Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Paternalism on Nov 17th, 2011
And then they came for the … soccer balls! I cannot make up the headline: We want our balls back! Our kids schoolyard has neither swings nor see-saws. My response? I pile up leaves real high and let me kids launch off of the roof of my car into the piles. What will they do […]
Posted in Paternalism on Nov 5th, 2011
And then they came for someone else’s tobacco. Here is the last episode in the series.
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 Behavior, Paternalism, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 19th, 2011
Has anyone who has ever written about this topic ever shopped in a grocery store for more than one person? I think I am going to randomly post our family meals up here for all to see, then tell me what you think about the meme, “the poor can only afford calorie dense, fatty, unhealthy, […]
Posted in Paternalism on Oct 6th, 2011
Via my good friend, John B: The Democratic nanny-state vision even holds that parents can’t be trusted with their kids’ breakfast. In an effort funded by Mr. Obama’s stimulus, “voluntary” guidelines will go into force by 2014 to prohibit the use of animated characters like Tony the Tiger to market breakfast cereals. Advertising restrictions will target […]
Posted in Environment, Paternalism on Aug 18th, 2011
There is an advocacy group out there known as the Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration. As I’ve said before, “E”nvironmentalists don’t have problems with fossil fuel use, that entire notion is a hoax. Their real problem is with energy qua energy and nothing else. It is energy that enables the “capitalist machine” to keep chugging alone. […]
Posted in Paternalism on Jul 28th, 2011
Here is a simple post from two years ago: And here is what we read in the papers today: For decades, policy makers have tried and failed to get Americans to eat less salt. In April 2010 the Institute of Medicine urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the amount of salt that […]
Posted in Government Thuggery, Institutions, Paternalism on Jul 26th, 2011
Just finished up Tim Harford’s terrific book, Adapt (Hayekians would especially like its discussion of complexity and knowledge). Here is a nice quote: I recently visited the UK Treasury to discover that officials were waxing lyrical about nudging through “choice editing.” When you say, “choice editing,” I asked, does that mean, “banning things?” The sheepish […]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Paternalism on Jul 14th, 2011
And then they came for … YOUR children. HT to the indomitable Radley Balko. Here is the last episode in the series.
Posted in Paternalism on Jun 22nd, 2011
And then they came for the … dog paddlers: People who hope to beat the summer heat by swimming, floating or boating on rivers in King County must wear a life vest or face an $86 fine. … Swimmers or people wading more than 5 feet from shore or in water more than 4 feet […]
