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Reason Alert - September 26, 2008: Bailout, Innovators in Action

• Corporate Socialism, Not Capitalism
• Innovators in Action
• Watch the Debate with Bob Barr at Reason's DC Office or Online
• McCain Resurrects an Old Stunt
• Reason.com's First-Ever Webathon
• New at Reason.org and Reason.com

Corporate Socialism, Not Capitalism
In his FoxNews.com column, Reason magazine's Radley Balko writes, "When you, Joe Citizen, spend frivolously and default on your loans, the bank takes your house. When the government spends your tax dollars frivolously, it simply cooks the books to cover its excesses. When the books are left in ashes, the government just takes more of your money, or it prints more money, leaving the money it hasn't already taken from you devalued. Over the last few weeks, we've learned that you now face the prospect of an additional indignity: When your neighbor's bank spends frivolously and defaults on its loans, the government's going to take your money then too, to keep the bank in business. Many commenters have blamed all of this on capitalism. This isn't capitalism. It's a peculiar kind of corporatist socialism, where good risks and the resulting profits remain private, but bad risks and the resulting losses are passed on to taxpayers. There's nothing free-market about it."
» Round-up of Free Market Economists on the Bailout
» David Weigel: Bailout Bums
» Hank Paulson's Countdown to Armageddon
» The Case Against the Bailout

Innovators in Action
Reason Foundation is praising U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Texas Gov. Rick Perry as "Innovators in Action" for their work in developing fresh solutions to cope with our growing infrastructure and traffic problems. In Innovators in Action 2008, Secretary Peters and Gov. Perry have written columns for Reason explaining their visions and policy prescriptions for the future of transportation funding and construction. Several other public officials, including former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, are also featured in Innovators in Action, covering topics ranging from transportation to school choice to privatization.
» Leonard Gilroy: Innovators in Government Offer Cutting-Edge Models for Reform

Watch the Debate with Bob Barr at Reason's DC Office or Online
Since he wasn't invited to tonight's presidential debate, Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr will watch the debate at Reason Foundation's Washington, D.C. office. Barr will be answering the debate questions and taking questions from the audience afterwards. Reason will be streaming live video of the event and live-blogging Barr's answers at www.reason.com starting at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. If you are interested in attending, please click here.

McCain Resurrects an Old Stunt
In a column in today's Los Angeles Times, Reason magazine's Matt Welch, author of the book McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, writes, "As this week has shown, the act of 'suspending' a presidential campaign is a mostly nonsensical idea 40 days before an election. McCain and his subordinates are still all over television, still running advertisements, still holding conference calls with reporters and still collecting donations...McCain is ripping what little facade remains over his campaign. This is not an election about ideas or policy; it's an election about a Great Man, facing down an interloper...And when a candidate confuses his own political ambitions with the fortunes of his country, that's when Great Men turn into self- parodies. 'I have craved distinction in my life,' McCain wrote in his 2002 political memoir, 'Worth the Fighting For.' 'I have wanted renown and influence for their own sake. That is, of course, the great temptation of public life. ... I have never been able to conquer it permanently, but I have tried.' Don't say he didn't warn us."
» Shikha Dalmia: How Obama Can Win Working-Class Votes
» Jacob Sullum: Revenge of the Bitter Gun Owners
» The Libertarian Case for McCain
» The Libertarian Case for Obama

Reason.com's First-Ever Webathon
Reason.com Editor Nick Gillespie writes, "If you care about ending the drug war, increasing biomedical freedom, growing the economy, reforming education, opening the world to free trade and globalization, defending the Second Amendment, and heightening the visibility of libertarian ideas in a world stuck between Iraq and a hard place, Democrats and Republicans, and liberals and conservatives, please give what you can."

New From Reason.org and Reason.com

Friday Funnies
Rescuing Wall Street
Scott Stantis

Paul Pushers
Ron Paul's still running for President...whether he likes it or not
David Weigel

Stop Trying to Force People Out of Cars
Policymakers need to respect America's preference for cars
Sam Staley

Cops Employing Robbers
Did police misconduct lead to another fatal marijuana raid?
Radley Balko

Zoning Toward Oblivion
How the Supreme Court's decision in Euclid v. Ambler shaped modern America
Damon W. Root

In Defense of Judicial Activism
D.C. v. Heller and the failures of conservative judicial restraint
Damon W. Root

Man's Best Friend Forever
Cloning dogs for love and profit
Greg Beato

Joe Biden, Straw Man
Is paying taxes patriotic?
Katherine Mangu-Ward

Video: Irresponsible Predictions
A Bloggingheads.tv dialogue with Eli Lake
Matt Welch

Technogeeks Save America
The libertarian lessons of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother
Ronald Bailey

