Freer is better

(by John Stossel) - The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom lowers the ranking of the United States to eighth out of 179 nations -- behind Canada! A year ago, it ranked sixth, ahead of Canada.

Don't say it's Barack Obama's fault. Half the data used in the index is from George W. Bush's final six months in office. This is a bipartisan problem.

For the past 16 years, the index has ranked the world's countries on the basis of their economic freedom -- or lack thereof. Ten criteria are used: freedoms related to business, trade, fiscal matters, monetary matters, investment, finance, labor, government spending, property rights and freedom from corruption.

(Full article)

Real free market entrepreneurs are criminals

NPR recently reported on an elusive criminal operating in New York's black market:

For years, if you wanted illegal drugs in New York City, you'd get the number of an anonymous dealer who would show up at your location with the goods. Now an entrepreneur who goes by the name of "Ronnie" is trying this technique with...grilled cheese sandwiches. Hungry customers get Ronnie's number from a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend, and they text their order, and in 15 minutes or less they get a hot, grilled cheese anywhere in the Lower East Side.

Read the full story here.

While NPR didn't go into any detail on this particular aspect, it's clear from the story that "Ronnie," a real free market entrepreneur, is a criminal. He's one of those awful, evil villains who don't first obtain permission from the government or pay the required extortion fees in order to make their businesses "legitimate."

Imagine wanting to open a sandwich shop in your neighborhood. A local mob boss pays you a visit and informs you that in order to operate a business in his territory you must pay him "protection" money. If you don't...well, something unpleasant might happen. That's exactly what goes on in every neighborhood in America, only the local mob bosses are actually government officials, the "protection" fees are called licenses, and the thugs hired to enforce this arrangement wear badges and have a lot more high-tech weaponry at their disposal.

All "Ronnie" is doing is making and selling grilled cheese sandwiches. He offers a perfectly safe product, and people are willing to pay him for it. Someone please tell me how this hurts anyone. There is no threat to life, liberty, or property -- and isn't the protection of life, liberty, and property the only reason we have laws in the first place?

The problem with the FDA

The Washington Post is reporting that the Food and Drug Administration won't require labeling of genetically modified salmon. Now, I certainly don't think any government agency has the right to force anyone to label anything, but what about the producers of conventional foods who want to label their products as non-genetically altered? Well...:

The labeling matter is further complicated because the FDA has maintained a tough stance for food makers who don't use genetically engineered ingredients and want to promote their products as an alternative. The agency allows manufacturers to label their products as not genetically engineered as long as those labels are accurate and do not imply that the products are therefore more healthful.

The agency warned the dairy industry in 1994 that it could not use "Hormone Free" labeling on milk from cows that are not given engineered hormones, because all milk contains some hormones.

It has sent a flurry of enforcement letters to food makers, including B&G Foods, which was told it could not use the phrase "GMO-free" on its Polaner All Fruit strawberry spread label because GMO refers to genetically modified organisms and strawberries are produce, not organisms.

It told the maker of Spectrum Canola Oil that it could not use a label that included a red circle with a line through it and the words "GMO," saying the symbol suggested that there was something wrong with genetically engineered food.

"This to me raises questions about whose interest the FDA is protecting," said Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has introduced legislation that would require labeling for genetically engineered food. "They are clearly protecting industry and not the public."

The problem with the FDA (aside from the fact that it is an unaccountable and unconstitutional law-making agency) is that it only serves to perpetuate the corporatist system. So much for the free market.

The food police strike again

Incidents like this are becoming more commonplace in the "Land of the Free."

Bloggers in Philly required to pay $300 for business license

When greedy government bureaucrats get a whiff of money, it ignites the kind of feeding frenzy one might expect to see during Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. In the City of Brotherly Love, however, it's business as usual.

If you reside in Philadelphia and maintain a blog that rakes in about $50 over a few years, the city wants its cut. You'll have to pay $300 for a business privilege license, or suffer the consequences.

(Full story)

Protectionist law slowing oil spill cleanup?

