The Open Market Blog

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

My friend Paul Jacob, the long-time term limits activist and head of the Citizens in Charge Foundation, continues to face charges in Oklahoma for…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Let’s see. The U.S. is supposed to follow Canada in nationalizing health care because it’s such a wonderful success. NOT! A  former Liberal Party health minister in…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 03/09/2008

Canadians like to dismiss America’s health care system, claiming that their system ensures coverage for everyone.  Apparently everyone except those sent to the U.S. to…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/12/2008

Liberty-minded Europeans can only look on with increasing frustration as policy becomes increasingly centralized in Brussels. It’s not just the regulations — goodness knows the…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/12/2008

Remember, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you. Especially when it comes to health care. Just look at Sweden. Reports Investor’s…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/12/2008

It turns out that a speech I gave on globalization has ended up on the web. I’ve added a few pounds since then, so…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 02/04/2008

The Irish government doesn’t like plastic bags. So it has effectively banned them. Reports The New York Times: There is something missing from this…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/31/2008

Those hilarious Europeans. They are threatening to ban patio heaters. Too big a carbon imprint, it seems. So much for convenience, choice, and individual liberty.

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/29/2008

A toothache is never fun. It is likely to be particularly painful in Great Britain. Reports Investor’s Business Daily: Since April 2006, one in…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/27/2008

There are no easy answers to some problems. Such as failed and quasi-failed states around the world. But one thing that we know is that…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/23/2008

Jimmy Carter regulated the temperature of public buildings. The state of California is preparing to regulate the temperature of private homes. Really. Explains columnist…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/23/2008

Most people understand the role of incentives. Pay me to stop working and I will happily quit my job and take the check. Penalize me…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/17/2008

Surprise, surprise! The Europeans don’t like market economics. That’s hardly startling news. But it turns out that the educational system works overtime to demonize free…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/15/2008

What will the world look like in a century? Imagine asking that question in 1900. And in 1800. The world would have changed in so…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/15/2008

Access to health care has become a big political issue in the U.S. And it’s a legitimate issue. The American system is a bizarre mish-mash…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/10/2008

Let’s see. The U.S. Constitution gives the Congress the power to raise armies, regulate interstate commerce, and … control snack machines in local schools. Apparently…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/10/2008

It’s terrible. We all know that global warming threatens the planet’s future. Everything is getting worse. More people are dying. Or they are supposed to…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/08/2008

Government always has been pretty good in handling blunt, simple tasks: bombing cities into ruins, for instance. But if any nuance or sophistication is required,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/08/2008

Americans like to believe that they are a free people, certainly freer than the Europeans. And the U.S. economy has been much more vibrant than…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 01/03/2008

You get what you pay for, goes the adage, and it certainly is true when it comes to nationalized health care. Britons thought that they…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/31/2007

Trying to "fix" health care is not easy, since it's a bizarre amalgam of private provision of insurance and public spending and regulation, completely distorted…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/26/2007

There may be no less appreciated industry than insurance.  We hate paying for it and hope never to use it.  If we make a claim,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/21/2007

It turns out that Britain's National Health Service isn't very healthy for babies or other living things. Reports the Guardian: Scores of premature babies…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/20/2007

Well, now. Europe has been lecturing the U.S. about the issue of global warming. But it appears that the EU isn’t prepared to wreck its…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/18/2007

If you’re a Brit waiting for care under the National Health Service, relief may be at hand. Reports the Times of London: Patients will…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/17/2007

It’s nice to work at a place where the budget is no object. That isn’t the case at most businesses. Sadly, it isn’t the case…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/17/2007

The standard left-wing argument against tax rate reductions is that doing so will starve government of needed revenue. That, of course, is the best reason…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/10/2007

Al Gore is in Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize for misinforming the rest of us about global warming. Doesn’t he understand that…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/10/2007

Air travel accounts for about three percent of greenhouse gases, so even if you think the planet is warming out of control, grounding all planes…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/10/2007

The myth of nationalized health care is that it provides everyone with equal and inexpensive care. Alas, in the real world the only way…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 12/03/2007

The title of this New York Times article today says it all: “Truckers in Maine, Feeling High Costs of Diesel Fuel, Urge State to…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

Poverty, the horrendous poverty so common in most of the world, can only shock the average Westerner.  But we in the West once were that…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

There’s a lot of bad news in the world these days.  A bit of good news is the approach of trials of several leaders of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

It's enough to make the average Canadian cry.  The decent folk up north fervently defend their health care system from attack.  But, it turns out,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

“Consumer advocates”–who spend their time demanding that everyone toss money at anyone who “consumes” a product or service, are on the march, this time against…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

Government regulation almost always is biased towards inaction and prohibition.  Making a "mistake" and allowing something to happen will usually get you into far greater…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/26/2007

There may be no better evidence of change in China than the fact that the government now occasionally admits that problems exist in the country. …

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/20/2007

With the trial bar hovering around your house, ready to file an obesity lawsuit on behalf of the guests on whom you have forced slices…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/19/2007

Every health care system is going to have some “horror stories,” and the U.S. system is no different. But it’s important for Americans to realize…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/19/2007

Thus argues John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel. Admittedly, he’s not a Ph.D climatologist, but then, most of the alarmist propagandists aren’t Ph.D climatologists,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/15/2007

In today’s educational monopoly, it seems that even progress can have counterproductive consequences. For instance, the growth of public charter schools, which appear to deliver…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/14/2007

Another study reports on the costs of obesity. Just dropping down to European levels would save $100 billion in extra medical costs. Reports Nurse.com:…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/14/2007

Critics of the U.S. health care system have a litany of complaints. Some are true, but highly misleading. N. Gregory Mankiw takes on three of…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/07/2007

The Beijing Olympics are less than a year away, and China hopes to showcase its growing economy and expanding international influence. China is a fascinating…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/06/2007

Finally, after nearly seven years of approving every big spending bill to hit his desk, President George W. Bush is occasionally saying no to budget…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 11/06/2007

It doesn’t matter how often politicians fail. They keep coming back with grand new schemes for transforming their own, and often other people’s, societies. And…