Upcoming Events

Reason Goes Hollywood
November 14-15, 2008
Drew Carey, Author Bjorn Lomborg, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and more

Media Contact

Chris Mitchell
Director of Communications
Reason Foundation, Reason magazine, Reason.tv
(310) 367-6109

Reason Alert Archive

» September 26, 2008: Bailout, Innovators in Action
» September 19, 2008: Bailouts and High-Speed Rail's True Costs
» September 12, 2008: Feminism and Palin, Drew Carey on Second Life
» August 27, 2008: Convention Coverage
» August 22, 2008: Universal Preschool, Immigration Maze
» August 14, 2008: Russia-Georgia Conflict
» August 7, 2008: Annual Privatization Report
» July 31, 2008: States Ranked on Road Conditions, Cost-Effectiveness
» July 11, 2008: Drew Carey on Nanny State Nation
» June 27, 2008: Gun Rights, Drew Carey on Free Trade
» June 12, 2008: Drew Carey, Global Warming Roundtable
» June 6, 2008: Obama, Barr, Cap-and-Trade
» May 30, 2008: Drew Carey on Border Wall
» May 23, 2008: Libertarian Convention, McCain's Health
» May 15, 2008: Gay Marriage, Executive Power
» May 8, 2008: War on Drugs, Oil Profits, Farm Bill
» April 25, 2008: Drew Carey on Banning Bacon Dogs
» April 17, 2008: The Trillion-Dollar War
» April 1, 2008: Drew Carey Wants Open Borders
» March 26, 2008: John McCain Wants You
» March 21, 2008: Iraq, Florida and Selling Your Organs
» March 14, 2008: Oil and Gas Prices
» March 7, 2008: Reason on Bill Moyers, The Wire's Finale
» February 29, 2008: Budget Deficits, Buckley
» February 22, 2008: Drew Carey on School Choice
» February 8, 2008: New Drew Carey Video, McCain's Record
» February 1, 2008: Clinton Care, McCain's Anti-War Supporters
» January 25, 2008: Clintonomics, Steroids in Baseball
» January 16, 2008: McCain's Fiction, Clinton's Glass Ceiling
» January 4, 2008: Paul, Huckabee, Iowa and NH
» December 19, 2007: Air Travel Delays
» December 14, 2007: Mitchell Report, Iran
» December 3, 2007: Drew Carey Defends Poker
» November 27, 2007: New Editors at Reason Magazine, ReasonTV
» November 15, 2007: New Drew Carey Video, Airline Delays
» November 9, 2007: Toll Booths, Oil, Drew Carey
» November 1, 2007: New Drew Carey Video
» October 15, 2007: Drew Carey and Reason Launch Reason.tv
» October 12, 2007: Al Gore and CSI Mississippi
» October 5, 2007: Intangible Wealth, Paying for Roads
» September 21, 2007: Syria Showdown, Clinton Health Care
» September 14, 2007: Gen. Petraeus, iPhone Whiners
» September 7, 2007: Mortgage Bailout, 9/11 Anniversary
» August 24, 2007: Obama, Paul, Brownback Sign Oath
» August 17, 2007: Infrastructure, NASA, Sen. Clinton
» August 10, 2007: Bridge Collapse, Gas Tax
» August 2, 2007: Medical Marijuana, Lost Students
» July 26, 2007: Annual Privatization Report
» July 19, 2007: Giuliani, Jeb Bush in Action
» July 12, 2007: Mobility Matters, Libby, Putin
» July 5, 2007: Police, Clinton, Airport Security
» June 28, 2007: Study Ranks Congestion, Highway Systems
» June 21, 2007: Obama's Macaca Moment
» June 14, 2007: Small Government Working in Sandy Springs
» May 31, 2007: Damn the Salmon
» May 25, 2007: Ron Paul, Traffic Congestion
» May 18, 2007: Nanny State, Jerry Falwell
» May 11, 2007: Middle East, Gillespie on Bill Moyers
» May 4, 2007: Middle East, Toll Financing
» April 27, 2007: FCC, TV and Violence
» April 19, 2007: Gun-Free School Zones
» April 11, 2007: Imus
» March 30, 2007: Foreign Policy, Gas Prices
» March 23, 2007: Emergency Funding
» March 16, 2007: Hollywood and Global Warming
» March 9, 2007: Congressional Fiction
» March 2, 2007: Be Afraid of McCain
» February 23, 2007: Who Owns Your Organs?
» February 16, 2007: Selling Turnpikes
» February 9, 2007: War on the Middle Class
» February 2, 2007: UN Climate Change Report
» January 26, 2007: Feds Target Sick, Dying
» January 19, 2007: Student Loans, Bias on Campus
» January 12, 2007: Congress' First 100 Hours, Iraq Surge Strategy
» January 5, 2007: Saddam's Final Moments, Oil Crisis