Would you pay $400,000 for a single helmet? Of course you wouldn't – but that is precisely what the U.S. government is doing. Just the helmet for the pilot of the new F-35 Lightning II is going to cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. And since we are going to need 2,400 of those helmets, the total bill is going to end up approaching a ... (more)
Rising home prices and apartment rents have been in the news lately, but almost no one is looking at the real causes behind these problems. Instead, they are proposing band-aid solutions that will do little to help most people afford housing but will greatly benefit special interest groups.
According to the news, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, DC, among other major u... (more)
This morning, the Washington Post ran an article titled, "How free markets make us fatter, poorer and less happy." Actually, the data suggest the exact opposite: free markets make us healthier, richer and happier.
Free markets make us healthier
First, the authors argue that free markets result in an abundance of temptations, such as cand... (more)
100 percent-reserve banking is being introduced through the backdoor by U.S. regulators who remain queasy about banks runs in a future crisis. Under rules instituted in September 2014 by the Fed and other financial regulators, banks are mandated to hold only high-grade liquid assets against risky large demand deposits in order to cover estimated deposit losses for 30 days. These so-calle... (more)
One piece of Obamacare is already collapsing: The COOPs (cooperative insurers) that the federal government propped up with loans to compete in exchanges. Many are now closing down under pressure from state insurance departments, as they are threatened with insolvency because they charge premiums in the Obamacare exchanges that do not cover costs.
The administration is desperate to stave off the day of reckoning, going so far as to insist the federal loans be categorized as "assets... (more)
Back in 2013, Salon took a quick break from criticizing a caricature of libertarianism to let David Sirota write an embarrassing article praising socialism in what turns out to be a fantastic case study in both the dangers of socialist economics and of course, speaking to soon.
The article was titled “Hugo Chavez’s Economic Miracle” and it was certainly not the only one of its kind to come out at the time. It may seem like twenty-twenty hindsight to criticize such foolishn... (more)
Imagine you're driving for Uber or Lyft. As an independent contractor, you enjoy setting your own work hours, picking up people you like chatting with (well, for the most part), learning about new parts of town, and earning back some of the investment in your car. Then, one day, an email from your ride-sharing service informs you that some bureaucrats you've never heard of have decided that Uber is now your employer. You have to work a certain number of hours and within prescribed times, and the... (more)
Swedish doctor Hans Rosling loads a washing machine with laundry on stage at the beginning of his TED talk. When his talk is over, he returns to the washer and pulls out ... books.
His presentation, "The Magic Washing Machine," is about how this one example of consumer technology is far more than a convenience. By mechanizing the arduous process of doing the household laundry, the washing machine gav... (more)
It's now less than three weeks until Buckeye State voters head to the polls in an off-year election, and they make make Ohio the first Midwestern state to legalize marijuana. A poll this week that asked specifically if respondents supported the initiative on the ballot had 56% saying yes.
They will be voting on Issue 3, a controversial proposal sponsored... (more)
The Nobel Prize just gets cheaper and cheaper. Recent laureate Bob Shiller graces the New York Times with his latest rant that free-markets stink, bolstering his argument by making stuff up.
For starters, Shiller writes that America’s wealth “can be attributed” to regulation. Well, sure, it “can be attributed” to Zeus. Or sunspots. In the real world, America became... (more)
Many college students are eager to upgrade to Apple's new iPhone 6s -- or so my daughter tells me. But she's not. The battery life of her $100 Android phone is at least 48 hours on one charge; her friends can't get through the day without charging their iPhones. She's okay with her smaller screen and its lower resolution; battery life is her value driver.
"What presidential candidate are your iPhone-using friends supporting?" I asked her.
The biggest bank in the western world has just come out and declared that the global economy is “already in a recession”. According to British banking giant HSBC, global trade is down 8.4 percent so far this year, and global GDP expressed in U.S. dollars is down 3.4 percent. So those that are waiting for the next worldwide economic recession to begin can stop waiting. It is off... (more)
Playboy has finally found a new way to shock and titillate America.
The magazine has announced that it will no longer feature full nudity. Instead, it will be moving toward a partially clad, cheesecake pin-up style.
When I heard the news, I immediately wondered what the great economist Joseph Schumpeter would have made of it. Schumpeter, who famously sought to become the world's greatest economist, lover, and... (more)
In a remarkable video posted by activist Mark Dice, several people he stopped on the street would not even entertain a guess at the value of silver, with some not seeming to understand what the precious metal is.
Dice gave several respondents the opportunity to win a 100 ounce silver bar if they could guess its value. He even agreed to give the ... (more)
We've pointed out a few times in the past that while everyone refers to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as a "free trade" agreement, the reality is that there's very little in there that's actually about free trade. If it were truly a free trade agreement, then there would be plenty of reasons to support it. But the details show it's ... (more)
