Under the Government’s Wing

Regulating for Their Own Benefit

By Justin Katz | October 13, 2010 |

Not surprisingly, politicians are strongly bipartisan in protecting their own unique ability to engage in insider trading: A few lawmakers proposed a bill that would prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based on nonpublic information they obtain. The legislation has languished since 2006. “Congressional staff are often privy to inside information, and…

When Government Is All, Political Connections Are Decisive.

By Justin Katz | October 5, 2010 |

Stephen Spruiell describes the “atypical” way in which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has handled ShoreBank, a Chicago-founded bank with a leftist lending bent. Apparently, “the FDIC relieved ShoreBank of its most toxic assets but left largely intact its management team — a highly unusual move” — and is not requiring an adjustment of…

And Government Busts Our Boom

By Justin Katz | September 17, 2010 |

After a brief lesson in economics — which is most likely to be ignored by those most in need of heeding it — Kevin Williamson notes that the tweaks and adjustments that central planners make to running systems are not light in their effects: … It’s easy to say: Well, we’ll just raise the retirement…

Government Drives Us Crazy

By Justin Katz | September 17, 2010 |

My first thought, upon reading about Butler Hospital’s attempts to gain government approval for a 26-bed addition for psychiatric patients was, “Must everything be a controversy?” Unfortunately, the more government involves itself in every corner of American society, the more the answer becomes, “yes.” Psychiatric hospitals around the country have also been expanding, and about…

Hitchens’ “Dossier” on Bloomberg

By Monique Chartier | September 15, 2010 |

During his just-ended Dem primary campaign, Anthony Gemma darkly warned that, bad as his attack informational ads were, the GOP had even worse goods on David Cicilline. It will be interesting to see over the next seven weeks whether this hypothesized dossier pertaining to the newly chosen Dem congressional candidate materializes. Meanwhile, the unaffiliated mayor…

Arriving on Track One, ObamaCare Mandates; Arriving on Track Two, Heightened Premium Control

By Monique Chartier | September 13, 2010 |

Last week, when insurers dared to point out to their customers that premiums will have to be raised so as to meet ObamaCare mandates, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius treated them to her best Edward G. Robinson. It has come to my attention that several health insurer carriers are sending letters to their enrollees falsely blaming…

Don’t Let the Bureaucrats Bite

By Justin Katz | September 1, 2010 |

Cause: Bedbugs, a common household pest for centuries, all but vanished in the 1940s and ’50s with the widespread use of DDT. But DDT was banned in 1972 as too toxic to wildlife, especially birds. Since then, the bugs have developed resistance to chemicals that replaced DDT. Also, exterminators have fewer weapons in their arsenal…

The People of Central Falls Should Fire Their Receiver

By Justin Katz | August 20, 2010 |

… only they can’t, because the people who govern Rhode Island have decided that bond ratings justify a sort of economic martial law. They simply don’t believe that democracy works. So, bond rating agencies’ threat to devalue Rhode Island’s ability to borrow more money (which it shouldn’t be doing, anyway) has given a single man,…

Integral Government Strings

By Justin Katz | August 19, 2010 |

Upon reading of the $9.4 million or so in federal money coming to Rhode Island for the purpose of expanding charter schools, I couldn’t help but wonder about the strings that must be attached even to such a piddling sum, by current government standards. Reviewing the U.S. Dept. of Education’s onlne materials related to the…

The Government’s Business Model

By Justin Katz | August 10, 2010 |

It’s quite model the U.S. government has created for itself, as an entity, and the Democrats have made its principles undeniably clear with their ownership of power: Spending more on border security commands bipartisan support, but the jobs bill, which narrowly passed the Senate, is being described in starkly different political terms. Democrats say it…