He Loves the Mandate, He Loves It Not.
There’s an old game played by love-struck teenagers trying to figure out what the object of their affection thinks of them. Take a flower and pull the petals off one-by-one. For each petal, alternate...
View ArticleObamacare As Sin Tax?
Ezra Klein, on the heels of yesterday's court decision striking down health care reform, argues that "the fight over the individual mandate is not about liberty." In Klein's view, opposition to...
View ArticleA Mandate Too Far
The individual mandate in President Barack Obama's health care reform was a lightning rod for criticism long before it became law. As far back as the 2008 campaign, the idea provoked sharp...
View ArticleLet's Balance the Budget
The Congressional Budget Office says the current year's budget deficit will be a record $1.5 trillion. It also says that over the next decade we're on track for annual deficits of "only" $768 billion....
View ArticleChina High Speed Rail Falters
I've recently written an extensive commentary on China's high-speed rail network, and several blog posts (see here and here), that examines why this technology may be better suited to this burgeoning...
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Let Your People Go
We all know President Barack Obama has covered himself and his country in shame with his reaction to the Egypt crisis. But which variety of shame are we talking about?Did Obama and Secretary of State...
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The Truth About the Debt Ceiling
Editor’s Note: Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth.The statutory debt limit, or debt ceiling, was designed to control...
View ArticleTen Arguments Against a Government Guarantee for Housing Finance
There is a growing belief among mortgage investors, industry groups and some policymakers in Washington that some type of explicit government guarantees for mortgage lending will be necessary to...
View ArticleNew Paper: No Government Guarantees for Mortgages
This morning Reason published a new policy brief outlining ten reasons that an explicit (or implicit) government guarantee for the housing sector would be a bad idea. The report is timely in the Fannie...
View ArticleUnemployment at 9 Percent is Still Disappointing
Unemployment fell from 9.4 percent to 9.0 percent in January—but don't jump for joy just yet. Nonfarm payrolls only added a net of 36,000 jobs, and we need roughly 125,000 net jobs a month just to keep...
View ArticleCorrections PPPs Delivering Cost Savings in Florida
In this post, I'd like to address a question recently posed by a reader regarding Reason Foundation's January policy brief proposing a continuum of care in corrections through public-private...
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Business and Manufacturing Employment Provide a Bright Spot for Employment
Anthony Randazzo commented on the January BLS employment report here - all in all a decent, if not stellar report. Though only 36,000 new jobs were created, the number of long-term (for 26+ weeks)...
View ArticleBalancing Californias Budget and Preserving State Parks
State capitols around the country face unprecedented fiscal challenges in the years ahead, and California serves as a great example. The state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) predicts...
View ArticleGroup Seeks to End Collective Bargaining for Public Employees in California
States across the country are struggling with their finances as a result of overspending and the effects of the economic recession and stagnation. Some states are in more trouble than others, however....
View ArticleNASA to Offer Kennedy Space Center Facilities to Private Aerospace Companies
In 2009, the Obama administration announced that it intended to outsource the transportation of astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station to private companies (see here and...
View ArticleAmerica the Conservative?
If you want proof that America is a conservative country, Ronald Reagan provides it. Once seen as a reactionary nincompoop, he's probably the most respected president of the last 50 years. Highways and...
View ArticleVirginia Senate Passes Land Inventory Bill
On Friday, the Virginia Senate unanimously passed a bill that would re-establish an inventory of all real property in the commonwealth. Gov. McDonnell has already ordered the Department of General...
View ArticleThe C-Word
In early January, the British medical journal BMJ completed an investigation into one of the most notorious articles in recent history: Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 study in The Lancet claiming that the MMR...
View ArticleRethinking the FAA Budget
I have a new column up on TheHill.com about the FAA reauthorization bill:The House and Senate are both making the long-overdue reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration a high priority....
View ArticleInternet Cop
Robert McDowell becomes effusive when talking about the World Wide Web. “The beauty of the Internet is that it has been somewhat lawless,” says the Republican, one of five appointees who run the...
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Thoughts on Housing Prices
At the end of last year, Peter Schiff noted in a WSJ op-ed that, looking at historical trends, housing price still needed to drop further to get to where they should be without government supports. The...
View ArticleSmall Business Confidence Up to Pre-Recession Levels
In another sign of steady, if modest, improvement in the economy, the National Federation of Independent Business announced that their small business optimism index increased by 1.5 points to 94.1 last...
View ArticleBollywood vs. Bin Laden
Ten years and two wars after 9/11, America’s struggle against Islamist terrorism is nowhere close to succeeding. And there is no better admission of failure than new airport security procedures to...
View ArticleCA High Speed Rail Costs up Over 50 Percent
An new analysis of CA High Speed Rail Authority documents by Californians for Responsible Rail Design calculates that the costs of Phase 1--Los Angeles to San Francisco, has shot up over 50 percent.In...
View ArticleWatch Out Hollywood! Here Comes Colorado?
Last Friday Colorado Sen. Nancy Spence (R-Centennial) and Rep. Tom Massey (R-Poncha) introduced the Movie Ticket Fee for Film Incentives Bill.The bill, HB 11-1207, would impose a 10-cent fee on every...
