Market Correction

25 November 2008

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

To the Editor:

Arthur Bowring is correct that pirates raise costs to consumers ("The Price of Piracy," November 25). Having to confront predators possessing the brute force to seize their cargoes and persons, merchants naturally cut back on their commercial activities and demand premium payments for whatever services they continue to perform.

But it's no stretch to arrrggggue that pirates share much in common with the stationary bandits that we call "governments." Governments, too, routinely threaten to seize persons' assets and persons if those persons don't pay the ransom called "taxes." And like pirate activity, government regulations and taxes increase the risks and costs of doing business - expenses ultimately passed on to consumers.

The chief difference between the two sorts of bandits is that, unlike governments, pirates don't insult the intelligence of their victims with assurances that the pirates' predations are for the victims' own good.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

21 November 2008

Editor, The Boston Globe

Dear Editor:

Dan Wasserman's cartoon today depicts countless gloomy Santa Clauses queued up before a "Unemployment Benefits" office. 2008 will indeed be a sad year for shopping-mall Santas, but other Santas are quite jolly.

I speak of politicians. Like shopping-mall Santas, their job is to entertain strangers' requests for goodies. These strangers (like those on the laps of shopping-mall Santas) give no thought to who pays for the requested goodies - so their requests are childish and ample. Politician Santas are naively taken at their word that they can create wondrous things for all good boys and girls. Assisted in the magical Capital City by self-abnegating elves, Politician Santas - who need only avoid giving gifts to the naughty - promise the nice a wonderful bounty.

Alas, one important difference between a shopping-mall Santa and a Politician Santa is that the former immediately forgets each child's request the moment that child pops off of his knee. The Politician Santa, in contrast, works hard at the impossible task of making the magic come true.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

20 November 2008

Editor, The New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036

To the Editor:

Carole Artigiani asserts that "The wide involvement of youths in the Obama campaign suggests a renewed understanding of the role of government in addressing the needs of citizens" (Letters, November 20).

I wonder. Just this morning WTOP News radio in Washington reported the results of a new survey by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute that found, among other distressing facts, that 36 percent of America's college graduates cannot name the three branches of government, and that one in five cannot name a single freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Whooping it up for, or even working to elect, a charismatic politician full of glorious platitudes should not be mistaken for understanding.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

19 November 2008

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

To the Editor:

G.M. CEO Rick Wagoner's case for a taxpayer handout to his firm is a lemon ("Why GM Deserves Support," November 19). The bulk of it is annual-report-style bragging about G.M.'s wondrous innovations at lowering costs and improving product quality - all of which, if true, makes one wonder why his firm so desperately needs a handout from taxpayers. And the rest of it is either irrelevant - many of the firms that will pony up more taxes to pay for the bailout also have operations that "reach into every state and community in our nation" - or plainly false. Transferring money from taxpayers to profitless yet high-profile firms is not "creative and courageous"; it is simple-minded and politically expedient.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University