Bad Ideas Never Die
Posted By: Hazymac, 5/21/2026 6:42:23 AM
Price controls are in the Hall of Fame of bad ideas. They have an unbroken record of failure, stretching back literally thousands of years. And yet, they remain alluring to people with no knowledge of either history or economics, or–probably more relevant–to failing governments. There was a time when Britain’s government was known for a certain level of financial sophistication. No longer: [British Chancellor] Rachel Reeves is pressuring supermarkets to cap food prices in an attempt to limit inflation unleashed by the Iran war. The Iran war has nothing to do with it. The inflation rate on grocery prices in the U.K. is lower than in mid-2025, and the world has
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Hazymac"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by
Hazymac"
Bad Ideas Never Die
0 replies
Price controls are in the Hall of Fame of bad ideas. They have an unbroken record of failure, stretching back literally thousands of years. And yet, they remain alluring to people with no knowledge of either history or economics, or–probably more relevant–to failing governments.
There was a time when Britain’s government was known for a certain level of financial sophistication. No longer:
[British Chancellor] Rachel Reeves is pressuring supermarkets to cap food prices in an attempt to limit inflation unleashed by the Iran war.
The Iran war has nothing to do with it. The inflation rate on grocery prices in the U.K. is lower than in mid-2025, and the world has
A Shameful NAACP Boycott
8 replies
I am willing to assume that there was a time when the NAACP did some good. (I do not make the same assumption about the SPLC.) But that time is long, long gone. For many years, the NAACP has been a force for ill, not for good. An excellent example is its just-launched boycott campaign:
The NAACP is calling on Black athletes and fans to boycott the athletic programs of public universities in states that are taking steps that the nation’s oldest civil rights group says are restricting Black voting rights.
There is no conceivable theory on which anyone is restricting black voting rights.
Launched Tuesday, the “Out of Bounds” campaign urges prospective
There has been a huge shift within the public and private sectors on climate change as it has dawned on governments and companies that the United States, under President Donald Trump, will no longer be a patsy to a cabal of international elites who seek to impose costly climate restrictions upon American businesses and international climate boondoggles upon nations.
Trump’s actions are draining the climate swamp of resources, supporters, spirit, and momentum. These include defunding climate boondoggles across federal agencies, pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, withdrawing the United States from dozens of climate-monitoring and wealth-transfer organizations (most importantly the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change),
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Aisha Gomez is facing calls to lose her tax committee chairmanship after allegedly telling a Republican colleague to "go f**king shoot himself" on the House floor.
House Speaker Lisa Demuth and Majority Leader Harry Niska want her removed and are demanding Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic leadership publicly condemn her.
It started Thursday night. Democrats tried to force a vote on HF5140, a gun-control bill that would ban semiautomatic "assault weapons," restrict large-capaThey knew it had no chance. The House is tied 67-67, and not a single Republican was going to flip. The vote failed along party lines. Democrats then launched an overnight sit-in at the
Happy Tuesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. (Snip) Here we go again. With the midterm elections now less than half a year away, it would be nice if all we had on our minds were the classic election concerns of yesteryear, like messaging and the quality of our candidates. If the fortunes of the Republican Party were riding on regular stuff like that, I'd be throwing money at Polymarket and betting on a GOP romp in November.
We're dealing with 21st century Democrats here, though. They don't do much in the way of developing policies that appeal to American voters in order to win elections. The strengths of the
It's tempting to say that the worst hoax of the 21st century was the COVID hysteria that did so much damage to the United States and the world. A virus that is no more dangerous than a bad flu season was used to upend the world, destroying lives, separating families, redistributing tens of trillions in wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy, and destroying a generation's education and mental health.
But as bad as the COVID myths were, I think it is safe to say that the Climate hysteria and all the downstream consequences of reshaping our lives and economies around a hysterical overreaction
Recently, a friend in media asked how he could acquire a New York City press pass.
I sent him the form to fill out, but I told him it was a longshot without a legitimate body of work.
How foolish of me.
Apparently, all you need is a Substack and a lust for political violence.
Perhaps it helps if you give yourself a cutsie name like the “Mangionistas.” On Monday morning, Luigi Mangione appeared for a hearing in Manhattan, and the aforementioned “Mangionistas,” aka his murder cheer squad, showed up to support him.
And these extremists have been granted full legitimacy by mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Executive Director of the Press Credentials Office, Samer Nasser.
