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Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Archives: Manny Klausner's Greatest Hits
In the 1970s, Manuel "Manny" Klausner co-founded Reason Foundation, which publishes this magazine, and served as an editor and publisher of Reason. In March, Klausner died at age 85. He was a longtime libertarian and Reason Foundation trustee and a happy warrior for free minds and free markets. What follows is a sampling of Klausner's writing in Reason over the years. "As support for gay marriage increases in America, it becomes increasingly unlikely that gay couples will encounter serious difficulty in finding a florist or baker for their weddings. When one vendor turns a couple away, there are numerous others lining up to win that couple's business. The economic harm falls squarely on the person with the moral qualms. There's no doubt that emotional harm can result from being turned away from a business establishment because of who you love. But surely there is also harm when an American is forced to participate in an event that is contrary to his or her deeply held beliefs. A voluntary, market-oriented approach is the best way to reconcile the competing interests in such situations….Reason has favored gay civil unions since the 1970s, long before they received widespread support. But we've always insisted that the law respect views held by minorities, and as libertarians we oppose using coercion to compel conformity in the private sector." "Debate: Bakers Should Not Be Forced To Produce Cakes for Same-Sex Weddings" "Although it is commonly asserted that public schools are necessary to educate the poor, the term 'twelve-year sentence' has been aptly used to describe the public schools as analogous to a huge prison system which incarcerates the young. Perhaps the strongest case to maintain the present system is the ironic argument that the poor intentionally should be impeded and repressed by inferior schooling. It is hard to visualize a system of schooling that would function any worse for the poor than the system we have today. We urge radical educational reform as a top priority for those interested in personal liberty and in the goal of an educated populace. The program we advocate calls for the complete removal of government from the classroom." "Get Big Brother Out of the Schools" "What does REASON propose? We're strong advocates of allowing New York City to default. The consequences of a default would be positive and healthy. Instead of a bailout, which would benefit primarily the banks and wealthy investors who chose to buy New York City bonds—at a high yield—we believe it just for those who voluntarily put themselves in the position of lending money to the government to bear the risk of a default. Since these banks and investors never offered to forego their profits when times were good, we're hard put to see anything fair about them insisting that we now share their losses. Whether or not the city defaults, times are going to be rough in New York for awhile. But sooner or later, the city will be forced to change its ways and abandon its big-spending, high-taxing style. The financial crisis in New York was inevitable, and it presents an historic opportunity for reform for the aging metropolis: default." "Default" "In viewing the recently disclosed willingness of the Nixon administration to embrace extreme measures in the name of national security, it is pertinent to contrast the widespread acquiescence of the public towards encroachments on personal freedom which have regularly been taken by government in the campaign against drugs. The 'Watergate mentality' has its genesis in the imperial attitude that government knows what is best for its citizens and may use any means to accomplish its ends. The President's 1970 'intelligence operations' plan, devised for Nixon by Tom Huston, was not unique in providing for illegal entry and bugging against political dissenters. Authorization for surreptitious entry is expressly contained in the no-knock sections of the Drug Control Act of 1970." "Breaking and Entering as a Way of Life" "President Nixon's executive order providing for stabilization of prices, rents and wages is an act of supreme defiance against the free market and the freedom of Americans. Nixon's action was born of desperation, in the face of extreme pressure both domestically and internationally. His game plan to reduce inflation and end the recession was not on target, and Nixon was faced with rising unemployment together with rising prices in a dramatic practical refutation of the monetary and fiscal economic policies he sought to implement." "The Wage Price Freeze" The post Archives: Manny Klausner's Greatest Hits appeared first on
Gulf Today
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
If your commute is a nightmare, blame Congress
Matthew Yglesias, Tribune News Service America's mass transit agencies are teetering on the brink of collapse. The money they got from Congress to help them through COVID-19 is running out, but ridership remains below what it was before the pandemic. Lower fare revenue plus higher wage costs equals a bigger deficit. Unless state governments fill that gap, agencies will need to dramatically curtail service. Yet service levels are one of the primary determinants of ridership. Hence the increasing risk of a 'death spiral,' where revenue shortfalls lead to service cutbacks, which lead to lower revenue, which lead to service cuts, and so on. State legislatures should try to avoid this doom cycle, even though finding the money may be difficult. But there is a deeper issue here, beyond the question of less funding versus more, or higher versus lower levels of service: the declining labor productivity of transit agencies. The tasks performed by transit workers have remained basically the same for decades even as wages have risen to keep up with economy-wide trends. The agencies themselves deserve some blame for not finding ways to modernize operations and improve efficiency. But Congress itself is a major culprit — specifically, and sorry to wonk out here, Section 13(c) of the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964. This provision, as Marc Scribner of the Reason Foundation points out, makes cost-saving reforms difficult if not impossible. Some background: In the early 1960s, many private transit companies were being taken over by state or city governments. The rise of the automobile greatly had reduced the commercial viability of these networks, yet then as now they were seen as important public services. Private transit companies were widely unionized at the time, but public sector unions were rare. There was a (quaint-sounding by contemporary standards) concern that taking agencies public would serve as a form of union-busting. So the law required that agencies which receive federal funding, which was essentially all of them, to protect collective bargaining rights, guarantee re-employment of workers who lost their jobs, and safeguard employees 'against a worsening of their positions.' The upshot is that not only do transit agencies face all the usual obstacles to making their workforce more efficient, they are in many respects prohibited from doing so. For example, there are basically two ways that a transit agency can provide bus service. The standard way in the U.S. is that the transit agency owns and maintains the buses and employs the drivers. In the rest of the world, however, it is more common for the transit agency to act as a contractor: It draws up the service map and frequency it wants, and lets private companies bid on the job. As a striking paper published in 2017 notes, by fully switching to a contracting model, U.S. transit agencies could reduce bus operating costs by 30% with no reduction in service. That sounds like an almost ridiculously large cost saving. Yet the result doesn't stem from any magic privatization fairy dust — it's simply that union contracts pay bus drivers (and other transit employees) above-market wages. So transit agencies could privatize in order to avoid the union premium and save money. Or they could deprive workers of their collective bargaining rights and save money. Except that under federal law, they can't actually do either of those things. In the longer term, of course, there is incredible promise in autonomous driving. Right now in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, it's possible to ride in a driverless taxi. It will soon be possible in other cities. Creating a driverless car that works is a difficult engineering challenge. A self-driving train, by contrast, is fairly trivial — it turns on tracks and does not need to steer around objects or even engage with other vehicles except to have an emergency stopping function. Precisely because the driverless train is a much simpler problem, the technology is neither new nor particularly exotic. The subway systems of Dubai and Copenhagen are fully automated, and the Paris Metro is partially so. Automated train systems are used in many US airports. Automated trains provide a kind of double dividend — they are both cheaper to operate and, since they can drive safely with less spacing between them, allow for more frequent service.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Abundant Life of Manny Klausner
Tariffs are, among other things, a crime against Manny Klausner's dinner table. As a man who reveled in the pleasures of a perfect bottle of wine and an impeccably crafted cheese—no matter what distant land they hailed from—he found the protectionist impulse that has taken hold in the current political moment not just economically illiterate but personally offensive. Manny's libertarianism wasn't an abstract policy preference. It was rooted in his life: a life lived joyfully, passionately, and without permission. Klausner, co-founder of Reason Foundation and longtime torchbearer for individual liberty, passed away in March at the age of 85. He was many things—a lawyer, an editor, a generous mentor, a tireless advocate for free minds and free markets—but above all, he was a man who fully appreciated the fruits of freedom. Shortly after its inception, when Reason was a scrappy operation running on fumes and mimeograph ink, Manny helped put it on more stable footing that made its long run possible. Along with Bob Poole and Tibor Machan, he established Reason Enterprises, which took over the task of publishing the magazine in 1971. Swapping the various roles of editor and publisher with the other two men, he steered the publication through its adolescence. "One of my favorite stories from the Reason Enterprises days," writes Poole, "was the aftermath of our 1973 Ayn Rand issue of Reason." This was an issue of the magazine featuring a pop-art portrait of the Atlas Shrugged author and a lengthy essay comparing that work to Plato's Republic. The issue is, if anything, a love letter. But Rand was famously hostile to libertarianism in all of its guises—and Machan had been