It is sometimes argued that one of the benefits of legalizing addictive drugs is that they could be taxed, and the government revenues enhanced. From this perspective, this would be the only valid case against legalization. —Walter Block
Tag: American writers
The faith that people unthinkingly place in government to accomplish goals is at the same time faith in the people who work in government. But people who work in government are no more knowledgeable, capable, motivated, or well-intentioned than their counterparts outside of government. Humans who work in government are the very same kinds of humans as those who don’t, and they are subject to all the same motivations like everyone else. So many people miss this fundamental point in so many ways that it is mind-boggling. —Antony Davies
By the mid-1980s, 72% of new drugs approved by the FDA had already been available elsewhere for an average of 5.5 years. One new drug that came late to the American market was Propranolol, the first beta-blocker to be used extensively to treat angina and hypertension. Approximately 30,000 Americans died prematurely because they couldn’t get this lifesaving drug and because their doctors did not prescribe it. Advertising Propranolol as a treatment was illegal. —Mary Ruwart
Forty-nine states now mandate seat belt use and motor vehicle fatalities have decreased. But there is more to the story. As more drivers used seat belts, fatalities for pedestrians and cyclists increased. Why? As seat belt use rose, driving became safer. As driving became safer, the cost to drivers of being inattentive fell. And as the cost of being inattentive fell, drivers could afford to exercise less care. So as safety regulations make drivers safer, pedestrians and cyclists face greater risk. —Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan
In Hanoi during the French colonial period there was a problem with too many rats. The French authorities offered a bounty for every rat killed but required only that people bring the rats’ tails as evidence. Hanoi was soon overrun by tailless rats. The people were simply catching the rats, cutting off their tails, and releasing them. Why? So those rats could procreate, creating more rats and more bounties. In the end, Hanoi had more rats after the bounty than before. Sometimes there are perverse outcomes and unintended consequences of a government policy. —Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan
To address its cash crunch, the Venezuelan government printed money, which gave birth to rampant inflation. Depending on whom you ask, Venezuela’s annual inflation rate exceeded something between 60,000 percent and 200,000 percent in 2019. To put that in perspective, a product that cost one dollar in January 2019 would cost between $600 and $2,000 by the end of 2019. —Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan
In Nicaragua where sign language didn’t exist, in 1981, a new school for the deaf opened. Fifty deaf students enrolled during the school’s first year, and a curious thing happened: they developed their own version of sign language. No one taught them this; they simply began assigning signs and gestures to the things in their environment, and slowly a language emerged, complete with verb tenses and the like, to rival any other language. Spontaneous orders are systems that develop organically. They aren’t designed by a coercive authority. They emerge through countless human interactions undertaken over time. —Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan
Cancer patients often die waiting for new drugs to be approved by the FDA? Abigail Burroughs had squamous cell carcinoma, diagnosed when she was only 19 years old. She tried unsuccessfully to get FDA permission to try a new drug (Erbitux) that had shown success against her type of cancer. The FDA refused, and Abigail died at age 21. Abigail’s father formed the Abigail Alliance and sued the FDA. However, the courts ruled that Americans do not have the constitutional right to save their lives with drugs not approved by the FDA. —Mary Ruwart
Public schools consume twice as many dollars in operating costs as do private ones. Increasing the public school budgets does not improve learning and may even have a negative effect. During an international competition, U.S. eighth graders were asked, “What is the average age of these chidren? 13, 8, 6, 4, 4.” The correct answer, 7, was one of the multiple choice answers, yet an embarrassing 60% of the U.S. students missed it. —Mary Ruwart