Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can Mark Cuban Make Prescriptions Affordable Again?
Special interests and government prevent the free market from working the way it should in the healthcare industry, making many Americans poorer and sicker.
Health
In a Victory for the Free Market, FDA Approves New Schizophrenia Drug
Despite billions of taxpayer dollars spent on mental illness research, Cobenfy was developed by a private biopharmaceutical company.
Don't Expect a Return to the Trump Economy
If the former president wins the 2024 race, the circumstances he would inherit are far more challenging, and several of his policy ideas are destructive.
Season 2, Episode 4 Podcasts
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: The Case of the 17,000 Missing Kidneys
Also: Could legalizing the sale of kidneys and other organs save lives?
Progress on the End Kidney Deaths Act
This legislation could save many lives by giving tax credits to kidney donors. But it would not be as good as full legalization of organ sales.
Season 2, Episode 3 Health Care
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Permission Slips for Innovation
Part Two: How Certificate of Need laws limit access to health care, and why those rules can be so difficult to dislodge.
Medicare and Medicaid Spend More on Native-Born Americans Than Immigrants
Despite anti-immigrant rhetoric, the foreign-born account for nearly 20 percent less public health spending than those born in America.
The Best of Reason: Should We Blame Fauci for the COVID Pandemic?
America's COVID celebrity is facing scrutiny for funding risky research that may have sparked the pandemic—and for allegedly covering it up.
Can This Psychedelic Help Cure Opioid Addiction?
This Kentucky Republican won't stop until he finds a state willing to make legal room for ibogaine, a drug he calls "God's medicine."
Cherries Are 'Unhealthy,' Says the Same Government That Once Pushed Low-Fat Pop-Tarts
The FDA’s latest nutrition rules target dried cherries and cranberries, putting small farmers at risk while offering zero benefits to consumers.
Should We Blame Fauci for the COVID Pandemic?
America's COVID celebrity is facing scrutiny for funding risky research that may have sparked the pandemic—and for allegedly covering it up.
Season 2, Episode 2 Health Care
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Who Decides What Health Care Is 'Needed'?
Too often, it's government bureaucrats acting under the influence of special interests and against the wishes of doctors and patients, with sometimes tragic results.
A Setback for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy
An FDA advisory committee concluded that MDMA's benefits had not been shown to outweigh its risks.
On Abortion, Harris and Trump Were Both Right and Both Infuriatingly Wrong
Each candidate made some good points about reproductive freedom and each told some major whoppers.
My New Article "The Presumptive Case for Organ Markets"
t makes case that enormous benefits of organ markets create a strong presumption in favor of legalization that standard objections don't even come close to overcoming.
Season 2, Episode 1 Free Markets
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can Mark Cuban Make Prescriptions Affordable Again?
Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs project brings a bit of free market flair to the health care industry, but the lack of meaningful price signals is only part of the problem.
Eric Boehm: Why Is American Health Care So Dysfunctional?
The host of Why We Can't Have Nice Things returns to discuss the podcast's second season, which focuses on how government makes Americans poorer and sicker.
Season 2 Podcasts
Trailer: Why We Can't Have Nice Things Season 2
A new season brings six new stories about how the government is making Americans poorer and sicker.
Trump and Harris' Economic Plans Are Depressingly Similar
Both campaigns represent variations on a theme of big, fiscally irresponsible, hyper-interventionist government.
Kamala Harris' Affordability Agenda Is a Good Idea Backed by Terrible Policies
Americans need a politician dedicated to unwinding decades of government interventions that have driven up the cost of middle-class living.
The Secret Committee Behind America's Prohibition Comeback
Washington bureaucrats are rewriting the rules on drinking, and a hidden panel of unelected officials could be paving the way for Prohibition 2.0.
A Study of 'Problematic' Opioid Use Among Pain Patients Is Less Alarming Than It Seems
The authors of the meta-analysis misleadingly imply that pain treatment should be blamed for recent increases in drug-related deaths.
