"Indians have deposited nearly all the currency bills voided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, denting the central bank’s profit and dealing a blow to his drive to unearth unaccounted wealth. The cash ban prompted the central bank to print new currency, reducing its profit and cutting annual dividend payout to the government by half."
"Sometimes innocent people are locked away for crimes they didn’t commit. Less widely understood is just how reluctant the system is to righting those wrongs."
"The police took more than half of the state’s median yearly income from someone because a dog sat next to their car. If you think this is a horrific injustice, you should feel relieved to know the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with you. Civil asset forfeiture is the formal name for this form of state sanctioned theft." Continue reading →
"Senate Republicans aren't saying much about what's in their health care bill, but they have made one thing perfectly clear: They have given up on fully repealing Obamacare." Continue reading →
"Iowa makes it a crime for doctors to open up a new location and offer services without obtaining special permission known as a 'certificate of need.' Permission is not easy to come by: Dr. Birchansky must persuade state officials that his outpatient surgery center is 'needed' in the proposed location through a cumbersome process that resembles full-blown litigation and that allows existing businesses (his competitors) to oppose his application. This process amounts to nothing more than certificates of monopoly." Continue reading →
"A farmer faces trial in federal court this summer and a $2.8 million fine for failing to get a permit to plow his field and plant wheat in Tehama County." Continue reading →
"Have too much cash? You’d better tell the government. If not, they’re authorizing themselves in this bill to seize not just the money you didn’t report, but ALL of your assets and bank accounts. They even go so far as to specifically name 'safety deposit boxes' among the various assets that they can seize if you don’t fill out the form." Continue reading →
"Federal law enforcement officers are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year with little oversight or constitutional protections for property owners. Most of these types of seizures are never challenged. The I.G. found petitions were filed in only 20 percent of the DEA cash seizures it reviewed. Of those that were challenged, though, 40 percent saw money fully or partially returned to the owner, indicating that there may be a significant number of unfounded seizures going unchallenged." Continue reading →
"The city council felled an entire stretch of this Urban Food Street, even preventing residents from collecting the fruit before the destruction." Continue reading →
"You need food, so you grow some vegetables. If you have extra you sell them on a street corner to your neighbors, and if you live in California you get arrested for it." Continue reading →