Victims and survivors of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing reacted with shock and horror at the possibility—if not likelihood—that a close associate of the "Blind Sheikh" terrorist mastermind who inspired the attack may soon be a member of Congress.
Adam Hamawy, a Princeton plastic surgeon, is a frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D.) in New Jersey's deep-blue 12th Congressional District—despite his years-long friendship with Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Muslim extremist cleric who was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1993 bombing.
The February 1993 blast killed 6 people and wounded more than 1,000.
What is it about Democrats and ever more grandiose riggings?
They've hatched a new plan to 'make Georgia Wisconsin' in that they plan to politicize the state Supreme Court race, which up until now, had been a studiously nonpartisan affair.
Not surprisingly, two-time losing gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, and her judge sister, are behind it.
According to Wall Street Journal columnist Jack Butler:
Democrats want to transform what have been largely staid affairs in the Peach State into partisan battles, with Wisconsin as a model. If it succeeds, the effort likely won’t end there. ... Stacey Abrams, who remains an influential Democrat in Georgia despite losing two races for governor to Republican Brian Kemp,
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is having a terrible, no good, very bad couple of weeks. Former Reality TV star and mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt leveled Bass in a May 6th mayoral debate. So much so that Bass begged out of another televised debate on May 13, opting to do one-on-one interviews with favored press.
And who could be more favorable than the leftist clown car over at MS NOW? On Saturday, Bass appeared with Jonathan Capeheart on "The Weekend" to talk about her goals for her second term. The lowlights: restoring copper wire in the streetlights, and dealing with the problems of L.A. that have "existed for 3-plus decades."
Obama and Trump: a simple comparison
6 replies
From time to time, something simple, like a graphic, provides the means for us to compare more complex, multiple issues. Such a graphic as this: (X) Here, we can not only easily compare the abilities, priorities, and fiscal responsibility of the Republican and Democrat parties, but also see the lack of honesty of the media.
Barack Obama, “The One,” “The Lightbringer,” he who stopped the rise of the oceans and healed the planet, was a community organizer who admitted he couldn’t tell his friends what he did for a living. Apparently, organizing communities has no particular pay structure, no actual qualifications, and requires no actual labor or accomplishments.
Let me hit you with a scene from the movie adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book on the subprime mortgage crisis, The Big Short. Trust me, it will help crystallize what I am trying to convey about the climate hoax and clean energy scam.
First some context: in the movie, hedge fund manager, Mark Baum (Steve Carell) has purchased credit default swaps from derivatives trader, Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) as a short against $1 billion in subprime mortgage-backed securities. The scene opens with Vennett being yelled at and peppered with questions from Baum’s associate, Vinny Daniel (Jeremy Strong). Jared is asked to explain why the price of bonds comprised of subprime mortgages
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) was among the four Republican Senators who voted in favor of moving forward with a resolution that would direct President Donald Trump to pull the U.S. military out of the conflict with Iran.
Cassidy’s vote in favor of moving forward with the Iran War Powers Resolution comes days after he lost his reelection bid to Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming.
The Senate voted 50-47 to move the War Powers Resolution out from the Senate’s Foreign Relation Committee, with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Cassidy voting with the Democrats, CBS News reported.
Why I'm Never Rubio
24 replies
The Atlantic magazine recently announced the People’s Choice for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. “Trump Voters Like Marco Rubio More and More (And J.D. Vance Less and Less)” the headline proclaimed, a ruling that deserves respect considering that this is the magazine that has spent the past decade ferociously denouncing Trump as a “racist,” “fascist kleptocrat,” “warped,” “corrupted,” an “authoritarian,” a “demagogue,” a “xenophobe” and a “liar.”
Three beachgoers were stabbed while hundreds of teens took over packed New England beaches in separate incidents on Tuesday, sparking fights and forcing evacuations of the summer hotspot.
The suspected stabbing broke out just after 3 p.m. Tuesday at Narragansett Town Beach, a popular summer vacation retreat in southern Rhode Island, as temperatures reached into the 90s.
Responding officers located three victims suffering from minor stab wounds, Narragansett Police Chief Kyle Rekas said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Three beachgoers were stabbed while hundreds of teens took over packed New England beaches in separate incidents on Tuesday, sparking fights and forcing evacuations of the summer hotspot.
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D.) suggested that legendary "American Sniper" Chris Kyle shot innocent civilians in Iraq in order to inflate his kill numbers. Platner also bristled at the idea of the former Navy SEAL and his platoon being dubbed "heroes."
