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Big Government and the 4th of July
Mises Economics Blog | July 2, 2009

Thursday wrap
Union News | July 2, 2009

 
     
 
   

Happy Independence Day!

The Fourth of July is a day that is usually a time when families get together for sunshine hot dogs, fun, and fireworks. Every American regardless of race, sex, income, and political party celebrates the day that the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, spurring the start of the American Revolution.

Like many other national holidays, the meaning can often be lost in the festivities. And so it is up to each of us to, in the words of Jefferson, “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”

The American system of government, with the Founding Father’s emphasis on “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” has inspired almost every country in the world to rise up and take control of their own destiny. Constitutional Republics have spread throughout Europe, and just this year fellow freedom fighters as far away as Iran and as near to us as Honduras are standing up for their own independence much like our Founding Fathers did more than two centuries ago.

This is America’s lasting legacy.

Get full story here.


Viva Democracia!

ALG Editor's Note: The following featured cartoon by William Warren was done especially for the people of Honduras rallying for freedom, and as that battle enters its crucial stage over the next several days, the staff at ALG News hopes it will serve as inspiration for Hondurans, but also put into perspective what is really happening there.

Permalink here.


California: The “Furloughing” Of Common Sense

By Howard Rich

How many California state employees does it take to screw in a light bulb?

We’ll find out soon enough.

After steadily growing both its budget and bureaucratic payroll for years, California’s fiscal house of cards collapsed last year, opening a $24 billion hole in its upcoming budget.

In an effort to save a nickel – or rather, $1.4 billion worth of nickels – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed last December that state employees take two days worth of furloughs each month, an idea that was roundly rejected by the state’s government unions. In fact, they sued Schwarzenegger – and after losing their case in court they filed an unfair labor practice claim against him.

Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger relented and trimmed the furlough down to one day a month, although both the governor and Democratic lawmakers are moving to restore the second day in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Similar plans have stoked union outrage in other states and municipalities – most notably Chicago –but it’s California where the furlough debate has been most acutely focused.

Aside from the predictable partisan hyperbole and hand-wringing from the bureaucrats, the central question seems to be this: What impact, precisely, do furloughs and other government layoffs have on the services currently being provided to California taxpayers?

Get full story here.


Healthcare Reform: Will Obama Let You Into His Lifeboat?

By Victor Morawski

The term “lifeboat ethics” is used to describe ethical issues that arise in situations involving the allocation of limited resources. It originally came out of a landmark 1974 article by philosopher Garrett Harden in connection with ethical questions surrounding the issue of providing food aid to underdeveloped nations.

He pictured wealthier nations as being like so many lifeboats---all with limited capacity, of course---afloat in a sea surrounded by many swimmers who need saving: the residents of poorer nations. His discussion there concerned the ethical guidelines that ought to govern who, if anyone, should be picked up and saved by those in the lifeboats.

The picture of the lifeboat is, quite obviously, an analogy. And from a logician’s perspective, an analogy is a tool used in a particular type of argument. If I am using an analogy to convince you of something, then I am arguing that two things, A and B, are alike in certain important respects, hence they should be seen as being alike in at least one more relevant respect: that which represents the conclusion of my argument. As a logical tool, an analogy works where it works. Its applicability is not necessarily tied down to only one situation or ethical position.

The lifeboat analogy has surfaced in several ways in the Health Care community and is relevant to the current debate over Health Care Reform. Here we are also dealing with the allocation of limited resources.

Get full story here.


ALG in the News: WBT 1110AM

ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured interview, WBT 1110AM’s Pete Kaliner interviews ALG President Bill Wilson on the suppressed EPA report:

Permalink here.

 
 

Fuel Standards Are Killing GM

"General Motors can survive bankruptcy far more easily than it can survive President Barack Obama's ambitious fuel economy standards, which mandate that all new vehicles average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

The actual Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) results will depend on the mixture of fuel-thrifty and fuel-thirsty vehicles consumers choose to buy from each manufacturer -- not on what producers hope to sell. That means only those companies most successful in selling the smallest cars with the smallest engines will, in the future, be allowed to sell the more profitable larger pickups and SUVs and more powerful luxury and sports cars."


Obama can’t delay breaking tax pledge

"It’s no longer a question of if President Barack Obama will have to come clean about breaking his campaign promise not to raise taxes on families who make less than $250,000.

The president once believed he had a slick way to pay for universal coverage. First, he would lower the tax deductions for rich people who donate money to charities. Then, he could add the proceeds from global warming fees to cover the more than $600 billion he said his plan would cost."


Voight rebuts 'hate speech' tag

"Free speech got a loud boost from Hollywood on Wednesday. Jon Voight has responded to accusations from a critic sympathetic to the American Communist Party, who said the actor had used hate speech and threatened the well-being of President Obama during a recent appearance before Republicans in Washington. quot;


 
 
 
   
   
 
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Honduras Defiant
Investor's Business Daily | July 2, 2009

Hating Hate Crimes
Investor's Business Daily | July 2, 2009

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