The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Health Care on Jan 13th, 2012
I went to the doctor for the first time in three years the other day. Unless I sustain a gun shot wound I do not plan on going again any time soon or they’ll have to commit me to the nuthouse. Why was I there? I threw out my back (what a wuss I am!) [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Jan 12th, 2012
Def: (noun) The impossibility of simultaneously measuring what it is that a bureaucrat is doing while also achieving the stated public-interest objectives of the agency said bureaucrat allegedly represents. Illustration: George’s diner records food inspector in New York City. When not being recorded, the inspector awards the diner an A for cleanliness. When we try [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Dec 18th, 2011
The Internal Revenue Service employs 106,000 people. Chrysler employs 52,000. On the bright side, at least they each have the same puppetmaster.
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Transportation and Infrastructure on Dec 7th, 2011
Throw them in jail. From Coyote: California voters — unskeptical, unrealistic, and gullible — nevertheless trusted their elected and unelected technocrats in Sacramento to be telling them the truth when they agreed to a $9.95 billion bond issue for high speed rail. It turns out, even according the HSR’s most fervent supporters, that the numbers [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Dec 1st, 2011
You thought I meant global warming? More like unemployment swarming. And going back to the BS from the BLS, as John Lohman’s chart below shows that in 2011 initial and continuing claims have been revised higher the week following 91% and 100% of the time, respectively. A purely statistical explanation for this phenomenon is “impossible.” [...]
Posted in Environment, Government Gone Wild on Nov 19th, 2011
John Hinderaker shares a story: Today was the first in what promises to be a series of meetings involving the EPA, community leaders, local officials and representatives of the refineries. It tended to confirm the concerns I expressed about the illegitimacy of the environmental justice agenda. The meeting began with Al Armendariz, Administrator for EPA’s [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 13th, 2011
Never mind. Now the bootleggers are making eggnog. HT to Matt H!
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Oct 23rd, 2011
Coyote on how government solves problems: This is hilarious, all the more so because the actors involved have absolutely no self-awareness of just how bad this looks This week alone has seen a ratings downgrade for Spain as well as a threat by agencies to review France’s AAA status — and the markets have taken [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Paternalism, Regulation on Oct 20th, 2011
The ever readable Tom Palmer points me to a story that I have forgotten, incredibly: Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 19th, 2011
Or, where the top 1% are to be found: Bloomberg: Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show. The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, [...]
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