The inane, immoral, unconstitutional Drug War diverts all sorts (billions/trillions) of resources ....
Regard$,
--MJ
"It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislature to frame laws in opposition to the laws of nature, and to arm them with the terrors of death. This is truly creating crimes in order to punish them" -- Thomas Jefferson.
At 10:39 AM 11/12/2016, you wrote:
I do too, although I don't necessarily understand the plank regarding cannibis, and how this somehow ties into the economic revitalization of our economy. I do agree that the entire war on drugs is a farce, and should be left to the several States.--
On Sat, Nov 12, 2016 at 10:19 AM, geoffrey theist <[email protected]> wrote:
- I agree
- On Nov 12, 2016 7:33 AM, "MJ" <[email protected]> wrote:
- 7 Things Trump Must Do
- [Originally published July 17, 2016. This letter was published during the campaign by Joseph Salerno, Mark Thornton and 25 other economists.]
An Open Letter to Donald Trump
- We the undersigned urge you, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, to support a rebirth of free-market capitalism in the U.S. You have said repeatedly that you want to make America great again. We agree with you. And we assert that the most effective way to start that process would be to affirm your principled support for economic liberty, for open and competitive markets, and for a foreign policy that rejects both protectionism at home and interventionism abroad.
- Over the last two decades especially, the U.S. economy has been saddled increasingly with burdensome government rules and regulations that stifle innovation and retard economic growth. Some of the more obvious examples are the massive command and control system put in place under the Affordable Care Act (ACA); the enactment of purposely mislabeled “free trade†agreements (such as NAFTA) that actually have harmed some U.S. businesses and destroyed jobs while subsidizing other politically connected firms; the failed so-called “War on Drugs†which wastes private and public resources and contributes to rising violent crime rates; and the expansion of inefficient and rights-violating environmental regulations that have hampered productivity and increased the overall cost of doing business; and, finally, the pursuit by the Federal Reserve of a pernicious decade-long low-interest rate monetary policy which has (again) created a massive speculative bubble in housing and on Wall Street … that is sure to end badly.
- As a successful businessman, you must understand that these harmful economic policies of the past must be changed by the next president and Congress if the U.S. is to continue to remain efficient and prosperous. And you also must understand that the key to any economic rebirth in the U.S. is not old-fashioned Keynesian deficit spending, quantitative easing by the Fed, or the enactment of higher minimum wage laws. The key to any sustained economic recovery is the legal protection of private property rights and the adoption of free markets where entrepreneurs, alert to price and profit signals, guide scarce resources into their most productive use. Below we suggest a concise list of first-order public policy changes that could set the early agenda for your new administration:
- First, the Affordable Care Act should be repealed in its entirety and, as you have already pointed out, any prohibition on interstate competition in health insurance also should be repealed. Health care and health care insurance should be left to the market.
- Second, all recent thousand-page international trade agreements should be replaced with a single, clearly worded paragraph that allows any U.S. business (or consumer) to trade with any other business (or consumer) anywhere else in the world on terms that are mutually satisfactory. Period.
- Third, you or the Congress should immediately remove cannabis (marijuana) from its current Schedule One prohibition status under Federal law; cannabis and drug policy generally should be left entirely to the states. (Ideally the entire Drug War should be scrapped and the production and consumption by adults of any “drug†should be legalized.)
- Fourth, the federal minimum wage should either be permanently fixed at its current rate or reduced; legally minimum wages should be left entirely to the states. (Ideally, all minimum wage laws should be repealed since they cause job destruction.)
- Fifth, the U.S. corporate tax rate should be reduced so that it is the lowest (not the highest) in the industrial world; ideally, it should be repealed entirely because it constitutes double taxation on shareholders of corporations who also pay income tax on their dividends.
- Sixth, the Federal Reserve should be required by law to end all forms of quantitative easing and interest rate regulation now accomplished primarily through open market operations; interest rates for savers and investors should be market determined. In addition, the Federal Reserve’s budget should be determined by Congressional appropriations like that of any other federal department or agency.
- And finally, as a long-run solution for our recurring financial problems and economic recessions, replacing the current inflationary paper dollar with alternative monetary arrangements that provide for a sound, market-based commodity money, such as the gold standard, should be seriously considered.
- There will be Democratic as well as (some) Republican opposition to these changes. Count on it. But your job will be to hold fast to basic principles and persuade the opposition that long lines at airport security and rising health care costs are based on economic ideas that are totally misguided. Socialism and progressivism and crony capitalism have failed miserably.
- We need common sense capitalism and you now have a clear mandate to initiate its rebirth.
- Sincerely,
- Joseph T. Salerno, Pace University
- Mark Thornton, Auburn University
- Henry Thompson, Auburn University
- Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
- Dominick T. Armentano, University of Hartford
- Christopher Westley, Florida Gulf Coast University
- Murray Sabrin, Ramapo College of New Jersey
- Thomas Tacker, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- Peter M. Kerr, Southeast Missouri State University
- Thomas DiLorenzo, Loyola University Maryland
- Marshall DeRosa, Florida Atlantic University
- Walter Block, Loyola University New Orleans
- Robert Batemarco, Fordham University
- Samuel Bostaph, University of Dallas
- Paul A. Cleveland, Birmingham-Southern College
- Peter G. Klein, Baylor University
- Thomas L. Wenck, Michigan State University
- John B. Egger, Towson University
- Douglas Butler, Texas Christian University
- William N. Butos, Trinity College
- Paul Prentice, Colorado Technical University
- Butler Shaffer, Southwestern University Law School
- Judd Patton, Bellevue University
- Paul Gottfried, Elizabethtown College
- Jim Cox, Georgia Perimeter College
- Roger Clites, Tusculum College
- Bruce Koerber, Divine Economy Consulting
- https://mises.org/blog/7-things-trump-must-do
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