(Fox News) - Foreign companies possessing some of the world's most advanced oil skimming ships say they are being kept out of efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf because of a 1920's law known as the Jones Act -- a protectionist law that requires vessels working in U.S. waters be built in the U.S. and be crewed by U.S. workers.

Joseph Carafano of the Heritage Foundation has been studying the matter and wonders, "Are we accepting all the international assistance in the maritime domain that we can, and is the Jones Act an impediment to that?"

(Full story)

Apple secrecy is bitter fruit on Hill

(Politico) - Apple is famous for its veil of secrecy around the new iPads and iPhones. But Sen. John Rockefeller and others in Congress wonder whether the company has more than technological innovations to hide.

When Apple didn't participate in an April hearing on children's online privacy, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, gave voice to his suspicions.

"When people don't show up when we ask them to ... all it does is increases our interest in what they're doing and why they didn't show up," Rockefeller said of Apple and Google, which both declined to testify. "It was a stupid mistake for them not to show up, and I say shame on them."

(Full story)

Congress seeks to punish U.S. goverment contractors for business with Iran

WASHINGTON (AHN) - A Senate committee discussed options during a hearing Wednesday for penalizing foreign companies that hold U.S. government contracts while still doing business with Iran.

The Senate hearing follows a Government Accountability Office report that found the U.S. government gave contracts worth nearly $880 million to seven foreign companies that dealt with Iran.

(Full story)

Farmers decry plan to restrict sale of unpasteurized milk

(SouthCoastToday.com) - Massachusetts is proposing a change in the state's standards and sanitation requirements for Grade A raw milk. The rule would bar out-of-town "buying clubs" from purchasing raw milk at dairy farms and then distributing it to others at home.

The measure is part of more than 300 proposed amendments, most of them formatting tweaks or changes to align the state's milk regulations with the national ones, according to Scott J. Soares, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

The proposal that is miffing raw milk consumers and farmers is not really a change at all, he said, but rather a clarification on what is already an illegal practice.

(Full story)

In a state's search for sales tax, Amazon raises privacy concerns

(NY Times) - North Carolina last month began an audit of online businesses, assuming that millions of dollars in sales taxes owed to the state had disappeared into the Internet.

"This is really an issue of fairness and equity for small businesses, the brick and mortar, corner store operations," said Kenneth R. Lay, the state's secretary of revenue. "These businesses are at a competitive disadvantage when they have to collect sales taxes that other businesses do not."

The response of one of those online businesses, Amazon.com, was succinct: back off. (Full story)

Want to get rich? Work for feds

(Washington Examiner) - For decades, public sector unions have peddled the fantasy that government employees were paid less than their counterparts in the private sector. In fact, the pay disparity is the other way around. Government workers, especially at the federal level, make salaries that are scandalously higher than those paid to private sector workers. And let's not forget private sector workers not only have to be sufficiently productive to earn their paychecks, they also must pay the taxes that support the more generous jobs in the public sector.

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Lawmakers predict Congress will pass finance bill

(NY Times) - Senate Republicans and Democrats predicted on Wednesday that Congress would soon pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system, indicating a potentially swift resolution of the latest partisan firefight on Capitol Hill.

But the sides offered starkly different reasons for their optimism, The New York Times's Edward Wyatt and David M. Herszenhorn report. Republicans said that they had forced Democrats back to the bargaining table to negotiate a bipartisan accord, while Democrats said that Republicans were hastily abandoning their opposition in fear of a public outcry.

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My food, my choice

Be sure to visit MyFoodMyChoice.org and sign their petition to stop the food police.

Toyota faces $16 million fine, accused by feds of hiding defect

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government accused Toyota of hiding a "dangerous defect" and proposed a record $16.4 million fine on Monday for failing to quickly alert regulators to safety problems in gas pedals on popular models such as the Camry and Corolla.

The proposed fine, announced Monday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is the most the government could levy for the sticking gas pedals that have led Toyota to recall millions of vehicles. There could be further penalties under continuing federal investigations. The Japanese automaker faces private lawsuits seeking many millions more.

(Full story)