Milton Friedman once observed that “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” To be sure, spending bills or regulations initially sold as limited responses to specific conditions often take on a life of their own. They create constituencies that receive funds or protection from the program and thus have a strong interest in converting the temporary into the permanent.

Socialism’s popularity is reviving in America. 

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez captured a seat in the new Congress and is calling for confiscatory tax rates at the same time Democratic Socialist candidates are thriving in many areas of the nation. The Washington Post reported in July that it’s “been a good summer for the Democratic Socialists of America,” who have “never had more adherents or more clout.” The Democratic Socialists of America openly calls for the abolition of capitalism.

A federal court ruling in Iowa could signal the unraveling of North Caroina’s harsh, punitive and shortsighted anti-whistleblower law.

A few weeks ago in this column, I lamented the loss of the Sears Wish Book. A lot of you were kind enough to share your memories of the Wish Book and my wife and I shared a few hours looking at them online. If you have been following the news in the last few days, you will have noticed that Sears has passed its time on life support and is likely to start liquidation proceedings in the next few weeks. I'm not going to bore you with the numbers and statistics or even a brief history of Sears. That stuff can be read in the real news.