statism

Study Rejects Cell Phone Driving Danger Claims

"A study published in the August edition American Economic Journal rejects the commonly held view that the proliferation of cell phone use among the driving public has made travel more dangerous. Politicians have seized on the perception and outlawed driving while talking on a handheld cell phone in eleven states. The researchers began by posing a difficult question for politicians: Why has cell phone use skyrocketed at the same time that traffic accidents and fatalities are at an all-time low? The study found that fatal accident rates did not see either a short-term or a long-term drop in the states that adopted cell phone driving bans." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy Rejects Cell Phone Driving Danger Claims

DOJ, FBI admit they inflated claims about mortgage fraud crackdown last year

"The Justice Department and FBI have quietly acknowledged they grossly overstated the scope of a mortgage fraud crackdown, which the administration heralded with much fanfare a few weeks before last year's presidential election. The DOJ and FBI had long been dogged by claims that their numbers were inflated. Bloomberg has been reporting since October that the cases cited by Holder included charges filed during the George W. Bush administration. Bloomberg continued to press for clarification. The administration went dark on the issue until Friday, when the FBI acknowledged in a memo that it had conducted an 'extensive review' and found problems." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDOJ, FBI admit they inflated claims about mortgage fraud crackdown last year

Audit finds NSA violated ‘thousands’ of its own privacy rules

"The National Security Agency (NSA) has breached privacy rules or acted outside its authority several thousand times since being granted sweeping new powers five years ago, the Washington Post reported. The breaches had been revealed after analysis of an internal audit and other top secret documents, the details of which were made available to the Post by US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. It cited an instance in 2008 when a 'large number' of calls from Washington were monitored after a programming error mixed up the area code for the US capital — 202 — with the international dialing code for Egypt — 20." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAudit finds NSA violated ‘thousands’ of its own privacy rules

Congress Is Nervous About This Whole Bitcoin Thing

"A Senate committee sent a letter to DHS asking what the agency is doing to crack down on the illicit use of Bitcoins. Similar letters were sent to a host of other three-letter agencies including the DOJ and the SEC. “The speed at which payments can be sent globally and the potentially profitable investments that can be made trading virtual currency have made them attractive to entrepreneurs and investors alike,' write Senators Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) in the letter. 'However, their near anonymous and decentralized nature has also attracted criminals who value few things more than being allowed to operate in the shadows.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCongress Is Nervous About This Whole Bitcoin Thing

US misprinted 30 million new $100 bills, costing millions to fix

"The US is approaching the release date of its new $100 bills, but the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is facing an embarrassing problem: 30 million bills were incorrectly printed, and fixing them will cost taxpayers an estimated $3.79 million. The new $100 bills are designed to contain a Liberty Bell that changes its color, 3-D images that move when the bill is tilted, and a hidden message on the collar of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers. Once these bills were delivered to the Federal Reserve, they were rejected. Officials have sent back about 30 million of them, and refuse to accept any more bills from the Washington, D.C. factory." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS misprinted 30 million new $100 bills, costing millions to fix

Goodbye Switzerland, Hello Bitcoins

"Given that the allure of bitcoins has been attributed by some to its status as an untraceable alternative to currencies issued by central authorities, there is little reason to assume that bitcoin market participants will honor their tax obligations as soon as the rules are explained more clearly. Thus, it is not surprising that the potential for bitcoins and other virtual currencies to replace offshore accounts as '[t]omorrow’s tax havens' has been the subject of scholarly analysis and commentary (here and here). It remains to be seen how the IRS will attack the use of bitcoins and other virtual currencies to evade income tax obligations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoodbye Switzerland, Hello Bitcoins

Why the White House Is Panicking About Obamacare

"About one in every four individuals who are eligible for Medicaid in this country has not bothered to enroll. About one in five employees who are offered employer-provided health insurance turns it down; among workers under 30 years of age, the refusal rate is almost one in three. Think about that for a moment. Millions of people are turning down (Medicaid) health insurance, even though it’s free! Millions of others are turning down their employers’ offers. Welcome to the huge disconnect in health reform. On the one hand there are the people who are supposed to benefit from health reform. On the other hand there are the people who talk about it and write about it." Continue reading →

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Missouri lawmaker wants ‘personal exemption’ from Obamacare birth control mandate

"A Catholic state legislator from Missouri has filed suit with the U.S. District Court in St. Louis asking that his family be exempted from the contraception coverage mandate section of the Affordable Care Act, also known as 'Obamacare.' According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, state Rep. Paul Wieland (R) said that the provision, which stipulates that insurance companies offer birth control pills and other forms of pregnancy prevention at no cost to policy-holders, violates his First Amendment right to religious freedom." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMissouri lawmaker wants ‘personal exemption’ from Obamacare birth control mandate

Bill Bonner: America’s faith-based economy

"Did Mary really ascend to Heaven on this day? Was she really a virgin? Did she really give birth to the son of God? You need faith to believe such things. Likewise, you need faith to believe that a piece of green paper is ‘money’. You are also supposed to believe that its managers will make sure this ‘money’ holds its purchasing power even as they do their damnedest to undermine it. But to believe that you need more than faith. You need a full frontal lobotomy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: America’s faith-based economy

The Ph.D Bust: America’s Awful Market for Young Scientists—in 7 Charts

"Politicians and businessmen are fond of talking about America's scientist shortage -- the dearth of engineering and lab talent that will inevitably leave us sputtering in the global economy. But perhaps it's time they start talking about our scientist surplus instead. I am by no means the first person to make this point. But I was compelled to try and illustrate it after reading a report from Inside Higher Ed. In short, job prospects for young science Ph.D.'s haven't been looking so hot these last few years, not only in the life sciences, which have been weak for some time, but also in fields like engineering." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Ph.D Bust: America’s Awful Market for Young Scientists—in 7 Charts