http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/ en-us 2009-11-06T18:11+00:00 http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1257530943.shtml 22 June 2009... Don Boudreaux 2009-11-06T18:11+00:00
Editor, Los Angeles Times

Dear Editor:

You want to "Keep the politics out of UC" (Editorial, June 22). Impossible, as the UC system is a government entity. And a government entity free of politics is, as my colleague Russ Roberts says, quite as unthinkable as is a ham sandwich free of pork.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1257530892.shtml 19 June 2009... Don Boudreaux 2009-11-06T18:11+00:00
Editor, Los Angeles Times

Dear Editor:

Seth Hill writes that "Every time I'm surfing channels and I happen by mistake to land there [on the Fox News channel], I have to watch a commentary by [Newt] Gingrich or former Vice President Dick Cheney. That channel makes me long for the days of the Fairness Doctrine" (Letters, June 19).

Mr. Hill's attitude is the seed of totalitarianism: unable to distinguish what he does voluntarily from what he is coerced into doing, he wants to use force to save himself from the annoyance of fleetingly encountering disagreeable ideas as he flips his channel changer - and to use force to hamper other persons' access to those ideas.

There's nothing fair about that.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1257434678.shtml ... Don Boudreaux 2009-11-05T15:11+00:00 Editor, New Orleans Times-Picayune

Dear Editor:

Befuddled that many Louisianans don't wish to force motorcyclists to wear helmets, Nicholette Shannon suggests that safety is always more important than what she dismisses as "convenience" (Letters, June 19).

Safety, however, clearly does not always trump convenience. If it did, no one would ever ride a motorcycle to begin with. Indeed, no one would ride in automobiles, jaywalk, or eat fast food. Each of us routinely trades-off some safety to get more convenience. And no one, including Ms. Shannon, should presume that her preferred balance between safety and convenience is or ought to be the preferred balance for other persons.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1257255202.shtml 18 June 2009... Don Boudreaux 2009-11-03T13:11+00:00
Editor, The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018

To the Editor:

It's heartening that so many of your readers support drug legalization (Letters, June 18). As they, and columnist Nicholas Kristof, point out, there are indeed many practical reasons to end the cruel and futile 'war on drugs.' But there's also an ethical reason to do so: each adult owns his or her life and only his or her life. It's none of my business what you ingest. Nor is it the business of my neighbor or of my co-workers. This fact does not change if my neighbor, co-workers, and I form a coalition and vote to govern your ingestion.

A society truly free tolerates all peaceful actions, from the sublime through the self-destructive.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1257170447.shtml 17 June 2009... Don Boudreaux 2009-11-02T14:11+00:00
News Editor, WWL Radio
New Orleans, LA

Dear Sir or Madam:

A listener called in today during the one o'clock hour to assert that "health care isn't like other services" - and so it can't be supplied reliably on the market because people are willing to "incur any cost to save their lives."

First, if this assertion is true, it's unclear how matters would be improved by socializing the payment of medical expenses. Second, everyday experience shows that this assertion, in fact, is false. If people really are desperate to save their lives at all costs, then everyone would exercise regularly, eat only healthy foods, and completely avoid rock climbing, horseback riding, snow skiing, and tanning booths. No one would smoke, drink to excess, or have unsafe sex. Women would never get pregnant, as there's still some positive chance of dying while giving birth.

Unless and until people stop behaving in ways that reduce their life-expectancies, it's mistaken to believe that each of us is committed to living longer at all costs.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1257103455.shtml ... Don Boudreaux 2009-11-01T19:11+00:00 17 June 2009

Editor, The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018

To the Editor:

Maureen Dowd wants President Obama to display his healthy, low-fat eating habits more publicly ("Hold the Fries," June 17). The idea is that Our Leader's ostentatious display of his preferred diet will inspire ordinary Americans to eat better.

What has become of Americans? How different are we now from Louis XIV's French subjects who gazed in awe upon him at his table? And are we so childish that our dietary choices are directed by political celebrities?

If we Americans are indeed such mindless lemmings as Ms. Dowd assumes, I'd prefer that Pres. Obama spend lots of time being filmed gobbling Big Macs while, between bites, he puffs on his cigarette and insists that each of us take control of our own individual lives.

We would do well to reject the stupid cult of celebrity that now surrounds high government officials.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1256899541.shtml 14 June 2009... Don Boudreaux 2009-10-30T10:10+00:00
Editor, Baltimore Sun

Dear Editor:

Diana Schaub rightly argues that no judge should allow empathy for parties in a courtroom to dilute his or her commitment to apply the law dispassionately ("Why empathy is the enemy of justice," June 14). But the need for judicial impartiality does not imply that judges should avoid engaging with the real-world contexts and details that surround every legal dispute.

In a free society, law isn't simply a set of explicit commands handed down from a sovereign (be it a monarch or a democratically elected legislature). A great deal of law - indeed, MOST law - emerges undesigned from the daily practices of ordinary people interacting with, and sometimes bumping into, each other. People on their own often find ways to minimize these conflicts, and these ways become embedded in people's expectations. These expectations, in turn, become unwritten law - law that good judges find and enforce impartially.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University—]]> http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1256819262.shtml 13 June 2009... Don Boudreaux 2009-10-29T12:10+00:00
News Editor, WTOP Radio
Washington, DC

Dear Editor:

Interviewing a guest this morning, anchor Nathan Roberts suggested that California's fiscal problems would have been avoided had Proposition 13, enacted in 1978, not "tied the hands of local governments to raise revenue by taxing property values."

Not so. In 1980-81 (the earliest date for which consistent data are available), property-tax revenues in California were (in 2009 dollars) $16.86 billion. In 2006-07 these revenues were $45.47 billion (again in 2009 dollars). This fact means that inflation-adjusted property-tax revenues were, in 2007, higher than they were in 1981 by 170 percent. Over these same years, California's population increased by 58 percent.*

Whatever the causes of California's current fiscal fiasco, a lack of adequate property-tax revenues isn't one of them.

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

* http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/archives/034048.html]]>