My weekly reading and viewing session for May 5, 2024

First off: Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Now to the content.

by Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason, April 29, 2024.

Extract:

From the beginning, this persecution has been based on false reasoning (authorities go on about sex trafficking although none of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking), overreaching in its scope (attempts to hold a web platform accountable for user-generated speech, in violation of Section 230), offensive to the First Amendment, and brutal in its attempts to hinder the defense. So it’s a pleasure to see a judge give the prosecutors some leverage, even if it comes very late in the game (after two trials and after one defendant take his own life) and even though in practice it may not matter much to Lacey, Brunst and Spear (who even with the acquittals face prison time for the rest of their lives).

And:

In this case, Backpage banned explicit offers of sex for money (which is illegal in most of the US), but generally allowed adult advertising because many forms of sex work are legal. Providing a platform for protected expression must of course also be protected. But in a truly Orwellian manner, the government argues that this very act of prohibit explicit prostitution ads were one way to do that encouraging prostitution advertisements, facilitating prostitution in violation of the Federal Travel Act.

by Jeffrey A. Singer, Cato in Liberty, April 29, 2024.

Extract:

Criminal justice concerns aside, singling out menthol tobacco for ban lacks a basis in scientific evidence. A 2022 research paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that menthol smokers had no greater difficulty quitting smoking than non-menthol smokers. Moreover, research by the FDA shows reported in the Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, there is “evidence of a lower risk of lung cancer mortality among menthol smokers compared with non-menthol smokers among smokers aged 50 years and older in the US population.” Perhaps that’s because menthol smokers tend to smoke fewer cigarettes per day, according to a Vanderbilt University study study which also found that “menthol cigarettes are no more, and perhaps less, harmful than non-menthol cigarettes.”

A disproportionately high percentage of black smokers smoke menthols. I suspect Biden is becoming increasingly nervous about losing a significant portion of the black vote.

I posted about this in November 2022.

by Roger Koppl, ThinkMarketsMarch 26, 2013.

Extract:

Income inequality matters. Let me say that again so you know I meant it: income inequality matters. This statement may be surprising, coming from a self-proclaimed “Austrian” economist and a “liberal” in the old-fashioned pro-market sense. That shouldn’t be the case. It should be one us issues. The surprise should be that we pro-market types have not spoken out more on this central issue, leaving it almost exclusively associated with more or less “progressive” opinions.

This indifference to income distribution is all the more mysterious because pro-market thinkers generally support a political theory that tells us to beware of ways in which the state can be used to create unjust privileges for some at the expense of others. We should expect income distribution to be skewed toward the politically powerful and away from the poor and politically weak. In a representative democracy, ‘special interests’ engage in ‘rent seeking’ to obtain special favors. These special favors enrich some at the expense of others. That’s what they are for!

Roger makes a good point, but exaggerates. From the above excerpt, it sounds like he thinks most of the inequality in the United States is due to the government. I think that’s unlikely, although to a large extent it is: think of California’s middle-class homeowners who are millionaires because strict government restrictions on home building have made their homes worth more than $1 million .

But a huge amount of inequality is also due to people having very good ideas and capitalizing on them. Think, for example, of Jeff Bezos and Amazon. That inequality matters too, but not in the way Roger focuses.

If Roger were to discuss inequality in the world, he would be absolutely right. The greatest source of global inequality is restrictions on immigration.

Speech by Ben Powell, Hillsdale College, November 6, 2023.

I will post about this talk on my blog in the coming days Substack: “I blog to differ”, along with some highlights. It’s very good.