Under the Government’s Wing

Hurting a Dedicated Constituency

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2010 |

In an article about the ways in which Democrats’ preferred policies hurt black Americans, Kevin Williamson emphasizes union racism and especially the minimum wage: THE first answer many economists will give to that question is: the minimum wage. Milton Friedman, a Nobel laureate who spent much of his career showing how government programs reliably end…

The International Noose Tightens

By Justin Katz | February 1, 2010 |

How long, do you suppose, until history encounters its first global totalitarian regime? U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said a bank tax and other tough new measures would be introduced by the individual countries but in a coordinated way to prevent bankers from moving from one place to another to escape regulation. “Lenin might have been…

Towns on the Teat, Too.

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2010 |

This article is a few weeks old, but I’ve been holding on to it because the statement contained therein really requires philosophical correction: One by one, mayors and municipal managers from Cumberland to Westerly told the House Finance Committee on Thursday that the midyear aid cuts proposed by Governor Carcieri will wreak havoc on local…

Again: It Wasn’t Stimulus; It Was a Government-Insulation Program

By Justin Katz | January 23, 2010 |

We’ve argued multiple times, ’round here, that the federal government’s approach to “stimulus” — especially as defined by President Obama — was not, in fact, designed to stimulate the economy and yield job growth. Rather it was designed to insulate government structures from the effects of an economic recession… at the expense of the economy.…

Mandated Monitor Waste

By Justin Katz | January 19, 2010 |

Here’s the scene: Shortly after 7:00 a.m. on a semi-rural road that locals often use to avoid a mile or so of Middletown’s two main roads, the school bus pulls up to a modest split-level house, and the driver opens the double doors. A middle-school girl skips up the driveway and stops a few feet…

How the Economy Interacts with the Poor

By Justin Katz | January 11, 2010 |

As economic units is perhaps the last way in which clergy should consider human beings, but it’s worth their while, on prudential matters, to take into account the ways in which economic principles affect charitable intentions. Unfortunately, in the quotation that Ed Fitzpatrick recently utilized, I fear Roman Catholic priest John Kiley has the mechanism…

Rule by Funding and Memoranda

By Justin Katz | January 7, 2010 |

I’m one of two people in the audience of an “emergency” Tiverton School Committee meeting, which was called in order to approve a memorandum of understanding from the Rhode Island Department of Education for the state’s Race to the Top application, and the sense that I’m getting from the discussion is not encouraging. Here’s the…

Impressions from a Declining Country

By Justin Katz | December 23, 2009 |

Sometimes the order in which one processes information can create broader impressions than the individual items suggest. For just such an experience, first watch Steven Crowder’s short video about the crumbling, desolate city of Detroit, whose condition he attributes to the loving manipulations of big government. Now consider this news: Almost two months ago, the…

What Government Healthcare Really Means

By Justin Katz | December 20, 2009 |

Well, this about sums it up: Far from being a brilliant plan constructed by top doctors and financial experts in a government brain trust, this health-care bill is a twisted, deformed political document, seen in its entirety by only a few high-ranking politicians belonging to a single political party. Its components have not been precisely…

Hey, Why Don’t You Just Pay Yourselves?

By Justin Katz | November 25, 2009 |

Didn’t want to let this slip away: In what it called a sign of progress, GM also pledged to start paying back $6.7 billion in U.S. loans. But the money will come from a contingency account full of government cash, leading critics to question just how healthy the automaker really is. Welcome to government self-financing…