“Prohibition Theater” and “The Iron Law of Prohibition”
Jeffrey A. SingerA May 18 opinion column in theWall Street Journal by Joseph Grogan and Casey B. Mulligan titled “Fentanyl Overdose Rates Are Rising Fast” argued that to better address the overdose crisis, the Biden administration should tighten border security, give law enforcement better tools to combat the drug trade, toughen sentencing, and add illicit fentanyl and its analogs (easily created in clandestine labs) to the Drug Enforcement Admini stration’s Schedule 1 (“no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse ”), joining cannabis, LSD, heroin, MDMA (“ecstasy”) and other drugs wi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 31, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
American politicians are becoming increasingly rude and disrespectful on Twitter
By Matthew Warren
If you’ve been on social media at all in the last decade, you may have noticed it becoming an increasingly toxic environment. Antisocial language is on the rise — but not only among the general public. An analysis of hundreds of thousands of tweets from US Members of Congress has found that the language in their posts has become more and more rude and disrespectful since 2009. And this seems to be because uncivil tweets are rewarded with more retweets and likes, a finding that highlights the perverse incentives driving the way we communicate with each other on social media.
The researchers,...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 30, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Political Twitter Source Type: blogs
Politicizing Business, From Florida to California
David BoazGovernment subsidies and other aid to private corporations are inefficient. They distort the market process and channel valuable resources to companies chosen by government, not by consumers. They are also subject to political influence. It ’s an old story, government decisionmakers awarding contracts, loans, and grants to companies run by their relatives, friends, donors, or allies. During the Obama administration, a major Obama donor andformer vice president Al Gore profited heavily from “green energy” subsidies. President Trump tried to hold the G7 Summit at his own Florida hotel, allowing him to ra...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 23, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs
Women candidates are seen as less electable — which makes voters less likely to support them
By Emily Reynolds
Politics in the UK is becoming increasingly diverse. But there is still a way to go. When it comes to gender, the proportion of women in the House of Commons is at an all time high — but at 35%, is still far from representative of the population.
A new study, published in PNAS, looks at the barriers to women being elected. And the Stanford University team finds even voters who would prefer a female candidate show a level of “pragmatic bias”: if they believe that women candidates face barriers that make them less electable, they are less likely to vote for them.
Participants...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 11, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Cognition Political Source Type: blogs
Justice Department Revives Slush Fund Settlements
William YeatmanIn 2011, President Obamaannounced a goal of putting one million electric vehicles on the road. To this end, hetwicewent to Congress seeking funds for electric vehicle infrastructure. Both times, however, Congress demurred. Thus rebuffed, the Obama administration turned to other means to achieve his preferred policy. In late 2016, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency reached a partial settlement with Volkswagen over “Dieselgate, ” which required the automaker to invest $1.2 billion on electric vehicle infrastructure—almost four times what the president unsuccessfully ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 6, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: William Yeatman Source Type: blogs
If Outright Repeal Is Off the Table, Reform and Restart the Section 301 Tariff Exclusion Process
Clark PackardAs the House and Senate prepare to reconcile the differences between their two China competition bills (United States Innovation and Competition Act and the America COMPETES Act, respectively), Sen. Pat Toomey (R ‑PA) is attempting to reform and restart the exclusion process from the Section 301 China tariffs, which lapsed at the end of 2020. Perhaps unsurprisingly, certain protectionist organizations are decryingany tariff relief at all.As I arguedrecently, the United States should completely eliminate the China tariffs. Policymakers areincreasingly aware that the Trump administration ’s tariffs have...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 5, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Packard Source Type: blogs
Five Market ‐Oriented Policies to Help the U.S. Semiconductor Industry
Scott LincicomeWith Congress still considering a $50 billion-plus subsidy package for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, I ’ve discussed themany(many)reasonswhy such subsides are costly and unnecessary, as well as theignominious history of similar industrial policies in the United States. This doesn ’t mean, however, that the U.S. government should simply do nothing. Instead, there are many horizontal, pro-market policy reforms that would deliver substantial benefits to chipmakers and other capital-intensive advanced manufacturers in the United States while avoiding U.S. industrial policy’s common pitfalls – picking...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 5, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Scott Lincicome Source Type: blogs
Apocalypse Now
