Hawk Talk

In response to the virus, state and city governments are exercising powers that they wouldn’t have in normal times. State and local governments are ordering businesses to close, restricting people’s right to travel, and talking about legally suspending rent and debt payments. This week, Clark Neily joins us to discuss the black, white, and gray constitutional areas of governmental powers in times of crisis.

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Quick Hits

Math Teacher

https://twitter.com/DakSt8Football/status/1243687140799766532/photo/1

Venezuelan Warship

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52151951

Earliest Recorded Use of the F-Word

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8189047/Worlds-earliest-record-F-word-discovered-manuscript-written-bored-Scottish-student.html

Foolishness of the Week The Social Distancing Police

https://www.forsythnews.com/news/government/cumming-officials-sign-social-distancing-order-will-swear-150-residents-special-policemen/

Topic of the Week Clark Neily

https://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily

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In the debate over the future of public schooling in the U.S., charter schools may show the way forward. Similar to public schools, charter schools are open to all students and are funded by and answerable to state and local governments. Like private schools, charter schools are free to experiment with curricula and teaching styles, unencumbered by state and local government meddling. Pinnacle Classical Academy, in Shelby, NC, is one example of educational experimentation made possible by charter schools.

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Quick Hits

Coronavirus and Subsidiarity

https://reason.com/2020/03/25/despite-coronavirus-sweden-refuses-to-shutter-businesses-and-limit-gatherings/

Sweden’s Response

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/world/europe/sweden-coronavirus.html

Baby Chickens

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/style/chicken-eggs-coronavirus.html

Foolishness of the Week

Virginia Locked down for More Than 2 Months

https://www.richmond.com/special-report/coronavirus/update-northam-issues-statewide-stay-at-home-order-effective-through/article_67dbe141-da92-504b-b74d-e7c9ed8a118c.html

Bonus Foolishness: Mayor de Blasio

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/30/bill-de-blasio-churches-caught-holding-services-du/

Topic of the Week

Pinnacle Classical Academy

https://www.pinnacleclassicalacademy.com/

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Lincoln Chafee is possibly the only politician in US history who has served as mayor, governor, and US Senator and been elected as a Republican, a Democrat, and an Independent. Now Gov. Chafee is running to be the Libertarian Party’s candidate for President of the United States. Gov. Chafee brings the broadest of perspectives on American politics to this week’s Words & Numbers.

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Quick Hits

People Being Nice to Each Other

https://lithub.com/big-hearted-strangers-turn-little-free-libraries-into-little-free-pantries/

IHOP to Go

https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/westmoreland-restaurant-helping-out-churches-organizations-impacted-by-fish-fry-cancellations/

Best Buy’s Employee Solution

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akwq8a/best-buy-employees-work-voluntary-coronavirus-paid-two-weeks T-Mobile & Sprint Providing Unlimited Data https://www.tomsguide.com/news/t-mobile-and-sprint-providing-unlimited-data-to-all-customers-for-coronavirus-relief

Conference Calls by Zoom

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/03/14/zoom-is-helping-schools-closing-due-coronavirus-fo.aspx

U-Haul for College Students

https://www.uhaul.com/Articles/About/20625/College-Students-U-Haul-Offers-30-Days-Free-Self-Storage-amid-Coronavirus-Outbreak/

Employees over Rent

https://www.kait8.com/2020/03/18/property-owner-tells-restaurants-pay-employees-instead-rent/

Americans Stranded Abroad

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/thousands-of-americans-stranded-abroad-as-money-patience-run-out/ar-BB11vJu2

Disaster Relief Guides and Resources

https://medium.com/@kittystryker/collective-care-is-our-best-weapon-against-covid-19-851e29568656

Foolishness of the Week

Trillion-Dollar Coins

https://www.businesstelegraph.co.uk/minting-basic-income-us-lawmaker-asks-treasury-to-issue-two-1-trillion-coins-with-no-debt/

Topic of the Week

Lincoln Chafee

https://www.lincolnchafee.com/

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The laws of economics aren’t social conventions that we can choose to follow or ignore as it suits us. When demand for a product outstrips supply, the price of the product rises. Calling it, “price gouging,” and outlawing doesn’t make the price increase go away. It simply hides it in other forms. When it comes to price gouging laws, we only think we are choosing between a high price and a low price. We are actually choosing between a high price and a shortage.

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Quick Hits

Dayton University Pepper Sprays Its Students https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200311/police-fire-pepper-balls-at-disorderly-crowd-near-university-of-dayton-after-coronavirus-dorm-closing-announcement

People Calling 911 for Toilet Paper

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/do-not-call-911-just-because-you-ran-out-of-toilet-paper-oregon-police-say

Foolishness of the Week

Student Suspended for Selling Hand Sanitizer

https://nypost.com/2020/03/12/uk-teen-suspended-from-school-for-charging-students-for-hand-sanitizer/

Topic of the Week

Craigslist Gas Black-Market

https://money.cnn.com/2012/11/05/news/economy/craigslist-gas-sandy/index.html

Fire Man Arrested for Selling Gas Post Hurricane Sandy

https://www.nj.com/essex/2014/12/jury_selection_to_begin_for_east_orange_firefighter_accused_of_selling_gas_after_hurricane_sandy_fue.html

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When a person harms another, the harmed party can go to the courts to seek redress. But the Supreme Court sets police and prosecutors above the law. If someone who works in these professions harms you, you will likely be prohibited from suing the person. This week on Words & Numbers, Clark Neily joins us to discuss the ramifications of immunity protections.

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Get your copy of Cooperation and Coercion now!

