The Case for Expanded Shipbuilding Subsidies Remains Wanting
Colin GrabowThe United States, warns anew essay inThe Atlantic, is turning its back on the world ’s oceans with deleterious consequences for the country’s national security. While much of the piece focuses on U.S. naval power, author Jerry Hendrix also highlightsde minimis U.S. commercial shipbuilding as symptomatic of American maritime deterioration. To place the industry back on a solid footing, the former Navy captain urges the adoption of a reinvigorated subsidy regime. Past experience, however, suggests that simply throwing more money at U.S. shipbuilders is unlikely to elevate the industry beyond mediocrity. Equa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 16, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Colin Grabow Source Type: blogs
More Startups Can Help Fix the Startup Bank ’s Problems
Jack SoloweyBy now, those following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) have largely identified their preferred culprits for thesecond ‐largest bank failure in U.S. history. But regardless of where one assigns the most blame, it ’s clear that the post‐Global Financial Crisis regulatory regime neither prevented SVB’s demise nor anextraordinary federal reaction to it. While some take the fall of SVB as a reason todouble down on the usual medicine, this bank failure is a case in point for allowing progress inmonetary and financial alternatives.Ultimately, SVB failed to manage risks, some of which...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 15, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Jack Solowey Source Type: blogs
DEA Pumps the Brakes on Congress ’ Move to Increase Access to Addiction Treatment
Jeffrey A. SingerIn the latest episode of “Cops Practicing Medicine, ” the Drug Enforcement Administration announced new telehealthguidelines for patients with substance use disorder receiving medication ‐assisted treatment (MAT) with buprenorphine. Last December, Congress passed theMainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act with bipartisan support. The actremoved the onerous rules and regulations surrounding the “X waiver” that the DEA required health care practitioners to obtain if they wanted to treat addiction with buprenorphine. These requirements deterred many health care providers from offering medicat...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 15, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Militarism in Mexico: Another Unforeseen Result of the Drug War
Daniel RaisbeckIn 2012, during his second failed campaign for president of Mexico, Andr és Manuel López Obrador promised repeatedly that, if elected, he would send the Mexican army back to its barracks within six months of his inauguration. The country’s militarization was a political issue since 2006, when former president Felipe Calder ón, who narrowly defeated López in that year’s election, resorted to the army to combat the increasingly powerful drug cartels.During his third campaign in 2018, when he finally won the presidency, L ópez remained a critic of Mexico ’s militarization, promising to use ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 15, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Daniel Raisbeck Source Type: blogs
Is the Tide Turning on Compelled Speech in Academia?
Erec SmithRecently, the University of North Carolina voted to“ban” the requirement of politically charged prompts, like diversity statements, from any considerations for admission, hiring, promotion, and tenure. Such statements were deemed “compelled speech” and therefore antithetical to intellectual freedom,UNC ’s Board of Governors approved a policy that disallows making applicants “affirmatively ascribe to or opine about beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition to admission, employment, or professional advancemen...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 15, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Erec Smith Source Type: blogs
Dodd Frank Was Never Gutted – It Was Barely Touched
Norbert Michel andNicholas AnthonyIn March 2018, theNew York Timesran an op ‐ed about the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (the Economic Growth Act). The piece claimed the bill “would roll back or eliminate parts of the Dodd‐Frank Act.”Fast forward to March 2023, when theTimesran an op ‐ed by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D‑MA) about the Silicon Valley Bank failure. In it, Warren points to the Economic Growth Act andargues the demise of Silicon Valley Bank was “the direct result of leaders in Washington weakening the financial rules.”Though separated by five years, both o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 14, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Norbert Michel, Nicholas Anthony Source Type: blogs
Who Said TANSTAAFL First?
