The Open Market Blog

• 03/05/2008

What happened in Washington state is frightening. It is further confirmation of a trend in eco-terrorism I report on in Eco-Freaks. Eco-terrorism…

• 03/05/2008

It is ironic that environmentalist hype about global warming and green calls for alternative fuels are undermining some of the greens’ very own programs and…

• 03/05/2008

Despite that fact that most economist agree (to steal the global warming crowd’s favorite turn of phrase) that rent control has primarily negative effects, laws…

• 03/05/2008

An important new study from the American Consumer Institute shows that consumers, on the whole, want broader choice of insurance plans. Right…

• 03/05/2008

Cord, I couldn’t agree more with your points about Gary Gygax. I think it’s also worth noting that the game he created Dungeons…

• 03/05/2008

In The Washington Post, Robert Samuelson explains that the government is doing more harm than good by attempting to delay the inevitable popping of…

• 03/04/2008

Gary Gygax, the father of role-playing games, died today at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. As a fellow Wisconite and lover of video games–the…

• 03/04/2008

James Lovelock is the originator of the Gaia myth and convinced that the world is coming to an end, soon, because of global warming is…

• 03/04/2008

Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass) has introduced legislation aimed at ridding the cell phone world of the much criticized practicies of phone subsidies, long-term contracts, and…

• 03/04/2008

I’m a case study in complex taxes. During 2007, I switched jobs, got income from a half dozen sources, bought one house, sold another, made…

• 03/03/2008

Hans, it’s also wrong to refer to this Supreme Court as anti-investor. Two weeks ago, as I have noted, the Court unanimously ruled in…

• 03/03/2008

A New York Times editorial today points to the high prices of food — partly spurred by the heavy government involvement in promoting corn…

• 03/03/2008

Mississippi’s attorney general, Jim Hood, is praising a shady prosecutor who put innocent people in jail, calling him a “straight arrow.” Mississippi’s legislature…

• 03/03/2008

The DC Examiner editorializes against a Senate bill that would “reform” the consumer product laws by giving state attorneys general broad powers to sue…

• 03/03/2008

Investor’s Business Daily comments on the decision by the House of Representatives to exempt an oil company controlled by Venezuela’s anti-American leftist dictator from…

• 02/29/2008

The new testimony and announcements by DOI/USFWS regarding coming Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings and changes are most interesting. First, DOI announced a…

• 02/29/2008

In recent months, environmentalists have been saying that bottled water is wasteful and no healthier than tap. They are helping advance bottled water taxes, bans…

• 02/29/2008

Candidates running for POTUS shouldn’t whine about being attacked by their opponents. Things look pretty mild in the good ole USA, especially compared with…

• 02/29/2008

The Virginia Supreme Court today struck down a state law giving unelected bodies the power to levy taxes in Marshall v. Northern Virginia…

• 02/29/2008

I have more posts on child-snatching by government agencies, strange sexual harassment rulings, and punitive damages for oil spills, at Point of…

• 02/29/2008

In the Wall Street Journal today (subscription needed), Kimberley A. Strassel’s column hits the Democrats’ current protectionist stance on trade and points to the party’s…

• 02/28/2008

Public policy is rife with unintended consequences. The newest is that soaring food prices caused by ethanol subsidies in the U.S. are causing food prices…

• 02/28/2008

More proof that wind power is no panacea for the nation’s looming electricity crisis. The wind dropped in Texas, and caused blackouts: ERCOT…

• 02/28/2008

It’s E-Day in the UK, a national ‘awareness’ day backed by major environmental groups and religious organizations, and the BBC, aimed at getting Brits…

• 02/28/2008

These days it seems that you can slap the word “addiction” after any activity and escape personal responsibility for poor decision making. Moreover, in…

• 02/28/2008

Does this make sense? At the same time the House thinks it’s a good idea to provide Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia with duty-free…

• 02/27/2008

Government social workers have an incentive to overreact to erroneous allegations of child abuse, and take children away from loving parents, because they reasonably…

• 02/27/2008

I find it ironic for Virginia State Delegate Dave Albo to decry businesses being “scammed,” when he has built a reputation for …

• 02/27/2008

The Virginia General Assembly last year voted to let counties increase their commercial property tax in order to pay for new transportation projects. The counties…

• 02/27/2008

The Supreme Court decided two discrimination cases this week that confirm that the Supreme Court is not “pro-business “in discrimination cases, as liberal journalists claim.