They negatively impact the most vulnerable who are willing to supply their skills and labor but cannot afford thousands of dollars required to get a license. Underserved communities are the most impacted by the reduced supply of willing labor as they simply don't receive the services they need at the prices they can afford.

Which services ought not to require licensure? Anything that you would trust your friend, neighbor, or partner to do, need not be licensed. If being licensed allows differentiated services and higher prices, that is great but willing buyers/sellers should not be prevented from doing business. Think beauticians, cosmetologists, landscapers, house trades, hundreds of categories of work.

I advocate for a code that allows tax filing on a postcard. No loopholes, no special interest tax breaks, no storing receipts in a shoe box, no spending hours on preparing taxes, no paying hundreds of dollars to tax accountants, no angst and no anxiety.

On a post card, write your income, multiply it by the tax rate, send in your check if you haven't already pre-paid. The tax rates can be adjusted for fairness and progressivity. At the very least, we should allow taxpayers to choose between this and the current system. Americans can decide between the savings, if any, and the effort and aggravation of the month of April.

I am far from a legal expert. But to the extent possible, I support legislative efforts to contain the epidemic of litigiousness that largely benefits only the lawyer class.

Shareholder Lawsuits. It is crazy that we allow plaintiff attorneys to start a class action lawsuit with a handful of shareholders. It is crazy that most companies find it more expedient to settle these lawsuits than fight them. It is crazy shareholders receive postcards (which most ignore) in the mail requesting an opt in to receive the minimal settlement benefit while attorneys pockets millions in the settlement. At the very least, the benefits ought to automatically be mailed to them. The same applies to product/service related class action lawsuits.

Plaintiff Lawsuits. Product/Service related lawsuits, where a wronged plaintiff seeks compensation, are certainly more reasonable. However, it is difficult to imagine how the average jury can figure out if Talc causes cancer much less how to value the compensation and punitive damages. The outrageous verdicts bankrupt companies that have provided Americans with products they have loved for decades. You can decide for yourself if a system that could potentially destroy companies such as 3M and Johnson & Johnson (example only, I have no interest or financial stake in these companies), serves a useful purpose.

Suing Your Government. A person suing a local, state, or federal organization for damages is essentially suing the entire citizenry when they committed no crime. It is particularly aggregious that the Government officials on the other side of the table from them, have no real incentives to contest the lawsuit or minimize the damages. It is not their money and they suffer no negative career consequences. Qualified Immunity is just as bad, as it protects bad apples. A rational approach that doesn't provide a windfall to plaintiffs at taxpayers' expense is required.

Frivolous Lawsuits. Strengthen the ability of defendants to claim trial expenses should the lawsuit be determined to be frivolous.

There is no justification for prohibition. Adult Americans can decide what they wish to consume as long as they hold themselves responsible for all outcomes.

The drug war hurts ordinary people. The profit in illegal drugs is corrupting. It increases violence from the smugglers, it increases the incentives to use lethal response, it corrupts police forces, politicians and the court system. It has militarized police across the US and many people, often from vulnerable communities, become victims of violence or even the justice system.

Legalize the drugs. Legalization will eliminate the criminality price premium, thereby eliminating much of the violence of the trade. Focus can shift to treatment for those who want to be treated.

Civil forfeiture allows the government (typically the police) to seize — and then keep or sell — any property that is allegedly involved in a crime or illegal activity. Owners need not ever be arrested or convicted of a crime for their cash, cars, or even real estate to be taken away permanently by the government. The government does not have to charge the property owner with crime. After property has been seized, the burden of proof shifts to the owner, who must prove that the property was not connected with illegal activity.

This is not due process. There is no shortage of stories where vulnerable people have lost property to the police who use the proceeds to further advance their militarization.

Workers, like all Americans, have a right of free association. They can band together in unions, delegate negotiations of pay and work conditions to others and choose to withdraw their labor if these conditions are not met. I believe that employers have an equal right to hire others and train them for work. All laws preventing this should be repealed and government organizations such as the NLRB should be abolished.

Recent labor agreements are inflationary. It is difficult to imagine how a skill that can be taught to a new worker in 3 months or less could be worth $150K-$200K in total compensation. We have to assume that political pressure is applied to get businesses to agree to such terms. Absent this pressure, there would be an enormous supply of labor to fulfill these jobs at much lower prices.

We don't begrudge anyone any salary negotiated individually or collectively. But a non-market bargaining process is monopolistic, excludes others who might be willing to work for less, and, increases the prices consumers pay for goods and services. It causes a general wage/price inflation that will counteract any actions taken by the Federal Reserve to bring down prices.

Contract Labor vs Full Time Employment Millions of Americans work in the Gig economy. They do so because it suits them. There are many others who would prefer to be independent contractors working from remote to the best bidders for their skills. To force them into full time employment is to reduce opportunities for American workers and denies them the freedom to work as they wish.

Fortunately, there are plenty of people world over who are ready and willing to work in the US at prevailing wages without going through the hassles of immigration. We should encourage this.

By not providing parents School Choice, we fail them in this primary duty. And we fail the kids by forcing them to go into an environment that doesn't meet their needs. Not to mention, we promote entrenched bureaucracies that have created among the highest costs per student in the world and yet fail to deliver the knowledge our kids need.

Ideally of course, if parents want full control of their kids' education, they ought to pay for it just like they pay for their food and clothes; taxpayers should not be on the hook. However, if, as a society, we are going to fund our childrens' education to ensure equal opportunities for all, it makes sense to provide parents an educational voucher they can spend at any institution.

I support vouchers, ESAs, homeschooling and other tools that increase parents' accredited choices in education.

Unsustainable Entitlement Trends. Social Security and Medicare are on track to be insolvent. They are already running annual deficits and rely on cashing some of those Trust Fund IOUs. Unfortunately, the IOUs are not securities that can be sold in a marketplace for cash. When redeemed, the government must raise cash which it can only do by either increasing social security and medicare taxes on those who are paying in, or, you guessed it, borrow the money.

According to the Cato Institute, the unfunded deficits of debt and entitlements amount to somewhere north of $600,000 per man, woman and child in the US. No amount of taxation can fix this deficit. The only solution in the long term is to renege on the promises of social security, by delaying and reducing benefits. This is stuff of generational warfare between retirees and people paying into the system.

Difficult decisions lie ahead and most certainly benefits will be reduced and delayed. But pay-go schemes like these are inherently dangerous in the long run and we need to phase them out. Privatizeing our entitlements for next generations while making whole on existing promises, may be the only solution available to us.

Cato Report on Entitlements Trust Funds