Tweet [1]
George Will again – and rightly – takes aim at the banana-republic practice of civil asset forfeiture [2]. A slice:
Civil forfeiture is the power to seize property suspected of being produced by, or involved in, crime. In this “Through the Looking-Glass,” guilty-until-proven-innocent inversion, the property’s owners bear the burden of proving that they were not involved in such activity, which can be a costly and protracted process as people must hire lawyers and do battle with a government wielding unlimited resources. Law enforcement agencies get to keep the profits from forfeited property, which gives them an incentive to do what too many of them do: abuse the process. But, then, the process — punishment before a crime is proven — is inherently abusive.
Larry Reed introduces Nicholas Elliott’s applause for the great John Bright [3].
Ben Wilterdink makes the case for looking at the longer-run effects of minimum wages [5]. (HT Gonzalo Schwarz)
Here’s Rick Newman on Trump’s misguided trade policies [6].