Free kibbles

I hope the British show Gordon Brown the door, and soon. He claims that 2008 is the year that put an end to the unbridled free market for good. That's ridiculous.

Russia cuts off natural gas supplies to Ukraine again. Ukraine and the EU would be wise to stop relying on Russia for energy.

Israel kills outspoken Hamas leader by bombing his home.

Google drops support for IE6. Good for them. Microsoft is going to pay a price for their crappy browsers. It looks like it already is: IE market share drops below 70 percent while Mozilla passes 20 percent.

Cato scholar reports that federal, state, and local governments spend $300 billion on infrastructure each year. The private sector spends 5 times that much on infrastructure. We don't need more government spending on infrastructure.

John Stossel shows how the bureaucrats and recipients of the Treasury bailout plan and the Fed's far bigger bailouts are hiding what they're doing from the people. They claim keeping the information secret from us is for our own good. Cato scholar compares it to the way banana republics operate. This is the inevitable result of giving people virtually unlimited power.

Reason identifies 3 simple policies that would have worked far better at unfreezing credit markets than a $700 billion bailout and 1 simple policy that would have been a far better way of using the bailout money. These ideas aren't new. They were being discussed before the bailout was passed. That's why I'm convinced the bailout was never about freeing up the credit system, but about nationalizing our banking system.

Victor Davis Hanson points out the double standard of Gaza rules.

George Will highlights the fundamental flaws that make Medicare unsustainable. This is what Barack Obama wants to force on all of us.

Thomas Sowell illustrates how people demand the impossible, and politicians promise it, always with terrible results.

Mises scholar explains that Greenspan's monetary policy, low interest rates and moral hazard from saving failed banks, was primarily responsible for our current credit crisis. Just the existence of the Fed as the lender of last resort creates moral hazard. This essay explains the hundred year history of the other causes for the crisis. Another Mises scholar explains that because oppressive government has stifled economic opportunity in America, the only way to make the economy appear to grow is for the Fed to create economic bubbles with loose monetary policy. The future looks bleak.

Author makes a strong case the Senate has the power to block Blagojevich's appointment.
Time Warner and Viacom reach agreement.