Some Snippets from Recent Reading

From Milton Friedman, on death by a thousand taxes:

We are not going to vote anyone out of office because he imposes a $3-a-year burden on us.

From Nicole Gelinas, City Journal Spring 2010, on municipal bankruptcies:

State governments can't legally declare bankruptcy to escape debt: the federal bankruptcy code doesn't cover them, and they can't write their own bankruptcy laws because the Constitution reserves that power for the federal government. Cities, towns, and counties, meanwhile, can file for bankruptcy only if their state governments allow it, and more than half of the states don't. Moreover, federal law requires eligible cities and towns to meet a strict standard for insolvency.

From James Madison, on power:

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.