TESLA IS ‘ONE OF THE MOST SHORTED STOCKS ON WALLS STREET’: Peter Roff explains why.

WELL I NEVER: Global warming mitigation schemes, such as a global carbon tax, would do much more harm to food security than global warming itself, says the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. What they suggest is that the developing world should use more advanced technology. In other words, let the developing world develop.

MINISTRY OF TRUTH CULTURE: Moviepass is failing, so it needs to be nationalized.

Yes, she’s serious (ETA: yes, I assumed gender…).

THIS IS HOW WE GOT BREXIT: Over at Samizdata, Natalie Solent explains the ceremonious process of kowtowing to the dictates of Brussels, how Britain has never been any good at that game, and how Ireland is (and why that might lead to the end of the spoken Irish language).

THIS ISN’T THE REGTECH I WAS PROMISED: Anti-smoking activists *hate* vaping, despite the demonstrable reduction in harm thanks to the technology (my wife gave up smoking cigarettes thanks to vaping). There has been an aggressive astroturf campaign aimed at the FDA in favor of anti-vaping regulations – and by astroturf I mean “submitting 255,000 fake comments from a single Internet bot.”

My colleague Michelle Minton has written a bunch on vaping and its role in harm reduction.

HATE YOUNG PEOPLE? TRY A MINIMUM WAGE: More evidence of the harm minimum wages are doing to young people trying to gain job skills, this time from Minnesota:

Following the minimum wage increases limited service restaurant employment fell by 4% in Minnesota relative to Wisconsin. Further, youth employment fell by 9% in Minnesota following the minimum wage increases, while it increased by 10.6% in Wisconsin over the same time period.

Oh, and restaurant food prices started increasing after they’d been falling for years.

MAKING A DOG’S BREAKFAST OF BREXIT: Last week, Teresa May’s government released a paper explaining how it would approach negotiations over Brexit with the European Union. The strategy appears to be to give away the shop. My reaction is here, and those with an eye for the detail can read Brexit expert Lee Rotherham’s in-depth discussion here. As I note, the negotiating stance will likely make a UK-US free trade deal impossible, but that’s not even the silliest thing in the paper. As Lee notes,

For some reason, the Conservative Government is endorsing the Social Chapter [on labor and employment rules] as a core part of future economic policy, and a baseline of its negotiating strategy. This is beyond not wise.

Indeed.

The good news is that the howl of betrayed Brexit voters over the weekend appears to have been heard, and May has backed down on some key parts of the strategy that are up for a vote in Parliament this week.

For any other Prime Minister, this would probably be fatal. Teresa May, however, appears to have no intention of resigning.

HOW LABOR REGULATION HARMS UNSKILLED WORKERS: Warren Meyer of Coyoteblog fame is an old-fashioned entrepreneur, in that he runs businesses that hire unskilled workers. It’s old-fashioned because labor regulation has made it extremely difficult to do that today. Warren explains how in the cover story to this Summer’s Regulation magazine. He also has a follow-up post explaining how he came to write the story, and answering predictable objections to it here.

SCOTUS JUST GAVE CALIFORNIA THE POWER TO TAX YOU: As Glenn notes, the Supreme Court  today allowed states to tax purchases made online from out-of-state sellers. I seem to remember something about “No taxation without representation,” but apparently the majority (weirdly, Kennedy, Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito, and…Ginsburg) forgot that. The opinion is a real piece of work, even going full “You didn’t build that” at one point. Roberts’ dissent is right on the money, pointing out that such a dramatic change to the internet economy could have far-reaching consequences, and that Congress is much better suited to address the issue.

In any event, here are some pertinent comments from colleagues who submitted an amicus brief to the court in favor of the status quo:

Jessica Melugin: “Stopping state regulatory and tax power at each state’s border should be the default rule for online commerce, but the Supreme Court has chosen to set state tax authorities loose on small online businesses and their customers across the country.

Erik Jaffe: “We are disappointed the Supreme Court today, in allowing states to extend their taxing authority beyond their borders, passed up an opportunity to reassert the horizontal federalism principles of the Constitution. Rather, adopting mistaken notions that state sovereignty extends beyond state borders and that the purchasing power of state citizens are assets belonging to the state, the court fundamentally subverts federalism.

“Instead, the only check on state overreach is now the court’s legislative judgment under a dormant commerce clause jurisprudence that gets both the commerce clause and the judicial role in enforcing it wrong. Hopefully, Congress will see the folly of this approach and act to constrain state encroachment on interstate commerce.”

