Ratchet Effect

The Costs of War in Syria

"Politicians want a war to appear cheap, at least up front, while the bureaucrats want bigger budgets. Once the war starts, though, all bets are off, and any political or legal authorization given to the administration to wage war will be a de facto blank check for future unlimited outlays for occupation and conflict on an unlimited timeline. We’ve already seen this in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and while the two countries descended into chaos, the claim was made that since the U.S. regime had 'broken' Iraq and Afghanistan, the taxpayers were now on the hook to finance the 'fixing' of the broken countries. The regime knows that all it needs to do is start a war, and the money will begin to flow indefinitely." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Costs of War in Syria

Ron Paul: Middle of the Road in Healthcare Leads to Socialism

"Beginning in the 1940s, government policies distorted the health care market, causing prices to rise and denying many Americans access to quality care. Congress reacted to the problems caused by their prior interventions with new interventions, such as the HMO Act, ERISA, EMTLA, and various federal entitlement programs. Each new federal intervention not only failed to fix the problems it was supposedly created to solve, it created new problems, leading to calls for even more new federal interventions. This process culminated in 2010. Contrary to the claims of some of its opponents, Obamacare is not socialized medicine. It is corporatized medicine." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul: Middle of the Road in Healthcare Leads to Socialism

NSA spying illegal, even under the unconstitutional Patriot Act

"Last week, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill that would have limited the NSA’s blanket collection of metadata to those 'relevant to a national security investigation.' The Patriot Act is unconstitutional, according to any reasonable interpretation of the Fourth Amendment. The NSA’s activities do not even meet the lower standards set by the Patriot Act; they are illegal even under an unconstitutional law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA spying illegal, even under the unconstitutional Patriot Act

T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security

"With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals. Not everyone is happy. T.S.A. and local law enforcement officials say the teams are a critical component of the nation’s counterterrorism efforts, but some members of Congress, auditors at the Department of Homeland Security and civil liberties groups are sounding alarms. T.S.A. officials would not say if the VIPR teams had ever foiled a terrorist plot or thwarted any major threat to public safety, saying the information is classified." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingT.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security

Think Government Is Intrusive Now? Wait Until E-Verify Kicks In

"If this part of the bill passes, all employers will be forced to use the government-run, Web-based system that checks potential employees' immigration status. That means, every American will have to obtain the federal government's prior approval in order to earn a living. E-Verify might seem harmless now, but missions always creep and bureaucracies expand. Surely we should link E-Verify to the criminal records of pedophiles? And why not all criminal records? We don't want alcoholic airline pilots, disbarred doctors, fraudster bankers and so on. E-Verify will be attractive as a way to enforce hundreds of other employment laws and regulations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThink Government Is Intrusive Now? Wait Until E-Verify Kicks In

Inflation is rotten to the core: Regardless of what Fed says, prices are rising

"You might be just a trifle curious about how the use of the core rate of inflation (leaving out food and energy) came into being. The core rate of inflation was the brainstorm of Arthur F. Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve during the early 1970s. The object of this exercise was to take people’s eyes off what was really happening to prices so that the Fed of that era could run an ultra-easy monetary policy. The professorial Burns managed to convince the Congress, the government’s statistical agencies, the press and his fellow economists that excluding food and energy was the right way to look at prices." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInflation is rotten to the core: Regardless of what Fed says, prices are rising

Civil Liberties and Security in an Age of Terrorism

"Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism: A special evening with our 'Challenge of Liberty Summer Seminars' students and featured by C-SPAN's Book TV. Watch this eye-opening, timely discussion on the recent revelations of systematic government spying—including NSA accessing of phone records, USPS photocopying the exterior of all mail, and the dangers posed to liberty and security by these and other such unchecked and unconstitutional powers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCivil Liberties and Security in an Age of Terrorism

A Black Box for Car Crashes

"Fourteen states have passed laws that say that, even though the data belongs to the vehicle’s owner, law enforcement officials and those involved in civil litigation can gain access to the black boxes with a court order. In these states, lawyers may subpoena the data for criminal investigations and civil lawsuits, making the information accessible to third parties, including law enforcement or insurance companies that could cancel a driver’s policy or raise a driver’s premium. Privacy advocates have expressed concern that the data collected will only grow to include a wider time frame and other elements like GPS and location-based services." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Black Box for Car Crashes

Liberty Slipping: 10 Things You Could Do in 1975 That You Can’t Do Now

"1. You could buy an airline ticket and fly without ever showing an ID. 2. You could buy cough syrup without showing an ID. 3. You could buy and sell gold coins without showing an ID 4. You could buy a gun without showing an ID 5. You could pull as much cash out of your bank account without the bank filing a report with the government. 6. You could get a job without having to prove you were an American. 7. You could buy cigarettes without showing an ID 8. You could have a phone conversation without the government knowing who you called and who called you. 9. You could open a stock brokerage account without having to explain where the money came from." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLiberty Slipping: 10 Things You Could Do in 1975 That You Can’t Do Now

FEMA caught using old flood map data that cost homeowners untold extra insurance premiums

"From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA’s recent flood maps - which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance - have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data. Homeowners, in turn, have to bear the cost of fixing FEMA’s mistakes. It’s unclear exactly how many new maps FEMA has issued in recent years are at least partly based on older data. While FEMA’s website allows anybody to look-up flood maps for their areas, the agency’s maps don’t show the age of the underlying data. Congress has actually cut map funding by more than half since 2010, from $221 million down to $100 million this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFEMA caught using old flood map data that cost homeowners untold extra insurance premiums