Policy Digest: Welfare State Edition

You may have heard about “inversions,” which have become a hot topic of debate in the wake of Burger King’s acquisition of Tim Hortons. Megan McArdle provides some much-needed context for that debate (although my jaw dropped when I got to her line about “what you owe the government that raised you”). Cato Institute scholar and Debt Dialogues guest Dan Mitchell has more.



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The Road to a Free Society: ARI on Tour

Every day at ARI, we see evidence that America and the profoundly important values it represents are under attack. From America’s self-crippling foreign policy to the entitlement state that threatens to bankrupt us, the policies that our leaders follow threaten to destroy the qualities that made this country exceptional.



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The Debt Dialogues [Episode 24]: Jagadeesh Gokhale on America’s Debt Disaster

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Cato senior fellow Jagadeesh Gokhale on America’s entitlement-fueled debt problem.



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Ayn Rand For Social Justice?

In Free Market Fairness , Brown University political science professor John Tomasi seeks to defend free markets on a Rawlsian “social justice” foundation. In laying the groundwork for his argument, Tomasi thinks it is notable that even most free-market thinkers appeal to “social justice” concerns, i.e., that they almost all — from Adam Smith to Herbert Spencer to Milton Friedman — stress that free markets are good for “the poor.”



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Policy Digest: Foreign Policy Edition

What kind of foreign policy should Republican presidential hopefuls advocate? Angelo Codevilla’s shrewd answer: something other than the prevailing establishment view, practiced during the 20th century. While I differ from some points in his analysis, the thrust of his article illustrates some important weaknesses of Republican administrations.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/YIZeex

Walmart’s Workers Don’t Deserve a Share of Walmart’s Profits

From Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia : “Often people who do not wish to bear risks feel entitlement to rewards from those who do win; yet these same people do not feel obligated to help out by sharing the losses of those who bear risks and lose.” [p. 257] This made me think of the people who argue that Walmart has an obligation to pay its workers more rather than allow the profits to go to the owners.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1tuqpDj

I Need Your Support

I’ve entered Think Freely Media’s 2014 Great Communicators Tournament, which asks entrants to make moral argument for freedom. I hope you’ll take a moment to vote for my entry, and to share it with your friends. You can vote once a day, every day until September 2.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1sWdnS8

“The Very Rich Don’t Think Very Highly of the Rest of Us”

Here’s how welfare state crusader Dean Baker starts his latest column: “The very rich don’t think very highly of the rest of us. This fact is driven home to us through fluke events, like the taping of Mitt Romney’s famous 47 percent comment , in which he trashed the people who rely on Social Security, Medicare, and other forms of government benefits.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1uWYL5I

USA Today Gets It Right: FDA Should Not Stand in the Way of Dying Patients

A USA Today editorial this week calls for the FDA to be stripped of its power to decree whether dying patients can take experimental drugs that could save their lives. Patients and doctors, the editors write, should be allowed to make this decision without needing the government’s permission.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1tjAYdl

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 23]: Scott Winship on Inequality, Mobility, and the American Dream

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Manhattan Institute fellow Scott Winship on economic inequality, mobility, and the American Dream.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1uSoV9P

Policy Digest: Welfare State Edition

George Will: “This is the progressive premise in action: Because government provides infrastructure (roads, etc.) affecting everyone, and because government-dispensed money flows everywhere, everything is beholden to the government, and more or less belongs to the government, and should be subordinated to its preferences, which always are for more control of the nation’s wealth.” I’ve made this point in regard to the welfare state. The recipients of government handouts are inevitably told they have no right to assert their right to make independent decisions: they are “beholden to the government.”



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1o7rVqk

Let’s Have an Honest Debate About Social Security

This month marks the 79th anniversary of Social Security and the program’s finances are in disarray. The numbers are jarring. Social Security faces $23.1 trillion in unfunded liabilities, according to the program’s trustees, and if nothing changes, by 2033, payments will have to be cut by almost a quarter. The longer we wait to act, the more circumscribed our options will be.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1vSpxh8

Policy Digest: Regulatory State Edition

In Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, Alex Tabarok reviews a new book, Innovation Breakdown: How the FDA and Wall Street Cripple Medical Advances , that provides yet another glimpse into the inner workings of our destructive regulatory state.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1phiIAn

Is It Immoral to Buy Nice Shoes?