excommunicated by Rand in the 1960s for asking the wrong questions in a letter. "Several months after it appeared," Poole explains, "we got a letter from Rand's attorney demanding that we publish a retraction and cease selling any back issues. Manny engaged in correspondence, which made no progress until he suggested that he would welcome the opportunity to defend us in a legal case named Rand v. Reason. That was the last we heard from that attorney." Long before it was fashionable, Manny took seriously the idea that libertarians should win. Not just in the courts—where he brought cases alongside his close friend and fellow litigator Ted Olsen—but also in the broader culture. (He was less successful in his early efforts to attain political office under the banner of the fledgling Libertarian Party.) He believed that beauty, pleasure, and good taste were not indulgences to be justified but evidence of a life well lived. He made the case, by example, that a principled life could also be an abundant one. It's fashionable at the moment to talk about living with less and returning to the old ways. Manny understood, better than anyone, the ways that physical stuff facilitates the good life—one of connection, engagement, and leisure for intellectual pursuits. He was an irrepressible optimist, who saw a better future around every corner. A passionately devoted husband, he saw no allure in a past where his marriage to the accomplished and beautiful Willette would have been illegal under miscegenation laws. In an era when many libertarians hoped to win the day with either stridency or mainline respectability, Manny cut a different path: sharp, stylish, and deeply principled. He was the kind of man who could debate the finer points of antitrust law over a perfect roast duck, and leave both the argument and the diner better off for it. In his obituary for co-founder Machan, Manny recalled that in early days of Reason, "no one had any sense of 'the libertarian moment.' Rather, it wasn't unusual to be referred to as a libertine—and I was once even mistakenly introduced as a librarian." In fact, Manny studied with Ludwig von Mises and sat at the feet of Murray Rothbard, but he wore his erudition lightly. He understood that no one changes their mind by being beaten down. One must persuade with carrots—ideally braised in brown butter and served alongside an aged rib-eye—not sticks. On Reason's fifth anniversary, Manny quoted Rothbard, who had recently declared that "no libertarian periodical, regardless of promotion, advertising, layout, or whatever….has been able to get its circulation above two or three thousand" and that "there seems no real warrant for gauging the [libertarian] movement at more than 3000." "We are delighted," wrote Klausner, "to be able to prove Dr. Rothbard's pessimism premature." He remained closely involved with Reason throughout his life, serving on Reason Foundation's board of trustees for decades and offering sharp-eyed copy edits on everything from fundraising appeals to cover stories. He was one of the magazine's fiercest protectors—always pushing us to be better, braver, and truer to our mission. To know Manny was to experience his generosity: with his time, his table, and his spirit. He hosted dazzling dinners full of laughter and smart people. And he never lost faith in the idea that persuasion, done right, could move the world. Manny Klausner lived his values. He knew that freedom isn't just about the right to say no—it's about the opportunity to say yes: to travel, to taste, to think, to risk, to love. And yes, to a bottle of burgundy that no government had any business trying to tariff into oblivion. He will be missed—and toasted often. The post The Abundant Life of Manny Klausner appeared first on
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
In 12 Years, This $40 Billion High-Speed Rail Line in Texas Has Not Laid a Single Foot of Track
The decade-plus battle to bring high-speed rail to Texas could soon be over. On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy delivered a blow to the project, known as Texas Central Railway, by rescinding a $63.9 million federal grant. Duffy called the project "a waste of taxpayer funds." The Texas Central Railway was unveiled in 2013 as a fully privately funded high-speed rail project connecting Dallas and Houston. Originally estimated to cost $10 billion, the project would be able to shuttle passengers between the state's two largest cities in 90 minutes (versus nearly four hours in a car). Like other high-speed rail projects before it, Texas Central has run into project delays and cost overruns. By 2019, the project's investors updated their original cost estimates to $20 billion. In 2020, project estimates were updated again to $30 billion. A 2023 analysis by Baruch Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation (the nonprofit that publishes Reason), estimates that the project's operating and construction costs will be at least $41.6 billion. In September 2024, the Biden administration awarded Amtrak a $64 million grant to move the project forward. Despite this federal support, Japanese investors backed out of the project after claiming to have lost $272 million. Kleinheinz Capital Partners, an investment firm headed by Fort Worth businessman John Kleinheinz, "bought its Japanese investors out of the project in January," reports The Texas Tribune, to become the rail line's controlling interest. Andy Jent, a representative of Texas Central, told the Tribune that the project