As a follow-up to Sarah’s post from a few weeks ago about the octomom, a Post-Dispatch columnist has a nice article today that asks some good questions. I am the first to admit I don’t know the answers. I don’t like the idea of laws controlling this situation, but I could be persuaded. Most importantly, people need to understand how they will be condemned and ostracized by others when they do things like implant multiple embryos as part of fertility treatments into a woman who already has six children. The doctor is as much to blame here as the woman. And, because media interviews conducted since Sarah’s initial post indicate that this woman appears to be nuts, the state should probably play a role in monitoring the children. It will already be paying for the next 18 years of their lives. …
I Say Missouri Should Refuse the Stimulus Unemployment Funds
We haven’t written much about the stimulus plan on the blog. It is more of a national issue, and it is all just too depressing for words. Dr. Joseph Haslag recorded a great radio commentary about it, though, if you would like to listen. But now some in Missouri are discussing the wisdom of letting the camel’s nose under the tent for the new unemployment insurance rules. I commend Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and the legislative leadership for possibly resisting the unemployment portions of the “stimulus plan.” The St. Joe News-Press has the article here, and thanks to Combest for the link.
This is something I can write about because it is a tax I pay. My wife and I pay unemployment taxes for our child’s caregiver, and five times a year I calculate the tax and mail it in. (Four times for the state, and once for the feds.) This is not withheld from a paycheck, it is entirely employer-paid. I love what the Lt. Gov. said here:
“We are here to say no,” Mr. Kinder said. “This is essentially a federal bribe to change state law permanently, and the bribe lasts two years.”
And, after those two years, employers are going to have to pay higher taxes permanently. They have already increased the state’s unemployment tax wage base for 2009 — and I think that increase is the only increase employers should be forced to pay. As I said, the whole thing is just so depressing, pun intended.
Tea Party Protest at the Arch
I just quickly want to do my part to spread the word about tomorrow’s protest of the nationalization of our economy. Tomorrow, aka Friday, February 27, at 11:00 a.m. down at the foot of the Arch. The e-mails I have gotten say Wharf Street on the river. I always thought it was Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd., but it is probably just two names for the same street. (Sort of like Delmar and you-know-who in the city.) If you need directions to attend, let me remind you that it is at the riverfront base of the largest monument in the United States, so if you still need directions, you should probably just not come in the first place.
Dentists Go for the Jugular
Apparently, some dentists are upset that, god forbid, people are making money on something that involves teeth but does not involve them. So, they have gotten a bill introduced to regulate teeth-whitening procedures. The bill proposes that anyone offering teeth-whitening services, like spas, etc., has to offer it under the supervision of a dentist. The Columbia Daily Tribune has this story. House Bill 766 would basically eliminate those kiosks in malls that offer the service quickly and inexpensively.
I realize that several people have died in these mall procedures, but the market should still determine whether people get to use the service. Oh, wait! That didn’t actually happen. Nobody could possibly be hurt getting their teeth whitened, and this bill is nothing but the worst kind of rent-seeking activity by the dental lobby. It is a great example of what I and others have said in our studies about occupational licensing: Licensing never comes about because the public demands a solution to a need. It ALWAYS comes about because existing practitioners are trying to limit their own competition, and legislators eagerly agree.
I hope the majority of the legislature sees this for what it is — a naked attempt at small-scale, legalized monopoly by the dentists.
Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Decrease Freedom When You Can Increase Safety
Red-light cameras, ahoy! Just another step toward a day when we have to put on our safety helmets to get out of bed in the morning, and only after having signed a notarized affidavit that anything done within that same bed the night before was fully consensual, non-discriminatory, in total compliance with all ADA regulations, properly permitted by local authorities, undertaken only after ensuring all taxes on the location were paid in full, all participants had passed a health screening beforehand, and all legal documents pertaining to the potential results of the activities within same bed on prior evening had been read, signed, and dated, before undertaking the authorized removal of one’s safety helmet and initiation of any activities that perhaps might involve another kind of safety helmet anything at all.
Fly the Private Skies
This news from the KC Star is pretty awesome. Officials in Kansas City are talking about privatizing the airport, just as Chicago just did with Midway. This is just in the discussion stage, but Mayor Funkhouser actually proposed it years ago when he was auditor. Chicago was in a better position to do this than many other cities were, because Midway is sort of the area’s backup airport. There, Mayor Daley has led the way on privatization among American mayors, and it would be exciting to have KC follow suit. Expect to hear much more from the Show-Me Institute about this subject, as it moves forward.
Stokes Appearing on the Air in Springfield
I will be appearing on the Vincent David Jericho radio show tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 6:30 a.m., to talk about my recent study about the economics of Missouri government. All the info you need to listen in is right here.
Credit Card Companies and Text Messaging
Earlier this month, the Center for American Progress released a study suggesting that credit card companies utilize text messaging in order to administer early warnings to customers who are at risk of incurring penalty fees. From the perspective of the credit card holder, this information could be very helpful in reducing the occurrence of penalty charges.
I disagree with the Center for American Progress, however, regarding their suggestion that this should be written into law. However helpful such a practice might seem from a consumer standpoint, it’s difficult to gauge the costs involved in implementation and therefore determine whether, overall, it would actually be a value-added service in practice. The decision should probably be left to market forces.
Vote With Your … Votes?
Criticizing economic stimulus on a free-market blog is like wearing school colors to the pep rally. Sure it will get you a lot of high-fives, but there’s a risk that people who don’t share your spirit will miss the point. Widespread wealth should be our goal. We want more people to have more of what they want. During recessionary periods, there is often a cry for the government to “do something” in spite of academic economists assuring us that markets clear and GDP growth is not a straight line. Another warning, heard less often, is that a frequent cause of recessions is governments redistributing income, spending taxes on infrastructure, and manipulating trade.
The problem with stimulus is the problem of economic calculation: Where can the money be put to best use? In a free market, people spend money on things they want, and in the next round of production and sale, there is then more of what people want produced (to meet the demand). In a planned economy — or one based on redistribution — it is up to the experts to decide what should be produced, and in what quantity. If the experts don’t feel up to the job, they can always ask the people what they would’ve bought if they’d been allowed to keep their money, but that’s probably less efficient than just taxing less in the first place.
