Free Republic

It seems the U.S. Forest Service recently published a 700-word guide on how to safely roast marshmallows. (The publication was released in time for Aug.30, which was officially, I kid you not, “National Roasted Marshmallow Day.” Your tax dollars at work.) This comprehensive article suggests that a 10-foot buffer between children and a fire is a good rule of thumb. Roasting sticks should be at least 30 inches in length. (Do the math for how long a kid’s arm will have to be to roast marshmallows from 10 feet away with a 30-inch stick.) Oh, and don’t eat too many...

In a September 11 Bloomberg article, economist Noah Smith claims that John Maynard Keynes, the architect of today’s government economic policies around the world, wasn’t a “‘socialist’” or even a “‘progressive.’” He did not favor “a command economy.” Yes he “was in favor of some amount of wealth redistribution and government intervention into the economy.” But “Keynesian policies are fundamentally … about economic stability,… about smoothing out the fluctuations in the economy, reducing risk for everyone concerned.” “Stabilization theory says that you can smooth out the wrinkles of the business cycle without messing with the deep structure of how the...

President Obama has nominated Janet Yellen to be the next Federal Reserve Chairman. We need to know what she stands for if we want to predict what the central bank will do to us next. Clearly, Yellen will continue Bernanke’s Quantitative Easing, but her papers and speeches show that she is quite different from her predecessor. … … Yellen is all central planner. She gets her ideas, not from Friedman, but from John Maynard Keynes. Keynes did not trust markets, preferring government intervention. His prescribed solution to recession and unemployment is for the government to increase spending and the central...

China has put forth new rules to tackle overcapacity in its solar power industry. A document released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) specifies the thresholds needed to enter the (PV) industry and is sure to keep plenty of capital at bay. Under the new rules, access to the industry will be strictly controlled. For instance, investors who wish to enter the industry must now invest a minimum 20 percent of the value of the desired project. There are also minimum requirements for investment in research and development. Only a few domestic PV enterprises can meet the...

Tougher antitrust scrutiny from Washington is slowing deal making even as some early signs of improvement have started to appear in the mergers and acquisitions market. Bankers and lawyers said antitrust officials appointed by President Obama have broadened and lengthened investigations and they expect more vigorous enforcement in years to come, writes Michael Erman at Reuters. Lawyers expect health care, high technology, oil and gas and financial services deals to receive especially close looks from regulators, says Erman. It's really bad, all the details are here.

Thomas Sowell tells a fascinating tale on today’s unfurling economic disaster. He digs deep and finds the roots starting way back in the era of the last gloom and doom and malaise administration, the Carter White House: "The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 directed federal regulatory agencies to 'encourage' banks and other lending institutions "to help meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered consistent with the safe and sound operation of such institutions.' "That sounds pretty innocent and, in fact, it had little effect for more than a decade. However, its premise was that...

<p>WASHINGTON — President Bush signed a bill on Thursday intended to alleviate the nation's severe nursing shortage by making it more attractive to train for and work in the profession.</p> <p>"This is an important program to help address some of the most unserved areas in our country," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.</p>