Archive for Doug Bandow
Colossus: The Price of America’s Empire
It’s always easy to spend other people’s money. Unfortunately, some people have an equally easy time spending other people’s lives. Over the last decade, the United States has routinely, even frivolously, attacked countries, overthrown regimes, and intervened in civil strife where few or no American security interests were at stake. Particularly striking is that two [...]
9Jul2010 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedTips to Hike Your Taxes
Taxes are due and refunds are flowing. What’s a good tax hiker to do? Keep his ill-gotten gains or give them back? The New York Times Magazine features a column titled “The Ethicist.” It is basically modern liberalism meets Ann Landers. As rebate checks were being cut, Ms. Tamar Kotelchuck, a resident of Somerville, Massachusetts, [...]
27Jun2010 | Doug Bandow | 1 comment | ContinuedHealers Under Siege
Contributing Editor Doug Bandow is a syndicated columnist and the author and editor of several books. He is co-editor of Wealth, Poverty and Human Destiny (ISI, 2003). The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug to combat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That’s good news for cancer patients in America and around the world. But you wouldn’t [...]
1Nov2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedChemical Hysteria and Environmental Politics
Contributing editor Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. Chemicals are one of the wonders of human creation. They help heal and feed us; they help fuel our autos and heat our homes; they help produce toys and computers. Yet [...]
1Jul2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Regulatory Conundrum
Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. When Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, wanted a $190,000 Ferrari 360 Spider, he went to a German dealer, since it would have taken two to three years to obtain one from [...]
1Jun2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedHealth-Care Demagogues
Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. The Bush administration seems ready to push Medicare reform, and Republican legislators are committed to creating a pharmaceutical benefit. The congressional hopper is sure to fill with bills attacking the pharmaceutical industry and [...]
1May2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedLawyers Run Amok
Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. As Washington, D.C., prepared for the descent of thousands of anti-globalization protesters last fall, George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf proposed deploying the ultimate weapon: trial lawyers. Hit the demonstrators with a [...]
1Apr2003 | Doug Bandow | 1 comment | ContinuedTerrorism: The Price of Bad Energy Economics?
Fear of losing access to Saudi oil prompted the U.S. government to intervene in the Persian Gulf a decade ago, to maintain troops in Saudi Arabia ever since, to ignore Riyadh’s role in underwriting terrorism even after September 11, and to confront Iraq again. In short, America has been paying a high price for its [...]
1Mar2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Trouble with Government
Why does the federal government perform so badly, asks Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University? It’s a step in the right direction for a political “liberal” even to pose that question. But although Bok notes several factors that inhibit the efficiency of Washington, he seldom addresses the most important failure of government: attempting to [...]
10Feb2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedSeeing the World Plain
Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. Washington, D.C., is filled with professions of good intentions by politicians and bureaucrats as they steadily strip away Americans’ liberty and money. The political class uses even the most serious social problem to [...]
1Feb2003 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedPatriotic Tax Avoiders
Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. Little upsets politicians more than people attempting to escape their control. So it is with U.S. companies that have fled overseas, now attacked as being unpatriotic and worse by Washington pols. Over the [...]
1Jan2003 | Doug Bandow | 4 comments | ContinuedThe Constitution According to George Bush
White House lawyers have reportedly told President George W. Bush that he doesn’t need congressional authority to go to war. For political reasons, the President says he will seek “congressional support for U.S. action” in Iraq. But will he agree to be bound by a no vote? If not, his request is meaningless. The Constitution [...]
1Dec2002 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Review ~ Wilson’s Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century
PublicAffairs o 2001 o 240 pages o $24.00 Reviewed by Doug Bandow Despite the end of the Cold War, the world remains a dangerous place, as vividly demonstrated on September 11. The twentieth century was the bloodiest, most murderous 100 years of human history. Writing before the terrorist attacks of last fall, former Secretary of [...]
1Nov2002 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedTeetering on the Democratic Edge
ANKARA, Turkey-"The main obstacle to democracy is not Islam, but Kemalism," says Atilla Yayla, the unassuming head of Turkey’s Association for Liberal Thinking (ALT). While Turkey has done better than any other Muslim country in mixing Islam and secularism, as a democracy it remains a work in progress. Where Turkey ultimately ends up is particularly [...]
1Nov2002 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedOnly Congress Can Declare War
The Bush administration has been looking at other potential military targets almost since the war in Afghanistan started. But should the President decide he wants to expand the war, he should get legislative approval. After September 11 Congress authorized President Bush to retaliate against any “nations, organization, or persons” he determined to be involved in [...]
1Oct2002 | Doug Bandow | 3 comments | ContinuedNever Enough?
President Bush’s proposed $48 billion military spending increase for next year exceeds what any other nation devotes to the military. In five years the Bush administration would have the government spend $100 billion more annually than was proposed by the Clinton administration. But for some people, no amount will ever be enough. “Neither the administration [...]
1Sep2002 | Doug Bandow | 0 comments | ContinuedAn Alternative to Failed Foreign Aid
LAHORE, Pakistan-One of Lahore’s small Christian communities sits on army land and thus constitutes an illegal occupation in the government’s view. Most homes have one room. The latrines are makeshift, and families are lucky to survive on $20 a month. These are “very difficult times,” one resident told me. But these people have never seen [...]
1Aug2002 | Doug Bandow | 1 comment | Continued-
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Creating Jobs versus Creating Value
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