David BoazIn the early, scruffy days of the modern libertarian movement, the late 1960s and early 1970s, a popular libertarian slogan was TANSTAAFL — “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” See the buttons at the right. It meant that government can’t hand out free stuff indefinitely — benefits have to be paid for. Or more generally,to economists, it refers toopportunity costs. But who said it first?In my recent study ofthe citations inBartlett ’s Familiar Quotations, I saw that the editors listed the slightly more grammatical version, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” as “attributed...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 14, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs
President Biden ’s “Historic” 2024 Budget
Chris EdwardsThe Biden administration has proposed itsfederal budget for 2024. The administration has an expansive view of federal responsibilities and calls for new spending on health care, college aid, paid leave, child care, preschool, housing, and numerous other items.The new spending is discussed in thebudget summary, which starts with the president ’s message and runs through chapters for each department over 132 pages. I looked at the document ’s language to see what it reveals about the administration’s worldview and priorities.One prominent word in the Biden budget is “historic.” The administration ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 14, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
President Biden ’s Historic 2024 Budget
Chris EdwardsThe Biden administration has proposed itsfederal budget for 2024. The administration has an expansive view of federal responsibilities and calls for new spending on health care, college aid, paid leave, child care, preschool, housing, and numerous other items.The new spending is discussed in thebudget summary, which starts with the president ’s message and runs through chapters for each department over 132 pages. I looked at the document ’s language to see what it reveals about the administration’s worldview and priorities.One prominent word in the Biden budget is “historic.” The administration ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 14, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
A Note on the Unjust Firing of Dr. Tabia Lee
Erec SmithLast week, a friend, colleague, and co ‐Founder ofFree Black Thought was ousted from her position atFoothills ‐De Anza Community College in California. Dr. Tabia Lee ’s transgression: asking questions about DEI initiatives, fighting for viewpoint diversity, and upholding classical liberal values. (Lee explains herself in a video put out by theFoundation Against Intolerance and Racism.)According to anInside Higher Ed article, her alleged insubordination included the following acts:“She questioned antiracist ‘orthodoxy,’ objected to the college’s land acknowledgments for an Indigenous ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 13, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Erec Smith Source Type: blogs
As in 2008, Ad Hoc Measures Spread Panic
Norbert MichelMore than anything, the actions of the U.S. government pertaining to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the closing of Signature Bank demonstrate the need for calm and the rule of law. Congress long ago created a framework for dealing with bank failures, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is at the center of that framework. The FDIC has regularly demonstrated its ability to follow the law and resolve a failed bank, and that ’s exactly what they should be allowed to do now.It is improper for government officials to take it upon themselves to change the rules of the game in th...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 13, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Norbert Michel Source Type: blogs
Jimmy Carter vs. the Fairness Doctrine
Paul MatzkoJimmy Carter has lived long enough —and he is the longest living former president by a substantialmargin, with the gap between him and #2, George HW Bush, nearly as wide as that between Bush and #6, Herbert Hoover! —to see the fruits from his sweeping crusade for federal deregulation.Others havediscussed Carter ’slegacy as theGreat Deregulator of airlines, craft beer, trucking, rail, oil and natural gas, and much more. It ’s all true and Carter deserves credit for laying the foundation for the economic prosperity of the 1980s and 1990s.But I want to focus on an underrated aspect of Carter’s deregula...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 13, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Paul Matzko Source Type: blogs
Introducing Cato ’s Protectionist Madness 2023 Tournament
Scott LincicomeContrary to conventional wisdom, the United Statesis not some sort of libertarian, free trade utopia. While average U.S. tariff rates are low, the federal government restricts foreign trade and investment in many other ways, thus harming American workers, farmers, trading partners, and the economy overall –and breeding political dysfunction along the way. For decades, Cato hasdocumented this protectionist madness, but our scholars have long disagreed on which policy is the most reckless and damaging of them all.So, now we ’re askingyou to help us decide.Starting today and running through April 6th, 32 te...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 13, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Scott Lincicome Source Type: blogs
President Biden ’s Budget Misses the Mark
Romina Boccia and Dominik LettPresident Biden finally released hisannual budget blueprint for fiscal year 2024, more than a month late. This year’s presidential budget is filled with excessive spending, higher taxes, and misguided policies.The President proposes to reduce deficits by $3 trillion over the next ten years. That goal, while moving in the right direction, falls far short of the $8 trillion in deficit reduction that ’s needed to stop federal debt from growing to a new record‐high. Moreover, the President’s plans to reduce deficits also put the cart before the horse by primarily raising taxes to clo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 9, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Romina Boccia, Dominik Lett Source Type: blogs
House Hearing and FOIA Reveals Fed ’s Stance on CBDC
Nicholas AnthonyFederal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spent this week testifying before Congress. Unsurprisingly, comments focused oninterest rates,inflation, and the risks of a future downturn. Yet one question from RepresentativeFrench Hill (R ‑AK) deserves more attention for it revealed a troubling trend in the Federal Reserve’s position on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).When asked by Representative Hill if Congressional authority is needed for the Federal Reserve to issue a CBDC,Chair Powell responded that the Federal Reserve would need Congressional authority to issue a retail CBDC, but he was carefu...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 8, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Nicholas Anthony Source Type: blogs
