Two Recent Letters to the Wall Street Journal

Monday, September 14, 2009

Re: China Strikes Back on Trade

Dear Sirs:
Regarding the brewing trade dispute between the U.S. and China over new U.S. tariffs on Chinese tires, you make this statement:

"The effect on the U.S. is less clear because China has not imposed sanctions."

But we do know the effect on the U.S., and it is clear as day--U.S. consumers will pay more for tires. That is the whole point--reduce our standard of living by denying us the products of overseas trade in order to benefit a few U.S. tire manufacturers and their union members. The Obama administration is dividing the country into those whose businesses and occupations will be protected by the coercive power of the state and those who are not members of this politically connected group and must pay.

Patrick Barron


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Senseless and Murderous Drug War

Mary O'Grady explains the damage done to our southern neighbor by our senseless war on drugs. She details the murders of law enforcement officers and honest politicians in Mexico and the fear of its citizens. She could have mentioned the many needless deaths in the U.S., too. No, not necessarily from turf wars and that sort of thing, although there are plenty of these. There are many needless deaths from so-called drug overdoses, which really means that the user inadvertently took too large a dose or a corrupted dose of his drug of choice. How does this happen? Well, in a lawless business there is no way for customers to enforce standards through the normal court process. If a legitimate drug manufacturer tainted his product with poison, he would be taken to court, fined, and possibly sent to jail. But the victim of a tainted illegal drug just dies. I heard recently of the death of the son of French actor and director Gerard Depardeu. The reports claimed that M. Depardeu's son died of a drug overdose. Since his son was a rising force in the film industry himself, I doubt that he wanted to kill himself. More likely the drug was tainted or more potent than he believed it to be. Another needless death cause by our senseless and murderous war on drugs.

Patrick Barron