The world has just finished what, for Americans, is the curious spectacle of the Soccer World Cup. Every four years since the 1930s teams representing 32 countries have met (in a different venue each time) to decide who is best. Much of Europe, South America, and Africa come to a halt during the three weeks of Cup play.
Agriculture Secretary Daniel Glickman has been deeply troubled by perceived problems with America's food supply. In a meeting with the Senate Agricultural Committee last fall, Glickman urged lawmakers to approve legislation which would give his department more enforcement authority over cases of contaminated meat and poultry. Among other provisions, he demanded that the department be able to impose fines of $100,000 per day on violators of meat-processing regulations. "I think we can come down a little more strongly on the side of the consumer," the secretary told senators.
Can government do a better job than private markets in any area of the economy? Consider: The tax-funded Human Genome Project, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, has been the toast of the scientific elite for nearly a decade. It held out the promise of mapping of the entire structure of DNA, which in turn would lead to unparalleled medical breakthroughs and a new era for biotechnology.
Recent mergers and acquisitions reach out and touch everyone. In turn, everyone wants to participate in the wave of executive soul-searching. It's true that parties affected by large transactions can occasionally assist in refining corporate values. But make no mistake about the dynamics of control: almost anyone would claim a seat at the bargaining table for a chance of lucrative reward. These seats are in fork's range of shares of the pie.
The Microsoft Corporation's continuing difficulties with the Department of Justice, even after an appeals court ruled in the company's favor, reveal the absurdity of attempting to apply 19th-century antitrust law to a 21st-century computer and telecommunications marketplace.
When Carol Browner, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, proposed new air quality standards last year, she claimed that thousands of Americans are being killed every year by tiny particles in the air with diameters of less than 2.5 microns. The EPA currently regulates airborne pollutants 10 microns in diameter, so Browner asked to have the agency's powers expanded. Charcoal grills, lawnmowers, and other gasoline-powered equipment could be outlawed when they produce too much pollution.
How is capitalism being treated in American popular culture today? The signals are mixed, but generally the picture is bleak.
Antitrust bureaucrats have been running roughshod over free enterprise for more than a century, imposing themselves between consumers and companies at the behest of envious competitors. Antitrust sums up everything that is wrong with the state.
Former FTC Chairman James C. Miller III, tells the story of how, in the early 1980s, Chrysler head Lee Iacocca requested that the FTC block a proposed joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. The request was denied. GM and Toyota formed the New United Motor Manufacturing Corporation. Iacocca entered into his own joint venture with Mitsubishi.
November and December mark the bicentennial of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves. Penned by Jefferson and Madison, the Resolves are peerless for their brief but masterful explication of the Constitution. Though there will be no parades or celebrations of the Resolves 200th birthday, the subjects—formerly citizens—of our great welfare-warfare state need to reacquaint themselves with the Resolves principles. Like no other document, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves mark the path to a return to constitutional government.
