Today’s Links: May 23, 2012

OPINION

ARNOLD KLING: “Why We Need Principles-Based Regulation”
“When we think of regulation, we think of specific rules that spell out the boundaries between what is approved and what is forbidden. For example, requiring credit card issuers to give 45 days notice prior to a rate increase. I call this bright-line regulation (BLR). What I want to propose is an alternative approach, called principles-based regulation (PBR). With PBR, legislation would lay out broad but well-defined principles that businesses are expected to follow.”

RICHARD RAHN: “How Soon They Forget”
“At what point would you consider leaving the U.S.? If you were taxed 98 percent of your income, or 75 percent as the new French president wants to do, or merely 50 percent-plus which is what many Californians will be paying if Gov. Jerry Brown gets his proposed tax increase and President Obama succeeds in getting his proposed tax increase?”

ROSS ANDERSON: “Radical Life Extension Is Already Here, But We’re Doing It Wrong”
“So far as we know, the last hundred years have been the most radical period of life extension in all of human history. At the turn of the twentieth century, life expectancy for Americans was just over 49 years; by 2010, that number had risen to 78.5 years, mostly on account of improved sanitation and basic medicine.”

NEWS

FREE SPEECH – New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Speech
“Did you hear the one about the New York state lawmakers who forgot about the First Amendment in the name of combating cyberbullying and ‘baseless political attacks’? Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites, such as blogs and newspapers, to ‘remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.'”

FINANCE – Bill Targets Fed Conflicts
“On the heels of JPMorgan’s stunning trading losses, two senators on Tuesday unveiled a bill that would ban financial executives from regulating themselves by taking positions at the Federal Reserve.”

LEGAL – Facebook Looks to Settle ‘Sponsored Story’ Suit
“Facebook is close to settling a lawsuit over advertisements it calls ‘sponsored stories.’ Launched in early 2011, the service let brands pay to retransmit users’ activities to their friends’ pages.”