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“People primordially fear illness and death, and physicians, from shaman to modern scientists, have always been perceived as holding a near-talismanic power over both. With the rise of modern wealth came the potential for enormous tax harvesting, and politicians were quick to see that this power over life and death could generate deep feelings of gratitude and loyalty. Could they take this power unto themselves?” – William D. Gairdner, The Trouble with Canada . . . Still! A Citizen Speaks Out. Yes, they could, and in 1966, Canadian politicians took that power unto themselves, then promptly reneged on their promise to provide universally accessible healthcare for everyone.
As it began rapidly expanding the money supply early in 2020, the Fed confidently assured the public there would be no unanticipated or serious rise in inflation. Now that their projections have failed to materialize (in fact, their forecasts were off by almost 40 percent), they assure us that this will be but a temporary spike. But for the sake of argument, let us imagine they are wrong—something that considering their track record is not difficult to do: What then? As policymakers continue to mine the twentieth century for mistakes to repeat—from protectionism to higher taxes, to trying to start a second Cold War technology and arms race—it seems only logical to ask how long it will be before popular discontent over the rising consumer prices generated by their mismanagement of the money supply leads them to resurrect one of the most serious and notable policy failures of the last hundred years: price controls. After all, prices are rising rapidly, right?
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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from Washington Policy Center
Educational Research Center in Seattle, Washington
Across the Pacific Northwest, salmon populations are struggling and need more resources and attention to help restore healthy numbers. Despite that reality, virtually all of the political attention is focused on the Snake River and proposals to lavish tens of billions of dollars to destroy four dams, even as salmon recovery efforts in other ecosystems are underfunded. That emphasis on destroying dams is counterproductive myopia. Newspaper columnist Shawn Vestal is not happy that I have highlighted the repeated errors of those who advocate destroying the Snake River dams, pointing out that salmon returns have begun to rebound after a downturn. In his recent column he accused me of making “dishonest, disingenuous, and unscientific arguments about salmon returns.” He makes several errors, including the most basic – failing to understand my argument – in part due to his botched and half-hearted attempt to contact me, which resulted in a retraction of part of his column.
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