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Two Wars and We Don't Feel a Draft

In war as in life, what doesn't happen is often as significant as what does. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with their setbacks, victories, and casualties, have many things in common with past...

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America's Most Successful Stop Snitchin' Campaign

Last month, when she awardedBarron Bowling $830,000 for the beating he suffered at the hands of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 2003, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson went out of her way...

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A Takeaway from the CBO Estimate that the 2010 Deficit was $1.3 trillion

The CBO on Friday announced it projected the 2010 fiscal year deficit (which ended September 30) to be $1.29 trillion, about $125 billion less than last year's record $1.4 trillion deficit. That puts...

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The Last Action Hero

Arnold Schwarzenegger has embodied nearly every archetype known to California: immigrant, athlete, movie star, raconteur, real estate developer, humorist, pundit, politician, cyborg. Yet there’s one...

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The Not So Great Great Recession

I have a commentary on National Review OnLine pointing out that the so-called Great Recession hasn't been that great. In fact, it's really just on the more severe side of normal. Yet, supporters of...

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The Small Business Myth

Who better embodies the American dream than a small-business owner? Independent, self-reliant, flexible, and hardworking, small-business owners, we are always told, are the cornerstone of economic...

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India Follows China's Sporting Folly

The Commonwealth Games concluding in New Delhi last week were supposed to do for India what the Beijing Olympics allegedly did for China: Prove to the world that it had truly arrived. But through a...

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The Eternal Return of Overpopulation

Overpopulation panic is back. Concerns about a world too full of “filthy human children” motivated eco-terrorist James Lee when he held employees of the Discovery Channel hostage at gunpoint in...

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The Amazing Elastic Commerce Clause

In 2005 the Supreme Court said the federal government's power to "regulate commerce…among the several states" extends to the tiniest speck of marijuana wherever it may be found, even in the home of a...

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Rise of the Bitter Clingers

Many of my more enlightened friends like to ask me: How could someone as intellectually gifted, delightfully urbane, profoundly moral, and breathlessly handsome as you not want to spit at these stupid...

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Sacramento Über Alles

Elections between Republicans and Democrats usually come down to a barely discernible difference between two shades of lawyer, but the race for governor of California presents a rare clear choice: one...

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Rahm's Residence and the Appeal of Absent Pols

To many people who dislike the Obama administration, Rahm Emanuel is the sordid embodiment of the Chicago Way. But to his enemies on the shores of Lake Michigan, he is to Chicago what Brett Favre is to...

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Public-Sector Unions Choke Taxpayers

"I thought unions were great—until at Chrysler, the union steward started screaming at me. Working at an unhurried pace, I'd exceeded 'production' for that job."That comment, left on my blog by a...

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Transit-Oriented Development Leads to "Undesirable" Neighborhood Change

The Antiplanner, aka Randal O'Toole, has a useful and (as usual) engaging critique of a study on neighborhood change surrounding transit-oriented development published by the Dukakis Center for Urban...

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Radio Theater

Get ready to suspend your disbelief. One of the most resilient acts in theatrical history is returning to the D.C. stage: the We're Going To Defund Public Broadcasting show.Every time this play gets...

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The Man Who Could Really Fire Pelosi

While none of her Republican opponents for her congressional seat in California’s 8th district have ever garnered more than 22 percent of the vote (and many less than half that), win or lose, Nancy...

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National Electronic Tolling Gets Boost

Tollroadsnews.com is reporting that North American tollers have agreed to create a "hub" for clearing license plates captured on video to assess user fees for cars without transponders. This is a...

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Leaving Taxes or Candy on the Table

State lawmakers in Washington State have claimed the projected revenues from the new taxes on candy, pop, and bottled water are needed in order to help close the budget deficit for 2011-2013. And if...

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Obama's False Alarm on Corporate Electioneering

At a campaign rally the other day, President Barack Obama decried those who say "you can't overcome the cynicism of politics; no, you can't overcome the special interests; no, you can't overcome the...

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Updated Cost of Fannie and Freddie Bailout

Barney Frank is fond of pointing out that the losses being experienced by Fannie and Freddie aren't because of their current activities, and in a way this isn't totally off. The $148.3 billion Treasury...

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More Democracy, More Incarceration

Last year the U.S. prison population declined for the first time in a generation. That's good news, but it doesn't begin to offset the damage done by a 30-year incarceration binge that has made America...

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Reforming the Housing Market By Phasing Out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Taxpayers have already spent over $140 billion bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and total losses could rise to $259 billion by 2013 according to a recent government estimate. To bring stability...

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Rethinking Homeownership: A Framework for 21st Century Housing Finance Reform

The government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were significant contributors to the build-up of the housing bubble. Yet, virtually no substantive action has been taken to reform...

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Strange Love

In August a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage, violates the 14th Amendment’s command that no state may “deny to any person within...

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Tea Parties and Urban Planning

My most recent post on Planetizen.com focuses on how Tea Party fiscal conservatism will likely influence urban planning. I write in part:Much of the political support for this fiscal conservatism is...

