Govt. regulations for a "Made in PA" label? ... And other links

1. Politician wants a "Made in Pennsylvania" label and standard.

Excerpt:

Under Goodman's proposal, the state Department of Community and Economic Development would create a website detailing products made in Pennsylvania and information on their manufacturers. It would serve as a reference for consumers and as a portal for businesses seeking finished goods or component sources for their own production.

Qualifying manufacturers also would be able to place a blue-and-gold "Made in PA" label on products that are manufactured and sold in-state.

This is a useless idea that would waste taxpayer money.  This program would:

1. Create a new government bureaucracy.
2. Convey information that firms could include now anyway on their labels without a government program.

It may go without stating, but any government program that has no benefits but tremendous costs is bad.

2. Greg Mankiw with a well-written piece on why minimum wages are a bad way to help the poor. 

Excerpt:

Before turning to President Obama’s proposal, let’s consider two other possibilities. For lack of better terms, call them Plan A and Plan B:

PLAN A The government subsidizes the incomes of low-wage workers. These subsidies are financed by increasing taxes on middle- and upper-income Americans.

PLAN B The government again subsidizes the incomes of low-wage workers. But under this plan, the subsidies are financed by taxing those companies that hire low-wage workers.

3. Here's a beneficiary of the govt. shutdown.  State park attendance totaled a record 8.8 million visitors last year.

Some organizations have tried to discuss the economic costs of the shutdown.  Let's not forget that many entities benefited from it.