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The Forgotten Victims of the Lockdowns
Since early in the pandemic, we have heard countless stories of the hardships faced by renters due to the lockdowns. Thrown out of work, many tenants were unable to pay their rent. In response, the federal government, along with many state and local governments, imposed eviction moratoriums. We heard virtually nothing about the hardships that…
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A Citrus “Pandemic”
In the early 2000s, Florida officials cut down about 18,000 backyard citrus trees in an effort to eradicate citrus-canker disease. At the time, the state offered a $100 gift certificate to Walmart as compensation. Many property owners sued, and the case was recently settled with the plaintiffs receiving an award of $43.9 million. The state’s…
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Principles Provide Foresight
Demonstrating a lack of principles, in an interview last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he regrets not speaking out “much louder” at the beginning of the pandemic. I never thought in February, early March, that (coronavirus) would lead to locking down the country. I just didn’t. I didn’t think that was on the…
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Abbott’s Consistency
Like most of the nation’s governors, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency when the pandemic first started. He then promptly shut down much of the state’s economy in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. A year later, Abbott was one of the first governors to remove mask mandates and…
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“Public Health” vs. Individuals
Since March 2020, we have been subjected to an endless series of mandates and prohibitions. Businesses were ordered to close. We weren’t allowed to have large gatherings, even in our own homes. Some states—such as Texas and Florida—have prohibited private businesses from requiring their employees to be vaccinated. Biden has proposed a law to require…
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Friday Roundup 10-8-21
In September, California passed SB 10, which allows cities to “upzone” and permit greater housing density in neighborhoods previously zoned for single-family homes. A “housing justice” organization, AHF, has filed a lawsuit that asserts “allowing legislators to override zoning restrictions violates the constitutional right of initiative by allowing local government to repeal or disregard initiative…
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A Crisis Needs Effective Leadership
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said in 2008. Politicians have long followed that blueprint. The terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Great Recession, and now the pandemic are just the most recent examples. During each crisis government expanded its powers at the expense of individual…
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A Lesson from Rental Aid
After throwing millions of Americans out of work with lockdowns, the government discovered that many of those individuals could not pay their rent. The government responded with a moratorium on evictions. And then, when landlords began to face economic hardship, the government responded with rent assistance. But according to CNBC, only $5 billion of the…
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The Pragmatic Approach to Housing
For more than 100 years, discussions of housing and related policies have been dominated by a flawed method. It is a method that disdains principles and long-term thinking. The result has been an ongoing attempt to address an issue in isolation with no consideration to how a policy will impact other areas of life. The…
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To Bee or not to Bee
In 2016, government officials in Dorchester County, South Carolina, were concerned about mosquitoes spreading the Zika virus. They ordered aerial spraying for the mosquitoes. Millions of honey bees on the bee farm of Juanita Stanley and Mitch Yawn were killed by the spraying. Stanley and Yawn sued, claiming that the government had taken their property…
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The Chickens are Coming Home
Throughout the pandemic, government officials have made policy decisions founded on short-term thinking. They have made decisions to solve an immediate problem while failing to consider the full context. It was inevitable that eventually the chickens would come home to roost. For example, when government forced businesses to close, tens of millions lost their jobs…
