Wednesday, July 05, 2017

Some "well, duh" moments

First, restoring work requirements for food stamp recipients has led to a plunge in SNAP (food stamp) rolls in many states.  Sadly, most states have not restored these requirements. 


Second, minimum wage hikes in New York and Seattle have, as expected, creamed a lot of low wage workers.  We need to remember that the real minimum wage is zero, no matter what the government says, and if your productivity is less than your wage, you will tend to find yourself unemployable.


Third, a new lawsuit claims that the "regulatory capture" of the EPA by environmental groups extends to labs faking results.  Hope and change, I guess, and especially meaningful given that a federal court has, once again along "lines of which President appointed the judges", halted a Trump effort to roll back Obama EPA regulations. 


That last bit is bothering me more and more--where the outcome of a given case can more or less be predicted by which President appointed them, even to the point of a clear Democratic-Republican split.  In other words, we are starting to see two clearly delineated theories of law fighting for dominance in the courts, which is scary for those who need to comply with laws and regulations.


May the real law, and Blackstone and Scalia, win.

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