The moral foundation of the welfare state is altruism: the doctrine that we have a duty to sacrifice for the needs of others. If you want to get a real sense of the meaning of this doctrine and its implications for human life, the best source is Ayn Rand. But Rand is often accused of caricaturing altruism.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1sYGZLj

Policy Digest: Environmental Issues

Mike “The Health Ranger” Adams, founder and director of the popular health news tabloid website Natural News, recently posted an article calling for the death of scientists, journalists anybody else who has written favorably about the technology of genetic engineering. Adams declared anybody working to improve foods to be the equivalent of Nazis perpetrating a holocaust on the world.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1uOSwxU

Policy Digest: Welfare State Edition

The S&P recently came out with a report on how inequality is allegedly dampening economic growth. Some smart replies here and here.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1szVqIQ

The Debt Dialogues [Episode 22]: Amity Shlaes on the Great Depression

In this episode of The Debt Dialogues I interview Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, about the cause of the Depression and how it made possible the creation of the American welfare state.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1l0k8Qs

Don Watkins on the Future of Obamacare

In his latest op-ed on Politix.topics.com, “Is Obamacare Here to Stay?”, ARI fellow Don Watkins asks: What does the history of Social Security tell us about the future of Obamacare?



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1vz22cO

Policy Digest: Ayn Rand Edition

TIME.com asks: “Who should be the first woman on a modern dollar bill?” Ayn Rand is leading in the poll. Who could be a more worthy candidate? Ayn Rand did, after all, argue that money is the root of all good.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1sonkEn

The Moral Case Against Social Security

On the July 16 edition of Coffee & Markets , Brad Jackson and Allysen Efferson had me on to discuss my new book on Social Security, how FDR’s program has hurt American self-reliance, and my End the Debt Draft campaign.

from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1okU421

Policy Digest: Environmental Issues

Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Cosmos star, took a stand on genetically modified foods in a video posted online recently. In response to a question by a French reporter, Tyson came out strong in support of food biotechnology, saying he is “amazed how much objection genetically modified foods are receiving from the public.” In the video, viewed over half a million times, Tyson makes the point that practically every food that we eat has been improved by mankind.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1kHBFwx

Your Success Is Your Responsibility: An Interview with Brian Tracy

One of the recurring themes in debates over the entitlement state is that most people are on the dole through no fault of their own, and that the only way they can succeed is if the rest of us are taxed to give them free education, free job training, free child care, subsidized transportation, and anything else the entitlement state’s supporters come up with. Is that true?



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Policy Digest: Welfare State Edition

Laurence J. Kotlikoff testifies before the House Committee on Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee on the state of the program. I don’t agree with all his conclusions, but I definitely agree that the program’s finances are in far worse shape than is commonly understood. “To pay its scheduled benefits in full through time, the Social Security system needs a 32 percent immediate and permanent increase in the future path of payroll tax revenues. Based on the current covered earnings ceiling, this represents a 4-cent-on-the-covered-dollar higher payroll tax starting today and continuing forever. . . . Social Security is in dire financial shape.” Kotlikoff was the first guest featured on my podcast The Debt Dialogues, which you can check out here.





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The Debt Dialogues [Episode 21]: Lee Ohanian on the State of the Economy

The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Lee Ohanian, Professor of Economics at UCLA, on the state of the economy.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1s6flPy

When I Think of Genetic Engineering, Crippling Humanity Doesn’t Come to Mind

When I think of the future of genetic engineering, I imagine new and innovative varieties of food. I envision crops that practically grow themselves come rain or come shine. I hope for foods that are specifically tailored to an individual’s nutritional needs, apples that don’t turn brown when sliced or perhaps even a grocery store tomato that actually tastes good.



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Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict

In this course ARI’s director of policy research Elan Journo provides an essentialized historical and political account of the Arab-Israeli conflict.



from Ayn Rand Institute - Blog http://bit.ly/1qyUmjH