You know things are getting bad when a $3 billion casino project on the Las Vegas strip faces forclosure.
Category: Economy (Page 14 of 14)
Steve Forbes has been saying this for years. The Bush administration’s failure to aggressively support the dollar has created serious economic problems.
The dumbest, most destructive economic policy of the Bush Administration has been its weak-dollar position–letting the dollar slide in value against the euro, the yen, the pound and gold. The repeatedly disproved theory in operation here is that cheapening your currency will improve your trade balance and that an improved trade balance makes your economy stronger and wealthier. Put aside the meaninglessness of the trade balance as a measure of economic health or sickness–the U.S., after all, has had a trade deficit with the rest of the world for 350 years out of the last 400. A weak-currency policy has disastrous economic and political consequences–most immediately, our tumultuous equity markets.
The entire article is worth reading. He even acknowledges that Clinton deserves credit for his strong-dollar policy.
The battle is heating up on Capital Hill:
The Pokers Players Alliance is pushing a bill sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would legalize and regulate Internet gambling, overturning a ban that became law after former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) inserted it into port security legislation late last year.
For poker players, whose association membership exceeds 800,000, time is at a premium. They want lawmakers to reverse the ban before some of the Frist regulations go into effect next year.
They recruited former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) to lead PPA, and they brought in professional players to make their case to members last week, including World Poker Series players Chris Moneymaker, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. D’Amato’s message to his former colleagues is clear — online gambling could generate $3 billion in taxes a year if the federal government regulated the industry.
That could present a tempting new revenue source for cash-starved Democrats anxious to implement new programs. But the odds are still not in PPA’s favor.
It’s facing a predictable head-to-head fight with family and evangelical organizations that say gambling leads to tragic addiction and compromises the moral fabric of the family.
When are we going to stop letting these Bible-thumpers run our lives? Why do we have to have prohinition against gambling just because some people are too weak or irresponsible to control themselves?
It’s encouraging to see the groundswell of support for sensible legislation legalizing online gambling, particularly games of skill like poker.
Republicans should ask themselves if they can continue to support a party that prevents them for enjoying games like poker. What ever happened to libertarian Republicans? Hopefully they’ll all vote for Ron Paul!
Add George Will to the growing list of commentators who are ridiculing the new law passed by the Republican Congress to limit online gambling. Will calls it “Prohibition II” and argues that we need to fight excessive paternalism by the government.
Granted, some people gamble too much. And some people eat too many cheeseburgers. But who wants to live in a society that protects the weak-willed by criminalizing cheeseburgers? Besides, the problems—frequently exaggerated—of criminal involvement in gambling, and of underage and addictive gamblers, can be best dealt with by legalization and regulation utilizing new software solutions. Furthermore, taxation of online poker and other gambling could generate billions for governments.
We need a new movement to keep the government out of our lives. Following the Terry Schiavo fiasco, many liberals have rediscovered the notion that too much intervention by the government can be a very bad thing. Libertarian conservatives like George Will are taking on the cultural conservatives on these issues. Unfortunately, many of our politicians on the right and the left still don’t seem to get it. Perhaps this stupid law can help. By pissing off the legions of poker players and other normal Americans who like to bet online, the politicians who want to control our lives might have finally gone too far.
I’m hoping more politicians on the left and the right pick up on this trend.
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