View ArticleThe Unseen Consequences of "Green Jobs"
In his State of the Union speech a couple of weeks ago, President Barack Obama planned to “win the future” by, among many other things, having the federal government “invest” in “clean energy...
View ArticleGot a Better Government Idea? It Could Win $10,000!
Pioneer Institute is seeking ideas for harnessing state and local government spending with a $10,000 award for the best idea. Please spread the word to your colleagues to enter our 20th annual Better...
View ArticleObama Raises Stakes on High Speed Rail
Joe Biden announced today that the Obama Administration will ask Congress for a stunning $53 billion over the next 6 years for high speed rail. This looks to set new records for spending lots of money...
View ArticleTransportation Mega-Projects and Risk
Mega-projects in transportation have been uncommon in the United States for the past two decades, following completion of the Interstate highway system and a shift of emphasis in many metro areas from...
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Housing Finance Reform: Protecting Taxpayers, Ending Bailouts, Reducing the...
Chairman Garrett, Ranking Member Waters, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to join you in discussing the important matter of reforming the nation's mortgage...
View ArticlePassive Resistance
Ronald Reagan famously summarized the federal government's attitude toward the economy this way: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Last week...
View ArticleCA Gov. Brown Orders 50% Reduction in State Vehicle Fleet
California Governor Jerry Brown recently issued Executive Order B-2-11, which "directed all state agencies and departments to immediately halt new car purchases and turn in taxpayer-funded cars that...
View ArticleObama's Crony Capitalism
When will you wing nuts stop referring to our economic restructuring as "socialism"? Winning the 21st century is all about business.This week, a pro-business Barack Obama implored the rent-seeking CEOs...
View ArticleThe Constitutional Liberty We Lost
"For a period of exactly 40 years, from 1897 to 1937, the Supreme Court protected liberty of contract as a fundamental right, one aspect of the basic right to liberty safeguarded under the...
View ArticleAnnual Privatization Report 2010
Now in its 24th year of publication, Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report is the world's longest running and most comprehensive report on privatization news, developments and trends.Readers...
View ArticlePrivatization of Airports, Air Traffic Control and Airport Security
This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2010 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest news on domestic and international airport privatization, the privatization of...
View ArticleNear-term Ideas for Mortgage Finance Reform (Working Paper)
It is important, at the outset of this debate, to frame the issue properly: mortgage finance policy and affordable housing policy are two different things. Whether we should or how to subsidize...
View ArticleHow to Start the Housing Reform Process
Finally! The first Congressional salvo in the housing finance reform was finally launched Wednesday, with a hearing convened by Rep. Scott Garrett's Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets...
View ArticleWhy Obama Wants to Cut Corporate Taxes
America doesn't feel much like the champion of the world these days. Everywhere we look, we see other countries outdoing us—in economic growth, educational performance, and men's soccer. But this year,...
View ArticleThe Regulated Internet: How We Got Here
In the March issue of Reason, Peter Suderman takes us on a tour of the recent telecom and Internet regulatory scene as he looks at the Federal Communications Commission Chairman and Obama hoops buddy...
View ArticleS&P Downgrades NJs Debt Rating, Cites Pensions
Bloomberg reports that yesterday Standard & Poor (S&P) downgraded New Jersey's municipal bond rating from AA to AA-, citing the Garden State's pension and healthcare liabilities as the chief...
View ArticleSome Sense on Sexting
Bucking a trend seen in other states, Texas lawmakers are taking steps to separate teen “sexting,” the sending and receiving sexually explicit photos via cell phone or email, from child pornography.A...
View ArticleSpontaneous Order
You are our Ruler. An entrepreneur tells you he wants to create something he calls a "skating rink." Young and old will strap blades to their feet and speed through an oval arena, weaving patterns as...
View ArticleNew at Reason: Annual Privatization Report 2010
I'm pleased to announce that today marks the launch of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2010 (reason.org/apr2010). Now in its 24th year of publication, the Annual Privatization Report is...
View ArticleThe Year 2010 in Toll Roads, HOT Lanes, Infrastructure Finance
This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2010 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest on toll roads, HOT lanes and other news on privatization and public-private...
View ArticleIntroducing: Ahead of the Curve
Today, we launched a new email feature for communicating and highlighting our research on macroeconomic issues: "Ahead of the Curve." Every month we will highlight some trend impacting the national...
View ArticleTreasury's GSE Plan Released
The moment is finally here. Two and a half years after the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting taxpayer money behind the guarantees of the institution to bail them out, the...
View ArticleThe Rise of Cybercollectivism
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, by Tim Wu, Knopf, 366 pages, $27.95Most cyberlaw tracts or Internet policy books today lament a world full of corporate conspiracies, closed...
View ArticleAre We All Originalists Now?
On May 27, 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down the New Deal’s National Industrial Recovery Act for exceeding Congress’ lawful authority “to regulate commerce...among the several...
View ArticleTax Makes Fiji Water Turn off the Tap
States are beginning to tackle the colossal budget mess awaiting them this coming fiscal year, thankfully mostly through spending cuts than tax hikes. Still, legislators in several states have turned...
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