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from AP (Associated Press)
LEFT-CENTER BIASED, VERY HIGH, News Agency in New York City
LEFT-CENTER BIASED, VERY HIGH, News Agency in New York City
Facing the stark, startling reality that Congress may not be able to fully resume for a year, House leaders are desperately reaching for work-from-home options after a revolt from the ranks over the health risks of convening during the coronavirus pandemic. House Democratic leaders abruptly reversed course Tuesday, shelving plans for the chamber’s 400-plus lawmakers to return for work on the next virus aid package after warnings from the Capitol physician that the public health danger was too great. The Senate, with its smaller numbers, still expects to return next Monday.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Universal Basic Income Makes Welfare More Efficient, Which Is Bad, Dummy
A plan so crazy it just might work. That’s the essence of the pitch for a universal basic income. And it’s starting to sound reasonable to conservatives. They hope it will make welfare more efficient, but that’s its biggest problem. You get your Trumpbux yet? That would be the $1,200 guaranteed to every American making under $75,000 as part of the record-shattering $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill Congress passed last month. Even those who make too much to qualify for the payments are excited about them. The universal basic income, UBI, now has its foot in the door. Economists and academics who have been pushing this idea, for decades in some cases, are finally having their day in the limelight, as its popularity grows. ... Sadly, some conservatives and libertarians are perpetuating this myth that the UBI will replace the overgrown welfare system, or serve as a substantial alternative. Worse still, it is said that UBI makes the system more efficient. Efficiency was the guiding light for Milton Friedman, the Chicago School economist who advised President Richard Nixon to advocate for a guaranteed annual income. The idea was quite similar to UBI, providing a minimum base of money through the income tax system. This was Friedman’s “single most disastrous influence,” wrote Austrian School economist Murray Rothbard in 1971. “More efficient, perhaps,” Rothbard said, "but also far more disastrous, for the only thing that makes our present welfare system even tolerable is precisely its inefficiency, precisely the fact that in order to get on the dole one has to push one’s way through an unpleasant and chaotic tangle of welfare bureaucracy."
Universal Basic Income Makes Welfare More Efficient, Which Is Bad, Dummy
A plan so crazy it just might work. That’s the essence of the pitch for a universal basic income. And it’s starting to sound reasonable to conservatives. They hope it will make welfare more efficient, but that’s its biggest problem. You get your Trumpbux yet? That would be the $1,200 guaranteed to every American making under $75,000 as part of the record-shattering $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill Congress passed last month. Even those who make too much to qualify for the payments are excited about them. The universal basic income, UBI, now has its foot in the door. Economists and academics who have been pushing this idea, for decades in some cases, are finally having their day in the limelight, as its popularity grows. ... Sadly, some conservatives and libertarians are perpetuating this myth that the UBI will replace the overgrown welfare system, or serve as a substantial alternative. Worse still, it is said that UBI makes the system more efficient. Efficiency was the guiding light for Milton Friedman, the Chicago School economist who advised President Richard Nixon to advocate for a guaranteed annual income. The idea was quite similar to UBI, providing a minimum base of money through the income tax system. This was Friedman’s “single most disastrous influence,” wrote Austrian School economist Murray Rothbard in 1971. “More efficient, perhaps,” Rothbard said, "but also far more disastrous, for the only thing that makes our present welfare system even tolerable is precisely its inefficiency, precisely the fact that in order to get on the dole one has to push one’s way through an unpleasant and chaotic tangle of welfare bureaucracy."
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Authoritarian Regimes Are Not Your Friend
You have probably heard about reports of various countries ordering medical equipment from China, only to find upon delivery that the equipment is defective, poorly made, and unusable. What you probably don’t know is just how massive the scale of these botched orders is. Even by the Chinese government’s own numbers, they’re producing jaw-dropping quantities of medical equipment that aren’t up to the right standards: “As of last Friday, China’s market regulators had inspected nearly 16 million businesses and seized more than 89 million masks and 418,000 pieces of protective gear", said Ms Gan Lin, deputy director of the State Administration of Market Regulation. ... How many times do Western countries need to learn and re-learn the same hard lesson? Authoritarian regimes are not your friend. They do not have your best interests at heart, they are not trustworthy, and they do not particularly care if you live or die. And under no circumstances should a free society be dependent upon an authoritarian regime for the medical equipment it needs to survive a crisis.
