Home » Posts tagged with » regulation
antitrust \ business \ egalitarianism \ envy \ profit \ regulation \ sports
Punished for Getting the Gold
Obama’s antitrust-enforcers act to destroy companies of ability in the economy. The Michael Phelpses of business want to swim as fast as their minds and bodies can go, but they can’t because the judge keeps moving the finish line away, on grounds that they’ll win too many golds
energy \ environmentalism \ global warming \ regulation
Regulated to Death: Cap-and-Trade Suffocates a Life Well-lived
Never in human history has our existence been so clean, secure, and rich with possibility. The lifeblood of it all has been carbon-based energy. And it is precisely this energy that will be restricted by the stranglehold of cap-and-trade.
drugs \ government \ individual rights \ prohibition \ regulation
Prohibition Déjà vu
On August 19 The Wall Street Journal reported that serious organized crime had spread to one of the most affluent, secure business communities in Mexico. Drug gangs blocked streets, murdered individuals, and kidnapped the mayor of Monterrey—who was later found dead. A similar event occurred in America in February of 1929 – Americans woke to [...]
FDA \ free market \ genetically modified food \ regulation \ values
Fishy Dealings From the FDA
The FDA’s Presumption to Regulate Keeps Valuable Products off the Market The Christian Science Monitor recently published an article on the recent FDA hearings about genetically engineered (GE) salmon: “U.S. government food regulators pondered Monday whether to say, for the first time, that it’s OK to market a genetically engineered animal as safe for Americans [...]
FDA \ Genetics \ health care \ paternalism \ regulation
Should You Be Allowed to Know What’s in Your DNA?
“You can’t handle the truth!” That’s the federal government’s latest message to Americans seeking to learn the content of their own DNA. Recent advances in biotechnology have allowed private companies to offer affordable genetic testing directly to consumers, to help them determine their risks of developing problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and various forms [...]
ban \ fast food \ FDA \ freedom \ health \ nanny state \ paternalism \ prohibition \ regulation \ slippery slope
On The Road to Ever-More Government Control
A California county recently banned fast-food restaurants from including toys in their kids’ meals. The goal of this new ban is to reduce rampant obesity in today’s youth by breaking “the link between unhealthy food and prizes.” On the face of it, the effects of this ban seem trivial: so what if there are no [...]
AT&T \ crony capitalism \ FCC \ Google \ internet \ Net Neutrality \ property rights \ public policy \ regulation
What Goes Around, Comes Around
In courting government power, Google faces its wrath Net neutrality advocates argue that the government should force large network service providers like AT&T and Comcast to charge all of their customers the same rate, regardless of the bandwidth they consume. While no one would defend forcing restaurants to offer only a fixed price, all-you-can eat [...]
eminent domain \ individual rights \ justice \ Pfizer \ property \ regulation \ Suzette Kelo
Whatever Happened to Suzette Kelo?
What do a wasteland full of weeds, Pfizer, and the Supreme Court have in common? The answer is the power of eminent domain. In the 2005 case of Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court ruled that the city of New London was allowed to seize Suzette Kelo’s home and give the property [...]
cigarette \ electronic cigarette \ FDA \ morality \ property \ regulation \ Rights \ smokers \ smoking \ tobacco industry \ vaporized nicotine
FDA Snuffs Out Safer Smoking Alternative
Millions of Americans choose to continue smoking despite known health risks. Presumably, the value they get from smoking is (rightly or wrongly) worth the risk to them. But for a short time, it appeared that smokers had a healthy third alternative: electronic cigarettes. The electronic cigarette is a relatively new innovation that works by allowing [...]
bailout \ banking \ capitalism \ Posner \ regulation
Capitalism In Crisis?
Capitalism is in crisis, claims Richard Posner on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today. This crisis happened, he says, because “a capitalist economy, while immensely dynamic and productive, is not inherently stable.” Furthermore, he suggests that “the banking crash might not have occurred had banking not been progressively deregulated beginning in the 1970s.” [...]
