I sent the below letter to my new VA Senators yesterday to urge them to withdrawal their support from the bloated and obscured bill that will likely be up for vote tomorrow afternoon. Merry Christmas Virginian’s, your state senator’s cast a vote to show that they have done something for the reason that something needs to be done, not becuase its right and the change will be beneficial. You can read both their statements at their respective websites (Senator Webb) and (Senator Warner).
I am writing to ask you …

People often get social institutions confused, by confusing the role of markets, the role of government, and the role of private social institutions.
Capitalism:
Capitalism typically refers to an economic and social system in which the means of production (also known as capital) are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in new technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor. (Wikipedia)
Statism:
A major government or state role in the direction of the economy, both directly through state-owned enterprises and indirectly …

I’m like most people who have complained in the past about my wireless provider, although I’ve been very happy with Verizon over the last few years. But my happiness and yours may diminish, as the Federal government might force wireless carriers to treat all web traffic the same, which means carriers couldn’t block or slow access to sites that are a drain on their networks or offered by rivals. To me this is a power grab by the FCC, unless their is some part of this potential regulation …

Given the current traction government intervention is having in the media and among some groups sentiments (see Regulating Compensation, Administrating Health Care Plans, Sole Originator of Student Loans, etc.) I thought I would share two quotes on government intervention.
My interpretation is that for some reason it is believed that government officials, be it representatives, appointees, or career bureaucrats, are somehow better suited to run things than a private market (think all of our social institutions not just companies). Milton Friedman in the below quote said it well, by asking, …

I wrote in my Article titled, “US Steelmakers Support Green House Gas Legislation” on United Steelworkers supporting GHG legislation and assumed they were doing so to get more favorable treatment from the White House.
In fact the United Steelworkers couldn’t get any trade complaints passed through the Bush administration so their hoping for some traction with Obama (particular since he pledged to increase trade enforcement). They are currently trying to get ‘trade enforcement’ considerations by Obama on imported Chinese tires.
Well Obama ended up signing a 35-percent tariff on imported tires (a …

The House of Representatives is planning on voting this week on the week Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. This bill requires entities to hold one allowance for any fuel whose combustion would emit one ton of greenhouse gas. The below image shows the Heritage foundations estimation of the costs of this program.

There has been push back from environmentalist for the lack of stringency of the bill (see this op-ed), whereas conservatives criticize the bill for the negative consequences to the economy and increased costs to households (see this report).
For me …

The War on Drugs was started by President Nixon 40 years ago and a recent Op-Ed in the NY Times explains how it has failed.
Nicholas Kristof describes three ill-effects of the War on Drugs:
1. Increased incarceration.

The United States now incarcerates people at a rate nearly five times the world average. In part, that’s because the number of people in prison for drug offenses rose roughly from 41,000 in 1980 to 500,000 today. Until the war on drugs, our incarceration rate was roughly the same as that of other countries.
2. Increased …

I came across a good article on Soft Paternalism on NPR, Using Psychology to Save You from Yourself.
The basic concept of Soft Paternalism, or so its supports claim, is derived from Behavioral Economics, which is,
a school of economic thought greatly influenced by psychological research — which argues that the human animal is hard-wired to make errors when it comes to decision-making, and therefore people need a little “nudge” to make decisions that are in their own best interests. And that is exactly what Obama administration officials plan to do: …