Blog 3 Columns

How Cronyism Created New York City’s Taxi Medallion Bubble 0
- Culture
- October 8, 2019
If one wanted to study the difference between an industry that exists in a very free market and its exact counterpart in a system of extreme government regulation, then you don’t need to look further than the New York City taxi industry. New York City yellow cabs entered government regulation in 1937 when city officials
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Why Families With Children Should Consider Owning a Pet 1
- Family
- October 7, 2019
We live in an era where pets are increasingly substituted for children. Each year, it’s becoming more common to wish a Happy Mother’s Day or Father’s Day to “parents” of “fur babies.” As a mother of human babies, I find this a bit insulting. Animals can never compare with children. Putting aside the question of pets versus children, let
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Why a ‘Billionaire’ Wealth Tax Would Hurt the Working Poor and the Middle Class 0
- Economics
- October 7, 2019
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wants to tax billionaires out of existence, or at least make them an endangered species. His proposed wealth tax of up to eight percent per year would mean “the wealth of billionaires would be cut in half over 15 years,” he says. The progressive tax would start at one percent on
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I Spent a Year as a Trans Man. Doctors Failed Me at Every Turn.0
- Culture
- October 7, 2019
I can’t wrap my head around all that I’ve done to myself in the last two years, much less the “help” that some health care professionals have done to me. Two years ago, I was a healthy, beautiful girl heading toward high school graduation. Before long, I turned into an overweight, pre-diabetic nightmare of a
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Free Kids, Free Society: Overcoming the Myths of ‘Safetyism’0
- Culture
- October 7, 2019
As America’s “great awokening” continues to unfold, we see the emergence of a peculiar new brand of safetyism and self-protectionism. Whether observed in the range of student-led riots and intimidation efforts at college campuses or the fear-mongering of white nationalists, the foundations of liberal democracy are increasingly being called into question – all that a select set of
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‘Let’s Eat the Babies!’0
- Culture
- October 7, 2019
“Save the planet – Eat the children.” So read the words on the t-shirt of one of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters. In addition to the slogan, the young woman offered these thoughts at the Ocasio-Cortez town hall event on Thursday, October 4: I love that you support the Green Deal, but it’s not getting rid of fossil fuel,
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Why We Lie to Our Doctors 0
- Culture
- October 4, 2019
Let’s suppose you’re having transmission trouble with your car. You take it to a mechanic, but instead of explaining about the transmission, you tell him the brakes are squishy. Would you lie to the mechanic about the problem with your automobile? Not if you’re in your right mind. You want your transmission repaired. So why
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Supreme Court Remains Respected Despite Kavanaugh Turmoil 0
- Politics
- October 4, 2019
A pair of recent surveys suggest that Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation has not undermined public confidence in the Supreme Court. The studies, from Gallup and the Pew Research Center, show a majority of respondents approve of the high court’s job performance or have a favorable view of the institution. The figures in both polls
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Streets With Nooks and Crannies Are Beloved and Endangered 0
- Culture
- October 4, 2019
A building may appeal for its formal perfection, its harmony of proportion and the grammatical discipline with which it matches part to part. But it may appeal despite lacking those things, by offering enticing glimpses of the life within, intriguing apertures, invitations to enter, to explore, to imagine. The much-loved villages of Provence and the
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How Cronyism Created New York City’s Taxi Medallion Bubble 0