how to make everything perfect forever

How to Make Everything Perfect Forever, Part Five.

December 11, 2011

Many moons ago, I was assigned to read Steven Landsburg’s The Armchair Economist, in which he makes some “modest proposals” about law and government. One such proposal (which he credited to Alan Stockman) was that politicians be allowed to make legally binding promises. For instance, if you’d care to re-create Papa Bush’s “Read My Lips” [...]

Read the full article →

How to Make Everything Perfect Forever, Part Four.

March 6, 2011

One of the issues many state and municipal governments are facing is that of pensions for public employees. Wisconsin, you may have heard, is having itself a minor kerfluffle over the matter as we speak. Some folks say that the problem is that public pensions are woefully underfunded; that governments aren’t collecting enough tax revenue [...]

Read the full article →

How to Make Everything Perfect Forever, Part Three.

April 11, 2010

In a comment on “Bash,” “Blonde” asked the question, “What sort of healthcare do you think is desirable for the United States? Certainly not what we have now?” I was strongly tempted to write, “Everyone should be taxed in order to pay for all the health care I want,” and then use the ensuing discussion [...]

Read the full article →

How to Make Everything Perfect Forever, Part Two.

January 11, 2009

In my unceasing effort to make the world a much better place, I hereby offer the following: Say your senator gets elected President or nominated to be Secretary of State. How do you replace him? Or her? Either you have a special election or, more commonly, your state’s governor chooses the replacement. But what if [...]

Read the full article →

How to Make Everything Perfect Forever, Part One.

January 22, 2006

I was watching Jack Cafferty on CNN today, and the topic was Congressional salaries and pensions. The commentators were complaining about the fact that Congress has a cushy retirement system and guaranteed salaries for itself while in the private sector—where the bottom line matters—salaries and pensions are not nearly as secure, and people worry about their [...]

Read the full article →