Free markets Archives - Page 48 of 50 Voice For Liberty

Jun

No more smoking laws, please

There is no doubt in my mind that smoking cigarettes and breathing secondhand smoke are harmful to health. If a young person asked my advice as to whether to smoke cigarettes, I would strongly urge them to avoid smoking. But it doesn't follow that we should have laws against smoking, or laws that govern how businesses such as bars and restaurants must accommodate smokers and non-smokers. Smoking is (and should continue to be) a legal activity. It seems unlikely to me that there are adults who are not familiar with the data about the risks of smoking, and they are…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

I have nothing to offer

Writing from Charlotte, North Carolina One of the appeals of big government is that is has so much to offer everyone. Those, myself included, who want government to radically reduce its size, intrusiveness, and power have nothing to offer except freedom and liberty. Sadly, those things don't seem to matter to many people today. Or perhaps people have forgotten what these words mean and how much government infringes on both. How has government become so big, and why are calls for smaller government so unpopular? In an article titled Handing Out The Goodies, Gene Callahan quotes Jim Henley as follows:…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

What to do with others’ money

Writing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania In a June 20, 2006 Wichita Eagle editorial, Rhonda Holman writes about the WaterWalk project in Wichita. Evidently there is controversy over the public not knowing the name of the "destination restaurant" that is being courted and favored with a gift of $1 million. To me, the controversy is not the identify of the restaurant or when and how the city should conduct its negotiations, but that we are paying for a restaurant to be built. We are not lacking for fine restaurants in Wichita. On both the east and west sides of town (and other…

Jun

By Bob Weeks

Arts funding in Wichita produces controversy

As local government tries to decide which arts and cultural institutions are to receive government funds, controversy arises. A June 8, 2006 Wichita Eagle article titled "Arts panel biases alleged" tells how some funding applicants are upset that some of the members of the funding committee have ties to organizations that also applied for funds. In an editorial titled "Let Arts Funding Work" published in the June 10, 2006 Wichita Eagle, Rhonda Holman writes "The process may not be perfect, but it's a precious opportunity for public dollars to be invested in the arts and attractions in a merit-based way…

May

By Bob Weeks

As expected, price controls harm Wichita travelers

Writing from Tallahassee, Florida As reported in the Wichita Business Journal on May 12, 2005: "The average number of daily departures dropped to 45 in March 2006 from 54 in March 2005." The effect of the AirTran subsidy is to reduce the price of airfare to and from Wichita. That is its stated goal. If the subsidy did not work to reduce prices, we would be wasting our money. The fact is that the subsidy does work to reduce airfares to and from Wichita. It also does what any economist could predict: it reduces the supply of air transport to…

Mar

By Bob Weeks

Let markets fund arts and culture

Writing from Miami, Florida Former Wichita City Council member and present Arts Council chairwoman Joan Cole wrote an article titled "City needs dedicated arts funding" that appeared in the March 16, 2006 Wichita Eagle. This article advocates continued and increased government funding for arts in Wichita. In her article Mrs. Cole mentions a policy that she seems to approve of: "Moreover, for the first time, performance measures and desired outcomes will be used to assess the progress that these organizations demonstrate." The organizations are the various groups that will receive funding from the City of Wichita. I do not know…

Feb

By Bob Weeks

The “Free” Kansas Lottery Proceeds

An article titled "Nothing's Free" by Russell Roberts, published in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=4419 explains that even though we might be accustomed to thinking that the state's proceeds from taxes like those on the Kansas Lottery are "free," this is not at all the case. As Mr. Roberts explains: About 55 percent of the receipts go to prizes, 10 percent to expenses, and 35 percent to education or some similar unimpeachable cause. Because 35 percent goes to neither winners nor losers, the real cost of the lottery is that you win less often and the prizes are smaller…

Feb

By Bob Weeks

The Mystery of Capital

The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else Hernando De Soto Basic Books, 2000 The problem with most third world countries, Mr. De Soto tells us, is not that there is no capital, it's that the capital is dead. Dead in the sense that it can't be used to its full economic potential. It can't be mortgaged, it can't be divided into shares, and it simply can't be used in the same way we make productive use of our assets in the West. What is the difference between the West and the third world?…

Jan

By Bob Weeks

Political Decision Making Increases Conflict

A column by economist Walter E. Williams (Why we're a divided nation) strongly makes the case for more decision making by free markets rather than by the government through the political process. When decisions are made through free markets, Dr. Williams says, both parties win, because in a free market, parties voluntarily enter into only those transactions that benefit them. When decisions are made for us by the government, however, it is almost always the case that one party's gain is someone else's loss. Therefore, there is conflict. The more decisions made through politics, the more potential for conflict. Coalitions…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Catastrophe in Big Easy demonstrates big government’s failure

Writing from Orlando, Florida An excellent article by David Boaz of the Cato Institute titled "Catastrophe in Big Easy Demonstrates Big Government's Failure" (available here: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4819) explains how miserably the government at all levels performed before and after Hurricane Katrina. The disaster started long before this year, when government spent a lot of money in Louisiana, but didn't protect it from hurricanes: "During the Bush administration, Louisiana received far more money for Army Corps of Engineers civil projects than any other state, but it wasn't spent on levees or flood control. Surprisingly enough, it was spent for unrelated projects favored…