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It's college football bowl season, and with 34 games to choose from, viewers have a lot of choice. However, one choice the public does not have is who is going to pay for the games. Cato scholar Neal McCluskey reveals that college football is subsidized by taxpayers. He outlines how bowl games get direct subsidies, tax-exemption status, and how most public universities end up running deficits that are passed on to students and taxpayers. "While college-gridiron fans will tell you that many major programs make money, what they won't tell you is that they do so largely with taxpayer help. And when those programs lose money, taxpayers are hit even harder" McCluskey says, adding that "With the most exciting part of the college football season upon us, you'd better take in all the games. After all, you're paying for them."
(tags: Education, Foundations of Liberty: Limited Government)
"Since $290 billion in foregone collections isn't enough to disqualify you from your job, we might as well give you more responsibilities," is what, in essence, Congress' health bills say to the IRS. Peter Suderman of Reason calls attention to an article in Kaiser Health News that discusses new duties to be performed by the IRS under the current healthcare bills. The IRS, in addition to collecting taxes, will be responsible for checking to see if Americans have health insurance, notifying them of missing documents and assigning fines, and collecting those fines. The IRS was never intended to perform this duty, nor should it be. But it is now, under the new healthcare bills circling through Congress. We'll just have to wait and see how the ever-burdened IRS adjusts to the new challenge, and what other freedoms will be sacrificed.
(tags: Natural & Physical Sciences: Health and Medicine, Regulatory Studies)
Sure, the past decade has brought some interesting challenges into the lives of Americans everywhere, but that doesn't mean the good hasn't outweighed the bad, says Cato vice president Gene Healy. Compared to the misery of several past decades in U.S. history – including phenomena such as unemployment, 70 percent tax rates, gas lines, and inflation – the 00's have provided net gains to the American public. The Internet alone has extensively contributed to better quality of life, greater efficiency in work, and supported the exercise of the First Amendment. Healy notes that history runs in cycles, and that the hard times of the 60's and 70's ended when "Americans corrected their course," adding that "the years to come will give us plenty of incentive to put America on the right path again."
(tags: History: American History, Economics: Political Economy)
An enormously broad healthcare bill barely passed in the Senate early this week, as most Americans were heading home for the holidays and not paying much attention to politics. Michael Cannon, Cato's director of health policy studies, comments that many people have been seduced by the concept of an 'individual mandate,' which is included in the bill's final form and uses the force of law to coerce people into buying insurance, whether or not they want it. The utopian ideals of the health bill distracted people, even though it "was an audacious proposal from the start, as it made their health care plan even more left-wing than the Clinton plan, which voters soundly rejected for being too statist." Now that the bill has moved one step closer to becoming law, Cannon notes, "The question now is whether the Left, the Right, and the mainstream will recognize the Senate health care bill for what it is."
(tags: Natural & Physical Sciences: Health and Medicine, Health Care, Foundations of Liberty: Limited Government)
The Adam Smith Institute has just released A Beginner's Guide to Liberty, a ten chapter booklet that presents some of the most important principles of liberty that societies must grapple with everyday. With chapters like 'How markets work,' 'The importance of liberty,' Welfare without the state,' and 'Why government fails,' the book promises to pack quite a punch into its relatively few pages. Reviewers boast that the book clearly presents powerful ideas in jargon-free language. Whether as a gift or for yourself, the book can be purchased or downloaded for free, here. Stay tuned to Cato On Campus, as we highlight each of the ten chapters over the next few months!
(tags: Foundations of Liberty, Multimedia)
It's no surprise that the state of Michigan is facing looming budget deficits and cuts to programs such as education. However, Andrew Coulson, Cato's Director of the Center for Educational Freedom, explains how this situation gives the state an opportunity to turn things around through freeing education. Coulson documents how charter schools are more effective at graduating more students with better education; they also cost 20 percent less while having more teachers per student. Educational reform in Michigan is inevitable, so making it more effective and less costly sounds like a great idea, especially when we're talking about our country’s future.
(tags: Education, Foundations of Liberty: Free Markets)
Complaints about the nastiness and viciousness of American political discourse have been around as long as such conversations have taken place, reminds Professor Steven Horwitz. But, he argues, that's no reason for defenders of liberty to use such unproductive rhetorical tricks. With Milton Friedman as a shining example, libertarians must take the high ground in political discourse using evidence, reasoned argument, and with a smile and a gentle sense of humor.
(tags: Political Science: American Politics)
The Students For Liberty International Conference is coming to Washington, D.C. in a few short months, the weekend of February 12-14, 2010. Several new funding and scholarship opportunities have just been unveiled. Whether you're a student in Michigan, Pennsylvania, a member of an affiliate organization, or just passionate about sharing the ideas of liberty, there is a scholarship for you. Visit Student For Liberty's website, and find out more about them and their national and international opportunities.
(tags: Opportunities: Scholarships)
To cover enormous budget shortfalls, state governments are contemplating a tax on carbonated beverages. Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy explains how the government is simultaneously patting itself on the back for halting childhood obesity, while hitting an already recession-ridden economy with additional taxes. De Rugy points out several evaluation agencies that have analyzed such policies. Some claim that a tax would curb consumption of calorie-packed drinks while raising revenue for states, while others doubt its effect. De Rugy notes that people are generally resourceful in getting what they want, so a tax won't do much else than get government involved in yet another area of the economy. Wouldn't it be a better idea to put big government on a diet?
(tags: Natural & Physical Sciences: Health and Medicine, Foundations of Liberty: Limited Government)
Cato VP Gene Healy looks at a current case being argued in the Supreme Court to discuss a larger issue affecting millions of Americans daily: overcriminalization. Current law defines as criminal an action that "deprive(s) another of the intangible right of honest services." Under such a vague law, Justice Antonin Scalia said that a dad taking a sick-day to go to a ballgame with his kid could be deemed a criminal. The Court case opens a can of worms regarding a legal system that seeks to hold society in check by slapping laws in place, far overreaching the 3 kind of Federal crimes stated in the Constitution: treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. Healy states that reforming the overcriminalization problem may pose threats to political vitality, but makes the strong case that it's worth it.
(tags: Political Science: American Politics, Law: Criminal Law)
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