23 March 2010

Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link]

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS sick, rubbish is collected and paper pushed around briskly
enough in public organisations. Belts are tight all right and
Connecticut Joins the eTax Fray pips are squeaking; but the country whose public pay once
led the EU league has not imploded into the chaos of suicidal
[Americans for Tax Reform] strikes, unburied bodies, closed schools and garbage
MAR 22, 2010 06:28P.M. mountains, which the UK or France would expect as a matter
of course if a government did any such thing. …Yet the pay
Crossposted from [Link]. Last week, Connecticut joined cuts — I say again, 10 to 15 per cent cuts in pay, real and
a growing chorus of states considering a tax on e-commerce to help shore immediate holes in the family budget — have not caused the
up budgets. The state’s Joint Finance, Revenue and ... enraged citizenry to pull down the pillars of the temple
around their own heads and everybody else’s. They just
haven’t. Why? …unlike the self-righteous whiners who speak
for British public service unions, middle-Ireland still knows
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS that a secure and pensionable job is a privilege: that working
in the public sector is not an altruistic gift to the nation, but a
Ireland Imposes Real Cuts on damn lucky break.

Bureaucrat Pay [Cato at Liberty] Since I have a multi-part series on “Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers” at my
MAR 22, 2010 04:58P.M. International Liberty blog, I especially enjoyed this part of the column,
which provides a real-world glimpse at the corrupting allure of cushy
By Daniel J. Mitchell government employment:

Ireland may be in a recession (caused in large part by misguided housing I saw a spirited, self-mocking sketch performed by 12-year-
subsidies), but there are two things worth admiring about the Emerald olds in a village hall entertainment the other night about
Isle’s public policy. Many wonks already know about the first policy, the “Marty Matchmaker O’Donoghue, where every ould stocking
12.5 percent corporate tax rate that helped transform Ireland from the will find an ould shoe”. The girl being advertised to the men is
“sick man of Europe.” But it seems that Irish policymakers are reading talked up by the matchmaker as having “a Government Job!
Chris Edwards, because the second admirable policy is that lawmakers A clerk at the council office — I tell ye, she’s a laying hen!”
actually cut civil service compensation by 13.5 percent. And these are real Friends confirm that it’s an old saying: “Marry a teacher or a
cuts, not the type of phony gimmick you find in Washington, where nurse, you’ve got a laying hen.” It does not seem that way in
something is called a “cut” simply because it didn’t increase as fast as boom times, but even in the UK it is becoming true.
previously planned.

A columnist writing in the UK-based Times wonders why Irish

bureaucrats did not go nuts with public protests and speculates that
maybe they actually understand that they have a sweetheart deal
compared to their brethren in the productive sector of the economy:

Because of the budget deficit, shrinking economy and

untenable level of national debt, all public service salaries will
be cut by an average of 13.5 per cent, with immediate
effect…and will apply to frontline public workers in health,
education, transport and local services and also to MPs,
Ministers of State and the Attorney-General. …Couldn’t
happen, could it? Actually it has, and close to home. …public
sector pay in the Republic has been cut. Not frozen, sharply
cut. …although the payslips have been changed for many
months now, the schools are open, the hospitals treat the

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 23 March 2010

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Taxpayer Choice + Parental FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Choice = Education Reform Obama to Sign Massive Tax

That’s Constitutional [Cato at Hike on Working Families in
Liberty] Violation of His Campaign
MAR 22, 2010 04:17P.M.
Pledge [Americans for Tax
By Ilya Shapiro
Reform]
Arizona grants income tax credits for contributions made to school MAR 22, 2010 03:35P.M.
tuition organizations (“STO”). These STOs must these donations for
scholarships that allow students to attend private schools. This statutory [PDF Version] President Obama is about to break his central campaign
scheme broadens the educational opportunities for thousands of promise: a “firm pledge” not to raise “any form” of taxes on families
students by enabling them to attend schools they would otherwise lack making les...
the means to attend.