The U.S. Can't Afford To Cut Taxes on Social Security Benefits
The campaign promise from Donald Trump sounds nice, but it would be disastrous when considering the program is already racing toward insolvency.
Chase Oliver: Q&A With the Controversial Libertarian Party Candidate
The 2024 Libertarian Party presidential candidate speaks out about the Israel-Hamas war, the authoritarian impulses of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and homophobia within his own party.
Tim Walz Was a COVID-19 Tyrant
The Minnesota governor actually defended the state's disastrous nursing home policies.
Lessons for the U.S. from Japan's Lost Decade
Facing an economic downturn in the 1990s, Japan racked up debt. America should not repeat that mistake.
The Real Economic Catastrophe Will Be Caused by the U.S. Debt
Should we blame Biden and the politicians applauding him for their unwillingness to address our looming fiscal disaster?
This Revolutionary Robotic Suit Enabled a Paralyzed Man To Carry the Olympic Torch
Wandercraft, the French company that developed the exoskeleton suit, recently got FDA approval to use them for stroke rehab in the U.S.
Ted and Courtney Balaker: College Students Are Rejecting Wokeness
The filmmakers who brought The Coddling of the American Mind to the big screen discuss the students whose stories inspired the film and the state of the media, Hollywood, and storytelling.
The DEA Wants To Ban Scientifically 'Crucial' Psychedelics Because People Might Use Them
The agency claims DOI and DOC have "a high potential for abuse" because they resemble other drugs it has placed in Schedule I.
New Analysis Finds Lasting Impact for Students Affected by COVID School Lockdowns
According to a new report, the average eighth-grader needs over nine months of extra school time to catch up with pre-COVID achievement levels.
Biden's Final Flip-Flop
The president's decision to drop out after insisting he never would continued a pattern established by a long career of politically convenient reversals.
We Showed Trump Voters the National Debt
We asked delegates at the Republican National Convention whether a second Trump term would address America's debt problem.
Did COVID Come From a Lab?
Author Matt Ridley debates virologist Stephen Goldstein on the origins of SARS-CoV-2.
A Maskless, COVID-Positive Biden Bares His Naked Face to the World
Even the mask mandators are done with once-ubiquitous pandemic precautions.
Here's How To Pay for Trump's Tax Cuts
There seems to be general bipartisan agreement on keeping a majority of the cuts, which are set to expire. They can be financed by cleaning out the tax code of unfair breaks.
Republicans Hammer Biden on Inflation. But Do They Have a Better Plan?
Opening night of the Republican National Convention programmed a central issue with a Trumpian twist: "Make America Wealthy Again."
The 2024 GOP Platform Promises To 'Make America Affordable Again.' So Why Are They Embracing Fiscal Insanity?
Although former President Donald Trump's deregulatory agenda would make some positive changes, it's simply not enough.
The Media Is Back to Deriding the Lab Leak as a 'Conspiracy Theory'
Even if EcoHealth's "basic research" in Wuhan didn't cause the pandemic, it certainly failed in its mission to stop it.
Biden and Trump Are Both Disastrously Wrong About Tariffs
Yes, cheap imports hurt some American companies. But protectionist trade policy harms many more Americans than it helps.
The Best of Reason: Child Welfare Systems Are Trapping Innocent Families
Georgia parents were accused of child abuse after they took their daughter to the doctor. Does the state's story add up?
Child Welfare Systems Are Trapping Innocent Families
Georgia parents were accused of child abuse after they took their daughter to the doctor. Does the state's story add up?
The National Debt Is Crossing an Ominous Line
The U.S. has successfully navigated past debt challenges, notably in the 1990s. Policymakers can fix this if they find the will to do so.
SCOTUS Will Decide Whether the FDA's 'Regulatory Switcheroos' on Vaping Were 'Arbitrary and Capricious'
The 5th Circuit ruled that the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it rejected applications from manufacturers of flavored nicotine e-liquids.
Biden, Trump, and RFK Jr. Are All Anti-Freedom
Those three presidential candidates are making promises that would have bewildered and horrified the Founding Fathers.
