Words & Numbers

Socialism is, whether we like it or not, in the national dialogue. And there are numerous people who claim to be socialists who, nevertheless, have a hard time defining what socialism actually is. Socialism, in it's purest form, indeed, has never been tried. But, by the same token, neither has undiluted capitalism. To understand which works better, we have to think about means and ends. Almost all of us want the same ends, but we disagree sharply as to the appropriate means. So how do we find the most efficient, most humane means? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Sweden could launch its own cryptocurrency http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-cryptocurrency-e-krona-riksbank-2018-1  People believe that companies may five times more profit than they actually do http://www.aei.org/publication/the-public-thinks-the-average-company-makes-a-36-profit-margin-which-is-about-5x-too-high-part-ii/?utm_content=bufferaa12b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer  https://taxfoundation.org/state-gasoline-tax-rates-2017/  http://gasprices.aaa.com/  http://fortune.com/2017/06/07/fortune-500-companies-profit-apple-berkshire-hathaway/ Topic of the Week: Socialism https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/2017-03-08/celebrate-american-womens-economic-freedom-on-international-womens-day www.wsj.com/articles/antony-davies-and-james-r-harrigan-for-gender-equality-you-cant-beat-capitalism-1425684094  https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-09-19/we-need-to-find-the-right-mix-of-government-and-markets  http://www.antolin-davies.com/research/elp.pdf  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent the country into a tizzy not long ago when he declared that the federal government would start cracking down on state-legal marijuana. This is problematic, but it's a symptom of a larger problem. Article I, Section 8, of the US Constitution lists the things that the federal government may concern itself with. Marijuana — indeed, any drug — is not on that list. In fact, a great many things that the federal government concerns itself with are not on that list. So how did we get to the point of having federal laws and regulations about marijuana and a number of other things? We had to have a Constitutional amendment to ban alcohol, so why doesn't the government need one to ban marijuana? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Sarah Silverman https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/sarah-silverman-befriends-troll-insulted-pays-medical-treatment/  CT considers raising its excise tax on cigarettes. Again. http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-lafaive-ct-cigarette-tax-smuggling-0109-20180108-story.html  What will mass-market driverless cars look like? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-12/gm-drops-the-steering-wheel-and-gives-the-robot-driver-control  Foolishness of the Week https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/business/economy/irs-debt-collection.html    Topic of the Week: Federalism and Constitutional Amendments Federalism and marijuana http://reason.com/archives/2018/01/10/federalists-cant-support-a-cannabis-crac  Article One, Section 8 of the US Constitution https://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec8.html  Wickard v. Filburn https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/317us111  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite its passage some time ago, recent attention has been brought to the impending implementation of a Washington, D.C., regulation that will require all professional childcare workers to have a college degree. This has raised a great hue and cry as it will ban a number of existing childcare workers from their chosen profession as well as having the effect of dramatically increasing the cost of childcare in the District — which is, incidentally, already incredibly high when compared to the rest of the country. Unintended consequences happen all the time in everyday life, but when legislators and regulators act, the consequences are on a much larger scale. Unintended consequences abound in pretty much every aspect of regulated life to various degrees. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits  Man cited for sheltering the homeless (David Wilson) https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/elgin-greg-schiller-slumber-parties-homeless-cold-467714563.html  Philip Morris getting out of the cigarette business? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/01/03/philip-morris-marlboro-wants-give-up-cigarettes-go-smoke-free/1001442001/  Foolishness of the Week  President Trump, apparently not interested in Steve Bannon’s criticism, seeks to block the release “Sloppy Steve’s” book. http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-book-20180104-story.html   https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-rage-tweets-about-wolff-and-sloppy-steve-bannon-phony-book-is-full-of-lies/  Topic of the Week: Unintended Consequences  Gun buyback https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae0c/469a9f5d95dd2fc8112bcdadb614183aa520.pdf  Seat belt laws http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/260352  Payday lending https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203806504577183240533438580  Fishing quotas https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12098697  CEO pay https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116062249630690247  Three strikes law http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0887403405277001  Bounty on cobras http://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-cobra-effect-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/  Mexico city air pollution http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/ldavis/Davis%20JPE%202008.pdf  California fuel economy mandates https://web.stanford.edu/~goulder/Papers/Published%20Papers/Unintended%20Consequences%20(Pavley%20Paper)%20-%20JEEM%20March%202012.pdf  Americans with Disabilities Act https://economics.mit.edu/files/273  Electrician licensing requirements https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01044518  Red-light cameras http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301844.html  Cash for clunkers http://www.nber.org/papers/w16351  Venezuela https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuelas-paradox-people-are-hungry-but-farmers-cant-feed-them/2017/05/21/ce460726-3987-11e7-a59b-26e0451a96fd_story.html?utm_term=.32c5dd1398b0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do you do on any given day that is not somehow regulated by government in some way? There really isn't much. In point of fact, there are well over one hundred thousand pages of federal regulations alone, to say nothing of state and local regulations. We have government-mandated guidelines for everything from space exploration to how your dog can behave in a city park. While many people concede that there is an acceptable minimum level of government regulation, and others maintain that there is no such thing as an unregulated market, even in the absence of government guidance, it's clear that as things currently stand, we are a highly overregulated nation. So if there is, indeed, a legitimate purpose for regulation, what is it? What are we trying to accomplish with these regulations? Who benefits? And how far is too far? