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Laissez-Faire Today

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Tragedy of the Health Care Commons

Recent difficulties with implementing the Affordable Care Act have increased opposition to the program. A majority of Americans now oppose it. Problems with the HealthCare.gov website are in all likelihood temporary. However, there are serious long-term problems, particularly considering long-term finance and labor supply issues. Given the mounting difficulties with and growing concerns about the …

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Don’t Forget Financial Privacy

Amidst all the revelations about how the American people, many of whom are absolutely convinced they live in a free society, have their telephone calls, emails, website visits, and who knows what else under surveillance by their own government, let’s not forget the massive infringements on financial privacy that have gone on for decades. Consider, …

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Why Are Bitcoiners Going to Jail for Money Laundering While Big Banks Walk?

Image: Shutterstock BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem, along with alleged co-conspirator Robert Faiella, was arrested by federal authorities last week for allegedly laundering more than $1 million worth of Bitcoins. This is a tiny amount compared to the largest drug-and-terrorism money laundering case ever. Yet when British bank HSBC was found guilty in 2012 of laundering …

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How Obamacare Creates Ethical Conflicts for Physicians

Do you trust your doctor? Most patients assume their doctor is working in their best medical interests whenever he or she orders a diagnostic test or recommends a particular treatment. Customers might wonder whether an unscrupulous auto mechanic is being truthful when he recommends a brake job or a new transmission. But most patients trust …

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The New American Elite

The faces of the Detroit bankruptcy are the thousands of pensioners whose promised benefits are suddenly part of the restructure negotiation. When Motown filed for Chapter 9 last July, the city had $11.5 billion in unsecured liabilities. The vast majority of this was pension and health care benefits owed to retired city employees. The images …

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Obamacare: A Welcome Mat for IRS Horrors

So you’ve maneuvered the Obamacare website, plugged in your top-secret information and found out how much you are forced to pay to avoid a fine. And for some of you, it turns out you qualify for a government subsidy — making the premium sound like a bargain. But signing on that line to accept the …

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How Many Fish?

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” As the inequality gap grows, there is an ideological battle unfolding in the West. On the one hand, there are those who think government can fix things. It must do more, …

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Cheap Wine and Expensive Health Care

The New York Times published an interminable article on health care recently. Plenty of facts — how scrupulous are these journalists! — but the article displayed absolutely no comprehension of the basics of cause and effect. I was left wondering about the whole point. The article details how the health care system rewards specialists to …