Caveman
We talk about market failure. We never talk about government failure.
Are we on the cusp of an era of discussing government failure in the same way we talk about market failure? So much of the literature on resolving market failure seems tautological.
Markets are susceptible to failure. Governments aren’t markets. Governments do not fail.
The syllogism is so simple a caveman could have written it.
‘For all those who have taken an economics course, you’ve no doubt heard plenty about market failure. I suspect you’ve heard relatively less about government failure. Part of the allure of the public choice tradition for me has always been its very clear explication of the latter. But in this episode, leave it to perennial favorite Mike Munger to put a wrinkle in my contemplative ease.’
…
‘As Roberts says, “Markets fail, governments fail, and therefore we need a third thing.” Munger agrees, but says we don’t even know what the third thing is yet.‘
New agreement on AI regulation could be good news for Apple Intelligence in the EU
It seems like Apple’s decision not to release Apple intelligence in the EU helped spur collaboration between different regulatory authorities in the West.
‘The EU, US, and UK governments have now issued a joint statement in which they commit to adopting “common principles” for AI regulation.’
Witnesses Call on Congress to Establish Regulatory Office in Wake of Loper
Will the smart regulatory people move from the agencies to Congressional staff in the wake of Loper?
‘Congress must adjust to the demise of the Chevron Deference doctrine by drastically improving its regulatory expertise, witnesses told a House Committee on July 23.
‘“Congress must reclaim its lawmaking and rule-writing authority from the executive branch by marshaling appropriate resources and full-time personnel to perform regulatory oversight, including cost-benefit analysis and disclosures often neglected by the executive branch, sometimes in violation of law,” Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., a fellow in regulatory studies at the Competitiveness Enterprise Institute, told the House Administration Committee at a hearing on the impact of the Supreme Court’s Loper decision.’
One-size-fits-all bureaucracy strangling small school districts
We need bureaucracy that adapts for size. Bureaucracy is purpose-built for the large, at the expense of the small.
‘But one government accountability measure — the Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) review — is an exercise in compliance that places a disproportionate burden on small school districts and takes desperately needed resources away from our kids. It is set up for large districts that can devote a full-time staff person to manage the process, attend the trainings, and upload the tsunami of documents that are required, but it forces small districts like mine to invest thousands of dollars in consultants and software just to file the paperwork.
‘The intention of this process is to ensure that a local education agency is meeting statutory program and fiscal requirements for categorical funding — targeted for programs serving low-income and special needs students, among others. These funds can range from thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more based on the size of the district. That’s all good in theory, but in reality, it has turned into a paper-pushing time suck for small school districts.’
Bye Bye, Administrative State Shadow Courts
A good clear explanation of the importance of Jarkesey.
‘Instead of going through the federal judicial process, agencies and departments often hire administrative law judges (ALJs) to hear cases. The problem is that these ALJs are employees of the agencies that hired them, and therefore they are also colleagues of the prosecutors in question. On the surface, the appearance of bias is evident, but the results are even more so. The Federal Trade Commission, for example, went a full quarter-century without losing a single ALJ-decided case.
‘This is arrogance, not justice. Fortunately, however, the highest court in the land — U.S. Constitution in hand — put its foot down.’
The bully pulpit of the bureaucracy strikes again. Unsuccessful at the commission level in promoting a rule he decided was necessary, CPSC commissioner then proceeds to go rogue, writing directly to big box stores to “encourage” them not to sell certain products from small businesses. He violated the confidentiality of the manufacturers. He didn’t appear to have any scientific or other research backing for his claims. He just decided to act.
‘“Commissioner Trumka’s actions have caused immense harm to small businesses by publicly encouraging retailers to stop selling the businesses’ products. Since his appointment by President Biden in 2021, not only has he pushed forward unnecessary burdensome regulations, but he has also acted unilaterally noting that ‘we do not have to wait for a federal rule’ to take certain actions against businesses and products he thinks are harmful. This statement came after Commissioner Trumka’s proposed rule to make weighted infant sleep products standards unnecessarily burdensome was rejected by the CPSC by a 3-1 vote. At the time, you, the Chairman of the CPSC, noted the CPSC had not conducted enough research to pursue rulemaking on the issue in 2024. However, despite losing the vote and the lack of research, Commissioner Trumka continued his pursuit to ban certain sleep weight products. On April 15, 2024, he issued a solo public statement: ‘Beware: Weighted Infant Swaddles and Blankets are Unsafe for Sleep; Retailers Should Consider Stopping Sales,’ condemning the weighted sleep products. This statement was published on CPSC’s official website and Commissioner Trumka signed the statement as ‘Your consumer advocate at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.’
‘“That same day, Commissioner Trumka sent letters to Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, and Babylist to urge them to stop selling weighted infant products. Within days, these retailers stopped selling the products. Making matters even worse, after these letters, Commissioner Trumka issued another public statement describing how he made Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, and Babylist to stop selling weighted blankets and reminding the public not to use the ‘dangerous’ weighted sleep products. Commissioner Trumka used the CPSC’s official letterhead—giving an appearance of presenting the CPSC’s views—and signed the letters himself.
‘“Commissioner Trumka failed to take ‘reasonable steps’ to meet the requirements of the statute before he disclosed the identities of the manufacturers of the weighted blankets. First, he failed to assure that the information is accurate. Next, he made allegations without the information being backed up by scientific research. For example, in the letters to the retailers,’
Commissioner Trumka stated, ‘I am aware of multiple infant deaths involving weighted infant.’ However, there is no citation to prove this very serious claim. Third, his assertions go directly against the CPSC’s decision and thus ‘disclosure of the information is’ not ‘reasonably related to effectuating the purposes of the CPSA.’ Furthermore, Commissioner Trumka admitted that he ‘tried to amend CPSC’s operating plan to start work on a rule to protect babies from weighted products but was unable to garner the necessary support at that time.’ Without support from the CPSC, the information can hardly be reasonably related to effectuate the purposes of the CPSA. Overall, it seems Commissioner Trumka did not establish ‘procedures designed to ensure that such information is accurate and not misleading.’
California will host a billion-dollar ‘hydrogen hub.’ What it means for our energy future
Can government spur the development of a new economy, here one focused on hydrogen power?
‘The idea is to seed the market with government money, set regulations that require reduction in greenhouse gases and create demand (currently close to nonexistent) and hope that a new technology or industry can scale up enough to dramatically reduce costs and prices.’