Regulation Policy & Welfare

Happy Hour May Be Getting a Little Happier

by Laurence M. Vance August 13, 2021

“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” so the song and the story go. This phrase is used by those wishing to justify drinking alcohol at some point during the day instead of waiting until the usual evening hours. But a happy hour is not always just an hour. In 39 of the 50 states, some restaurants, bars, and nightclubs have happy hour from ...

The Conservative Case for Welfare

by Laurence M. Vance May 14, 2021

In the third COVID-19 stimulus package — the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) — which was passed in the U.S. Congress without a single Republican vote, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for tax year 2020 was increased from $2,000 per child, with $1,400 of this being refundable, to a fully refundable $3,000 per qualifying child (aged ...

Business Regulations

by Laurence M. Vance December 29, 2020

Business regulations are of two kinds: government-imposed regulations on businesses and business-imposed regulations on employees and customers. From the standpoint of liberty and property, the first kind of regulation is always bad and the second kind of regulation is always good, even when the regulations are bad. Let me explain. First of all, there are government-imposed regulations on businesses. These can ...

Religious Discrimination and Foster Care

by Laurence M. Vance November 30, 2020

The new Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett, who became the 103rd associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court only on October 27, has gotten right to work. On November 4, she sat with the other justices to hear oral arguments in the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. At issue ...

Government Standards

by Laurence M. Vance June 16, 2020

Standards are important. For example: steel. According to ASTM International (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials), ASTM’s steel standards are instrumental in classifying, evaluating, and specifying the material, chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical properties of the different types of steels, which are primarily used in the production of mechanical components, industrial parts, and ...

Free the Liquor Stores!

by Laurence M. Vance May 28, 2020

The Fine Wine & Good Spirits liquor stores are slowly beginning to reopen in Pennsylvania after they were all closed on March 17 in response to the spread of the coronavirus. On May 8, 77 stores reopened. On May 15, 155 more stores reopened. On May 22, 50 more stores were opened. During the time when ...

The Wrong Solution to Welfare Marriage Penalties

by Laurence M. Vance March 27, 2020

The typical wedding ceremony, reception, and honeymoon can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Although all of it may be paid for up front, soon afterward, or during the first year of marriage, some couples continue to pay throughout their married life because of the marriage penalty in the tax code. A marriage penalty or bonus results when the combined ...

Closing Time

by Laurence M. Vance March 12, 2020

The Democratic National Convention — where delegates of the Democratic Party choose their party’s nominees for president and vice president — will be held July 13-16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Fiserv Forum (where the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks play). This will be the first time that a major political party convention has been held in Milwaukee, which was among ...

Triple Threat

by Laurence M. Vance February 26, 2020

What do minimum-wage laws, child-labor laws, and overtime-pay laws have in common other than that they originated in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938? The FLSA established a national minimum wage of 25¢ an hour, mandated time-and-a-half for overtime in certain jobs, prohibited most child labor, and established a 44-hour work week, which was lowered to 40 hours ...

The Secret History of the Monopolization of Welfare by the State

by Richard M. Ebeling September 10, 2019

The fundamental political issue always confronting society is whether human relationships shall be based on free association and voluntary choice, or on governmental compulsion and command. Of course, in most societies there are elements of both, often called the interventionist state or the “mixed economy.” But, nonetheless, the basic institutional alternatives are liberty or coercion. This often seems difficult for ...

Equal Employment Opportunity Is Bad Law

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2019

Everyone who works a job has seen the same poster on a wall or a bulletin board at his place of employment: Equal Employment Opportunity Is THE LAW. (The last two words are usually in all caps and in a much larger font and in a different color than the first four words.) The poster The poster says that applicants to ...

How Long Should the Workday Be?

by Laurence M. Vance January 4, 2019

It has been eighty years since the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1938. The FLSA established a national minimum wage of 25¢ an hour, mandated time and a half for overtime in certain jobs, prohibited most child labor, and established a 44-hour workweek (lowered ...