Human interactions are too complex to be handled by a central, coercive authority. Most important daily decisions must be based on the particular, subjective judgments of individuals. Intellectuals are foolish to think they can design a more rational social order; and if they put their ideas into practice, disaster is sure to follow.

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

Economic models of market failure notwithstanding, fixing the market is beyond the ken of anyone, whether they be elected representatives, regulators, or other technocrats. Instead of trying to tinker with, fix, and fine-tune the macroeconomy, perhaps we should just leave people alone. Interventionism has done enough damage already.

So, consider: if you were to go on what the Democrats consider a starvation diet, and “slash” your calorie intake to exactly the same degree that the Republicans’ $6 billion cut has “slashed” the federal budget, you would do the following. Go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac Extra Value meal. Eat the Big Mac. Drink the Coke. Eat 86 of the 87 french fries. Carefully take the last fry and bite off two-thirds of it. Put the remaining one-third of one fry back in the bag. If you seriously think that you have just “slashed” your diet, you are a Democrat. Most likely, an overweight Democrat.

Of course there are multiple levels of government regulation over money, banking and finance and the whole point is to provide cover for the industry’s recklessness and to line the pockets of the privileged banksters. No “reform” of regulation will resolve these problems. Only a return to sound money and the automatic enforcement by the market will make banking well “regulated.”

I think that if you want to eliminate unemployment in a meaningful way, you have to know something about where people ought to be employed, and Washington does not have that information. It is not that I expect deficits to crowd out other economic activity. I don’t think they will create any real economic activity to begin with.

This is just another Washington assault on the poor and middle classes, as well as their laundry. A person ought to think twice about advocates for the “common good” – this seems to be the code phrase for taking you to the cleaners.

On Tuesday Miami-Dade County voters recalled Mayor Carlos Alvarez. The margin of the recall vote in favor of recall sends an unmistakable message regarding the mood of voters. The vote in favor of recall amounted to 88 percent of the 200,000 votes cast, an unnaturally large majority. The voters were clearly intending to send a message. So it’s worth sorting out what might have provoked the Miami-Dade electorate.