On Rebuilding New Orleans

A CNN poll today reminded me of something I had thought about a while ago:
“Should homeowners be allowed to rebuild in flood-prone areas of New Orleans?”
At the time of this post, 72% say no while the remaining (28%) says yes.
When this issue first came up, my initial reaction was “no” because it would legitmize the [...]

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Cuba: Poor people’s paradise

First, the news…
HAVANA, March 20 (Reuters) - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is visiting communist Cuba to learn about disaster relief, a visit prompted by the failure of the U.S. government to cope with Hurricane Katrina, he said on Monday.
The controversial Nation of Islam leader, who is visiting Cuba for a week, criticized Washington [...]

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“Plight” or bad choices?

Shay Reily of BookerRising comments on a recent article in the New York Times that suggests that the plight of African-American men has worsened despite the gains of other groups:
“Let us not forget the how-not-to-be-poor-in-America formula put forth by black libertarian economist Walter Williams: graduate from high school, don’t have children before marriage, stay away [...]

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The Flat Tax

“The experiment started in a small way in 1994, when Estonia became the first country in Europe to introduce a “flat tax” on personal and corporate income. Income is taxed at a single uniform rate of 26%: no schedule of rates, no deductions. The economy has flourished. Others followed: first, Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia’s Baltic [...]

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