Cato Recent Op-eds http://www.cato.org/recent_opeds.php amast@cato.org (Andrew Mast) The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace. Toward that goal, the Institute strives to achieve greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in questions of policy and the proper role of government. en-us Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT John McCain's Foreign Policy Judgment is Questionable by Ted Galen Carpenter and Malou Innocent http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9595 A major theme of John McCain's campaign is that he has far more experience in foreign affairs than does Barack Obama. McCain has now escalated his attacks by targeting Obama's judgment as well — especially the latter's pessimism about the effectiveness of the]]> Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9595 The Greenback and Commodity Prices by Steve H. Hanke http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9596 The Federal Reserve's modus operandi is to panic at the sight of real or perceived economic troubles. As long as inflation remains at, or below, its "target level", the Fed provides emergency relief. It does this by pushing interest rates below where]]> Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9596 Oil and Oily Politicians by Richard W. Rahn http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9591 If you had to bet whether the price of oil would be higher or lower 10 years in the future, what would you say?

Some argue that the world is running out of low-cost oil and that oil prices will get higher and higher. Others argue that the current high price of]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9591 On Thin Ice by Ted Galen Carpenter http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9592 Shortly before noon yesterday, President Bush issued a statement in the Rose Garden about the military conflict between Russia and Georgia. Most of his statement could be classified as wishful thinking and diplomatic posturing. For example, he proclaimed that the United]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9592 Preliminary Conclusions From The War In Georgia by Andrei Illarionov http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9590 It is already possible to outline some theses related to the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

  • The war was a spectacular provocation that had been long prepared and successfully executed by the Russian "siloviki" — those in government with]]> Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9590 Trade with China Gets the Gold by Will Wilkinson http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9589 The lavish opening ceremony of this summer's Beijing Olympic Games was, well, wow -- $100 million of wow. That comes to about $8,000 per second of wow.

    Thirty years ago, the average person in China lived on less than $2 a day. Not so much wow. What happened?]]> Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9589 Time for U.S. to Embrace "Constructive Disengagement" from the Mideast by Leon T. Hadar http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9588 Political observers predict that Barack Obama, who has been critical of the Bush Doctrine of promoting unilateral regime change and spreading democracy in the Middle East, is going to transform U.S. policy there. I'm not holding my breath.

    Even under the]]> Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9588 A Big Surprise on Gas by Indur Goklany and Jerry Taylor http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9585 You may not believe it, but fuel is more affordable than it was during the early '60s.

    Barack Obama thinks the government should intervene on gas prices to "give families some relief," and last week called for releasing 70 million barrels of]]> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9585 China Grows 'Faster, Higher, Stronger' by James A. Dorn http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9587 From an economic perspective, no country better represents the Olympic motto — "faster, higher, stronger" — than China. During the last 30 years of opening to the outside world and economic liberalization, China has grown to be the world's third-largest]]> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9587 Contractors vs. Genocide? by David Isenberg http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9586 The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion piece on July 29 calling for the use of private security contractors to help transform the 9,000 or so African Union soldiers in Darfur into a more effective U.N. peacekeeping force.

    The op-ed, titled]]> Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9586 What Next for D.C.'s Gun Laws by Robert A. Levy and David Kopel http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9584 The Supreme Court ruled in June that provisions of Washington, D.C.'s gun laws are unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the city has responded with new regulations that are a flagrant attempt to circumvent the court's decision.

    It's time for Congress to use the]]> Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9584 No Tax Increase Needed by Richard W. Rahn http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9583 Over the past 40 years, do you think the federal government has become relatively larger or smaller in relation to the size of the economy?

    Please take a look at the table below and perhaps, surprisingly, you will see that the federal government, in terms of]]> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9583 Wrong Then, Too by Jerry Taylor http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9582 Let's not repeat Jimmy Carter's energy mistakes.

    On July 15, 1979, Pres. Jimmy Carter gave a televised address to the nation about America's "crisis of confidence" and how that crisis was feeding "a fundamental threat to American]]> Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9582 Global Political Hypocrisy by Richard W. Rahn http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9581 Two of the following three news stories are true and one is not. Which ones do you think are true?

    Story No. 1: "A new commission appointed by Norway will investigate ways of putting a stop to the huge flows of money into tax havens. Tax]]> Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9581 Are PMCs POWs? by David Isenberg http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9580 The recent rescue of three U.S. private military contractors, held for more than five years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, highlights one of the perils of the industry -- they don't get the same legal protections as regular military]]> Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9580 Plenty of Blame for All on Doha Collapse by Sallie James http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9579 We can expect the usual finger-pointing as World Trade Organization (WTO) members come to grips with the collapse of the perennially struggling Doha round of trade talks.

    Members and trade observers went through a roller-coaster ride of imminent success and]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9579 Energy Plan Ads Just a Bunch of Wind? by Will Wilkinson http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9575 Maybe you've seen T. Boone Pickens' commercial by now. The corporate takeover artist and hedge fund chairman is in the process of building the world's largest wind farm. He's also the nation's largest supplier of transportation-related natural gas.

    Imagine]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9575 Higher Math by Neal McCluskey http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9576 One-thousand-one-hundred-fifty-eight is a pretty big number, especially if you're talking about pages you've got to read. To get your bearings, "War and Peace," long the standard for overwhelming verbiage, weighs in at about 1,500 pages, while on the other side your]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9576 Bad Trade by Daniel J. Ikenson http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9577 Considering the disposition of the 110th Congress, it's probably just as well that the Doha World Trade negotiations failed to produce any new agreements. Litigation and enforcement — not cooperation or negotiation — are in vogue with the trade leadership on Capitol]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9577 Color the Nation's Political Map Purple by Ilya Shapiro http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9578 The 2000 and 2004 presidential elections were two of the closest in U.S. history, and produced nearly identical electoral maps - only Iowa, New Hampshire, and New Mexico switched parties. This result set begat the rigid pundit orthodoxy that America has become a "50-50]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9578