Perverse Incentives

Public school students being tracked continually

"Because of her religious beliefs, Andrea Hernandez was expelled – yes, expelled from John Jay High School in January 2013! Next week: Victory! Andrea Hernandez has been readmitted to that school and, because she would not abandon her American right to religious freedom, that school district has stopped using the RFID badges tracking program. I will delightedly show you how all this happened, setting a legal precedent that other American students wielding the Constitution may follow. In view of John Whitehead’s continuous teaching of what the Constitution actually says, I wish he were running for president in 2016." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPublic school students being tracked continually

UN report: Afghan insurgents use marijuana fields as hiding places

"The amount of Afghan farmland planted with cannabis fell by nearly a fifth last year after one province launched a fierce eradication campaign, but a bumper crop meant that actual production rose compared with 2011, according to the UN. Overall Afghanistan produced 1,400 tonnes of commercial cannabis resin in 2012, worth around $65 million, the report estimated. Government efforts to stamp out poppy farming may even push up production of cannabis, the report warned. Last year the UN said Afghanistan’s importance as a source of resin for world markets might be growing as more farmers switched to the crop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN report: Afghan insurgents use marijuana fields as hiding places

Billionaire: Part-Timers Will Near 50% of Workforce Due to ObamaCare

"On the McLaughlin Group this weekend, Mort Zuckerman, real estate billionaire and owner of the New York Daily News and of U.S. News & World Report stated: 'Part-time employment is going to grow from 25 percent of the workforce to close to 50 percent of the workforce in part because of the problems of healthcare obligations.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBillionaire: Part-Timers Will Near 50% of Workforce Due to ObamaCare

California Governor Calls for Legislation that will Increase Unemployment

"Gov. Jerry Brown says he supports a bill in the Legislature that would boost the California minimum wage next year and in 2016 by a total of $2 an hour, reports LaTi. The bill would raise the current $8-an-hour minimum wage to $9 on July 1, 2014, and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016. The Governor, displaying a total lack of understanding of basic economics, said: 'The minimum wage has not kept pace with rising costs. This legislation is overdue and will help families that are struggling in this harsh economy.' What it will do is cause an increase in unemployment. Prices can't be regulated, wage prices or otherwise. It is basic supply and demand economics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia Governor Calls for Legislation that will Increase Unemployment

Treasury: $238b financial bailout ‘avoided catastrophe,’ only $3b outstanding

"The US Treasury said Wednesday the government’s massive response to the economic crisis five years ago paid off, avoiding a catastrophic breakdown of the financial system. In a report marking the anniversary of the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers — which snowballed into the worst crisis since the 1930s — the Treasury defended deploying hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to save other banks, major financial institutions and auto companies. While the rescue effort required piling up government debt, it was necessary, said Treasury officials who briefed reporters." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTreasury: $238b financial bailout ‘avoided catastrophe,’ only $3b outstanding

Where Bank Regulators Go to Get Rich

"Mary Schapiro, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, must take us for fools. Four months after leaving the SEC, Schapiro is joining a firm stuffed to the gills with former government financial-services regulators peddling their knowledge of Washington’s regulatory thicket to the banks and financial-services companies they once oversaw. Promontory, founded in 2001 by Eugene Ludwig, a former comptroller of the currency, has become a sort of mini-version of Fannie Mae in its heyday. About 100 of the 400 Promontory employees are former Washington regulators." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhere Bank Regulators Go to Get Rich

Journal Explores Incentive For False Results In Lab Tests For DUI

"A recent analysis published in the Criminal Justice Ethics academic journal suggests when technicians perform forensic analysis of blood and other evidence for cases such as drunk driving, the results can be influenced by built-in financial incentives to produce a conviction, arguing that even if false conviction rates are very low, a 3 percent error rate could put 33,000 innocent individuals behind bars every year. The primary problem, according to the paper, is that fourteen states reward crime labs with a bonus for each conviction they generate. North Carolina pays a $600 bounty 'upon conviction' to the law enforcement agency whose lab 'tested for the presence of alcohol.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJournal Explores Incentive For False Results In Lab Tests For DUI

Scandinavian Welfare States Realize Too Many Handouts Are Destructive

"It’s hardly radical libertarianism to reduce unemployment benefits from four years to two years, but it is rather significant when even politicians realize that it’s not good – as illustrated by these powerful cartoons – to lure people into the wagon when nations need more people pulling the wagon. It's a bit depressing that Denmark actually ranks higher than the United States in the most recent Economic Freedom of the World rankings. Yes, their welfare state is too big, their tax system is a nightmare, and they are saddled with one of the world’s most expensive bureaucracies, but Denmark has ultra-free market policies in other areas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScandinavian Welfare States Realize Too Many Handouts Are Destructive

When It Comes To Healthcare, Paul Krugman Is Wrong 100% Of The Time

"In a recent New York Times column Krugman pronounced Obamacare a success before it has even been tried. Why? Because the premiums to be charged in California health insurance exchange are apparently lower than what the experts thought they would be. Aah… let’s see… Everybody thought health insurance premiums would be 100% higher. In fact, they are only 60% higher… Hooray… Break out the champagne! I’ll come back to these price comparisons in a minute. For the moment, I would ask: What kind of an economist would celebrate an expected price decline without asking what happened to quantity or quality? This is an Econ 101 mistake." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhen It Comes To Healthcare, Paul Krugman Is Wrong 100% Of The Time