Regulation Policy & Welfare

Another Win Against Anti-Competitive Licensing Laws

by George Leef November 7, 2024

One of the many ways that government stifles competition to aid special-interest groups is occupational licensing — laws that make it illegal for people to offer their services unless they have procured the state’s approval by going to the expense of obtaining a license. Invariably defended as laws needed to protect consumers, licensing laws are actually enacted at the ...

How Long Should the Workweek Be?

by Laurence M. Vance April 15, 2024

Bernie Sanders, the self-described socialist, former Democratic presidential candidate, and current independent senator from Vermont, is at it again. For years, he has supported the worst health care, education, and tax policies imaginable. Sanders supports a single-payer, national health insurance program, free at the point of service, with no networks, premiums, deductibles, or copays. He supports free college tuition, canceling all ...

End the Alcohol Nanny State

by Laurence M. Vance March 4, 2024

The one substance that government at all levels in the United States has sought to regulate and tax like no other is alcohol. The latest nanny-state infringement on liberty, property, and commerce is a bill that has been introduced in the Tennessee legislature to prohibit the sale of cold beer in an attempt to curtail drunk driving. The

Medicare & You

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2024

Although I am not quite old enough to qualify for Medicare, I recently received in the mail a 131-page large-size book titled Medicare & You 2024: The Official U.S. Government Medicare Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Turns out that the book was intended for a previous owner ...

Republicans Miss the Point on Government Regulations

by Laurence M. Vance August 4, 2023

First, they came for our incandescent light bulbs and gas stoves, and now, they are after our water heaters and dishwashers. Back in 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act. Among other things, it required greater efficiency for light bulbs, which effectively began the phase-out of the incandescent light ...

Republicans Miss the Point on Mortgage Fee Hike

by Laurence M. Vance June 16, 2023

Back in January, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that mortgage fees for some borrowers would increase beginning May 1, while other borrowers would see their fees decrease. The FHFA is an independent federal agency that “was established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and is responsible for the effective supervision, regulation, ...

Sports Gambling: The Latest “Public Health” Crisis

by Laurence M. Vance March 3, 2023

The Kansas City Chiefs were not the only winners in Super Bowl LVII last month at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The American Football Conference (AFC)Chiefs defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles by the close score of 38–35 to become the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2022 season. A record 50 ...

The Federal Dietary Wrecking Ball

by James Bovard January 1, 2023

Politicians are hellbent on intruding further into Americans’ stomachs. In September, President Biden hosted a White House Summit on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. A vast array of activists gathered, waiting for Biden to mobilize Washington to open the floodgates to far more food handouts. But their fond hopes did not survive the opening moments of Biden’s speech. “Jackie, are you ...

We Don’t Need No Regulation (or Statist Education)

by Robert E. Wright December 1, 2022

Like the long line of school children who mindlessly marched into Pink Floyd’s meat grinder in The Wall, an estimated one million investors recently fell victim to Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto grinder. The fiasco’s silver lining is that it proves that Americans need neither statist schooling nor government regulation, two insidiously intertwined institutions. Soon after cryptocurrency exchange FTX failed about a ...

Republicans Fail to See the Real Issue with Head Start

by Laurence M. Vance February 14, 2022

President Biden’s “Path out of the Pandemic” mandated that four groups of people be vaccinated against COVID-19: all federal executive branch workers, contractors that do business with the federal government, health care workers at Medicaid- and Medicare-participating hospitals, and employees of private-sector businesses with 100 or more employees. Federal courts have struck down three of these mandates. ...

Abolish OSHA

by Laurence M. Vance January 25, 2022

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) should be abolished. But it should not be abolished because of anything to do with COVID-19. In response to President Biden’s national strategy to combat COVID-19 by vaccinating the unvaccinated, on November 5, 2021, OSHA issued an “Emergency Temporary Standard” (ETS) requiring that businesses with 100 or more employees either ...

No One Should Need Government Permission to Work

by Laurence M. Vance September 16, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the workplace in many ways—not all of them good. Last year, most states issued states of emergency and ordered all “non-essential” businesses to close their doors. Bars, restaurants, gyms, nightclubs, barber shops, golf courses, nail salons, and movie theatres were shuttered. Sporting events and concerts were banned. Schools were closed. In ...