Milton Monday #4: Why Minimum Wage is a Bad Idea

Medicinal Fried Chicken

I have a mother. She's awesome. She taught me right, and that I should eat healthy and not stuff my face with candy and deep-fried everything. I don't need a second mother in the national government. But once again, through manipulation of school lunches by the USDA, the nanny state is here once again to tell kids, parents, and schools what is good for them. This time, in the form of health food requirements for schools.  I noticed a headline on Sayanythingblog.com, referencing this article by the L.A. Times, showing that because of the health food craze, a BLACK MARKET for junk foods has sprung up in schools, showing a dramatic failure of the attempted "EAT YOUR PEAS THEY'RE GOOD FOR YOU" micromanagement by the Obama administration. People will do as they please...just let them make decisions for themselves, and as long as they don't hurt anyone else, who cares what they eat?

Oh, and South Park had an episode 2 seasons ago (Medicinal Fried Chicken) about THIS VERY TOPIC of a black market for fried chicken forming after laws banned it. The difference is, South Park is a cartoon comedy making fun of stupid policies. Now it's happening in real life.

Milton Monday #3: Why Soaking The Rich Doesn't Work

Milton Monday #2: Monopolies

Another common myth is that government needs to step in to break up monopolies, but often times government is the cause of monopolies. Either they, by law, are the sole provider of a good or service (public education or first class mail for example) or they put in place regulations that stifle competition.
Video here.

What's interesting, is that he may have been wrong about De Beers as well, as their diamond monopoly seems to not be as effective as it once was. They are a rare exception, in that most diamonds are found only within a small, geographic location, known in ecnonomics as a "geographical monopoly". For example, if the only oil well in the world were found in my backyard, then I would have a monopoly on oil.

Why Stimulus Doesn't Work

Milton Monday #1: Greed

I'm going to start a new feature on my blog I'm going to call "Milton Mondays". Milton Friedman was one of the most influential and articulate free market, capitalalist thinkers of our time. He was an economics professor at the University of Chicago and an advisor to President Reagan. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2006. Amongst other things, he had a knack for debunking some of mythical flaws many people point out in a free market system. In other words, he demonstrates how most of the time, government is the problem, not the solution. There are many video clips of Dr. Friedman out there that I'd like to share, and this one is one of my favorites: