Articles by James D. Miller
Stimulating Ideas
I'm scared. Fears of a future recession are giving politicians an excuse to splurge. Hillary Clinton, for one, wants to spend $70 billion on a so-called anti-recession stimulus package that includes $30 billion in mortgage relief and $10 billion...
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A Thousand Chinese Einsteins Every Year
Humankind may be changed radically by the recently developed technique allowing the safe gathering of thousands of immature eggs from a woman's ovarian tissue. This technique combined with cheap DNA sequencing and embryo selection will soon allow parents to...
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The Free Market Case Against the Immigration Bill
Unskilled Immigrants + Large Welfare State = Higher Taxes The above equation shows why free market enthusiasts should oppose the current immigration bill. Yes, historically immigration has helped the U.S. economy. But our large welfare state combined with the...
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Free the Elderly
Let's give pharmaceutical freedom to our elderly. Elderly Americans should be legally permitted to use any drug their doctor approves of, even if the drug has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Consider a 90-year-old...
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A Minimum of Understanding
Democrats want to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. But raising the minimum wage will harm unskilled workers. If the price of gas went up by 40%, people would buy less gas. Similarly, if...
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War Games 2006
According to a well publicized article by Seymour Hersh, the U.S. is planning to attack Iran's nuclear weapons program. Israel could provide the U.S. with a perfect political justification for such a preemptive attack. And raging anti-Semitism will force both...
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Getting Mexico on Our Side
Ideally, Mexico would help us police our shared border. But Mexico receives huge remittances from its citizens unlawfully working in the U.S., so it's currently in Mexico's interest to promote illegal immigration. A well-designed guest worker program, however, coul
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Elevating Elephants
For the 2006 midterm elections, Republicans should propose an idea so big that it stretches to the stars. Republicans should commit the government to building a space elevator by 2020. A space elevator would essentially be a 62,000-mile cable stretching...
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Hey, Harvard, Hire Me!
Dear Harvard Corporation: You have just effectively fired Harvard president Larry Summers. I request that you consider me as his replacement. As you surely realize, the Summers controversy mirrors the fight over the Mohamed cartoons. Summers' original sin was sugge
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Exposing Moral Free-Riders
Dear President / Prime Minister / Chancellor: You, along with the leaders of many other nations, have morally condemned the United States' treatment of our terrorist prisoners. It's true that we use much harsher interrogation techniques on terrorists than...
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