There ' s a lot for the media to cover right now, but we really must not ignore thehorrific heat wave in India and Pakistan. It isn ' t even late spring, and temperatures are 50 C, that ' s about 122 F. The heat is destroying crops and has created a critical shortage of electricity. And, obviously, it ' s killing people although we aren ' t getting any data on that. Some places have been observed by satellite to have temperatures as high as 60C, which is incompatible with human life. And it ' s just going to get hotter.Closer to home, theColorado River reservoirs are disappearing. This also means massive loss of agricultur...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 3, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Yes, Lift the China Tariffs
Clark PackardIn March, inflation reached8.5 percent, the highest level since 1981. From the Federal Reserve to the Biden administration to Congress, policymakers are increasingly looking at ways of putting downward pressure on prices. During an interview last week with Bloomberg TV about ways to combat inflation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellensaid that lowering tariffs on imports from China is “worth considering.” As my Cato colleague Scott Lincicomenoted on Twitter, it ’s not worthconsidering, it ’s worthdoing.Inflation is being driven by a complicated imbalance of supply and demand — loose fiscal and mone...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 2, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Packard Source Type: blogs
Conspiracy Theories
I don ' t use the term " conspiracy theory " in the way most people do nowadays. After all, there are conspiracies, and in appropriate circumstances it ' s perfectly reasonable to have theories about them. In fact that ' s what law enforcement investigators do for a living. For example, Donald Trump and several of his associates conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. That ' s a real conspiracy and you are free to form theories about the details, although we know a lot of the broad outlines already. On the other hand, the " theory " that the 2020 election was somehow stolen from Mr. Trump is ridiculous. In ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 1, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Prejudice among Trump supporters increased after he became president
By Emily Reynolds
Whether or not Donald Trump’s presidency actively increased prejudice or simply emboldened those who already held bigoted views was frequently debated during his term. A new study looks more closely at prejudicial attitudes during the presidency, exploring the views of over 10,000 American citizens.
The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, finds a complex picture. While prejudicial attitudes decreased among Trump’s opponents, his supporters showed an increase in prejudice — and this seems to be because they believed these views had become more socially acceptable.
First, the res...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - April 29, 2022 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Political Source Type: blogs
On Today ’s Bad GDP Number, Please Remember: Imports Aren’t a “Drag on Growth”
Scott Lincicome andDaniel GriswoldRising U.S. imports are shouldering some of the blame for this morning ’s report that U.S. real GDP shrank by 1.4 percent in the first quarter. The report may signal underlying problems for the U.S. economy, but the growing demand of U.S. households and companies for imported goods isn’t one of them.In itspreliminary snapshot of first-quarter GDP growth, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis pointed to a drawdown of inventories, a slowdown in exports, and decreased government spending as factors behind the drop in GDP. But the agency also noted that imports “are a subtraction in the c...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 28, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Scott Lincicome, Daniel Griswold Source Type: blogs
What Can Elon Musk Do with Twitter?
Will DuffieldIn spite of much sound and fury from the chattering classes, Elon Musk has signed an agreement to purchase Twitter for 46.5 billion dollars. Musk has long complained that Twitter is too strictly moderated. As the platform ’s new owner, Musk has the right to run it as wishes. However, to remain Twitter’s owner, Musk will have to keep Twitter profitable enough to pay its creditors. Musk’s desire to liberalize Twitter’s rules may be in conflict with his prerogative to keep advertisers happy and revenue flowing. To “free” speech while maintaining Twitter’s profitability, Musk will have to accelerate ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 27, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Will Duffield Source Type: blogs
“National Security” In Name Only
Scott LincicomeEuropean Commission Executive Vice ‐President Valdis Dombrovskis took to Twitter today to announce that the EU will immediately liberalized trade with Ukraine to boost its economy and help counter Russian aggression:🔴 UNPRECEDENTED: EU grants#Ukraine zero-tariff, zero-quota trade.These measures will boost trade& keep its economy going. This is vital to win the war and recover post-war.This shows 🇪🇺 ' s unwavering commitment to helping 🇺🇦 in its hour of need.👉https://t.co/bStnWPnmocpic.twitter.com/8yTqitp1ZZ— Valdis Dombrovskis (@VDombrovskis)April 27, 2022The mutual economic an...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 27, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Scott Lincicome Source Type: blogs
Student Loan Permafrost?
Neal McCluskeyWhenPresident Trump instituted a freeze on federal student loan repayments in mid ‐March 2020, which was codified in the CARES Act soon after, it made sense. COVID-19 had just descended on the country, and we were all trying to get our heads around how dangerous it might be and how to cope with it. Lockdowns, at least short‐term, seemed to make sense, and even in their absence the pandemic was expected to put a major hit on the economy.Fast ‐forward to today: Widespread lockdowns are long over. We’re into the second‐booster phase of vaccinations. The economy is humming along to...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 7, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Neal McCluskey Source Type: blogs
