http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/ Academic commentary on law, business, economics and more Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6013 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:17:16 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6013 [...] has once again descended on the Windy City. It previously sought to protect us from unhealthy trans fats, smoking in private establishments that we voluntarily patronize, and those oh-so-offensive [...]

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6012 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:37:11 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6012 [...] a move stupider even than Chicago’s foie gras and trans fat bans (on which see Thom here), California appears to be set to ban . . . wait for it . . . big TVs.  Environmentalists, those [...]

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6011 Tue, 29 May 2007 02:00:51 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6011 [...] previously tiraded about paternalism in my beloved Chicago. I won’t beat that dead horse, but I just can’t [...]

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6010 Tue, 18 Jul 2006 17:35:05 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6010 [...] Today’s NYT contains an article on Chicago’s proposed trans-fat ban, which I criticized a couple of weeks ago. Most revealing is the chief ban proponent’s response to the argument that the city council should not try to regulate people’s (non-externality-causing) bad habits: And if the City Council had agreed to simply steer clear of peoples’ bad habits, said Mr. Burke, an influential alderman who long pushed to ban smoking in indoor public spaces, Chicago might never have passed the smoking ban that went into effect this year…. [...]

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6009 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:13:15 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6009 Only one thing gives me hope that the Food Gestapo will fail where the smoking police succeeded: fat people are a protected class in this country. It will be interesting to see which impule wins: the nanny impulse to save us from ourselves, or the PC impulse to save obese people from stigmatization. It will be hard to ban fat while telling fat people “you’re fine just the way you are” and protecting them under the ADA.

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6008 Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:37:31 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/2006/06/29/whats-the-matter-with-chicago/#comment-6008 I’m just glad that the worst of the nanny-staters congregate in cities leaving us suburbanites (mostly) alone. Though I wonder how much longer they can increase regulations, laws and taxes before the city becomes a wasteland.
Chicago doesn’t seem to be suffering that fate, though I have often wondered what benefit businesses have to operate there.

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