The Reason Roundtable

In New York, Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo wants to raise taxes.

But John Stossel interviews an interesting candidate with a different plan–Libertarian Larry Sharpe. He proposes alternative ways to raise money.

Although Sharpe is the Libertarian candidate, he's doing well for a third-party. A recent poll has him getting 13 percent of the vote. And after survey respondents hear his campaign pitch, that number goes up to 25 percent.

Stossel thinks the reasons for his success may be that he speaks well, campaigns constantly, and–unlike most libertarians–doesn't propose cutting existing government programs. He only wants to stop creating new ones. Sharpe also talks positively about unions.

It's bad when U.S. presidents think of weapons sales to dictatorships as jobs programs, but should we remove political constraints on arms dealing altogether?

It's bad when U.S. presidents think of weapons sales to dictatorships as jobs programs, but should we remove political constraints on arms dealing altogether?

In a bold new book about Hayek, the George Mason economist says "too much time and effort has been put into repackaging and marketing a fixed doctrine of eternal truths."

The car wash industry, which employs low-skilled, mostly immigrant workers, has been the focus of an ambitious unionization drive since 2012. Working conditions at car washes were also cited as a raison d'être in the successful campaign to raise the state minimum wage to $15 per hour, which takes full effect in January of 2019.

As Reason chronicled in a feature story in our July 2016 issue, the real world impact has been mainly to push car washes to automate and to close down.

Two years later, there are more unintended consequences. The $15 minimum wage is fostering a growing black market—workers increasingly have no choice but to ply their trade out of illegal vans parked on the street, because the minimum wage has made it illegal for anyone to hire them at a competitive rate.

The minimum wage is also cartelizing the industry: Businesses that have chosen to automate are benefiting from the $15 wage floor because outlawing cheap labor makes it harder for new competitors to undercut them on price and service.

As a sequel to the 2016 article, this video takes an in-depth look at the real world consequences that result when politicians interfere with a complex industry they don't understand, enabled by media coverage that rarely questions the overly simplistic tale of exploited workers in need of protection.

"Curtains are Always Drawn" by Kai Engel is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

"Industrial Music Box" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license

"Desert City" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license

"Summer Days" by Kai Engel is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

Reason's Matt Welch sat down with the popular libertarian writer and podcaster to discuss his ideological journey, his LP plans, and controversial past associations.

Socialism has become cool in America, under the nice name "democratic socialism."

Gloria Álvarez ‏knows better, because she's from Latin America and studied socialism there. She says: Watch out! Socialism has a clear track record of wrecking every country that implements it.

Cuba tried socialism. Things got so bad that tens of thousands fled the island on dangerous, makeshift rafts. Others paid lots of money to be allowed to leave.

Álvarez interviews people who fled. One man told her that in Cuba: "You don't see any future. Everything is stagnated...health care, education, nowadays they're in ruins."

Another said: "My father [a doctor] had to sell illegal meats out of his ambulance...because Cuban doctors earn less than 1% of American doctors."

Because of his experience with socialism, that man is now running as a libertarian for a Florida State House seat.

On the market for political combat and the lack of interest in the Afghanistan War

On the market for political combat and the lack of interest in the Afghanistan War

The $36 billion U.S. supplement industry isn't subject to FDA regulation, which both facilitates experimentation and allows products that don't live up to their health claims to flourish.

Neil Thanedar has a free market solution: In 2012, he co-founded Labdoor to bring accountability to the supplements industry without quashing its dynamism. The company, which has received backing from venture capitalists Mark Cuban and Y Combinator, buys products right off the shelves, tests them, and then posts the results on its website.

Reason's Zach Weissmueller sat down with Thanedar in one of the company's San Francisco labs to talk about the supplements market, the advantages of privatizing consumer protection, Labdoor's vision of a blockchain-based network of testing facilities, and the company's decision to test supplements marketed by InfoWars founder Alex Jones.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Justin Monticello.

"Brushed Bells in the Wind," by Daniel Birch is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial International 4.0 License

"Seatbelts are Essential," by Daniel Birch is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial International 4.0 License