Regulation Policy & Welfare

Republicans and CAFE Standards

by Laurence M. Vance August 22, 2016

The auto industry won’t be meeting the U.S. government’s 54.5-mile-per-gallon (mpg) fleet average fuel economy target in 2025. But neither will it have to. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) last month released for public comment a draft Technical Assessment Report (TAR) for light-duty vehicle ...

Government Licensing or Private Certification?

by Laurence M. Vance August 1, 2016

Everyone understands the need for children to obtain permission from their parents before undertaking certain activities: sleeping over at a friend’s house, viewing a particular movie, going on a field trip, participating in some sport, attending a particular party, staying up late, playing a particular video game, making a major purchase at a store, surfing the Internet, or having ...

Getting It Backwards on Welfare and Tax Deductions

by Laurence M. Vance June 23, 2016

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) is “sick and tired, and sick and tired of being sick and tired, of the criminalization of poverty.” She explains in a recent press release, As a strong advocate for social programs aimed at combating poverty, it deeply offends me that there is such a deep stigma surrounding those who depend on government ...

Regulatory Tyranny

by David S. D'Amato May 1, 2016

Having considered the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the 1937 case of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish in the March 2016 issue of Future of Freedom, a case in which the jurisprudential tide turned in favor of deference to comprehensive social and economic legislation, a look at the earlier case of Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States is in ...

The Great Sugar Robbery Continues

by James Bovard November 1, 2015

Seventeen years ago, The Future of Freedom Foundation published my piece “The Great Sugar Shaft.” That article hammered federal sugar policy as one of the most brazen interventionist failures in American history. Unfortunately, the political looting of sugar consumers and food producers continues unabated. Federal price supports and import quotas combine to drive U.S. sugar prices far above the ...

The Fiscal and Ethical Stranglehold of the Welfare State

by Richard M. Ebeling October 28, 2015

The welfare state threatens to fiscally weaken and morally undermine the United States. In the Federal government’s fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2015, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, alone, made up over 48 percent of all of Uncle Sam’s spending. And it will only get worse. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in fiscal year 2015, Social ...

The Problem Is the State Not the Standard

by Laurence M. Vance May 18, 2015

The Federal Denture Act (18 USC 1821), enacted in 1942 and amended in 1996 (PL 104-294) and 2002 (PL 107-273), prohibits the interstate transport “by mail or otherwise” of “any set of artificial teeth or prosthetic dental appliance or other denture” made by an unlicensed dentist. Violators are subject to a fine and/or imprisonment of not more ...

Government Maximums and Minimums

by Laurence M. Vance February 11, 2015

The latest crisis that has some Americans calling for government intervention to fix the problem is subprime auto loans to the poor. The New York Times has had a series of articles on the subject. And NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook recently devoted a show to the topic. The working poor with low credit scores ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Uber Insurgency

by Future of Freedom Foundation November 25, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: Uber's undermining the taxi monopoly. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

TGIF: Nothing Is More Local than the Individual

by Sheldon Richman October 31, 2014

On Tuesday the voters of the state in which I dwell, Arkansas, will be asked to vote yes or no on this: A proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to provide that, effective July 1, 2015, the manufacture, sale, distribution and transportation of intoxicating liquors is lawful within the entire geographic area of each and every county of this state; ...

Time to Cut the Card

by Laurence M. Vance October 9, 2014

Conservatives have been outraged since the first of the year, not only because Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana, but also because some welfare recipients have, so they maintain, used their benefits to purchase it. In the year 2000, Colorado became one of the now-22 states to legalize the medical use of marijuana. But in 2012, voters in Colorado, ...

Dangerous Words: “I Believe in Freedom, But …”

by Richard M. Ebeling October 2, 2014

One of the greatest hurdles to a successful achievement of liberty in society is all due to the little word, “but.” People will often say, “Oh, I believe in freedom in principle, but . . .” That “but” is followed by an assumed exception requiring some form of government intervention, regulation, or redistribution. Back in the 1970s, the freedom advocate, ...