Issues

New York Fed Massively Disagrees With DOE’s Student Loan Default Data

"How high those delinquencies rates actually are, though, is an open question, which is turning into confusion on how to fix the problem. The most dire assessment is that one in three borrowers trying to repay student loans was late by 90 days or more at the end of 2012, according to The Federal Reserve Bank of New York in April. The U.S. Department of Education only publishes default statistics, and the official number of borrowers who default within two years of entering repayment is currently 10 percent. The default rate after three years is 14.7 percent. The default rates have been widely criticized for not giving an accurate picture of the number of student loan borrowers in distress." Continue reading →

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Here’s One Fight Uncle Sam Can’t Win

"Economic citizenship programs are proliferating. That’s something to celebrate. These programs are a bracing antidote to the increasing tendency of governments to impose travel restrictions against their citizens, using passports as weapons. This has long been the policy of authoritarian governments like North Korea and China. But in recent years, the US and UK have made much greater use of passport revocations and even involuntary loss of citizenship against persons they perceive as 'enemies of the state.' Is it really surprising that a market has arisen to deal with these draconian restrictions on one of humanity’s most basic rights, the right to leave one’s own country?" Continue reading →

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SC Gov. Haley signs bill to effectively nullify federal ban on industrial hemp

Yesterday, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill into law that authorizes the growing and production of industrial hemp within the state, effectively nullifying the unconstitutional federal ban on the same.

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Judge Napolitano: US Troops to Nigeria is Illegal

Last month, President Obama committed some 80 armed American troops to Chad to assist in the efforts to find a group of Nigerian girls reportedly kidnapped by the Boko Haram group. According to Judge Andrew Napolitano, the president’s action was an illegal use of military force without Congressional approval – as the Constitution requires. WATCH…

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To the Governor’s Desk: Illinois bill to ban warrantless cellphone tracking passes unanimously

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., June 2, 2014 – An Illinois bill which would ban law enforcement from obtaining cellphone location tracking information without a warrant passed its final hurdle in the state legislature last Friday. By a unanimous vote in both chambers, the “Freedom from Location Surveillance Act” now moves to the Governor’s desk for a signature.…

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Chief Justice Roberts Again Rewrites Law, Avoids Duty to Hold Government’s Feet to the Constitutional Fire

Bond was a case about the scope of the treaty power—can Congress do something pursuant to a treaty that it can’t otherwise do?—and yet the majority opinion avoided that discussion altogether in the name of a faux judicial minimalism.

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Nullification as the Antidote to Partisan Hypocrisy

Many commentators have remarked about the tremendous partisanship within today’s political climate, bemoaning the so-called gridlock occurring in Washington D.C. However, they fail to mention that this type of blind partisanship is necessarily part of the two-party system. It is not a recent phenomenon either. The Founders warned us of its dangers. For the best examples…

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The US and China: A Difference in Approaches

"The threat from the US sheriff is very real. But presumably, this bullying approach would be less effective if attempted against one of the world's more powerful countries. If, for example, the US were to find itself in a situation such as the present one with China, in which the US appeared to be losing its battle over the dollar's power as the world's reserve currency, what would occur? Would the US sheriff attempt to bully China? And if the ploy did not succeed, would the US draw its six-guns and fire off a few rounds in the air for emphasis? And if the above were to take place, what would the Chinese reaction be?" Continue reading →

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The Strange Tale of Swiss Banking – And What It Means for You

"It is interesting that remaining private banks are switching from partnerships to corporations. Judicially enforced corporate personhood distorts markets and enables market behavior that would not otherwise be feasible or tolerated. What remains most puzzling is that this most powerful industry composed primarily of private Swiss banks allowed itself to be virtually ruined in a few years' time. The precedent has been set, however. One nation may indeed interfere judicially in the affairs of another and force compliance, part of a wider assertion of privilege by a US government that is attempting to turn banking systems around the world into part of the US tax collection effort." Continue reading →

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