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Unsubsidized Ford Profitable for Six Straight Quarters

Ford Motor Company has recorded its sixth straight quarter of profits and expects to have its net debt down to zero by the end of 2011. Ford was the only domestic auto manufacturer to avoid bankruptcy...

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China Bashing Is for Losers

China bashing has become a bipartisan sport this election season. But if the bashers won’t heed the economic case for not knocking down America’s second largest trading partner, they ought to consider...

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Don't Pressure Buybacks

The GSEs and collection of investors have been applying a lot of pressure to Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and others—all potentially liable for billions in toxic mortgage backed securities they sold....

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Will a Republican Congress Knock Science Back Into the Stone Age?

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama famously promised to “restore science to its rightful place.” Now liberals fear that a Republican landslide in next week’s congressional mid-term...

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Division Dividends

In my neighborhood of Dallas, not far from where George and Laura Bush moved after he presided over eight years of big-government conservatism, I often see signs that say, "Had Enough? Vote...

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Not Paying Attention? You Wish

Who's going to argue with Sen. John Kerry's recent claim that the American electorate "doesn't always pay that much attention to what's going on, so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than...

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"Secret Money from God Knows Where"

There’s no doubt that having cash on hand helps win elections, up to a point.And thanks to Citizens United, there are some new ways for candidates to pull corporate and special interest cash for...

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Did "Most" Economists Support the Stimulus?

During the run up to the February 2009 vote for the Stimulus Program, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the press was awash with repeated claims from the White House that...

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One Reason the Economy Sucks in Graphs

Yesterday I was talking with a medium-sized, regional bank vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention in Atlanta about what it is going to take for banks to start investing...

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The Incumbent Protection Racket

This year's election will be exciting. Given the disenchantment of voters with President Obama and the Democratic Congress, there is every prospect that your Democratic representative will be shown the...

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Plastic Water Bottles Won't Hurt You

Canada has announced it will ban the chemical bisphenol A—known as BPA—which is used to make plastic water and baby bottles.The head of the Canadian environmental group Environmental Defence is...

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Are We All Friedmanites Now?

One year ago, I argued in Reason that Milton Friedman’s writings on the Great Depression inspired the Federal Reserve’s response to the current economic crisis. Friedman held that artificially induced...

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Housing Policy Mistakes: How We Got Here

In my recent paper, Rethinking Homeownership, I noted that there were a number of policy mistakes that got us to this point. I wanted to expound on what was in the paper and note some of the ways that...

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How the Great Depression and the Great Recession Are Similar

I've been critical of those who compare the Great Recession to the the Great Depression, noting in National Review that the Great Recession is still a recession and nowhere close to the decade- long...

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Killer Queen

There’s no mystery about why Stieg Larsson’s three Millennium novels have sold some 40-million copies worldwide. The late author’s anti-corporate politics and stern feminism must resonate with many...

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Corpses, Crimes, and Comic Books

Rotting corpses. Plotting spouses. A jealous cactus that goes on a murderous rampage. In the early 1950s, Charlie Brown and Howdy Doody weren’t the only pop culture phantasms delighting America’s...

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The Root of All Evil?

My tart-tongued mother, of Scotch-Irish mixed-with-German descent, and with Southern Illinois wisdom to boot, would have had some good advice for President Barack Obama’s political message consultants...

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Hampton Roads Mega Project Shows the Way for P3s

Tollroadsnews.com is reporting on a potentially large public-private partnership budding in Norfolk-Virginia Beach. One of the best features of Virginia's PPP legislation is that it allows...

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Season of the Regulator

If you're a kid, Halloween is a time to be scared of witches, werewolves, and the undead. If you're an adult, it's a time to be scared of child snatchers, serial killers, and easily offended members of...

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Big Education and Big Labor Election Spending Round- Up

From the stuff you  already know but cringe to see spelled out department, The Atlanticreports today that:The nation's largest union will have spent $40 million on the 2010 elections by Tuesday,...

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Ending Government Liquor Monopolies

There are currently 18 states in the U.S. that have monopolies on the sale of liquor. It's a longstanding remnant of prohibition, but one that might be finally going away in a few states soon. The...

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Prospects for Transportation Reauthorization

C. Kenneth Orski polled several knowledgeable people on transportation policy about the prospects for a reauthorization bill passing in the next Congress and the results are probably not encouraging...

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Electric Car Takes the Carbon Out of Driving

For anyone hoping that the crusade against global warming, the pursuit of universal reductions in carbon emissions, and faltering human ingenuity would finally send automobiles to the junkyards of...

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California Props 20 & 27: Redistricting, Round 2

On November 2, Californians will decide two propositions relating to the drawing of their elected representatives' districts. As the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office explained in its analysis...

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Another Study Claims Government Workers Are Undercompensated

A recent study by the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment claims that public-sector workers are actually undercompensated compared to their private-sector counterparts.  This is not the...

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