Cash for Clunkers Success

Cash for Clunkers Generates 700,000 new car sales...

And in related news the window making industry is rebounding.

Seriously...I thought we had moved passed this ignorance.

Government Regulation is a "Pandora's Box"

The following quote from a World Net Daily article reveals the fundamental flaw in the small government conservative philosophy:

"We need somebody to watch over us when we're eating food that comes from thousands and thousands of miles away. We need some help there," he said. "But when food comes from our neighbors or from farmers who we know, we don't need all of those rules. If your neighbor sells you something that is bad and you get sick, you are going to get your hands on that farmer, and that will be the end of it. It regulates itself."

What this individual does not understand is that opening the door to any regulation is a slippery slope.  There is no clear or natural line at which regulation should begin and end.  It is completely at the discretion of legislators under the influence of special interests.  And once people have given the government the power to regulate part of their lives, the only remaining question is "to what degree should government regulate?"  The only two points of equilibrium are 0% and 100%.  And once we have passed 0%, it is a steady march to 100%.

Free Market Solution to Violence in Mexico

Excerpt from CNN.com article:

Such dire problems call for a new way of looking at the situation, some say.

"The unthinkable is happening," Birns said. "People are beginning to discuss decriminalization and legalization. ... There's only one thing that can be done: Take the profit out of it."

Pastor calls the problem in Mexico "even worse than Chicago during the Prohibition era" and said a solution similar to what ended that violence is needed now.

"What worked in the U.S. was not Eliot Ness," he said, referring to the federal agent famous for fighting gangsters in 1920s and '30s. "It was the repeal of Prohibition."

That viewpoint has picked up some high-level support in Latin America.

At least free market ideas are being given a little bit of press.

Bastion of Capitalism turns its back on the Free Market

This article from the alma mater proves that the Austrian School is the last hold-out of the free market. This entire generation of academics has been bottle-fed on Keynesian economics. Their entire career has been invested in this economic rabbit trail. Unfortunately, the cognitive dissonance that would result from seeing the light is enough to keep them from ever having a "Road-to-Damascus" moment. Hopefully, this next generation will pick up the slack.

Fred Thompson on the Economy

Although I'm sure I disagree with him on many other topics, Fred Thompson does a great job of illuminating the inconsistencies of Keynesian intervention...