Showing posts with label CATO Institute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CATO Institute. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

From both sides of the bars

June 03, 2015 Bernard Kerik , CATO Institute 0 Comments
From Jailer to Jailed: Bernard Kerik’s Story (Audio) 

 By Libertarianism.org, May 25, 2015



Source: www.libertarianism.org

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Thursday, May 28, 2015

Oh, no, not common sense

May 28, 2015 Amtrak Funding , Amtrak Privatisation 0 Comments
ICYMI: "Privatizing Amtrak" 

By Tad DeHaven, une 2010, CATO Institute

Overview
History
Money-Losing Routes
Poor Service Quality
Costly Workforce
Privatization

Overview

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or Amtrak, is the federal organization that operates passenger rail service in the United States. It was created by the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970. Amtrak is structured as a corporation, but its board members are appointed by the president of the United States and virtually all its stock is owned by the federal government.1 Amtrak has about 19,000 employees, and its annual revenues were $2.4 billion in 2009.2

Amtrak has been providing second-rate train service for almost four decades, while consuming almost $40 billion in federal subsidies. The system has never earned a profit and most of its routes lose money. Amtrak's on-time record is very poor, and the system as a whole only accounts for 0.1 percent of America's passenger travel.3 Another problem is that Amtrak's infrastructure is in bad shape. Most of the blame for Amtrak's woes should be pinned on Congress, which insists on supporting an extensive, nationwide system of passenger rail that doesn't make economic sense.

The solution is to privatize and deregulate passenger rail. Varying degrees of private involvement in passenger rail have been pursued abroad, such as in Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan, and New Zealand. Privatization would allow Amtrak greater flexibility in its finances, in capital investment, and in the operation of its services—free from costly meddling by Congress.

Read the full story: www.downsizinggovernment.org

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Saturday, May 9, 2015

And So Is Dr. Ben Carson!

May 09, 2015 CATO Institute , Donald J. Boudreaux 0 Comments
Reich Is Wrong On The Minimum Wage

By Donald J. Boudreaux, May 8, 2015, Cato.org

Watching Robert Reich’s new video in which he endorses raising the minimum wage by $7.75 per hour – to $15 per hour – is painful. It hurts to encounter such rapid-fire economic ignorance, even if the barrage lasts for only two minutes.

Perhaps the most remarkable flaw in this video is Reich’s manner of addressing the bedrock economic objection to the minimum wage – namely, that minimum wage prices some low-skilled workers out of jobs. Ignoring supply-and-demand analysis (which depicts the correct common-sense understanding that the higher the minimum wage, the lower is the quantity of unskilled workers that firms can profitably employ), Reich asserts that a higher minimum wage enables workers to spend more money on consumer goods which, in turn, prompts employers to hire more workers. 

Reich apparently believes that his ability to describe and draw such a “virtuous circle” of increased spending and hiring is reason enough to dismiss the concerns of “scare-mongers” (his term) who worry that raising the price of unskilled labor makes such labor less attractive to employers.



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Sunday, January 25, 2015

"distinct problems and disadvantages under current system"

January 25, 2015 African American Demographic , Blacks 0 Comments
"The African American Stake in Soc Sec Reform"

Michael D. Tanner, Feb. 5, 2001, CATO

Yet Social Security is facing a financial crisis. Within 15 years, the program will begin running a deficit, spending more on benefits than it takes in through taxes. The Social Security Trust Fund, which is supposed to continue paying benefits until 2037, is really little more than a collection of IOU’s. Without an enormous tax increase, Social Security will not be able to pay all the benefits that have been promised. That would be devastating for African-American seniors.

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Friday, January 16, 2015

Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers

January 16, 2015 CATO Institute , Education 0 Comments
Public Schooling’s Pluralism Problem And The School Choice Solution

Jason Bedrick, Jan. 9, 2015, CATO

In reality though, it’s the idea that so-called “public” schools are actually “public” that is only half-true. District schools are technically open to any student whose parents can afford to live in the district, but they are certainly not “intended to serve entire communities.” For example, they are not intended to serve Orthodox Jews or others like them who have a different vision of education. When everyone is forced to pay for one school system and decisions about education are made via a political process, there will be winners and losers.

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