Thomas Frank Gets It Right

For Once, Thomas Frank Gets It Right.

Commenting on Joe Barton’s description of Obama's demand for an escrow fund, WSJ columnist Frank wrote : “And this, in turn, is merely an expression of the permanently upside-down political universe of the right, in which the law is criminal, cynicism is a form of idealism, and bleeding-heart liberals are really soulless monsters in love with the power of the state for the same reason that gangsters are fond of their Uzis: because it is the weapon that allows them to plunder and loot the productive members of society.” I could disagree with a word choice here or there: For “law” substitute “politician’s arbitrary demand” and for “cynicism” substitute “the virtue of selfishness.” But other than that, yeah: basically correct.

What America Could Learn from Sweden. A Reason TV production that is very much worth watching.

The Gulf Spill. The WSJ’s Holman Jenkins is, as always, a voice of sanity : “Why,” he asks, “don't we articulate to ourselves that we've decided to accept the possibility of certain catastrophes?” The reason, I suspect, is that capitalists feel themselves at a moral disadvantage vis-à-vis collectivists, and so feel pressured to over-promise the practical benefits and to underplay the material costs of industrial capitalism.

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