Category Archives: regulation

Customer Choice

Posted on by
Reply

New Mexico’s Progressive-Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has gotten to be enacted rules mandating battery cars and trucks in New Mexico.

Starting in calendar year 2026, 43% of all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks shipped to New Mexico auto dealerships by national auto manufacturers must be zero emission vehicles. Similarly, beginning in calendar year 2026, 15% of all new commercial heavy-duty trucks shipped to New Mexico auto dealerships by national auto manufacturers must be zero emission vehicles. These percentages gradually increase over time.

This is a preview of Customer Choice. Read the full post (290 words, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)

Religious Persecution

Posted on by
Reply

Finland Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola stood (still stand?) accused by Finnish prosecutor Anu Mantila of the heinous hate speech crime of quoting from the Bible.

Finnish district courts said, no, and acquitted the two. The prosecutor objected and took the cases to a Finnish appellate court—where the two were once again acquitted. Räsänen:

It isn’t a crime to tweet a Bible verse, or to engage in public discourse with a Christian perspective. The attempts made to prosecute me for expressing my beliefs have resulted in an immensely trying four years, but my hope is that the result will stand as a key precedent to protect the human right to free speech.

This is a preview of Religious Persecution. Read the full post (260 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

Federalism and State Taxes

Posted on by
Reply

A Wall Street Journal editorial opens with this:

One great benefit of America’s federalist Constitution is policy competition among the states. Voters in Florida don’t have to live under New York’s laws, and Americans and businesses can vote with their feet by moving across state lines.

The editors proceeded to a description of State-level tax laws and the mobility of us Americans and our businesses in leaving States with high taxes in favor of States with, often markedly, lower taxes. But that lede overstates the case.

This is a preview of Federalism and State Taxes. Read the full post (357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Mandating Supply in the Absence of Demand

Posted on by
Reply

What could go wrong? Look at Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden’s mandate, through his Energy Department (run by the Secretary who thought it hilarious that we should—or could—produce more oil), that American automakers—Ford, GM, and Stellantis—make only battery cars by 2032. Along the way, look at his Energy Department’s proposed new rule:

The Energy Department in the spring proposed to eliminate the 6.67 multiplier….
Detroit auto makers would be slammed harder than foreign competitors by the regulatory changes because pick-ups and SUVs make up a larger share of their fleet sales. “The average projected compliance cost per vehicle for the D3 is $2,151, while non-D3 auto manufacturers only see an increase of $546 per vehicle,” the Big Three recently told the Energy Department.

This is a preview of Mandating Supply in the Absence of Demand. Read the full post (384 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Private Citizens and Firearms Licensing in Israel

Posted on by
Reply

Israel has some firearms licensing requirements that would greatly please the Leftists in our nation. The particular requirement of interest to me is this one:

Firearm licenses for private citizens in Israel are typically only granted to individuals who can prove a need for extra security in their line of work or daily life.

And those who do succeed in getting licenses are limited to 100 rounds of ammunition at any one time.

Israeli citizens live in a small nation surrounded by terrorists that routinely and frequently attack that nation, particularly targeting civilians and civilian gathering spots. That’s their need for extra security.

This is a preview of Private Citizens and Firearms Licensing in Israel. Read the full post (212 words, estimated 51 secs reading time)

Why Lend?

Posted on by
Reply

How can a financial entity lend? Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden now is moving to hide individuals’ medical debt from potential lenders.

[P]roposed regulations would prohibit consumer reporting companies from including medical debts and collecting information on consumer reports that creditors use to make underwriting decisions. Creditors would also be barred from using medical collections information when evaluating borrowers’ credit applications.

This on the heels of his constant attempts to render student debt holders unaccountable for their debt.

This is a preview of Why Lend?. Read the full post (205 words, estimated 49 secs reading time)

Progressive-Democrats’ Assault on American Energy and Americans’ Health

Posted on by
Reply

In addition to Progressive-Democratic President Joe Biden’s and his Cabinet cronies’ direct assault on our ability to produce our own energy (among the latest attacks is this), Biden and his syndicate are attacking our energy use through attacking us ordinary Americans in our homes.

Here’s a partial list of devices we use to make our lives comfortable, even merely livable, in what used to be our castles—our homes:

  • Gas stoves
  • Ovens
  • Clothes washers
  • Refrigerators
  • Refrigerator freezers
  • Freezers
  • Air conditioners
  • Dishwashers
  • Pool pumps
  • Battery chargers
  • Ceiling fans
  • Dehumidifiers
This is a preview of Progressive-Democrats’ Assault on American Energy and Americans’ Health. Read the full post (200 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

“10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Experimental Drugs”

Posted on by
Reply

Betsy Morris, a writer based in San Francisco, has a number of questions that serious people should answer before using (legitimately medicinal) experimental drugs. Her questions are from her article (from which this post’s title came) in Friday‘s Wall Street Journal. As a serious person (don‘t laugh so loudly), I have answers.

This is a preview of “10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Experimental Drugs”. Read the full post (1624 words, estimated 6:30 mins reading time)

We’re the Government, and We’re Here to…Help

Posted on by
Reply

Not some government personnel saying they’re from the government; they are the government. The People’s Republic of China plans to form a new government entity whose purpose, ostensibly, is to help out the PRC’s economic private sector.

[The PRC’s] National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, said Monday that it would set up a bureau to coordinate policies across different government bodies and help development of the private economy, the source of most of the new jobs and economic dynamism in the country.

This says it all, though:

This is a preview of We’re the Government, and We’re Here to…Help. Read the full post (396 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Private Enterprises as Government Jobs Welfare Programs

Posted on by
Reply

That’s the position of the Pennsylvania Progressive-Democratic Party’s Representative G Roni Green. She’s proposing, with an absolutely straight face, a State law that would require businesses with 500 or more employees to cut their employees’ 5-day, 40-hour work week to 4-day, 32-hour work weeks—with no change in pay. That’s a government-mandated 25% pay raise.

Jobs welfare doesn’t get much better than that.

Green’s rationalization centers on two premises. One is that society looks and operates differently than it once did in 1938 (when the government-mandated 40-hour work week was enacted). That’s true enough. Society has grown more complex, more technologically capable, and consumers’ needs (consumers being, after all, at the core of society) have grown quite a bit.

This is a preview of Private Enterprises as Government Jobs Welfare Programs. Read the full post (421 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)