The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published long-awaited rules Thursday that could ban 99 percent of e-cigarette products and wreck industry innovation for years to come. Passed in 2009, the Tobacco Control Act says all e-cigarette products released after February 15, 2007, (predicate date) will have to go through the Pre-Market Tobacco Applications process (PMTA). […]
Twenty years ago, David Brooks longed for “confidence and vigor” in a president. Donald Trump says government should make the nation great. Where did he get this language? He didn’t make it up on the spot. There is a deeper modern history here. “National Greatness Conservatism” was first advanced by the Weekly Standard in 1997. […]
The Philadelphia school district is in a near-constant state of financial crisis. There are many factors contributing to this sorry state — particularly its governance structure — but it is compounded by fiscal mismanagement. One particularly egregious example is paying six-figure salaries to the tune of $1.5 million a year to “ghost teachers” that do not […]
Will Public Transportation Survive the 21st Century? What if a major city’s rail system suddenly vanished? Millions rely on rail-based public transportation, either because they can’t afford cars or because traffic is so bad. These trains and light rail systems alleviate congestion and pollution while serving the poor. Many consider them icons of 21st-century transportation […]
The Year Was 2081 and Everyone Was Finally Above Average. Every so often, the issue of grade inflation makes the headlines, and we are reminded that grades are being debased continuously. That happened in late March when the two academics who have most assiduously studied grade inflation — Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy — provided fresh evidence […]
Anti-development and Classist Programs Come Cloaked in Homey Slogans. “Distinctive Homes Available, Starting at $695,000” “Homes, Not High-Rises” Every day that I take my kids to school, I pass these two signs. My neighborhood is currently expanding, and some formerly vacant land across from the school building now has three well-designed and sumptuously outfitted single-family […]
On Sunday night, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies voted overwhelmingly (367-137) to open impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. The Senate will now vote on whether to take the case and try her, which is all but guaranteed. As a matter of fact, barring some unforeseen event, Dilma’s days as president are numbered. These are Brazil’s […]
The Cost of Occupational Licensing Adds Up! A rising tide of regulation has covered almost a third of the U.S. labor market. Workers who previously could find a job on the strength of their experience and talent now need their state government’s permission before taking a job. The “permission slip” in this case is an […]
A Billion Dollar Stool to Reach the Bottom Rung of the Job Ladder. In February, the Obama administration proposed a “First Job” initiative. The main goal of the aptly titled initiative is to help unemployed young people obtain their first job by spending $5.5 billion on grants, training, and direct wages. Unfortunately – but unsurprisingly – […]
What if it was illegal to watch your favorite film? If you risked confiscation of your property, jail time, or worse — would you still press play? In 1980s Romania, this wasn’t a hypothetical question. Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, inspired oppressed people to embrace pro-freedom ideas. Under its then-communist regime, Romania outlawed all […]
The last 100 years have seen drastic technological innovations — from the way we communicate to the way we travel to the way we consume entertainment. One thing that hasn’t changed is the way we do school. Teacher, chalkboard, lesson, test, move up a grade, repeat. Maybe the best argument for school choice is that […]
December 15, 2016, will mark the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney’s passing. Half a century later, I vividly recall the intense sadness I felt when I learned, at age 13, that he had died. It was as though I had lost a close member of the family. I doubt that I ever missed a single […]
The least of the problems with income tax is that it takes your money. The really big problem is that the income tax takes your life. It gives the government direct access to the things you own and sets up the political-bureaucratic sector to be the final arbiter of what you can and cannot consider […]
This past weekend, the Economist uploaded a short video to its Facebook page called, “The year of the 1 percent.” The video shows a graph superimposed over the Earth seen from space, while a voice narrates, “2016 is set to be a more unequal world than ever before. For the first time, the richest 1 percent of the population will […]
Today, Less than 2% of Trips Use Public Mass Transit. Ronald Reagan once quipped that “government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” There, in a nutshell, you have a short history of mass […]