What then, is the law?

Bastiat could have been talking about the new health control law. Don't be fooled by the new tactic of the White House and Democrats, the PPACA can not be fixed, or improved. It is constructed on an improper concept of law, and an improper view of justice.

"What, then, is the law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. ... since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force -- for the same reason -- cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individual groups. ... But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper functions. And when it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. The law has gone further than this; it has acted in direct opposition to its own purpose. The law has been used to destroy its own objective: It has been applied to annihilating the justice that it was supposed to maintain; to limiting and destroying rights which its real purpose was to respect. The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defense into a crime, in order to punish lawful defense."

-- Frederic Bastiat(1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. The Law, 1850 (emphasis mine)

The PPACA needs to be repealed, not revised.

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Stimulus Real or Fake

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HT Carpe Diem.

Wealth Creation is Giving

Commenting on a recent WSJ article, Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem points out a very important and almost-always overlooked fact:

The rich and successful already gave at the office.

Entrepreneurs Can Make a Greater Contribution to Society Through Business Than Charity

If the Nordhaus analysis accurately applies to Bill Gates, almost 98% of the social returns from the value of Microsoft products have already been captured by consumers around the world, which greatly exceeds the personal fortune of Bill Gates. And the contribution to society from Bill Gates’ capitalist activities will likely far exceed the contribution to society of his charitable giving.

A Tale of Two Postal Services

USPS: exclusive government-franchise, i.e. a monopoly

NZ: open competition for mail delivery since 1998, currently 25 different carriers

USPS: quarterly net loss of $3.5 billion--for an annual loss rate of $14 billion

NZ: expects a profit for 2010 of $72 million.

If it's true that the USPS is responsible for delivering "nearly half the world's mail"--does that mean that US citizens are subsidizing other countries mail delivery?

Read more about the power of private enterprise and competition here.

Wealth is not the problem.

August 19 --Cost of Government Day

This is the day on which the average American has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government at the federal, state, and local levels...

In other words, in 2010 the cost of government consumes 63.41 percent of national income.

Read more here.

HT John Goodman's Health Policy Blog.