Scribbling, scribbling, scribbling on the Internet.
Remember this? Sure you do. Guess what? It's still happening: The Social Security Administration, which announced in April that it would stop trying to collect debts from the children of people who were allegedly overpaid benefits decades ago, has continued to demand such payments and now defends that practice in court documents. After The Washington Post …
Continue reading "Your Government at Work (Social Security Outrages Continue)"
Apparently, you can't be a little Floridian kid with a lemonade stand without some "grownup" reporting you to state government officials. You'd think that people would have better things to do than to hassle children, but alas, that just doesn't seem to be the case.The good news is that "[s]heriff's deputies have declined" to shut …
Environmental Protection Agency workers have done some odd things recently. Contractors built secret man caves in an EPA warehouse, an employee pretended to work for the CIA to get unlimited vacations and one worker even spent most of his time on the clock looking at pornography. It appears, however, that a regional office has reached a new low: Management for …
Do you want there to be competition and diversity in limousine/ride-sharing/taxicab services? Do you live in Virginia? If the answer to both questions is "yes," then it sucks to be you. Of course, it shouldn't suck to be you, but this is what happens when government is too large and too powerful, and when it …
I am going to give the microphone to Jonathan Tobin so that he can preach some righteous truth at all of us: You may have noticed that among the many and varied topics touched upon by COMMENTARY writers in recent weeks, none of us chose to weigh in on the Bundy Ranch controversy that attracted …
Continue reading "Let’s All Please Stop Allying with Crazy People"
Here is the story. And here is the part where I ask (again) why it is that so many protectionists are willing to try to sabotage Uber and UberX, and by extension, sabotage the lives of those who depend on Uber and UberX to put food on the table and a roof over their heads …
You have to be kidding: With all the restrictions on selling and marketing food, it’s easy to forget that even sharing food is sometimes still a crime. Despite my own stated optimism last year, it appears that bans on sharing food with the homeless and less fortunate won’t be going away any time soon. Last …
Read Kevin Vallier on the subject, as he responds to Barack Obama's claims that "the government is us," and makes a host of interesting points in response, including the following: To vindicate the idea that the government “is us” in some interesting fashion requires a lot of heavy philosophical lifting. You have to do all of the following: …
Continue reading "On Why We Are Told that We Are the Government and the Government Is Us"
It has legalized the sale of cottage food, which means--among other things--that one is no longer breaking the law if one sells bread made in one's own oven. Since government does have a tendency to keep expanding, it is nice to see that every once in a while, it can contract, and it is important …
I understand that certain regulations are necessary to prevent fraud, or to ensure that a certain class of individuals aren't made eligible for a certain class of benefits. But I am with Will Baude and Jacob Levy, who criticize the fact that in the latest farm bill, small-government advocates (Republicans, specifically) have helped ensure the existence …
Continue reading "When Regulations Attack . . . and Small Government Advocates Are Responsible"
