Archives: December 2024
Excerpts from Reason's vaults
10 years ago
July 2014
"By protecting entrenched interests from competition, occupational licensing makes millions of people worse off, hinders income mobility, and lowers economic growth. It is high time to let Americans work. Abolish all occupational licensing laws and end the practice of entrenched businesses using government to impose higher costs on consumers while thwarting upstart entrepreneurs."
Veronique de Rugy
"Free the Horse Masseuses!"
27 years ago
November 1997
"Is the Immigration and Naturalization Service toast? The congressionally appointed Commission on Immigration Reform, which has backed cuts in legal immigration, says abolish the INS. The commission wants the State Department to handle citizenship requests, the Justice Department to patrol the borders, and the Labor Department to police worksites. Senate immigration subcommittee Chairman Spencer Abraham (R–Mich.) may propose similar changes."
Rick Henderson
"Balance Sheet"
28 years ago
March 1996
"There are some who believe that the better way to create thousands of real jobs would be to abolish the Department of Energy, an agency that evades public responsibility by floating below the voter's radar screen. Its fairy tale existence began in the 'energy crisis' of 1973-74, when a temporary Federal Energy Administration was created to deal with the notorious oil shortage. Those gas lines actually began in Spring 1973—prior to the Arab oil embargo—and were the direct product of the wage-and-price-control scheme (a Nixonian fiasco curiously escaping Oliver Stone's cinematic genius). This made the FEA the perfect governmental solution: Hire federal bureaucrats to fill in holes which other federal bureaucrats dig."
Thomas W. Hazlett
"Energy Crisis?"
39 years ago
April 1985
"Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Businesses with fewer than 20 workers provide two-thirds of all net new jobs and generate a substantial portion of the gross national product. For this reason, strong concern has been raised regarding an Office of Management and Budget proposal to abolish the Small Business Administration (SBA), an independent government agency intended to assist small firms. Believing that the SBA effectively promotes small business, many argue that it should not be abolished. The record shows, however, that the SBA has been relatively ineffective in generating new business. Even worse, it misdirects resources, thus denying them to those entrepreneurs who may have been able to make better use of them."
Edward Hudgins
"Who Needs Government? Not Small Businesses."
48 years ago
September 1976
"At a time when new housing starts are flagging, home builders across the country are organizing to abolish zoning and building ordinances that they believe push up construction costs by 10 percent. The National Association of Home Builders has recently formed a panel to coordinate the deregulation movement. Led by a North Carolina builder, John Crosland, it is directing attention to controls that are 'putting people out of the market' by forcing them to pay for such items as smoke detectors and outdoor electrical outlets—whether the consumer wants them or not. Builders are particularly upset by obstacles to building 'no frills' houses. Not only do conflicting local codes prevent standardized construction, but Federal and other restrictions dictate street widths and even such matters as window-sill heights. As a result, builders observe, low-cost housing is beyond the reach of many families."
Joe Cobb
"Builders Move Against Restrictions"
56 years ago
October 1968
"Recent poll results indicate that Richard Nixon will be elected the next President. If he is, this will mean—at last—the end of the draft. Nixon has announced that after Viet Nam, he would completely abolish the selective service and substitute an all-volunteer army (N.Y. Times, 9/11/68, campaign ad). Howard Katz, chairman of the New York based Association of a Volunteer Army (AVA), says: '….we can bring our campaign to a successful conclusion in just a few months if Nixon is elected.' One of AVA's releases points out that Nixon is the only candidate who has pledged to end the draft. It is intriguing, then, that several campus groups have urged that students refrain from voting because 'there is no difference between Nixon, Humphrey, and Wallace.' Are we to believe there is 'no difference' between freedom and slavery?"
Lanny Friedlander
"An End to the Draft?"
