The Open Market Blog

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/26/2008

Do you like Peking Duck?  Well, don’t count on getting it in Europe.  Restaurants are being shut down for failing to meet European Union rules,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/26/2008

No one ever wants to get cancer, but if you do get it, America is the place to get treated.  As Sen. Ted Kennedy doubtless…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/25/2008

David Evans, who spent six years working for the Australian government on climate change issues, started out a believer in global warming but finds the case…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/22/2008

The Associated Press was shocked to discover that, gasp!, the oil companies actually pay back their investors.  A new AP story is headlined:  “AP…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/14/2008

On of the most charming aspects of the European Union is its willingness to prosecute people for the most minor offenses, such as satisfying their…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/07/2008

A British hospital says no.  But a suspicious number of foreign liver transplants have been done at one hospital.  Reports the BBC:…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/05/2008

It’s long been obvious that you don’t want to get cancer in Great Britain.  (Obviously, you don’t want to get it anywhere, but especially in…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/29/2008

I just criticized the ditzy Europeans for banning the sale of undersize kiwifruit. But now as I go through accumulated emails I come across…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/29/2008

Because you’ll get treatment sooner as a dog!  Reports Macleans magazine: Dr. Danny Joffe is only half joking when he says that if he’d…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/28/2008

The line “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” has long been a comic favorite. As well it should. The Daily…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/28/2008

The U.S. is still the largest and most productive economy, but the warning signs are there. The latest is that America is losing its lead…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/28/2008

All you have to do is read British publications to see what the mess otherwise called the National Health Service.  Yet the NHS is a…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/27/2008

American politicians are busy talking about how to socialize the U.S. health care system.  But in Canada the father of the nationalized system is prepared…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/27/2008

Airplanes emit greenhouse gases, so airlines–and ultimately passengers–are about to pay for the privilege of flight. Reports the New York Times: The…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/27/2008

You’d better close your trash bin tightly, or else.  At least if you live in England.  Reports the New York Times: But when Gareth…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/22/2008

Travel used to be great.  It was regulated and high-priced, so most people didn’t travel that much.  With regulated prices, airlines competed based on service. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/18/2008

Who would have imagined it?  Shrink government, and you get faster economic growth.  Amazing! Reports Keith Marsden in the Wall Street Journal:…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/18/2008

Now what will the environmentlists do?  China’s lead in CO2 emissions keeps growing.  Reports the New York Times: China has clearly overtaken the United…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/05/2008

I missed this when it was first published, but it turns out that fat people cause global warming!  Reports Reuters: Obesity contributes to global…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/28/2008

What can you say about a health care system that treats animals more quickly than humans?  Reports Macleans: Dr. Danny Joffe is only half…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/17/2008

Remember, the answer to our health care problems is to turn over health care decisions to the government.  Everyone will have access to health care. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/12/2008

Great Britain’s vaunted National Health Service denied a 61-year-old woman a heart operation because she was too old.  Can’t waste the money! But then the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/05/2008

Not only has the planet not warmed over the last decade, but new peer-reviewed research suggests that it might not warm over the coming decade. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/05/2008

Airplanes emit CO2.  Ergo people shouldn’t fly.  To do otherwise is, well, sinful in the view of some people  Reports ABC News: Moral authorities…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/02/2008

Leave it to a Brit who used to be a communist to support relying on the profit motive to improve health care.  Writing in…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/02/2008

You don’t have to be a free market ideologue to realize that markets are the best means of saving endangered plants and animals.  Reports…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/02/2008

Who would have thought it?  Gas prices go up, and the demand for smaller cars rises.  Some cynics might even think that arbitrary regulations like…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 05/02/2008

Politicians are always looking for the easy source of money.  New Jersey legislators hoping to pay for health care want to tax fast food. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/30/2008

The unintended consequences of government are wonderful to behold.  Impose a minimum wage and put poor, ill-educated teens out of work.  Raise auto fuel-economy requirements,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/29/2008

One of the most tragic manifestations of past racial discrimination has been the creation of a government-enforced racial spoils system in the name of affirmative…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/28/2008

CNN founder and noted “Mouth of the South” Ted Turner recently claimed that he was doing better keeping his foot out of his mouth.  He…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/21/2008

The European Union finally is doing something useful.  It is defending people against noisy bagpipes. Reports the Sunday Times: THEIR high-pitched skirl has put…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/19/2008

Last fall I spoke on globalization at the John Locke Foundation, a state-based think tank headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s a great group. Of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/15/2008

It’s really hard being Bill and Hillary Clinton.  They are good liberals, but have collected an incredible $109 million since leaving the office.  So…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 04/11/2008

You’ve got to love socialized medicine.  You have to wait for appointments.  You have to wait when you call to schedule appointments.  And you’ve got…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/25/2008

Everyone likes generic drugs.  So do I.  Who wants to pay those shocking prices–you know, a couple bucks or even a few bucks a pill for…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/24/2008

To believe Democratic politicians, the U.S. has entered an era of near-laissez faire economics.  Regulatory agencies have faded away.  Uncle Sam has gone on vacation. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/21/2008

Certainly not the UN!  The debate, such as it is, over global warming has been increasingly driven by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  The…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/21/2008

The British may love babies, but they sure don’t show it.  Maternity wards often are full and have to be closed to new mothers. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/18/2008

It’s good to know that the administrators of Sheridan Middle School in New Haven are on top of their game. When two students engaged in…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/17/2008

There are a lot of reasons for believers in limited government to be discouraged. But sometimes that discouragement can be turned into triumph. Truth be…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/13/2008

The Europeans are threatening to impose tariffs on the U.S. if it fails to knuckle under and accept some international climate regulatory system–undoubtedly drafted to…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/12/2008

The media keeps reminding us that there is a consensus not only that the climate is warming (and it is), but that mankind is to…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/10/2008

As usual, the paternalists are making people worse off by trying to “save” them. Payday loans are expensive — not something I run off and…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Although Great Britain is not normally where one would think to look for ideas on health care reform, the government is going to experiment by…