Winter’s Haven

Jerry Taylor of Cato explains why it’s so difficult for governments to fix the prices of goods:

Congress can no more guarantee that fuel prices will go down from now until the end of time than it can guarantee a robust sex life for fat, balding, middle-aged men.

Supply and demand, baby. Suppy and demand.

All too often, people talk about market competition as if it were opposed to cooperation — as if capitalists were only a step away from resorting to napalm and land mines. The Economist’s Free Exchange blog douses that burning pile of stupid with some cool, clear analytic philosophy:
The competition at the heart of capitalism is [...]

The French government prohibits booksellers by law from selling their wares at less than 95% of list price. Allow me to state the obvious: it’s a stupid law that protects established booksellers from upstart rivals who might otherwise attempt to gain market share by offering lower prices; it raises the prices of books, and generally [...]

I quote:

We regret to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the publication of The Astrological Magazine will cease with the December 2007 issue.

There is (poetic) justice in the universe after all!
Hat tip to the Bad Astronomer for finding this.

Commenting on the scandalous Ron Paul newsletters brought to light by The New Republic today, David Bernstein provides some very informative background on the political and cultural forces which produced this situation. I quote:

[T]here are really two disparate groups to whom the limited-government message appeals: philosophical libertarians (which consists of a tiny percentage of [...]

My last post argued that voters ought to ignore issues which are chiefly ideological (such as evolution/creationism) and instead evaluate candidates on their policies. I feel that I should pass along this article by Megan McArdle which contends that Paul’s proposed policies would do remarkably little good (from a libertarian perspective, that is).
She’s probably [...]