ARNOLD KLING
August 14, 2011
The Top Political Contributors
August 11, 2011
Gender and the New Commanding Heights
August 11, 2011
Jamie Galbraith Makes an Assumption
August 11, 2011
Macroeconometrics: The Science of Hubris
August 10, 2011
Real and Nominal Bond Yields
BRYAN CAPLAN
August 14, 2011
The Effect of Thumb Sucking on Income
August 12, 2011
The Voice of Cold, Hard Truth to All Would-Be Educators
August 12, 2011
Ability, Morality, and Prosperity: A Paper and a Report
August 11, 2011
The Theory of Time and Frittering
August 10, 2011
Male Variance and the Remnants of the Gender Gap
DAVID HENDERSON
August 9, 2011
Hayek in "Unbroken", Part Two
August 8, 2011
Hayek in "Unbroken"
August 5, 2011
James Bovard on the Peace Corps
August 4, 2011
Summers Way Off on FDR and 1941
August 3, 2011
The "Amazon" Tax
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"No word yet on whether the FTC plans to go after Congressmen and political appointees who fail to disclose conflicts of interest when they advocate particular policies after having received thousands of dollars from those who stand to benefit from the policies."
Oh, snap! Very nicely put, but I guess the sad truth of the matter is that not only will the FTC do nothing of the sort but the majority of the public won't even think about that aspect.
One of the points made during Obama's campaign was that his administration would be better than Bush's and more ethical. I fail to see how it is ethical to adopt regulations that violate the First Amemdment. If I create a blog and brag about my old, reliable Subaru Legacy GT, it's no one's business whether I receive any compensation from Subaru. I may choose to post my involvement with Subaru, but the FTC should not be able to force me to either make such a statement or remove from my blog all favorable comments about my Subaru.
I also foresee a follow-up FTC ruling: if you say bad things about a product, you will have to indicate whether you receive compensation from (or own stock in) a competitor.
How does this fall under the jurisdiction of the FTC and not the FCC?
Do they go after magazines and television too?
This is a serious violation of freedom of the press, but this isn't the first time the government has used a double standard on the internet vs. other forms of media.
Mr. T, the FTC is an independent commission and, I'm pretty sure 3 of the 5 commissioners are GOP appointees, and all of them are pre-Obama.
There are many things you can fault him for, but I don't think this is one of them.
This isn't really a partisan thing. Regulatory capture is a fact of life. When politicians claim otherwise and promise a more ethical government -- and both sides do -- they're either naive or lying.
Hey, here's an idea. The FTC couldn't do this if there was no FTC...