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Quick Hits

Price Gouging

https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/tech-news-briefing/amazon-works-to-remove-price-gouging/C761B7C8-0535-40E7-B039-3203306C789B

Racism and Sexism

https://reason.com/2020/03/06/sexism-didnt-kill-the-warren-campaign-the-warren-campaign-killed-the-warren-campaign/

Foolishness of the Week

Lenin Statue

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/first-lenin-statue-western-germany-erected-gelsenkirchen

Topic of the Week

Terms of Engagement

https://www.amazon.com/Terms-Engagement-Enforce-Constitutions-Government/dp/1594036969

Clark Neily on Twitter

https://twitter.com/ConLawWarrior

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Ten years ago, an explosion on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon killed almost a dozen people and resulted in the worst oil spill in US history. This week, economist and environmental and regulatory expert Peter Van Doren joins us to discuss the incentives in play that contributed to the tragedy.

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Quick Hits

California’s Universal Basic Income

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2712

Wal-Mart as a Health Care Provider

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-25/walmart-takes-on-cvs-amazon-with-low-price-health-care-clinics

Foolishness of the Week

Gender Neutral Stores

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article240601601.html

Topic of the Week

Deepwater Horizon

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/us/26spill.html

Peter Van Doren

https://www.cato.org/people/peter-vandoren

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Antony Davies on Twitter

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Karl Marx’s thoughts on socialism are popular among politicians and humanities professors, but not so much among business people and economics professors. In this episode, Phil Magness, economic historian and author of The Best of Karl Marx, joins Words & Numbers to talk about how Marx’s teachings were on the way out but got resurrected by political leaders and academics.

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Quick hits

Jeff Bezos Giving $10 Billion

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/jeff-bezos-giving-away-10-billion-in-grants-for-fighting-climate-change/

Coronavirus Threatens Chinese Economy

https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/millions-of-chinese-firms-face-collapse-if-banks-don-t-act-fast

Foolishness of the week

Flat Earth Experiment

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/23/mad-mike-hughes-killed-homemade-rocket-crash-california/4849772002/

Topic of the week

The Best of Karl Marx

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZY9TGTX?ref=dbs_p2d_P_R_popup_yes_pony_T1

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Antony Davies on Twitter

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We’ve all experienced incivility on the Internet. But today’s incivility is more than people being rude to each other online. Political leaders have become less civil toward each other, and political parties have become more extremist. Middle America, meanwhile, is becoming less represented as people on the two political extremes listen less to and scream more at each other.

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Quick hits

Dinosaur statue

https://www.the-sun.com/news/375426/dad-accidentally-orders-19ft-carnotaur-statue-for-his-dinosaur-mad-son-that-was-dropped-into-garden-by-crane/

Car dealers encourage loan defaults

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dealerships-give-car-buyers-some-advice-just-stop-paying-your-loan-11581762601

Foolishness of the week

Florida man refuses dialysis

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/15/trump-cardboard-cutout-dialysis-treatment/

Topic of the week

The hounding of Jordan Peterson

https://spectator.us/jordan-peterson-addiction-death-online-hate/

U.S. media polarization

https://www.journalism.org/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/

Democrats have become more liberal

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/17/liberals-make-up-largest-share-of-democratic-voters/

Why has America become so divided

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/201809/why-has-america-become-so-divided

What are the solutions to political polarization

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_are_the_solutions_to_political_polarization

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Antony Davies on Twitter

https://twitter.com/antonydavies

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https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan

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Many people imagine that, when the government bans something, the banned thing goes away. In fact, what banning does is to remove government protections against violence, theft, and fraud. Justification for banning things that harm no one other than, perhaps, the person who wants those things hinges on inequality - that some of us should have the right to tell others of us how those others should live their own lives.

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Quick hits

Technological cure for macular degeneration https://scienceblog.com/513957/first-in-the-u-s-wireless-retinal-device-for-advanced-age-related-macular-degeneration/

Americans go to libraries more than to movies

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/americans-went-library-more-often-movies-2019-180974091/

Foolishness of the week

Trump and Pelosi’s Incivility

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/05/pelosis-page-ripping-was-fitting-end-impeachment/

Topic of the week

United Nations World Drug Report

https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2019/en/index.html

Marijuana doomsday didn’t come

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/2017-12-19/marijuana-legalization-doomsday-didnt-come-to-colorado

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Antony Davies on Twitter

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The Congressional Budget Office is tasked with forecasting the federal budget. Over the past twenty years, the CBO has tended to over-estimate future tax revenues and under-estimate future government spending. The result is that CBO paints an unrealistically rosy picture of the government’s financial future. If we take CBO’s forecasts and compensate for their historically rosy biases, we find that, where the CBO predicts trillion-dollar deficits forever, the likely reality is actually worse.

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Quick hits

Europe votes for standardized phone chargers

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xgqwbd/europe-just-voted-in-favor-of-making-iphone-and-android-use-the-same-charger

Pledge

https://www.wgal.com/article/student-sues-lebanon-school-district-over-alleged-punishment-for-refusing-to-stand-for-pledge-of-allegiance/30732086

WV Board of Education v. Barnette

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_State_Board_of_Education_v._Barnette

Foolishness of the week

Punxsutawney Phil and PETA

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/peta-calls-for-punxsutawney-phil-to-retire-be-replaced-with-ai-robot-for-groundhog-day 

Topic of the week

Latest CBO report

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-08/55551-CBO-outlook-update_0.pdf https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/budget-deficit-hit-1-trillion-year-cbo-200128193731479.html

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Let us know what you think

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Antony Davies on Twitter

https://twitter.com/antonydavies

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan

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