25 years ago in reason

Sex, Social Security, Julian Simon

From the January 2009 issue

"Wisconsin has enacted the ‘Clarenbach bill,' legislation sponsored by Rep. David Clarenbach that eliminates criminal penalties for cohabitation, fornication, homosexual acts, and other sexual behavior between (or among) consenting adults in private."

-Robert W. Poole Jr., Paul Gordon, and Eric Marti, "Consenting Sex Deregulated"

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"Pundits now learnedly debate whether the system will go belly-up before 1990 or expire in a sea of red ink early in the 21st century. If you believe the former, you are officially dubbed a ‘pessimist,' if the latter, an ‘optimist'."

-Loren E. Lomasky, "Buying Out of Social Security"

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"[Julian] Simon likens his sudden entrance into the public eye to a bum sneaking into a posh Manhattan restaurant and being greeted with a magnum of champagne and a cigar. And he is still enjoying his newfound influence on immigration thinking. ‘Within the range of human experience,' he says, ‘there has never been an influx of immigration that was too much for society to handle.'"

-Patrick Cox, "Resourceful Writer: Julian Simon"