Regulation Policy & Welfare

Wrong Rights

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

BRACE YOURSELF. We are about to witness the launch of a global movement to establish economic and social rights on a par with human rights. In other words, say the organizers of this movement, the right to food and health care is as legitimate as the right not to be tortured by ones government. (See The Economist, August 16.) A ...

Government Needs to Lose Weight

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

How ironic that just as an already-bloated government is taking on major new powers, it is exhorting us to lose weight. But that’s exactly what Surgeon General David Satcher is calling for. In his recently released “Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity,” Satcher writes, “Our ...

What the Enron Bankruptcy Doesn’t Mean

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

A big company fails, maybe even commits wrongdoing, and in some people’s eyes that proves free markets are bad. This is what passes for logic these days. The full story on Enron is not known yet. But for the sake of discussion, let’s assume the worst: namely, that company management deliberately ...

Regulation Gave Us the Enron Scandal

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

When pundits and politicians say the Enron scandal demonstrates the need for federal regulation of business, you have to be a little suspicious. They think everything demonstrates the need for federal regulation of business. It’s a reflex, that’s all. What seems to have been forgotten in all the blather about ...

FDR’s New Deal Legacy Is the Life of the Lie

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2002

The change that took place in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s was as remarkable as the Russian Revolution which had taken place decades before. Through his domestic and international New Deal philosophy and programs, President Franklin D. Roosevelt revolutionized the political and economic system of the United States. It is ...

What Good Are Regulations?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002

Have you ever noticed how advocates of the regulated society never admit that their regulations have failed? Consider the Enron case, in which one of the biggest companies in the United States has gone belly up as a result of questionable financial practices. I thought the purpose of government regulation was ...

Settling for an Injustice

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 2001

The federal government's antitrust case against Microsoft apparently will end in a settlement. All that remains is for the presiding judge to give her blessing and for some recalcitrant state attorneys general to get on board. It's understandable why Microsoft would acquiesce in a settlement. The long case has been costly. ...

What’s Wrong with Conservatives

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 2001

You want to know what’s wrong with conservatives? Here’s what’s wrong. Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas is widely regarded as the most conservative member of the United States Senate. He’s someone the national Democrats badly want to defeat next year in their bid to take firm control of that body. So what ...

Does Alan Greenspan Hate the Poor?

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2001

By calling for the repeal of the minimum wage during testimony before the House Financial Services Committee last summer, Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan undoubtedly dismayed the members of Congress. After all, Greenspan didn’t recommend that the minimum wage be reformed or reduced. He suggested that the law should be ...

The Meaning of Freedom

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2001

Today's Wall Street Journal's editorial page reflects how differently libertarians and conservatives view the meaning of freedom. For libertarians, freedom entails the right of people to live their lives any way they choose, so long as their conduct is peaceful. For conservatives, freedom entails the right of government to do just ...

Avoid Phony Public Service

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2001

The dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Joseph S. Nye Jr., laments that while in 1980 three-quarters of the graduates took government jobs, just one-third does so these days. That’s a good trend. But not good enough. Here’s hoping the number drops further. Many people will ask, who could ...

Sink the Sugar Boondoggle

by James Bovard September 1, 2001

The federal government has gone into the sugar-mountain business. The Agriculture Department (USDA) is paying more than a million dollars a month now to store piles of surplus sugar. USDA spent almost half a billion dollars on the sugar program last year — and federal generosity promises to make the sugar ...