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Welcome
to REASON Express, the weekly e-newsletter from REASON magazine. REASON
Express is written by Washington-based journalist Jeff A. Taylor and draws
on the ideas and resources of the REASON editorial staff. For more
information on REASON, visit our Web site at www.reason.com.
Send your comments about REASON Express to Jeff A. Taylor (jtaylor@reason.com)
and REASON Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie (gillespie@reason.com).
REASON Express
July 10, 2001
Vol. 4 No. 28
1) The Incredible Shrinking Surplus
2) Britain Bows Out of Drug War?
3) Less Energy, More Blackouts: Price Caps in Action
4) Quick Hits
- - Budget Roulette - -
Current games in Washington demonstrate that although the major parties
may differ little on Big Picture philosophy, counting up those little Ds
and Rs still matters. Democrats are using their control of the Senate to
mount an
assault on President Bush's tax cut.
The instrument of their attack is, predictably enough, the budget. Sen.
Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, now
claims that implementing Bush's tax cut will raid Medicare and Social
Security.
Conrad and fellow Dems can say this because new budget projections show
that the slowing economy is not throwing off as much surplus as expected
just
months ago. So the surplus is "gone." Never mind that it was
never really
there to begin with.
Very soon, Republicans with be confronted with votes on rescinding this
part of the tax cut or that part, with some very popular spending
program--like
school funds--in the crosshairs unless more revenue is "saved"
by increasing
taxes.
It was totally predictable that this gambit would happen sometime before
the
once-and-never tax cut took full effect, in 2135 on Jupiter's moon Io.
Republicans have no room to maneuver as they have gone over to the
spend-as-much-as-we-can side in recent years. In fact, going back to the
days
of deficits, Republicans only rarely made the case that more government
spending was a priori wrong.
Now they are tied to a meager, easily rescindable tax cut that government
can
"afford." Lack of principle can be costly.
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001
/07/06/fp1s2-csm.shtml
Sam MacDonald notes that no one knows what the economy will do over the
next
10 years, but everything in Washington depends on it at
http://reason.com/hod/sm070501.html
**************************************************
- - Pot Luck - -
Britain will no longer seek out marijuana smugglers, a dramatic change in
its
drug laws that could have wide-ranging implications. The defection of one
major player in the anti-pot gauntlet could inspire other countries to do
the
same.
British Customs officials and police are now to concentrate on stopping
the
flow of drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
If, in the course of stopping a coke or smack shipment, pot is discovered
smugglers will still be prosecuted. But only if it is a lot of pot.
Last week authorities in south London abandoned their policy of
prosecuting
people found with small amounts of marijuana. This suggests a wholesale
decriminalization of pot might be in the offing.
The change in interdiction policy was approved by Britain's top security
services, including MI6, MI5, the Home Office, the Foreign Office, and the
Ministry of Defense. Not exactly a roster of wilting flower children.
Officials are saying the step is in line with a policy of harm reduction.
Implicit in this view is that some sort of cost-benefit analysis is
possible when it comes to drug policy. As such it is exactly the opposite
of the U.S. trinity of eradication, interdiction, and incarceration.
No serious thought is given to the cost of those polices in monetary or
human
terms. It is simply axiomatic that any reduction of drug use--by any means
necessary--is for the common good.
But the adoption of at least some elements of harm reduction by such a
formerly staunch American ally as Britain challenges that assumption
directly.
Rational argument has long failed to move U.S. drug warriors. Looking
profoundly stupid to the rest of the world may yet have an effect.
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story
/0,6903,518504,00.html
**************************************************
- - Power Spike - -
The price controls imposed June 19 by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission have already delivered energy shortages and blackouts to
Nevada. This, evidently, is how they are supposed to work.
California has more, and more powerful, politicians. So the FERC scheme
was
intended to address their concerns, not those of average consumers across
the
West.
FERC built in a 10 percent "risk premium" for power producers
across the West
to sell to big buyers in California. Thus they can make more money selling
to
California than to other states. As nothing has been done to actually
increase
generating capacity, that means that home-state customers could be left
short.
Not surprisingly, backers of the FERC price caps are getting a little
edgy.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) says it is too soon to call the price caps a
failure. But the right question is, how can they be called a success when
power shortages are still a threat?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2
8869,00.html
*************************************************
QUICK HITS
- - Quote of the Week - -
"The only thing they changed is now we're supposed to pay
taxes." Naomi, a 23-year-old former grade-school teacher on new Dutch
rules that make Amsterdam's hookers officially regulated workers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/a
rticles/A33735-2001Jul8.html
- - Bill of Slights - -
Support for the First Amendment continues to slide, according to an annual
poll released by the First Amendment Center. Nearly 40 percent of
respondents
believed the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing rights, up from
22
percent last year. And 41 percent said the media have too much freedom,
compared with 36 percent who said there's too much government censorship.
http://www.mediainfo.com/ephome/news/
newshtm/stories/070301n1.htm
- - Get Out of Jail Free Card - -
Sure to be a hit with the thriving online counterfeit ID biz is the new
government-issued identity card that will allow Canadians to escape arrest
for
marijuana possession. Canada plans to allow chronically ill patients to
grow
their own pot from government-supplied seeds. Their possession of pot
would be
OK, but they would still be barred from buying it.
http://news.24.com/News24/Health/Heal
th_News/0,1113,2-14-660_1047858,00
.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_south
west/410907_fakeid_05tex.A.html
- - Southern Exposure - -
The sixth annual Redneck Games featured musical armpits, bobbing for raw
pig's feet in a plastic tub, and a belly flop into a pit of red mud. East
Dublin,
Georgia, hosted more than 10,000 visitors for the games, up from 500 in
1996. The games raised $15,000 for charity.
http://www.charlotte.com/observer/entrtai
n/wireent/docs/redneck.htm
###############################
REASON NEWS
The Scene! Check out REASON Editor-at-Large Virginia Postrel's frequently
updated observations on current events and ideas. Visit The Scene at http://www.dynamist.com/scene.html
For the latest on media appearances by REASON writers, visit
http://www.reason.com/press.html.
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