, all seems well on that front.

Sweden's Economy

Lotta Moberg wrote and narrates this informative and myth-busting video on Sweden's economy.

On Liberty

Over at Cato Unbound, there's a very deep and fascinating discussion going on over the nature of liberty.  Here's Tom Palmer's contribution.

I especially like this passage in Tom's essay; it makes an important point that is, alas, frequently ignored (especially by economists):

In particular, calling wealth or possession of assets liberty introduces something quite different from liberty as a uniquely social concept.  Freedom is an inherently social concept, devoid of meaning outside of...

Insurance Competition

John Stossel disposes of the myth of an insurance 'monopoly.'

Constitutionality of Obamacare

Is Obamacare constitutional?  Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett, writing in today's Washington Post, has some doubts.  Here's a key 'graf:

But the individual mandate extends the commerce clause's power beyond economic activity, to economic inactivity. That is unprecedented. While Congress has used its taxing power to fund Social Security and Medicare, never before has it used its commerce power to mandate that an individual person engage in an economic transaction with a...

Open Letter to Jeremy Warner

Mr Jeremy Warner

London Daily Telegraph

Dear Mr Warner:

Your criticisms of Paul Krugman's recent embrace of protectionism are eloquent ("Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize winner who threatens the world," March 19).

But I pick one nit: you write as if the alleged trade imbalances between the U.S. and China are real.  They are not.  The Chinese sell Americans goods; we pay with dollars; the Chinese then use many of these dollars to buy IOUs issued by Uncle Sam.  Although the result is a measured U.S. ...

Jeremy Warner on Populist Paul

Save for his careless (albeit common) talk about trade "imbalances," Jeremy Warner, writing for the London Daily Telegraph, is smack-on in his criticism of Paul Krugman.  Some paragraphs:

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, has taken to advocating a 25 per cent "surcharge" – he refuses to use the more descriptive term of "import tariff" – on goods from China as a way of bringing the Chinese leadership to heel over currency reform. So potentially dangerous and out of character is...