Free Markets

The coalition of government bureaucrats, politicians, trial lawyers, and "political activists" who have orchestrated the demonization of "Big Tobacco" are about to wage a similar smear campaign against what the pressure group Common Cause has labeled "Big Booze." The beer, wine, and liquor industries will be demonized; dramatically higher taxes will be called for; and unconstitutional bans and restrictions on commercial advertising will be vigorously lobbied for. This was the political modus operandi of the anti-smoking movement, and it will now be carried over to other industries.

What is the right policy for dealing with an economic downturn?

In the midst of an economic boom, strange things were happening at General Motors. Huge swatches of its highly paid, coddled, unionized labor force were on strike. The result was catastrophic: GM plants all over North America shut down.

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.

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.

Interventionism, though written nearly sixty years ago and published now for the first time, expertly dispatches a scheme popular with a few contemporary conservatives.Interventionism, though written nearly sixty years ago and published now for the first time, expertly dispatches a scheme popular with a few contemporary conservatives.

Around the country, sports entrepreneurs have been responding to a perceived social problem by doing what they do best: efficiently serving customers. The advent of the work-out craze led to the blossoming of a prospering health-club industry. Along with growth, however, came certain problems, some of which are the result of men and women using the same fitness facilities.

Labor Day, 1998. Time for picnics and taking it easy. Time too for thousands of blue-collar faithful to gather in Detroit not far from the United Automobile Workers Solidarity House to hail pet politicos and union chiefs and speechify, talk up income redistribution, snitch credit for America's high living standards, and gratuitously attack Wall Street, the rich, and corporate greed.

Over the past ten years, the budget of the National Institutes of Health has doubled, and the government medical research outfit is demanding even more dramatic increases in the future. Scientists on the government dole gush about the possibilities for new discoveries—and last year's budget of $13.6 billion wasn't enough to bring them about.

The Clinton administration, applying its theory that all good things should be subsidized with tax dollars, proposes new spending to upgrade the Internet. But it's not the government that has turned this medium into the most promising venue for free-market exchange in our time. It's the astounding power of market commerce itself.