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.   Quick Hits Police killed in the line of duty https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/12/28/number-officers-killed-2017-hits-nearly-50-year-low/984477001/ 26 year-old gives birth to 24 year-old https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/record-baby-26-year-old-gives-birth-daughter-frozen-24-years-ago/ Alcohol https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/12/28/how-many-alcoholic-drinks-too-many-per-week/822604001/ Venezuelan cryptocurrency https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/29/venezuela-oil-backed-cryptocurrency-to-launch-in-days.html Foolishness of the Week http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pew-trump-media-three-times-more-negative-than-for-obama-just-5-percent-positive/article/2644448 This Week’s Topic Magnitude of regulation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkNPjC0gVSo What regulations did Trump eliminate? https://cei.org/blog/so-what-regulations-did-trump-eliminate Regulation of social media http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/354006-regulate-social-media-just-like-other-media https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/its-time-to-crack-down-on-facebook-and-twitter-commentary.html https://www.cjr.org/analysis/twitter-egyptian-journalist-ban.php  Regulating florists because dirt might be infected https://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/protection-racket-occupational-licensing-laws-and/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It seems, these days, that you can't turn on the TV or log on to social media without someone griping about how awful things are. They complain about everything, from taxes to avocados to bills to cell signal strength. But the truth of things is a lot rosier than popular media would lead you to believe. Global illiteracy rates are below 14 percent. Global rates of extreme poverty are below 10 percent. Despite there being more people currently alive on the planet than ever before, there are also more calories per capita than ever before. This is not to say that there aren't improvements to be made or that there aren't bad things happening, but perhaps bearing these facts in mind might improve our outlook on life. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about thankfulness and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Walmart employs 1% of Americans http://www.businessinsider.com/largest-employers-each-us-state-2017-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-employees-pay https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/business/walmart-workers-pay-advances.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/nearly-every-american-spent-money-at-wal-mart-last-year.html High school reports 100% college placement rate https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/12/17/570255742/teachers-around-the-country-react-to-investigation-into-ballou-high-school https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/11/28/564054556/what-really-happened-at-the-school-where-every-senior-got-into-college Data http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/09/how-americans-compare-with-the-global-middle-class/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cell-phones-demography-nielsen-data-breaks-mobile-phone/story?id=11468925 https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/entertainment/2005-04-10-brick-cell-phone_x.htm https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA http://graphics.wsj.com/what-percent/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There has been quite the groundswell in recent years in the efforts to legalize marijuana. In fact, a majority of US states have at least some sort of access to legal weed, despite its still being criminalized at the federal level. But the state of Colorado led the nation when it legalized marijuana for all purposes, even recreational ones, in January of 2014. The anti-marijuana advocates warned that such an action would lead to increased drug use — especially among teens — higher crimes rates, and a whole spate of other undesirable consequences. Nevertheless, the plant prevailed. It's still early days, but we do have almost four years of data about the effects of legalizing marijuana to look at. Were the anti-marijuana crusaders correct? Are teen drug use and violent crime rampant? Are visitors shunning Colorado? Was it all a huge mistake? Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick Hits Unemployment rate is at its lowest level? https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2017/12/08/why-you-cant-rely-on-the-unemployment-rate-as-primary-economic-indicator/   Sweet Briar college no longer discounting tuition https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/beloved-womens-college-slashes-tuition-prices-30/ https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/college-costs/college-costs-faqs https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/16/discount-rates-rise-yet-again-private-colleges-and-universities   Venezuela’s diaspora is growing: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/14/flood-venezuelans-fleeing-their-depressed-country/941463001/ US better educated now than at any time in its history: http://triblive.com/news/education/classroom/13077368-74/us-more-educated-than-ever-before-census-bureau-says Foolishness of the week Bulletproof glass is an indignity http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/15/philly-votes-to-regulate-bulletproof-gla Marijuana and Crime  Adolescent pot use is falling in Colorado http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/12/contradicting-prohibitionists-survey-say/amp?__twitter_impression=true The war on marijuana has failed http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/11974018-74/marijuana-colorado-drug Colorado’s pot full of benefits http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/6487136-74/marijuana-state-war Commercial pot in Colorado http://gazette.com/editorial-the-sad-anniversary-of-big-commercial-pot-in-colorado/article/1614900 Milton Friedman on drug criminalization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLsCC0LZxkY Attorney General Jeff Sessions on marijuana policy http://www.newsweek.com/will-jeff-sessions-war-marijuana-next-week-744089 Teen marijuana use is down since legalization https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/11/following-marijuana-legalization-teen-drug-use-is-down-in-colorado Data https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/colorado-crime-statistics-ucr https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/crime-colorado1 http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/colorado-population/ https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/table-1 https://www.denverite.com/chronic-homelessness-ten-year-high-metro-denver-heres-citys-38546/   https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PW_ISVP_PDO_Heroin-in-Colorado-2017.