Finally, I’ll note that some states are eager to tax people who put up links to companies like Amazon on their websites. Sorry, bloggers…

SOMEONE FOUND A USE FOR TWITTER: For every time this tweet is retweeted, Country Time will add a dollar to its Lemon-Ade (ha!) legal defense fund for young entrepreneurs harassed by busybodies and bureaucrats:

Kids across the country are getting busted for operating lemonade stands without a permit. We’re taking the lead to #SaveLemonadeStands by paying for kids’ fines + permits this year. For every RT this gets we’ll donate $1 (up to $500,000) to help kids next year + beyond.

— CountryTime (@CountryTime) June 7, 2018

My colleague Ryan Young has more here.

HOW TO SAVE THE AUTO INDUSTRY: President Obama claimed he saved the auto industry with his bailouts. President Trump is saving the industry in a different way – by axing the terrible CAFE standards that have added so much to the cost of a new car over the years (as well as making cars less safe). Peter Roff has the details.

THOSE JOBS NUMBERS LOOK EVEN BETTER: The Washington Post grudgingly admits one amazing thing about today’s excellent jobs numbers – the black unemployment rate is now closer than it ever has been to the white unemployment rate. As the Post notes, in the past when the numbers got close it was because white unemployment was rising. That’s not the case today. Meanwhile, the New York Times says, “We Ran Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are.” It’s shocking what a supply-side cocktail of lower taxes, less regulation, and allowing businesses to get on with their jobs can do.

WASHING OUT BAD REGULATION: If you’ve bought a dishwasher recently, like I have, you’ve probably noticed that you need to run it on the heavy setting to get your dishes clean – and it runs for hours to do so. You can probably guess why – “energy efficiency” regulations from the Department of Energy. However, the law authorizing the regulations includes a provision to “preclude DOE from promulgating a standard that manufacturers are only able to meet by adopting engineering changes that eliminate performance characteristics.” What this means is that the DOE can actually create a class of dishwasher that can get your dishes clean in a hour.

So the Competitive Enterprise Institute has asked Secretary Perry to do so. Or, in the words of the Daily Caller, “Energy Department Petitioned to Stop Making Dishwashers Even Crappier.” As with all petitions, we need your help. To file comments (just a sentence or two will do, perhaps noting your own experience with crappy dishwashers), go to www.dishwasherchoice.com. Or you can go to www.regulations.gov and search for “dishwashers.” Let’s make America’s dishwashers clean again!

SANCTIONED BULLIES: In Stephen’s post below he says he has “long had philosophical and practical issues with antitrust law.” That’s the right attitude to take, even when prima facie there looks to be a case of bullying behavior by a corporation, especially when it looks like a local monopoly. That’s because, as sure as God made little green apples, you can bet there’s government standing behind the corporation, enabling its behavior. The local cable market is full of government kickbacks and barriers to competition. If you don’t want Comcast behaving in this way, help us remove state and local government impediments to competition (PDF link), which would, I should note, be a proper use of the Commerce Clause.

YOU TOO CAN USE 300% RENEWABLE ENERGY: Major companies are claiming that they are now using 100 percent renewable energy. Yet, only 15 percent of US power is renewable. have they built their own wind farms? No, they’re relying on a government-designed accounting trick. And like most accounting tricks, it’s easy to spot when things are awry:

[M]ajor department store Kohl’s managed to clock in at 115%. (!?!) But that’s nothing compared to Netflix, who used 298% renewable resources and Ikea managed 310%. That’s right. Ikea is listed as having consumed renewable energy at a rate more than three times the total amount of energy they actually consumed. It’s a Festivus miracle!

And in the annals of efficient government, we should tip the hat to Washington DC, which (of course) gets 122% of the power it uses from renewable sources.

ZOMBIE POLICY SHAMBLES UP AGAIN: Every so often some dimwit decides to push the idea that that paragon of efficiency, the US Postal Service, should run a business the private sector already provides adequately. In this case, it’s Senator Gillibrand who wants the USPS to provide retail banking services, including short-term loans with low fees and interest rates. There is a reason why the private sector has to charge high fees and interest rates for short-term unsecured loans, and it isn’t predation. But I’m sure the innovative and nimble minds at the USPS can square this circle easily without going broke on the taxpayer’s dime.

