An omnibus selection of the great and horrible.
– It’s not just the US where paying paying for teams and sporting events is a net loss to a community. People like going to games and they pay money to do it. Meanwhile, many of the sporting activities financed by local and state governments end up losing money.
– Good thing we have Joe Biden watching things like a hawk; otherwise, people might start to wonder if it’s wise to have government handing out billions of dollars to cronies interested parties in the guise of “saving the financial markets.”
– Robert Higgs has a great find regarding anti-trust law. It’s funny because it’s true. It’s sad because it’s true.
– Arnold Kling believes that an insurance industry-funded study noting that health care premiums will rise sharply as a result of government activity is true. Ironman, meanwhile, notes that the phase-out is going to be a huge implicit tax on the middle class: people will find that it is more worthwhile to stay poor or not get better jobs because then they lose lots of taxpayer largess.
– Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman finally have a final version of their critique of the New Paternalism. I’ve been meaning to review the draft I read a while back because it’s such a great paper. I also got to hear a podcast in which Rizzo lectured on the topic and he is very convincing.
– The Senate health care “reform” bill weighs in at 1502 pages. People who have read the entire thing: 0. I totally trust the government on this because even on minor issues, like swine flu vaccinations, they’ve done a great job. Oh, wait.
– While they’re at it, Democrats also want to pass Waxman-Markey, which will be yet another huge tax increase.
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 