Numbers never lie. Or do they? With government, it's simply a matter of who's keeping the books. Take America's so-called war on drugs, for instance. Last year, Congress earmarked nearly $19 billion—nearly twice what it spent on military operations in Afghanistan—to enforce U.S. drug laws.
How does the public sector decide that it is a good idea to explore space instead of spending the time, resources, and talent on other scientific explorations or, for that matter, some other area like building a road? Tibor Machan, for example, likes the idea of ocean living but few seem to agree with him.
Gregory Bresiger merely wanted to check out a video that both the library catalog and a clerk said was on the shelves. Instead, he stood face to face with what seemed to be the very embodiment of the entire public sector. Whether running libraries or global economies, the public sector isn't up to the job.
Coercive transfers are wasteful, inefficient, and inequitable. The Left uses Demand-Side Dogma to instill false legitimacy into these policies, writes D.W. MacKenzie. The Right, including the Bush administration, plays along with this rhetoric all too often.
The demise of HealthPlus illustrates the unintended consequences that accompany any government intervention of market forces. In this case, writes Christopher Westley, federal regulations require private owners of hospitals to provide health care to all comers. In this sector, this cannot be done at a profit.
Grover Cleveland fought to restore honesty and impartiality to government, particularly by eliminating government favors. He tried, though unsuccessfully, to eliminate protective tariffs.
Despite Mayor Bloomberg's recent 18% tax hike, despite his promise that next year the hated city income tax will be hiked, another tax increase beyond these is looming on the horizon for New Yorkers. It is a tax increase that is another result of generations of municipal and state mismanagement.
Washington loves the analogy—-and reality—-of war. Adam Young considers one of the most famous uses of that term, the War on Poverty. It was in reality, a State-sponsored war on the opportunities of the poor and on all Americans.
Like all government operations (public schools, domestic security, tax collection), the Post Office has to continually reform itself to avoid a complete public-relations meltdown. Thus did the Post Office become the Postal Service some twenty years ago. The Bush administration plans yet another version of this cosmetic change.
In 1902, writes George Leef, those who aspired to enter the legal profession could take several different routes. One was simply to study law individually. A second route was to apprentice yourself into a law firm and learn what you needed to know in that environment--as Clarence Darrow did. The third option was to go to law school.
