New Jersey Gambling, the Tea Party, and Frozen Chicken

New Jersey Gambling

There’s a push in New Jersey to legalize online sports betting.

Policy Analyst Michelle Minton points out that this push, like most campaigns for deregulation, stems from the state’s need to collect new tax revenue.

“What does it take to get governments to deregulate? You might think the answer is ‘a miracle’ or maybe ‘drugs in the water,’ both of which might be right. However, it seems that another way to move free-market legislation forward is economic crisis. Perhaps then it’s unsurprising that New Jersey has been really pushing the economic liberty agenda, considering they were ranked as having one of the worst fiscal situations in the nation.”

Tea Party

The Tea Party’s 10-point Contract From America may be one cause of their grassroots success.

Warren Brookes Fellow Kathryn Ciano speculates about the future of the Tea Party and the importance of their governance contract.

“Many of the items [in the Contract] directly contradict legislature that has passed in President Obama’s first two years in office. Sure, this is a reflexive response to the government having gone very far in one direction. But remember: It was this objective metric that spelled out big midterm victories. Let’s see how objective this criteria stays over the next two years.”

Frozen Chicken

Russia is banning frozen chicken imports.

Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith explains what’s happening.

“The reason for the proposed ban? The head of the Russian agency in charge of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare was quoted as saying, ‘It is an outdated and rough technology, which leads to a loss of many of the useful qualities of meat.’ Some domestic poultry producers in Russia are opposed to the ban, which would allow only chilled chicken to be sold in Russia. Of course, there are some, such as poultry producer and high-level Russian politician, Sergei Lisovsky, who supports the ban but wants it to go even further — to ban all imported chicken.”