Intellectual Conservative Politics and Philosophy » William F. Shughart II

No Interest on Daylight Savings

William F. Shughart II — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:55:50 +0000

DST is a ruse that generates no measurable benefits for society, but does impose some real costs on every man, woman and child.

Americans, except those living in Arizona and Hawaii, got to sleep an extra hour this weekend. Daylight Savings Time (DST) ended at 2:00 a.m. Sunday, November 7, when the local time [...]

BP and the Tragedy of the Commons

William F. Shughart II — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:13:01 +0000

In the absence of well-defined and protected private property rights, overexploitation of a collectively owned resource is the predictable outcome.

The tragic accident at British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico precipitated a major economic and environmental disaster from which that company may never recover. Eleven lives were lost in the [...]

ObamaCare will Make Employees and Employers Worse Off

William F. Shughart II — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:08:31 +0000

Labor markets will be less able to match workers with jobs efficiently, now that health insurance is no longer subject to negotiation.

While Americans are reckoning the financial impact of President Obama's healthcare reform initiative on the economy as a whole and on them personally, some of its obvious consequences for labor markets thus far [...]

Mayoral Nostalgia for the New Deal

William F. Shughart II — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:14:07 +0000

Not surprisingly, U.S. mayors are lining up to receive federal tax dollars.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal on March 8, 2010, Louise Radnofsky reports that the U.S. Conference of Mayors claims it "can put thousands to work on infrastructure projects, as was done in the 1930s."

The mayors expressed a collective [...]

Rearranging the Chairs on the Deck of the Titanic

William F. Shughart II — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:15:19 +0000

The obvious solution to California's budget deficit is to cut government down to a size that taxpayers can afford and to supply the public goods and services for which they are willing to pay.

News that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes to fund a portion of California's $21 billion budget deficit by exercising a little-known 2004 [...]

Bleak Future for Chrysler and GM

William F. Shughart II — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:00:59 +0000

How much more money will the Obama adminstration pump into GM before it, too, declares bankruptcy.

Early on in the New Deal, President Franklin Roosevelt repudiated private contract clauses that required payments to be made in gold. Abruptly, debtors were permitted to settle up with newfangled "Federal Reserve Notes" secured only by commercial paper and [...]

Franklin Delano Bush Pushes a Bad Idea

William F. Shughart II — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:50:06 +0000

For the first time in history, the Federal Reserve has granted access to loans at its "discount window," to a non-bank financial institution.

By signing legislation creating Medicare Part D, George W. Bush became responsible for the most significant expansion of the welfare state since LBJ's Great Society. It turns out, though, that forcing taxpayers to help [...]

The Fed’s Risky Business

William F. Shughart II — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:00:02 +0000

The record of government bailouts of private financial institutions teaches that emergency loans keep weak institutions alive just long enough for their problems to increase.

Before being appointed Federal Reserve Board chairman, Ben Bernanke was known best in academic circles for his work on the Great Depression. Mr. Bernanke concluded from his studies that America’s [...]

A Failure to Stimulate

William F. Shughart II — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:55:09 +0000

In no place but Washington would anyone think that putting hard-earned money back in the pockets from which it was taken in the first place is giving taxpayers a gift.

It’s an election year, so it should be no surprise that politicians are in the market for votes. “Passed in record time” as a [...]