Comments on: The Free Nanny State http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:11:39 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Drew http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2742 Drew Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:29:23 +0000 http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2742 Well, if we want to be more general, then what of the frequent claims from lefty economists that the days when one income could raise a family and the middle class was strong and so forth were some sort of golden age of American society? Krugman hasn't made it implicit, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/opinion/10krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin" rel="nofollow">he's practically shouted it from mountaintops</a>. But of course, Krugman is not claiming that we should aspire to the days of segregrated schools and so forth. The whole notion that pointing out a positive aspect of years gone by implies that one wants a wholesale return to the era is just silly. (Considering the number of times my name has been spelled Volcker, Voelker, Volken, Volkner, Folker, and Bolker, I must take issue with the claim that my name is simple (at least in practice). :-] ) Well, if we want to be more general, then what of the frequent claims from lefty economists that the days when one income could raise a family and the middle class was strong and so forth were some sort of golden age of American society? Krugman hasn’t made it implicit, he’s practically shouted it from mountaintops. But of course, Krugman is not claiming that we should aspire to the days of segregrated schools and so forth. The whole notion that pointing out a positive aspect of years gone by implies that one wants a wholesale return to the era is just silly.

(Considering the number of times my name has been spelled Volcker, Voelker, Volken, Volkner, Folker, and Bolker, I must take issue with the claim that my name is simple (at least in practice). :-] )

]]> By: Matt Zeitlin http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2736 Matt Zeitlin Sat, 13 Oct 2007 07:58:43 +0000 http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2736 http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/09/the_case_for_serfdom.php There's Radley, lamenting the high amount of government beneficiaries as opposed to private workers. The implicit argument is that 50 years ago, when the government had fewer beneficiaries, things were better. This isn't exactly the same as the argument that there were more negative rights back then, but it's certainly in the same vein. Chill out about the spelling dude, Harsanyi's name isn't something simple like Drew Volker. http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/09/the_case_for_serfdom.php

There’s Radley, lamenting the high amount of government beneficiaries as opposed to private workers. The implicit argument is that 50 years ago, when the government had fewer beneficiaries, things were better. This isn’t exactly the same as the argument that there were more negative rights back then, but it’s certainly in the same vein.

Chill out about the spelling dude, Harsanyi’s name isn’t something simple like Drew Volker.

]]> By: Drew http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2735 Drew Sat, 13 Oct 2007 07:35:58 +0000 http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2735 Is your repeated misspelling of his last name (and completely incorrect stab at a first name) intentionally mocking, or are you just too lazy to figure out that his name is David Harsanyi? Googling "Harsanyi" includes two links on the first page to him. Noting the difference between a middle-aged blogger/columnist from Denver and a deceased Hungarian game theorist should not be so difficult. Where does Harsanyi say that we should aspire to more negative rights because that's what things were like 50 years ago? <a href="http://www.davidharsanyi.com/" rel="nofollow">Here is his Denver Post page<a>, <a href="http://www.davidharsanyi.com/" rel="nofollow">here is his blog</a>, feel free to peruse. While I do not have the contents of each memorized, I cannot recall him (or Radley Balko, or anybody else of similar persuasion) advancing the notion that we should strive for negative rights because they represent some golden age of America past. Strawman much? Is your repeated misspelling of his last name (and completely incorrect stab at a first name) intentionally mocking, or are you just too lazy to figure out that his name is David Harsanyi? Googling “Harsanyi” includes two links on the first page to him. Noting the difference between a middle-aged blogger/columnist from Denver and a deceased Hungarian game theorist should not be so difficult.

Where does Harsanyi say that we should aspire to more negative rights because that’s what things were like 50 years ago? Here is his Denver Post page, here is his blog, feel free to peruse. While I do not have the contents of each memorized, I cannot recall him (or Radley Balko, or anybody else of similar persuasion) advancing the notion that we should strive for negative rights because they represent some golden age of America past. Strawman much?

]]> By: Megan McArdle http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2719 Megan McArdle Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:05:52 +0000 http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/the-free-nanny-state/#comment-2719 Those marginal tax rates are deceiving. They didn't kick in until the modern equivalent of millions of dollars of annual income, and deductions were generous; they were paid by a handful of taxpayers, no more. Rates on ordinary income were not so high. Other examples are also suspect: while the ban in Griswold was on the books in Connecticut, it was so laxly enforced that the group that wanted to remove it from the books had to set up their own clinic, and then call sympathetic cops on themselves, in order to manufacture a test case. More broadly, the difference that libertarians see between blue laws and the current nanny statism is that at the time you're talking about, those laws were fading relics of a nineteenth century past; the regulations we dislike now are, on the other hand, proliferating like bacteria. Those marginal tax rates are deceiving. They didn’t kick in until the modern equivalent of millions of dollars of annual income, and deductions were generous; they were paid by a handful of taxpayers, no more. Rates on ordinary income were not so high. Other examples are also suspect: while the ban in Griswold was on the books in Connecticut, it was so laxly enforced that the group that wanted to remove it from the books had to set up their own clinic, and then call sympathetic cops on themselves, in order to manufacture a test case.

More broadly, the difference that libertarians see between blue laws and the current nanny statism is that at the time you’re talking about, those laws were fading relics of a nineteenth century past; the regulations we dislike now are, on the other hand, proliferating like bacteria.

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