[UPDATE: A colleague points out to me that at least the USPS provides service on a unit price basis, rather than getting a lump sum from Congress, which actually makes it one of the more efficient parts of government. That says more about government efficiency in general than it does about the USPS, though…]

DICK THE BUTCHER WOULD CALL IT A START: The Supreme Court has granted cert in Frank v. Gaos, a case brought by my colleague Ted Frank. The case draws attention to the abuse of a legal doctrine called cy pres, which is used to enrich trial lawyers’ favored charities – like their alma maters – that have nothing to do with the case at hand. In this case, a class action provided $0 to class members and $8.5 million to be divided between the plaintiffs’ lawyers – who received $1000/hour on this case – and third-party charities unrelated to the class. A favorable decision in the case could rein in this lawyers’ shakedown racket. You can read more about the case here.

OPERATION CHOKE POINT, NEW YORK STYLE: New York’s Governor Cuomo and the NY Department of Financial services are asking New York based banks and financial institutions to examine the “reputational risk” posed by business relationships with an “extremist organization,” the National Rifle Association. If that sounds like Operation Choke Point to you, Bingo. Brian Knight has more on this attempt to suppress free speech and association here.

TINO (TORIES IN NAME ONLY): Allister Heath writes in The Daily Telegraph (free registration required) about Britain’s very unconservative Conservative government:

True, the pound is recovering, unemployment is at its lowest level since 1975, and real pay is growing again, but the government cannot take much credit. It pays lip-service to entrepreneurship but appears never to have seen a company, transaction or contract it doesn’t want to regulate, tax or subsidise. It confuses book-keeping with conservatism, which is all about upsizing individuals, families and communities and shrinking officialdom’s sphere of influence. It has no interest in supply-side economics, or in the idea that cutting taxes is good for self-reliance, or that we must reform public services by learning from Singapore or Switzerland.

Part of the reason for this hopeless managerialism? A very British Deep State:

It feels as if the machinery of government is in fact controlled by an alliance of social-democrats, corporatists and bureaucrats. For every problem, there must be a state solution; in the absence of any kind of principled conservatism, the default “philosophy” is that the official in Whitehall knows best. The elites are in disarray over Brexit, but continue to hold sway over almost all else: those in charge are paid up members of the Left-wing consensus, guaranteeing that whatever nostrum is fashionable is soon translated into policy. There is thus little difference between decisions taken under the previous or current Prime Ministers.

Andrew Allison of the (excellent) Freedom Association has more thoughts here. It is  darned odd that the British polity was dominated by Thatcherism and Blairism from 1979 to 2010, and yet neither philosophy has a political home at present.

WORST BUREAUCRAT EVER: Mick Mulvaney has asked for less power in his office at the CFPB. I say we give it to him.

THE WORKING CLASS CAN KISS MY FOOT: From Thomas Piketty, of all sources, an illuminating graph of how parties of the working class in the USA, Britain, and France all became parties of university graduates.

How left-wing parties in France, Britain & the US went from being parties for workers to parties for university graduates

Source: Piketty pic.twitter.com/cc5ldlyYBj

— Matthew Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) April 20, 2018

(The title of this post comes from a scurrilous old British ditty about class warfare, sung to the tune of The Red Flag, which went “The working class can kiss my foot, I’ve got the foreman’s job at last.” The actual word sung may not have been foot.)

WHO’D BE A COLLEGE ENTERTAINMENTS OFFICER?: Oxford College cancels marijuana-themed social event over fears of cultural appropriation. I suppose you could call this endless trumping that goes on in leftist circles wokemanship.

THIS MAY BE A DISTRACTION FROM BREXIT: British PM Teresa May is calling on world leaders to join her in banning plastic straws, cotton buds and coffee stirrers. From the comments: “Will I be arrested and charged for being in possession of a straw?” Given the way Britain is going, the answer is probably yes…

THAT AUTO MAKE ‘EM THINK: The Senate voted 51-47 (with Sen. Manchin of West Virginia siding with the GOP) today to disapprove CFPB action restricting auto loan financing practices. This is important for several reasons. First, the action circumvented notice-and-comment, being a guidance document rather than a rule. Secondly, the CFPB was forbidden from regulating auto loans by the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB. Thirdly, the guidance was several years old, which normally means that the Congressional Review Act doesn’t apply. In this case, however, the CFPB never bothered to submit the guidance for review, so the CRA clock was still ticking. My colleague John Berlau congratulates Sen. Moran (Kansas) for bringing this up here.

Of course, if an agency doesn’t bother to follow the law and submit its rules and guidance to the Congress, the rules probably shouldn’t be valid anyway.

AS IF THE EPA COULDN’T GET ANY WORSE: It actually indulges in useless testing on animals with our tax dollars, something the EPA itself admits is slow, costly, and ineffective, and competing with private industry testing. White Coat Waste is on the case. Of course, it’s all about emissions testing.