The Ninth Circuit held that the tax credit program violated the
Establishment Clause because many of the STOs — as it happens, a FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
decreasing majority — provide scholarships for students to attend
parochial schools. Counsel for the defendants, including the Institute for Trade Gap Plunges in 2009, but
Justice, asked the Supreme Court to review the case — and indeed to
summarily reverse the Ninth Circuit, based in part on a 2002 case Where Are the Jobs? [Cato at
(Zelman v. Simmons-Harris) rejecting a similar challenge to a school
voucher program. Cato filed a brief, joined by the Foundation for Liberty]
Educational Choice and the American Federation for Children, MAR 22, 2010 03:25P.M.
supporting this request.
By Daniel Griswold
Our brief argues that the funds received by STOs are the product of
individual taxpayers’ “genuine and independent choice” — the Lost in the buzz last week over health care was the news that the
touchstone by which the Court judges the religious neutrality of statutes broadest measure of the U.S. trade deficit fell sharply in 2009 from the
allowing for taxpayer money to fund religious education. Moreover, the year before. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S.
tax credit scheme is indistinguishable from similar charitable tax current account deficit plunged from $706 billion in 2008 to $420
deduction programs that the Court has previously held to pass billion last year — the smallest deficit since 2001.
constitutional muster. While the Ninth Circuit reasoned that Arizona
parents feel pressured to send their kids to parochial schools due to I’ve been waiting for a few days now for the usual trade deficit hawks to
limited scholarships available for secular schools, it failed to consider hail this development as great news for millions of Americans looking for
that the share of STO money available to secular schools was nearly twice work.
as large as the share of families choosing to send their children to secular
schools. In years when the trade deficit was rising, it was common practice for the
labor-union-friendly Economic Policy Institute to publish detailed
Far from being an impediment to parental freedom, the autonomy studies showing that larger trade deficits caused the U.S. economy to
Arizona grants to taxpayers and STOs is ultimately essential to it. More lose hundreds of thousands of jobs each year. For example, according to
generally, should the lower court’s opinion be allowed to stand, the an October 2008 EPI paper, rising non-petroleum trade deficits from
progress made to broaden the educational opportunities of students 2000 to 2006 caused a lost of 484,400 jobs per year, while the shrinking
across the country will be stifled. deficit in 2007 lead to the creation of 272,500 jobs.

The name of the case is Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization By the EPI’s own internal logic, the past two years should have been a
v. Winn. The Court will likely decide before it breaks for the summer boom time for job creation. Between 2007 and 2009, the non-petroleum
whether to take it up — and, indeed, whether to summarily reverse the trade deficit dropped by $174 billion as the sagging domestic economy
Ninth Circuit. cut demand for impost. If that was good news for jobs, somebody forgot
to tell the U.S. labor market. Since the end of 2007, the U.S. economy

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 23 March 2010

has shed a net 8 million jobs. FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Oops, maybe it’s time for EPI to rework its model. An Excellent Prank [The Club
for Growth]
MAR 22, 2010 01:41P.M.
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
From the Wall Street Journal s voters might end up rudely surprised by a
Another Argument for Limited protest vote meant to send a message to their higher-ups in Washington.

Government [Cato at Liberty]

MAR 22, 2010 02:03P.M.

By John Samples FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Megan McArdle writes: Monday Links [Cato at Liberty]

MAR 22, 2010 12:44P.M.
Obviously, yes, I was upset yesterday. I’m glad that this could
bring so much joy to peoples’ hearts, and of course to know By Chris Moody
that for many people, the happiest part of passing health care
reform seems to have been knowing that it made people like • Late Sunday night, the House voted 219-212 to pass the health care
me unhappy bill. Cato health policy experts were blogging throughout the
weekend. Read all of their analysis here.
For many people, a major reason to engage in politics is the pleasure
gained from schadenfreude, a German word that means “joy from injury • Almost lost in the details of the massive health care overhaul was a
or harm.” Given that, shouldn’t we try to limit politics and its outcome, broad reorganization of the student loan program, including
government? Or is a society with more schadenfreude better than one eliminating private lenders from federal aid programs and $36
with less? billion in new spending for Pell Grants.

• This week only, get a free copy of Healthy Competition for your
Kindle. It’s a complete overview of the best and worst ideas in
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS health care reform on both the right and the left.

