Category: Role of government

  • Why government spending is (mostly) bad

    Government spending replaces the judgment of the market with the judgment of politicians. The judgment of the market refers to the billions of decisions that we collectively make each day, decisions that we freely make, that we believe will advance our self-interest. That is to say, the market is characterized by mutual agreement and voluntary…

  • Martha, I’m Glad You’re Home

    Writing from Newton, Iowa. Alan Reynolds, writing for the Cato Institute, wrote in June 2003 this: Believe it or not, the government now charges Martha Stewart with “securities fraud” during that same period because she supposedly tried in vain to prop up her own stock by denying that she was guilty of the crime then…

  • End Corporate Welfare, Starting with Industrial Revenue Bonds

    “While corporate welfare has attracted critics from both the left and the right, there is no uniform definition. By TIME’s definition, it is this: any action by local, state or federal government that gives a corporation or an entire industry a benefit not offered to others. It can be an outright subsidy, a grant, real…