Crony Capitalism

From the General Motors bailout to subsidies for Solyndra, crony capitalism is as serious a threat to liberty, free markets and civil society as ever. Cato Institute Senior Fellow Tom G. Palmer recently discussed The Morality of Capitalism (free pdf), the financial crisis and cronyism at the John Locke Foundation.



The book is quick and rewarding read.

Does Kentucky have any clear-cut examples of this kind of crony capitalism?

Frederick Douglass and the Movement for Liberation

This video is worth your time.

Famed orator, abolitionist, and writer Frederick Douglass was one of history's greatest champions of individual liberty and equal rights for all.

Robert McDonald is an Assistant Professor of History at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This lecture was recorded on July 27, 2011 at Cato University in Annapolis, Maryland.

Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Reveals Incentive Problems

Following up on what Holly presented this morning, I've produced a short video with the Cato Institute's Michael F. Cannon detailing some of the particularly nasty aspects of Medicaid/Medicare fraud.



One of the issues that makes Medicaid/Medicare fraud so intractable is that the lawmakers who approve the programs' spending have muted incentives to crack down on fraud since any antifraud program would impose costs on constituents. If you haven't yet, read John Garen's report on Medicaid in Kentucky.

$2 Trillion

You think it's hard to cut spending in Frankfort? This short video I produced with Austin Bragg helps explain the trouble with the federal government's "multi-year budget cuts." They're just not very credible projections.




Here's a Jim Waters op-ed on the challenge of cutting spending from the Herald-Leader.

Quote of the day

"Liberty and limited government were not invented in 1776; the were reaffirmed and strengthened."

-Cato Handbook for Policymakers (7th Edition)

Just how much is $61 billion?

The House GOP has proposed $61 billion in spending cuts to the federal government.  Is that a lot? May sound like it but, in the scheme of things, is it?