Cato Daily Commentary

Over-the-counter Cloak and Dagger by David Isenberg

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Book Review of Spies For Hire by Tim Shorrock

Among the many issues that have become the subject of public debate in the years since the September 11, 2001, attacks are the functions of the United States intelligence community and

Subprime Monetary Policy by Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

In recent years monetary policy has been conducted so as to create an expectation that the Federal Reserve will bail out investors when asset bubbles deflate. Investors have come to bank on the Fed’s backing of risky ventures. The recent crisis in the subprime

Government Only Helps Wage Disparity by Will Wilkinson

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

When we think of rising income inequality, it's the geek lords of Silicon Valley and the Manhattan hedge fund titans who come first to mind. What's less often considered is the federal government's major role in comforting the already comfortable. The

Second Amendment - No Longer Embarrassing by Robert A. Levy

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

"The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." That's the operative clause of the Second Amendment - nearly erased from the Constitution in 1939 by a muddled and confusing Supreme Court opinion in United States v. Miller. Last

Real Global Warming Fix by Randal O'Toole

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

As concern over global warming grows, urban planning advocates have jumped on the bandwagon by claiming cities should reduce their carbon footprints by investing more in transit and compact development. However, these claims are not supported by the data, most of which

India Lets Success Happen by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

China and India have followed vastly different paths to economic success. In China, a dictatorship has implemented its strategic vision with an iron fist. In India, under democracy, every party advocates different policies, so a national vision would be impossible even

Still Limits on Second Amendment by Michael F. Cannon

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

With its landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court has put to rest a fashionable bit of constitutional revisionism, that the Second Amendment protects the states' power to arm militias, rather than the people's right to keep and bear

A Small Step for Contractors by David Isenberg

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

For a long time now, much of the discussion of the use of private contractors on the battlefield and war zones has been sensationalistic and not particularly helpful. Either contractors are just patriots helping out their former comrades, as most of them are former

Heller's Kitchen by David Kopel

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

When the case of District of Columbia v. Heller was before the Supreme Court, Mayor Bloomberg filed a brief in support of the District's handgun ban, arguing that a militia-only interpretation of the Second Amendment was necessary to keep New York City's gun

China's Energy Woes by Daniel J. Ikenson

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The process of creative destruction, Joseph Schumpeter wrote, is "the essential fact about capitalism." The old is destroyed by the new and improved. But it is an essential fact that the Chinese leadership is unwilling to accept. Thus for 30 years, with great success,

Letter to the Editor: Greenback Is a Reason to Rejoice in Panama by Steve H. Hanke

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

A letter to the editor of the Financial Times from Professor Steve H. Hanke.

Sir, In contemplating what would happen if Ireland were to leave the European Union (June 23), Wolfgang

Let Millionaires Spend by John Samples and Ilya Shapiro

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The Democratic candidate for a House seat in New York's 26th congressional district in 2004 and 2006, Jack Davis, finally got what he was asking for when the Supreme Court struck down the Millionaire's Amendment yesterday by a 5-4 ruling in Davis v. Federal Election

The Gun-Rights Fight Isn't Over by Brian Doherty

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Self-defense is upheld, but control advocates aren't done by a long shot.

The Supreme Court's decision in the District of Columbia vs. Heller case settles a long, heated debate, finding the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right

Curb Your Enthusiasm by Ted Galen Carpenter

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

North Korea has finally submitted its long-delayed declaration regarding its nuclear program. In response, President Bush announced that the United States will remove North Korea from the State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism and lift some of the

Hansen Unhinged by Patrick J. Michaels

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Having the wrong opinions on climate science constitutes a crime against humanity?

This week marks 20 years since NASA's James E. Hansen testified before a joint Congressional hearing that there was a strong "cause and effect" relationship

Liberals, Conservatives, and Individual Rights by David E. Bernstein

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, upholding the Second Amendment right of individuals to own firearms, should finally lay to rest the widespread myth that the defining difference between liberal and conservative justices is that

News Flash: The Constitution Means What It Says by Randy Barnett

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller is historic in its implications and exemplary in its reasoning.

A federal ban on an entire class of guns in ordinary use for self-defense

Firing Blanks in Afghanistan by David Isenberg

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The saga of United States military contractor AEY and its supply of substandard ammunition to Afghanistan keeps getting curiouser and curiouser, as Alice in Wonderland phrased it, after descending the rabbit hole. Or put another way, it is the news story that keeps on

Greedy Speculators? by Richard W. Rahn

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Are you aware that without speculators, most food and physical products would cost a whole lot more? Many members of Congress have been looking for the villain who is causing gasoline prices to soar (they seem to be mirror-less). A large number, mostly, but not

Monkey Business by Nicole Kurokawa

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

With an ongoing war in Iraq, $4 a gallon gasoline, Midwest floods, a credit crunch and creeping inflation, rest assured, our congressmen have their eyes on the ball. By a vote of 302-96 last week, the House of Representatives passed the Captive Primate Safety Act, a