Category: Regulation

Posts about government regulation

Volunteers who feed homeless sue Dayton, say city is ‘criminalizing charity’

City of Dayton has ordinance against distributing food in public spaces downtown without a permit; group argues that’s unconstitutional

But Nourish Our Neighbors volunteers have accused the city of “criminalizing charity.” … “Nourish Our Neighbors’ volunteers are acting on their belief that society and the government have failed the homeless,” Anastasia Boden, a senior attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a prepared statement. “Dayton can’t force individuals who simply want to help the hungry to get an onerous, expensive and needless permit.”

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/volunteer-groups-sues-dayton-for-requiring-permit-to-hand-out-food-to-homeless-downtown/VMIOFJDP3VECDOBDUJAH6J6KGU

How Exclusionary Zoning Increases Homelessness

A new paper by housing expert Salim Furth shows it does so by making it harder for marginal people to find housing with relatives and friends.

…[A] large proportion of the homeless … could find housing with friends or relatives, if housing were cheaper. Some could potentially live with roommates. “YIMBY” policies that make it easier to build new housing in response to demand could alleviate this problem.

https://reason.com/volokh/2024/12/16/how-exclusionary-zoning-increases-homelessness

‘Transparency’ Mandate Would Burden Small Brewers and Distilleries

It’s hard to oppose “transparency,” “common sense,” and “informed choices.” But labeling mandates always fall heaviest on the smallest of businesses. 

It is very easy for seemingly “commonsense” transparency reform to give way to more alarmist and intense health warnings on booze and, eventually, more draconian restrictions on alcohol sales and higher booze taxes.

https://reason.com/2024/08/24/transparency-mandate-would-burden-small-brewers-and-distilleries/

Make Going to The Doctor More Like Going to the Vet

No muss. No fuss. No complicated paperwork. No uncertainty. Taking the dog to the vet was more like taking the car to the shop than a doctor’s visit. We went in, they told us what our options would cost, and we chose. 

Make Going to The Doctor More Like Going to the Vet

Why the 2024 Election Misses the Mark on America’s Most Critical Issue

The two dominant parties are off in la-la land, unaware of the colossal growth of the welfare state, the regulatory state, and the warfare state. They generally mistake the symptoms for the causes and sometimes confuse the problems with the solutions. 

Why the 2024 Election Misses the Mark on America’s Most Critical Issue

Coolidge’s Silent Recipe for Success: Less Federal Government

The response to anything that doesn’t function optimally has too often been more government, regardless of level and, overwhelmingly since the New Deal, to the benefit of politicians’ electoral prospects.

Coolidge’s Silent Recipe for Success: Less Federal Government

New York and Vermont Seek to Impose a Retroactive Climate Tax

Residents in both New York and Vermont already pay over 30 percent more than the US average in residential electricity prices, and this legislation will not lower these costs to consumers. Climate superfunds are not a serious attempt to solve environmental challenges but rather a way to raise government revenue while unfairly punishing an entire industry.

https://www.cato.org/blog/new-york-vermont-seek-impose-retroactive-climate-tax

Dayton food handout law dates to 2005 fights over Cooper Park meals for homeless

Members and supporters of nonprofit groups and political organizations including Nourish Our Neighbors, the Libertarian Party of Montgomery County and the Southwest Ohio Party for Socialism and Liberation say the city law criminalizes feeding and helping the poor.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/dayton-food-handout-law-dates-to-2005-fights-over-cooper-park-meals-for-homeless/E7FOU7BB5FFEPC4UP5K5HWYH2U

Apple’s Big Business: Mises is Right, Sen Warren is Wrong

Ludwig von Mises put it perfectly when stating that “It is big business that makes all the achievements of modern technology accessible to the common man. Everybody is benefited by the high productivity of big scale production.”

Mises goes on to assert that “It is silly to speak of the ‘power’ of big business. The very mark of capitalism is that supreme power in all economic matters is vested in the consumers. All big enterprises grew from modest beginnings into bigness because the patronage of the consumers made them grow.”

Apple’s Big Business: Mises is Right, Sen Warren is Wrong

The Difference Between Justice and the Rule of Law

As a libertarian, I would like to abolish a vast range of current laws for reasons unrelated to rule-of-law considerations. I think a high proportion of current laws are substantively unjust; if I didn’t think that, I would not be a libertarian in the first place.

https://reason.com/volokh/2024/04/30/the-difference-between-justice-and-the-rule-of-law/