End the Alcohol Nanny State by Laurence M. Vance March 4, 2024 The one substance that government at all levels in the United States has sought to regulate and tax like no other is alcohol. The latest nanny-state infringement on liberty, property, and commerce is a bill that has been introduced in the Tennessee legislature to prohibit the sale of cold beer in an attempt to curtail drunk driving. The
Medicare & You by Laurence M. Vance February 13, 2024 Although I am not quite old enough to qualify for Medicare, I recently received in the mail a 131-page large-size book titled Medicare & You 2024: The Official U.S. Government Medicare Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Turns out that the book was intended for a previous owner ...
Republicans Miss the Point on Government Regulations by Laurence M. Vance August 4, 2023 First, they came for our incandescent light bulbs and gas stoves, and now, they are after our water heaters and dishwashers. Back in 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act. Among other things, it required greater efficiency for light bulbs, which effectively began the phase-out of the incandescent light ...
Republicans Miss the Point on Mortgage Fee Hike by Laurence M. Vance June 16, 2023 Back in January, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that mortgage fees for some borrowers would increase beginning May 1, while other borrowers would see their fees decrease. The FHFA is an independent federal agency that “was established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and is responsible for the effective supervision, regulation, ...
Sports Gambling: The Latest “Public Health” Crisis by Laurence M. Vance March 3, 2023 The Kansas City Chiefs were not the only winners in Super Bowl LVII last month at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The American Football Conference (AFC)Chiefs defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles by the close score of 38–35 to become the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2022 season. A record 50 ...
The Federal Dietary Wrecking Ball by James Bovard January 1, 2023 Politicians are hellbent on intruding further into Americans’ stomachs. In September, President Biden hosted a White House Summit on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. A vast array of activists gathered, waiting for Biden to mobilize Washington to open the floodgates to far more food handouts. But their fond hopes did not survive the opening moments of Biden’s speech. “Jackie, are you ...
We Don’t Need No Regulation (or Statist Education) by Robert E. Wright December 1, 2022 Like the long line of school children who mindlessly marched into Pink Floyd’s meat grinder in The Wall, an estimated one million investors recently fell victim to Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto grinder. The fiasco’s silver lining is that it proves that Americans need neither statist schooling nor government regulation, two insidiously intertwined institutions. Soon after cryptocurrency exchange FTX failed about a ...
Republicans Fail to See the Real Issue with Head Start by Laurence M. Vance February 14, 2022 President Biden’s “Path out of the Pandemic” mandated that four groups of people be vaccinated against COVID-19: all federal executive branch workers, contractors that do business with the federal government, health care workers at Medicaid- and Medicare-participating hospitals, and employees of private-sector businesses with 100 or more employees. Federal courts have struck down three of these mandates. ...
Abolish OSHA by Laurence M. Vance January 25, 2022 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) should be abolished. But it should not be abolished because of anything to do with COVID-19. In response to President Biden’s national strategy to combat COVID-19 by vaccinating the unvaccinated, on November 5, 2021, OSHA issued an “Emergency Temporary Standard” (ETS) requiring that businesses with 100 or more employees either ...
No One Should Need Government Permission to Work by Laurence M. Vance September 16, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the workplace in many ways—not all of them good. Last year, most states issued states of emergency and ordered all “non-essential” businesses to close their doors. Bars, restaurants, gyms, nightclubs, barber shops, golf courses, nail salons, and movie theatres were shuttered. Sporting events and concerts were banned. Schools were closed. In ...
Happy Hour May Be Getting a Little Happier by Laurence M. Vance August 13, 2021 “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” so the song and the story go. This phrase is used by those wishing to justify drinking alcohol at some point during the day instead of waiting until the usual evening hours. But a happy hour is not always just an hour. In 39 of the 50 states, some restaurants, bars, and nightclubs have happy hour from ...
The Conservative Case for Welfare by Laurence M. Vance May 14, 2021 In the third COVID-19 stimulus package — the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) — which was passed in the U.S. Congress without a single Republican vote, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for tax year 2020 was increased from $2,000 per child, with $1,400 of this being refundable, to a fully refundable $3,000 per qualifying child (aged ...