Utah’s Tobacco Tax: Jobs Go Up • Don’t bet on it: Why Republicans won’t really try to repeal the
health care overhaul.
in Smoke [Americans for Tax
• Podcast: “U.S. Debt Rise May ‘Test Social Cohesion‘” featuring
Reform] Mark A. Calabria.
MAR 22, 2010 01:51P.M.

Who has two thumbs, will fail to generate revenue, and kill jobs in Utah?
This guy: Utah’s tobacco tax hike. ATR has blogged in the past about the
portion regarding Utah’s cigarette ...

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 23 March 2010

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

A Wake Up Call [The Club for “Fire Nancy Pelosi” [The Club
Growth] for Growth]
MAR 22, 2010 12:20P.M. MAR 22, 2010 10:58A.M.

This is what happens when Republicans blow it. But long before they are At the time of this blog post, s Hot Searches.
given that responsibility, they first need to clean their own house.

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Knocked Out, but Not Knocked
Rat Falls Back on the Broken
Down: Spinning the Taliban
Window Fallacy [Cato at
Defeat in Marjah [Cato at
Liberty]
MAR 22, 2010 11:41A.M. Liberty]
MAR 22, 2010 09:55A.M.
By David Boaz
By Malou Innocent
In Sunday’s “Pearls Before Swine” comic strip, the nefarious Rat is now a
PR flak. And when his client accidentally blows up downtown, he comes Remember Marjah? The Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan
up with a solid economic defense: captured several weeks ago by U.S. and Afghan forces? I remember the
offensive being hailed as a big deal. Well, what happened?

Although they have been pushed out of power in Marjah,

Taliban insurgents have slowly been trying to reassert some
measure of control.

Marjah residents have told U.S. Marines that Taliban

insurgents are coming around at night to threaten and beat
Afghans who cooperate with the Americans.

In at least one confirmed case, said U.S. military officials, the

Taliban beheaded a local resident suspected of working with
Go here for Frederic Bastiat’s original explication of the “broken window U.S. forces. The U.S. Marines are checking out at reports of at
fallacy,” and for way too much detail, go to Wikipedia. John Stossel least two other beheadings in Marjah.
breaks some windows here and talks to Walter Williams about the
implications. If that weren’t enough, the newly appointed Afghan official for Marjah,
described as “the Afghan face of the American-led military offensive,” is
Haji Zahir, who served four years in a German prison for attempted
murder after stabbing his stepson.

Maybe this question will come across as obvious, but what discernible
interest does America have in clearing regions we can’t hold, and backing
ex-cons to disperse hundreds of thousands of U.S. tax payer dollars “to
repair schools, clean canals, and compensate Afghan families who lost
relatives” to people who will likely turn back to the Taliban anyway?

While residents of Marjah have little affection for the Taliban, they say
they nevertheless prefer them over the non-Islamic Americans and the
corrupt Kabul government.

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 23 March 2010

This piece in Foreign Policy, “Down the AfPak Rabbit Hole,” confirms
my suspicions that the offensive in Marjah was in part a PR stunt
intended to galvanize public support for the war back at home (HT:
Justin Logan).

The “Rabbit Hole”’s authors, Thomas H. Johnson, a research professor

at the Naval Postgraduate School, and M. Chris Mason, a retired Foreign
Service officer who served as a political officer in Paktika province, write
“this battle—the largest in Afghanistan since 2001—is essentially a giant
public affairs exercise, designed to shore up dwindling domestic support
for the war by creating an illusion of progress.”

That sentiment was echoed several weeks ago by Greg Jaffe and Craig
Whitlock of the Washington Post. They write, “The campaign’s goals are
to convince Americans that a new era has arrived in the eight-year-long
war and to show Afghans that U.S. forces and the Afghan government
can protect them from the Taliban.”

For some sanity on this situation, and how much we have lost our way,
listen to “Afghanistan and Conservatives” featuring Joe Scarborough.”

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

House Passes ObamaCare,

Sends It to the President [The
Club for Growth]
MAR 22, 2010 08:01A.M.

Here How about the congressional candidates running in your area?