Quick Roundup 68

The Metaphysical vs. the Man-Made

Great minds think alike.

Yesterday, the Inspector mulled over a proposed fat tax.

They take a current, rights-abridging, aspect of how things are being done (i.e. inheritance as aristocratic) as the given. Rather than remove the abridgement of rights, they pile on further abridgements to "balance" it out. This can be seen with, say, their solution to the problem of socialism in medicine (i.e. more socialism), or their refusal to examine the necessity of social security.

And awhile back, I had a similar thought concerning certain anti-Wal-Mart and anti-immigration arguments.

The fact that the welfare state is taken for granted thus leads to a corporation being blamed for what is beyond its control -- and the real culprit, the government, being curiously absent from the list of suspects! Wal-Mart can't threaten someone who resists paying taxes to support Medicaid with jail or fines or confiscation of property. Only the government can do that. In a free economy, Wal-Mart would not be compelled to offer medical coverage to all its workers, but it might, to attract or avoid losing them. It may or may not have to raise prices to do so. But taxes would be out of the question.

While I do not admire Wal-Mart for counseling its employees to take Medicare, its current practice is made possible entirely by the government's intervention in the economy. This isn't the cost of Wal-Mart. It's a tiny portion of the cost of the welfare state! The Times article is good for what it does point out in Wal-Mart's favor, but this more important point would have been nice to see mentioned, even in passing.

Pipes on Profiling

I completely agree with Daniel Pipes, who notes the success of police profiling of terrorist suspects and the need to make it open and legal.

Even after this information came out, NYPD spokesman Browne claimed his department "does not engage in profiling."

When law enforcement lies, as it constantly does about profiling, public trust erodes. Profiling is an obviously useful tool, so the solution lies in passing laws to permit the police to do so overtly and legally.

Amen. Chalk up another destructive consequence, the "need" for law enforcement officials to lie in order to get away with doing their job, to multiculturalism.

Kook Scientist Wants Space Colonies

I'm working on what is turning out to be a very long review of Glenn Reynolds' An Army of Davids. At one point, Reynolds supports government funding for space research in the name of perpetuating the human race. He got this straight from Stephen Hawking, who's out hawking the same nonsense on the international stage, in Hong Kong.

"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said. "Life on Earth is at the ever- increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of."

I have nothing against space colonization, but I think it would be a real disaster -- for individual rights -- if governments start hopping on this bandwagon and forcibly divert funds and effort to endeavors like this. If it is genuinely profitable to colonize space, the free market will make it happen when it is truly feasible to do so. If not, we will waste nowhere near the time and effort trying as we would with governments (who do not have to worry about making any money) involved.

It is quite revealing that Reynolds, who decries anti-technology sensationalism early in his book, is perfectly happy to endorse what could be nicknamed "pro-technology sensationalism".

Same old collectivism, shiny new packaging.

Is this really a surprise?

Glenn Reynolds is also a co-founder of Pork Busters, which seeks to trim wasteful government spending -- but only to funnel the "savings" back into government relief programs for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Not too surprisingly, waste manages to pop up any time money is stolen from one person and given to another....

The Federal Emergency Management Agency also was hoodwinked to pay for season football tickets, a tropical vacation and a sex change operation, the audit found. Prison inmates, a supposed victim who used a New Orleans cemetery for a home address and a person who spent 70 days at a Hawaiian hotel all were able to get taxpayer help, according to evidence that gives a new black eye to the nation's disaster relief agency. [bold added]

Memo to Glenn Reynolds: The only way to keep the government from throwing money away is to get rid of the welfare state. (And this is not even the fundamental reason we should do so.) Abolishing FEMA looks like one place to start.

-- CAV