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christmas is right around the corner, and people everywhere are in the holiday spirit. In addition to giving gifts to loved ones, Americans are also giving to their preferred charities. Indeed, about a third of all charitable donations occur during the month of December. And Americans are, in general, incredibly generous. Recent estimates have the total dollar amount of charitable giving, both cash and labor, at about $600 billion. That's more than almost all other countries take in via taxation. Most of this money comes from those "selfish" rich people you read so much about, and all but about 5 percent of it comes from individuals. Businesses, for all their fanfare and PR campaigns, give very little in comparison. Of course, not all of this giving goes to what might be called poverty relief, but about 82 percent of it does, about $500 billion, as of 2016. And all of this giving is completely separate from what the government takes through taxation and redistributes through what is loosely defined as "welfare spending." So how does all of this private charity compare to what the government is doing? What does the future for government welfare look like? Is the market capable of taking on the role of the "first line" of help for those who need it? Antony Davies and James Harrigan discuss on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Episode Data and Articles: Voluntary Giving http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/11522510-74/christmas-war-holiday  http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/charitable-giving-generosity-government-poverty-20171204.html  Welfare https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/01/12/no-we-dont-spend-1-trillion-on-welfare-each-year/?utm_term=.e907f7625b56  https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2017USbn_17bs6n_2030#usgs302  Data https://givingusa.org/giving-usa-2017-total-charitable-donations-rise-to-new-high-of-390-05-billion/  https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Giving-Tuesday-Haul-Is-an/238534  https://www.nptrust.org/philanthropic-resources/charitable-giving-statistics/  https://www.independentsector.org/resource/the-value-of-volunteer-time/  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2056.html  https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=42  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Economist Paul Krugman is well-known for his pro-Democrat stances. Recently, he's claimed that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said that if the Individual Mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, is repealed, 22 million Americans will "lose" their health insurance. What he doesn't say is that the vast majority of those 22 million people are simply opting out. They are _choosing_ not to have health insurance. But here's the problem with CBO forecasts: they're usually wrong. And they're wrong in almost the exact same way. Why are the CBO forecasts so bad? Why do they consistently get it wrong in such a consistent way? And what does this mean for our economy? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more in this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Quick hits Emirates’ new 777 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2017/11/13/new-emirates-first-class-suites-on-777-300er-revealed-at-the-dubai-air-show/#13ce46a256b8   Curing disease by rewriting our DNA https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/first-scientists-try-edit-faulty-dna-inside-patients-body-cure-genetic-disease/   iHeart Radio:https://www.wsj.com/articles/iheart-creditors-reject-another-offer-from-company-as-they-push-for-chapter-11-1512090362 Jeff Sessions on marijuana:http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/sessions-hints-at-a-coming-crackdown-on-recreational-weed.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/29/politics/sessions-opioid-news-conference-marijuana/index.html http://reason.com/blog/2017/10/26/sessions-continues-to-push-gateway-drug Foolishness of the weekhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/politics/republican-tax-bill-moves-closer-to-senate-passage.html   The CBO https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2017/07/22/cbo-three-fourths-of-coverage-difference-between-obamacare-gop-bills-driven-by-individual-mandate/#327a3b9e3627   Follow us on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan https://twitter.com/AntonyDavies Join the Words and Numbers Backstage FB group, where the conversation continueshttps://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recently, in a small town Pennsylvania, an insurance agent for Nationwide Insurance noticed a certain plant growing in a garden on the property he was inspecting. This insurance agent identified the plant as marijuana and notified the police about this nefarious behavior. An elderly couple lived at that property, and while the husband was out at the time, the wife was dragged from her home, in her underwear, while police proceeded to ransack the home for four hours. They found nothing illegal. And that marijuana plant that started this whole debacle? Actually a hibiscus. This is only one of countless examples of this exact sort of "raid first, ask questions later" mentality that police forces in this country have adopted. But it's only natural that this sort of bad behavior has evolved because of the huge problem of overcriminalization. And when the difference between "criminal" and "lawbreaker" is more than just splitting semantic hairs, something needs to be done. Special guest Clark Neily of the Cato Institute joins James Harrigan and Antony Davies to talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It never seems to fail that whenever any kind of change to the tax code is proposed in Washington, billionaires and millionaires come clambering out of the woodwork to tell Congress not to cut their taxes. This current round of tax reform is no exception. Recently, more than 400 of the super-rich signed a letter asking exactly that, claiming that both the national debt and wealth inequality are at all-time highs. But are these claims true? Is taxation the only way to financially support the government? Even if the government raised taxes on the rich instead of cutting them, would it make one whit of difference to the national debt? James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices