In its never ending quest to expand government power, the Chronicle calls for Texas legislators to re-regulate the state’s electricity providers. Electrical deregulation, the paper tells us, has not been economically beneficial to consumers: Light bills in areas such as Austin and San Antonio, where service continues to be regulated, are lower. In deregulated areas…
In 1993, during the final months of the last attempt to bring zoning to Houston, I gave a talk to the Houston Property Rights Association titled “Winning the Battle but Losing the War.” In the talk, I warned that without a moral defense of property rights, we might defeat the upcoming referendum, but zoning advocates…
A liberal friend was recently lamenting personnel decisions being made at her workplace. I pointed out that, in a free market, irrational decisions are ultimately punished in the marketplace. But, she replied, most people aren’t rational, and therefore we need regulations to protect individuals from the irrational. While I would agree that her premise—most people…
With the government shutdown entering its second week, the blame game is reaching new heights. In the Washington Post, Ezra Klein lists thirteen reasons why Washington is failing. The biggest reason, according to Klein, is that Systems like our own have a broad tendency toward instability and partisan conflict because a democratically elected executive can come…
In his comments on the eve of the government shutdown, Obama stated that “one faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election.” Ironically, the President himself is fighting the results of an election….
I wrote my first book in about fifteen months. I have been working on my second book for nearly two years, and the process has been both frustrating and illuminating. The frustrating part has been the slow progress. While I have done a tremendous amount of research, I also did a lot of research for…
This was originally posted on PoodleRose on August 30, 2013. Comments have not been migrated. Rational parents want what is best for their children. Such parents recognize that their primary responsibility is to raise their children to be independent, rational adults. A significant part of this responsibility is to provide the child with the necessary…
This was originally posted on PoodleRose on August 28, 2013. Comments have not been migrated. For decades, politicians have promised us a variety of clean, cheap energy sources. Darren Goode details a few of this on Politico. From cellulosic ethanol to nuclear power, past promises have fallen short. But Goode doesn’t really tell us why…
This was originally posted on PoodleRose on August 26, 2013. Comments have not been migrated. At the Teen Choice Awards, actor Ashton Kutcher recently said: I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work. I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have…
This was originally posted on PoodleRose on August 21, 2013. Comments have not been migrated. Representatives from twelve countries will meet later this week to negotiate a trade agreement as a part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Many of the countries involved want increased access to markets in other participating nations. For example, Americans want to…