had acquired 25 percent of the land it needed to build the route. Despite Tuesday's announcement from the Transportation Department, which also directed Amtrak to rescind project leadership, the project appears ready to forge ahead. "We agree with Secretary Duffy that this project should be led by the private sector, and we will be proud to take it forward," Kleinheinz Capital said in a statement. "Our interpretation of what the Department of Transportation released a couple of days ago is that number one, they don't want Amtrak leading this project," Jent told the Texas House of Representatives' Transportation Committee on Thursday. "We also don't believe that that's in the best interest of the state of Texas or in the best interest of this project." Despite the optimism, the project faces a long route to completion. The rail line has yet to lay a single foot of track or acquire the necessary permits to begin construction. In 2020, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a final environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act, which did "not grant any kind of construction approval or permit. Neither does this final rule, by itself, grant any permission or authority" for the company to operate. "The publication of this final rule is the beginning for [Texas Central Railroad], not the end, of its continuous obligation to demonstrate compliance with the regulation." As of January 2024, the project had not received the necessary permits from the federal Surface Transportation Board to begin construction. The city of Houston has not approved a terminal site for the train, but Dallas has spent $1.5 million on an economic feasibility study for the project, Dallas City Council member Omar Narvaez told KERA News. The project has also faced opposition from the state government. In 2017, Texas lawmakers passed a law prohibiting the Texas legislature from appropriating funds "related to the planning, facility construction or maintenance, security, or operation of a high-speed rail project operated by a private entity." In June 2022, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas Central could use eminent domain for the rail line, which has been met with staunch opposition from Texas landowners. This legislative session, state Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Waxahachie) introduced a bill that would prevent a private entity that operates high-speed rail from using eminent domain. Lawmakers are also considering a bill sponsored by Rep. Cody Harris (R–Palestine), which would make it impossible for state funds to be used to pay for the alteration of roadway because of high-speed rail construction. Jent told lawmakers on Thursday that he still considers the project alive, but Kleinheinz is not, at this time, "proposing construction of the project." Once the developers give the green light, Jent expects that it will take six months to finalize project planning. During that time, Texas Central would secure more financing and submit a final permit to the Surface Transportation Board. Jent expects it would then take 80–86 months to complete construction of the project. This estimation is a bit ambitious, Feigenbaum tells Reason. With the project's cost ballooning from $10 billion to over $40 billion, "I don't see how they're going to come up with" the funding that's needed for the rail line, he says. In his testimony to lawmakers, Jent said that he expects the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to "provide some form of financing" in the future (although the bank is not funding the project right now). Feigenbaum says the project, which was essentially dormant before, will likely become dormant again. The post In 12 Years, This $40 Billion High-Speed Rail Line in Texas Has Not Laid a Single Foot of Track appeared first on
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ohio Ranks 10th in nation for highway performance, cost-effectiveness
A new report ranked Ohio's highways 10th in the nation for cost-effectiveness and condition. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] News Center 7 spoke to residents who couldn't believe highways, like I-75, is part of one of the nation's best highway systems. Sasha Johnson drives from Dayton to West Chester every week for work. TRENDING STORIES: Middle school coach placed on leave after sexual battery accusations Road closed in Oregon District after large section of building crumbles Body of missing Ohio teen found; Father charged in disappearance She said the highway is usually in good condition when she's on her commute but was surprised to learn Ohio's highways are Top 10. 'I didn't realize that. I would have thought it would be like 20th or something,' Johnson said. Reason Foundation's Annual Highway Report ranked Ohio based on cost-effectiveness and condition. Drivers said the construction projects on highways are keeping conditions good. 'They're doing some work on them so they're getting better. City streetways are a little bumpy, potholes here and there. But highways are pretty fine,' Brandon West said. David Dilley is from Dayton and sees the report as a sign of improvement statewide. 'I've traveled all over the country. I mean, LA freeways are crazy. Washinton D.C. is crazy ... Ohio they don't seem to be as well maintained as other states,' Dilley said. The report states that Ohio drivers spend about 12 hours a year stuck in traffic. Ohio ranked 14 out of 50 for traffic congestion. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
