The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/08/2008

Yesterday, Congress passed a "stimulus package" that gives rebates to many people who don't work, but denies them to people who do work but whose…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/08/2008

A group of researchers told the Supreme Court that Washington, D.C.’s municipal ban on handguns and functional firearms is based on junk science. After…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/07/2008

In the Wall Street Journal, William Easterly explains why Bill Gates’ proposal for “creative capitalism” — a rejection of the profit motive in favor of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/07/2008

Lawyers challenging D.C.’s ban on possession of handguns and functional firearms filed their brief yesterday in the Supreme Court, defending a court ruling…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/06/2008

A lot of subprime mortgage loans are defaulting.  A big reason why is that, to avoid discrimination charges, lenders gutted their traditional lending standards in order…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/04/2008

Ignorance can lead to unjustified anger. Congressional leaders are mad at the Supreme Court for enforcing a 180-day deadline for filing discrimination claims in the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/03/2008

USA Today has a story today about how public employees are much better compensated than people in the private sector, with an average compensation…

• By: Hans Bader
• 02/01/2008

Insurers of municipal bonds got tired of their sleepy little domain and decided to try and make a quick buck by insuring subprime mortgage securities…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/31/2008

Altria, the parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris, is shutting down its headquarters in New York City and will no longer employ the “vast…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/30/2008

Last night, ABC News lavished sympathy on a North Carolina couple whose mortgage payments had risen to just over $2,000 a month, owing to the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/30/2008

The House has overwhelmingly voted to pass the “stimulus” bill I discussed earlier, which would increase the deficit, provide “rebates” that did…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/30/2008

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s multibillion dollar health care plan was rejected as too expensive by the California State Senate’s Health Committee, putting him to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/29/2008

The “stimulus” plan devised by House leaders and the White House at a price tag of nearly $150 billion is now being rejected as too…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/28/2008

Earlier this month, House leaders reached a deal with the White House on a $150 billion “stimulus” plan that would increase the deficit to give…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/27/2008

Earlier, I wrote about the Abigail Alliance case, in which a federal appeals court first rightly held that the Constitution likely prevents the FDA…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/27/2008

Late last year, the Treasury Secretary orchestrated a bailout of some subprime borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages. Under it, their interest rates, which are slated…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/25/2008

Economist David Friedman sums up the flaws of the ridiculous “stimulus” plan that House leaders and the White House have proposed, which will…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/25/2008

Under the "stimulus" plan proposed by House leaders and the White House, you get a "rebate" -- even if you work so little that…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/24/2008

The White House and Congressional leaders have reached an outrageous agreement to increase the deficit to pay for rebates that discriminate against married people,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how the multi-billion-dollar 1998 tobacco settlement between 46 states and the tobacco companies has inspired more lawsuits, and threatened lawsuits, against…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

Congress is currently in the process of rewriting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to make it even more costly for employers to employ people…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/23/2008

The Congress and the president are planning to give rebates to taxpayers in an effort to pump up consumer spending and avert a recession.

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

Nervous about the possibility of a recession, the Federal Reserve has just cut short-term interest rates (the federal funds rate). But how much good,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

The Supreme Court recently ruled that while those who engage in securities fraud can be sued, third parties who allegedly aided and abetted them…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

The Vice Chairman of the Prince William County Human Rights Commission, Carlos Labiosa, is investigating the local school board's decision to drop affirmative-action hiring…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/22/2008

For mysterious reasons, municipal governments that have never defaulted on anything (and can, unfortunately, tax the living daylights out of their citizens to pay for…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Earlier, I wrote about how diversity training backfires: It harms employers and employees alike, triggers lawsuits by both white and minority employees, causes racial…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Federal financial aid and subsidies to colleges and universities are fueling soaring college costs, and making universities more expensive, more bureaucratic, and more politicized. That’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/21/2008

Congress and the President are working on a multi-billion-dollar ($140 billion plus) “stimulus package” in an effort to ward off a recession. One proposal that…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

In Virginia’s Arlington Sun-Gazette, reader Linda Jones complains about the fact that only a few public school teachers in Arlington County receive more than $100,000…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/18/2008

Legal aid groups funded by taxpayers through the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) wasted money on forbidden things like liquor and subsidized "loans" to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/17/2008

A 2007 Virginia transportation law allowed the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to levy a big new tax to finance transportation projects not on those who…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

Clayton Cramer points out that most people classified as poor by the federal government are actually not poor at all. Most people below the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

The ACLU insists that sex in public restroom stalls is protected by "privacy", even though such activity creates a very uncomfortable environment for those…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/16/2008

If you live in Northern Virginia or Hampton Roads, you are now subject to a big tax increase if you sell your home. The 2007…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/15/2008

Over the past decade, property taxes in Northern Virginia have skyrocketed along with assessments. Taxes have increased to the point that taxes in Northern…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/14/2008

The American Bar Association has never been reluctant to urge the Supreme Court to overturn existing precedent, if the precedent at issue offends politically correct…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/14/2008

State legislatures recently banned the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The net result, according to The New York Times, is that rather than…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/11/2008

A highly-publicized gun lawsuit has bitten the dust. Earlier, the D.C. Court of Appeals allowed Washington, D.C. residents to sue out-of-state businesses under D.C. law…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/11/2008

USA Today hammers state governments for using money from the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement on everything but tobacco-related illnesses and smoking prevention: “With news…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/04/2008

As usual, politicians are complaining about the fact that 47 million Americans supposedly don’t have health insurance. But many young people just don’t need health…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/03/2008

In poor African countries like Lesotho, “H.I.V.-infected children are offered exemplary treatment, while children suffering from much simpler-to-treat diseases are left untreated, sometimes to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/02/2008

The head of the Virginia bar association is concerned because Virginia, which once had the highest percentage of lawyer-legislators in America, now ranks behind…

• By: Hans Bader
• 01/02/2008

This blog gets much of its traffic and readers by being linked to by other blogs. The friendly blog that links to this one most…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/31/2007

A program in Michigan that saved 1500 lives over 18 months by maintaining checklists on patient care to prevent hospital infections has been shut down by…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/31/2007

The Washington, D.C. school system recently spent tens of millions of dollars to buy sophisticated new boilers to heat the schools.  Then it allowed them to break…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/26/2007

Employers pay a lot of money for diversity training and sexual harassment training, but often the training backfires and blows up in the face of…

• By: Hans Bader
• 12/25/2007

Most non-white Canadians suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, putting them at risk of cancer, osteoporosis, and diabetes, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. …