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from National Review RIGHT BIAS
Authoritarian Regimes Are Not Your Friend
You have probably heard about reports of various countries ordering medical equipment from China, only to find upon delivery that the equipment is defective, poorly made, and unusable. What you probably don’t know is just how massive the scale of these botched orders is. Even by the Chinese government’s own numbers, they’re producing jaw-dropping quantities of medical equipment that aren’t up to the right standards: “As of last Friday, China’s market regulators had inspected nearly 16 million businesses and seized more than 89 million masks and 418,000 pieces of protective gear", said Ms Gan Lin, deputy director of the State Administration of Market Regulation. ... How many times do Western countries need to learn and re-learn the same hard lesson? Authoritarian regimes are not your friend. They do not have your best interests at heart, they are not trustworthy, and they do not particularly care if you live or die. And under no circumstances should a free society be dependent upon an authoritarian regime for the medical equipment it needs to survive a crisis.
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Schooling Hope
The coronavirus pandemic raises cutting questions about Christian hope and human society. Plough editor Peter Mommsen sat down – virtually – with Stanley Hauerwas of Duke Divinity School to discuss how people of faith should respond.
from Plough
Schooling Hope
The coronavirus pandemic raises cutting questions about Christian hope and human society. Plough editor Peter Mommsen sat down – virtually – with Stanley Hauerwas of Duke Divinity School to discuss how people of faith should respond.
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from Reason Magazine
Magazine in Los Angeles, California
For Better Health, Find a Cure for Government
If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything, it is that there is no situation so severe that government can't make it worse. Government's recent crimes are legion: standing in the way of testing; complicating efforts to acquire protective equipment; imposing authoritarian and uniform lockdown rules across very different populations; and enforcing those rules in dangerous and ill-considered ways. If you can assess the conduct of government officials through the pandemic and conclude that what we really need is more of that, then we're probably going to cure the novel coronavirus long before we find a treatment for whatever it is that ails you. ... Pandemic politics are certain to make coming elections and factional battles of the future even nastier than they were going to be. The common problem here is government itself. In a time of health crisis, government has proven to be a crippling underlying condition that weakens society, slows our ability to battle a dangerous disease, and turns us against one another. Fighting COVID-19 is an important short-term goal but eradicating or at least mitigating the plague of government would be an even greater victory for health.
For Better Health, Find a Cure for Government
If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything, it is that there is no situation so severe that government can't make it worse. Government's recent crimes are legion: standing in the way of testing; complicating efforts to acquire protective equipment; imposing authoritarian and uniform lockdown rules across very different populations; and enforcing those rules in dangerous and ill-considered ways. If you can assess the conduct of government officials through the pandemic and conclude that what we really need is more of that, then we're probably going to cure the novel coronavirus long before we find a treatment for whatever it is that ails you. ... Pandemic politics are certain to make coming elections and factional battles of the future even nastier than they were going to be. The common problem here is government itself. In a time of health crisis, government has proven to be a crippling underlying condition that weakens society, slows our ability to battle a dangerous disease, and turns us against one another. Fighting COVID-19 is an important short-term goal but eradicating or at least mitigating the plague of government would be an even greater victory for health.
from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from The Washington Times
News & Media Website in Washington, D.C.
Barr orders legal action against governors whose COVID-19 actions infringe on civil rights
Attorney General William P. Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the country to consider legal action against governors if their efforts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus infringe on Americans’ civil rights. In a two-page memo, Mr. Barr directed all U.S. attorneys to “be on the lookout” for local and state directives that could violate religious, free speech or economic rights under the Constitution. “If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court,” Mr. Barr wrote in a memo to the 93 U.S. attorneys.
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Barr orders legal action against governors whose COVID-19 actions infringe on civil rights
Attorney General William P. Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the country to consider legal action against governors if their efforts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus infringe on Americans’ civil rights. In a two-page memo, Mr. Barr directed all U.S. attorneys to “be on the lookout” for local and state directives that could violate religious, free speech or economic rights under the Constitution. “If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court,” Mr. Barr wrote in a memo to the 93 U.S. attorneys.
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