Gargantuan government is an Esher drawing, perpetual motion with the government feeding itself to become even more gargantuan, yet voters still vote for the same dead-end programs and policies. My home state of Illinois currently shows 60,000 FEWER people employed (BLS State-at-a-Glance) that January 2000 and population has fallen for ten consecutive years. No matter: Gov Pritzker was re-elected handily in 2022, despite, by that point, some 20 consecutive "emergency declarations". (The state constitution limits such declarations to 30 days.) In Chicago, my hometown, the reign of Beetlejuice was ended with someone even further left-wing, Brandon Johnson, puppet of the Chicago teachers' union.
There simply is no rational explanation. Fewer jobs, lower population, extreme taxes amidst financial disaster - and the politicians get worse than the state's fisc. Both the state and the city epitomize their roads to serfdom.
The deep thinkers advocating central planning aren't as bright as they think they are. I suspect the repeated failures of central planning makes them believe they can succeed where others have failed.
"Is it time for an advocate of freedom to write a new Road to Serfdom?"
Yes, it is. A book highlighting all of the ways in which our freedom has been curtailed since 2001 would be extremely useful. I doubt many people who aren't very interested in the issue have any idea how much freedom has been lost. With luck, it might even spark interest in freedom as a political issue.
Gargantuan government is an Esher drawing, perpetual motion with the government feeding itself to become even more gargantuan, yet voters still vote for the same dead-end programs and policies. My home state of Illinois currently shows 60,000 FEWER people employed (BLS State-at-a-Glance) that January 2000 and population has fallen for ten consecutive years. No matter: Gov Pritzker was re-elected handily in 2022, despite, by that point, some 20 consecutive "emergency declarations". (The state constitution limits such declarations to 30 days.) In Chicago, my hometown, the reign of Beetlejuice was ended with someone even further left-wing, Brandon Johnson, puppet of the Chicago teachers' union.
There simply is no rational explanation. Fewer jobs, lower population, extreme taxes amidst financial disaster - and the politicians get worse than the state's fisc. Both the state and the city epitomize their roads to serfdom.
Great review. Well worth reading in Regulation magazine here: https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-09/v32n1-inreview.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#page=8
The deep thinkers advocating central planning aren't as bright as they think they are. I suspect the repeated failures of central planning makes them believe they can succeed where others have failed.
The link goes to a review of the Omnibores Dillemma.
It’s a. PDF of a newsletter. Scroll down a few screens to get to the article.
I was pointing out that the link in this sentence goes to the wrong place.
“You can find the whole thing here.”
It goes here: https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-09/v32n1-inreview.pdf#page=8
"Is it time for an advocate of freedom to write a new Road to Serfdom?"
Yes, it is. A book highlighting all of the ways in which our freedom has been curtailed since 2001 would be extremely useful. I doubt many people who aren't very interested in the issue have any idea how much freedom has been lost. With luck, it might even spark interest in freedom as a political issue.