A recent New York Times editorial about the Food and Drug Administration reflects a systematic weakness at the once-venerable Gray Lady: The members of the editorial board often rely on sloganeering and popular wisdom instead of substantive evidence.

The editorial was headlined, "The FDA Is in Trouble. Here's How to Fix It." The agency is in trouble. But it's due to the very kinds of "fixes" the Times recommends.

[SNIP]

The FDA's failures are a result of too much regulatory dithering and bureaucracy. Yet the Times' prescriptions for change would just increase the dose.

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Much of the progress in medicine during the past half-century has involved expensive, high-tech diagnostic tests and therapies. The trend in this direction worries health economists and politicians because it has the potential to send already high health care costs into the stratosphere. Health care spending in 2017 reached $3.5 trillion, or a whopping 17.9% of the nation's gross domestic product, according to government statistics.

However, there is an important role as well for ingenious, low-tech, less-expensive approaches to improved health and increased longevity. The question is, how do we make them financially attractive?

[snip]

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When presidential candidate Joe Biden began a campaign tour with the slogan, "No Malarkey" (a seeming oxymoron for a politician), the rallying cry was contradicted by his many apologies for past actions and positions. Had he fashioned his expedition as a "No Apologies" tour, he doubtless would have done far more to solidify his position as the most electable Democrat.

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The "Social Justice Warrior Handbook," which satirizes people who promote liberal, multicultural, anti-capitalist, anti-globalization, and politically correct views, could have had Indian activist and mountebank Vandana Shiva on the cover. She opposes the tools and practices of modern agriculture and science — and well, modernity in general — and advocates regressive policies that cause widespread malnourishment, famine, and death to the very people she claims to champion. And she's no friend of the environment, either.

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The nation's Western states are facing severe, and worsening, water shortages. There are both consumption and supply problems, and neither will be easy to fix. However, we have a remedy for the latter.

More water is used in America per capita than almost anywhere else in the world — more than three times as much as in China and 15 times more than in Denmark. Not surprisingly, the highest domestic water use is in the driest Western U.S. states: Arizona residents use 147 gallons per day compared to just 51 gallons in Wisconsin. That'll come as no surprise to anyone who has seen the heavily irrigated golf courses in places such as Phoenix and Scottsdale.

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