Platner, running for Senate against Sen. Susan Collins (R.), lashed out at Kyle and members of the SEAL's "Task Unit Bruiser" in a May 2024 podcast interview on Green Beret Chronicle Show in which Platner, a former Marine, discussed his deployment in 2006 to Ramadi, a hotbed of insurgent activity during the Iraq war. In the interview, Platner—who did not belong to an elite Special Forces unit like
Ask anyone in the South, and they can confirm to you that college football is more or less a religion there.
In particular, the Southeastern Conference — better known by its acronym of SEC — has become one of the crowning jewels for Southern football fans.
The conference is known for producing swathes of NFL-caliber players, dynasties like Alabama, and consistent top-tier programs like Georgia. While the proliferation of college athletic money has somewhat closed the gap between the SEC and its fellow power conferences, the conference is still viewed as the gold standard of college football (though some fans are quick to call the conference overrated,
Under the U.S. Constitution, anyone who is not a "natural-born citizen" is barred from becoming president or vice president. Now, a House Republican wants to expand that requirement to much of the federal government.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., plans to introduce a joint resolution Wednesday proposing a constitutional amendment requiring members of Congress, federal judges and other Senate-confirmed appointees to be natural-born citizens.
The proposal would affect more than a dozen naturalized citizens currently serving in Congress, including several Republicans. Mace, who is running to be South Carolina’s next governor, suggested that the country’s nearly 25 million naturalized citizens, who made the deliberate choice to become Americans, may have divided loyalties.
Hakeem Jeffries Will “Break” Trump Voters
15 replies
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries showed up at the crazy Center for American Progress to impart his questionable wisdom. He said we have to “break” MAGA extremists, MAGA extremists meaning conservatives. He calls everyone who wants to make America great again an extremist. Hakeem wants to stack the Court, so Democrats win every case in perpetuity. That’s not extreme? He also plans to seize control of the courts, and corrupt the vote with the John Lewis Voting Act. Recently, he aligned himself with the SPLC. Just last month, he traveled to Denmark to trash the president and the country. Now, Hakeem knows extremism since he is extreme, as is his
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) has always had a slightly desperate air about him since he took over the reins from Rep. Nancy Pelosi in November 2022. He lives in her shadow, and in fact, many observers consider him her puppet.
He has grown increasingly bitter over the years as his political impotence is exposed almost daily by the Republicans, who keep trumping him on issue after issue. He's gone from just being generally unlikable to bitter, vitriolic, and resentful, and his endless rage stands in stark contrast to the optimism and hope that Trump and the GOP radiate.
He was at it again on Tuesday, using inciting rhetoric
Former 16-term Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at the age of 86.
First elected to the House in 1980, Frank is known for being the co-author of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) as well as being the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay. Just over two weeks before his passing, he appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash” while receiving hospice care at his Maine home — where he warned that his lifelong party was lurching too far leftward.
Ode To A Beagle Named Rocky
12 replies
We normally don’t use this space for personal announcements. That isn’t the purpose or mission of Issues & Insights. But, since we answer to no one but ourselves, we can break our own rules.
On Saturday, our family lost our 12-year-old Beagle, Rocky, to cancer. We didn’t even know he had cancer until a week before.
After a recent move, we’d taken Rocky to a new vet for a wellness check and mentioned that his eating habits had recently changed. Instead of his normal voracious appetite – so voracious that we had to buy a dish designed to slow down eating
The cost of higher education has become a major issue for many, if not most, American parents and even grandparents. As education costs explode, so has the amount of debt students have to pay off after they graduate. This month’s I&I/TIPP Poll asks: Is it worth the cost? And what role should government play?
The national online I&I/TIPP Poll, taken by 1,464 adults from April 28 to May 1 , asked voters four education-finance related questions. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.9 percentage points.
The first question: “Do you believe the federal government should provide student loans and financial aid to college programs where
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger failed Tuesday night to clinch enough votes for one of the two spots in the runoff for the Republican primary for Georgia governor, losing to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and health care executive Rick Jackson.
Raffensperger secured just 14% of the vote, according to the Associated Press, compared to Jones' 37% and Jackson's 34%. Jones is considered the favorite to win the nomination after President Donald Trump endorsed his campaign.
Another closely watched race in Georgia is its Senate race, where Republicans are hoping to defeat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.