March 14 marked the beginning of National Tired and Grouchy Week in much of the United States as we participated in the annual gimmick of “springing forward” to Daylight Saving Time.

Tired and grouchy people don’t drive as well. According to a 2016 study by University of Miami economics professor Austin Smith, “springing forward” results in an average of 30 excess auto accident deaths, at a “social cost” of $275 million, each year.

So, why do we do it? Well, because the government says we should.

Why does the government say we should? In theory, we owe the practice to things like a need for farmers to have more daylight during their waking hours, or to energy savings from not needing as much artificial lighting during working hours in town.

If those sound to you like concerns from a century ago, when society and commerce didn’t run 24/7, when automotive lighting was unreliable and roads weren’t very good, etc., bingo. The US adopted Daylight Saving Time in 1918.

The whole thing was a silly idea even then — instead of everyone changing their clocks, people who really felt a need for more daylight during their waking or business hours could have just changed those hours.

I once read a mention — I don’t know if it was true or not — of a  tower built on the cliffs of Dover in the early 19th century, staffed with eagle-eyed watchmen whose job was to warn of any impending seaborne invasion of England by Napoleon. As the story had it, the British government finally got around to decommissioning the facility 150 years later, long after the invention of radio and radar (not to mention the death of Napoleon) had made it superfluous.

Daylight Saving Time is even dumber than that watchtower. It’s never served any truly compelling function. These days, its only beneficiaries are probably computer programmers who get a little extra work coding for automatic transitions to and from it, and funeral directors who get a few extra burial fees out of it each year.

It makes a certain amount of sense that my clock and my neighbor’s clock should be in sync with each other.

It makes no sense at all that both clocks, and all others, should “spring forward” by an hour in March and “fall back” by an hour in November.

If state legislatures are going to prescribe time settings, each legislature should prescribe one setting, applicable year-round.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Chester County, Pennsylvania Daily Local News, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Times Herald, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Pottstown, Pennsylvania Mercury, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Exton, Pennsylvania Mainline Media News, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Delaware County, Pennsylvania Daily Times, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, The Reporter [Pennsylvania], 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania Reporter & Item, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time switch kills people,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Lansdale, Pennsylvania Montgomery News, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Victoria, Texas Advocate [web and print], 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time Kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, OpEdNews, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time Kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Anchorage, Alaska Press, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Wahpeton, North Dakota Daily News, 03/15/21
• “Daylight saving time kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Hopkinsville, Kentucky New Era, 03/15/21
• “Daylight Saving Time kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Richmond, North Carolina Observer, 03/16/21
• “Daylight Savings kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Madill, Oklahoma Record, 03/17/21
• “Daylight saving time kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Whitefish, Montana Pilot, 03/17/21
• “Daylight Savings [sic] Time Kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, CounterPunch, 03/18/21
• “Daylight Saving Time kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Rexburg, Idaho Standard Journal, 03/18/21
• “Daylight Saving Time Kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Lyman, Wyoming Bridger Valley Pioneer [print], 03/19/21
• “Daylight Saving Time Kills,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Ventura County, California Citizens Journal, 03/19/21
• “Can we please end daylight saving time?” by Thomas L. Knapp, Kingsport, Tennessee Times News, 03/22/21

On March 8, the Biden administration endorsed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021, which would allegedly “strengthen the Federal laws that protect workers’ right to organize a union and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”

The bill, however, isn’t just about making it easier for employees to unionize. It would also require independent workers and the businesses they work with to pretend that the former are “employees.”

That measure is aimed “gig economy” workers — for example,  independent cab drivers who contract with services like Uber or Lyft to send riders their way.

There’s another good name for the “gig economy”:   “Socialism.” Not the state-substitutist variety in which the political class flaps its lips about the workers while screwing them with their pants on, but the real thing.

“Gig economy” workers own the means of production (in the rideshare example, their cars). They work when they want. They work where they want. They work longer or shorter shifts as it suits them. They don’t answer to bosses. They ARE the bosses. They can walk away from Uber or Lyft or Postmates or DoorDash or Grubhub any time,  taking the means of production with them and putting that means to whatever use they choose.

So why do Joe Biden — a supposedly “pro-labor” moderate — and America’s growing herd of self-proclaimed “democratic socialists” want so badly to drive independent workers back onto the capitalist wage labor plantation?

There are several reasons, starting with pleasing what passes for “organized labor” these days (FDR, big business, and AFL-CIO “leaders” got together and put a stake through the heart of the labor movement with the National Labor Relations Act).

But a new explanation just made its appearance — in, of all places, the $1.9 trillion federal “stimulus” package. As the old truism goes, if you have to ask why, the answer is usually “money.”

“Buried in the latest stimulus measure,” Lydia O’Neal reports at Bloomberg, “is a provision intended to help gig economy workers correctly pay their taxes and keep the IRS from losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.”

Yep, good ol’ Joe is just trying to “help” independent workers, by making sure they get different forms from the companies they work with each tax year, forms which might result in them sending more of their hard-earned money to him via his friends at the IRS.

It seems like a small thing, and it probably is. Its main effect will apparently be to make record-keeping more expensive for businesses, incentivizing them to return to the bad old days of what socialists used to call “wage slavery” before they sold out to The Man. But it certainly explains a lot.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

• “The Stimulus Bill’s Anti-Socialist Poison Pill,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Anchorage, Alaska Press, 03/11/21
• “The Stimulus Bill’s Anti-Socialist Poison Pill,” by Thomas L. Knapp, OpEdNews, 03/13/21
• “The stimulus bill’s anti-socialist poison pill,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Havasu City, Arizona News-Herald, 03/19/21

On March 2 — the late Theodor Seuss Geisel’s 117th birthday — Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that, some time last year, it ceased publishing/licensing six of the popular author’s children’s books which “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”

Cue woke approval, deplorable outrage, investor interest, and low-information reader fear, all of which are good for business.

As I write this on March 9, Dr. Seuss titles constitute ten of Amazon’s top 25 “Best Sellers in Children’s Books.”

On eBay, sellers have copies of And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street on offer for as much as $1,105.76 (“Buy It Now”), with auction bids on other copies running as high as $143.50.

Some “woke” readers approve of the decision, and are rewarding it by buying non-discontinued titles.

Some “deplorable” readers disapprove of the decision, and want to get their hands on the discontinued titles. Ditto some collectors/re-sellers who see an opportunity to profit from current and future scarcity.

And, of course, some low-information readers (or parents) read only the headlines and fear that if they don’t snatch up The Cat in the Hat now they might not be able to find it later (if you’re among them, relax; it’s not among the casualties).

Do the owners of Dr. Seuss Enterprises really, truly, deep down feel that the discontinued titles might damage young minds? Well, maybe.

But the more likely motive for this move, it seems to me, is the bottom line. With one terse announcement and zero investment in advertising (that came in the form of free media coverage, friendly and unfriendly), the company has successfully created a run from all directions on its products.

New young readers for a book collection beloved by every generation since the Baby Boom. New viewers for its old cartoon specials, later live-action movies, and current Netflix series. New visitors (when the pandemic ends) to its traveling mall “Dr. Seuss Experience.”

And hey, more power to them! “Cancel culture” and “anti-cancel culture” are lemons. They tend to put sour expressions on everyone’s face for one reason or another and often for not much reason at all. Why NOT turn them into lemonade?

If you’re drinking that lemonade, might I suggest a tall, cool glass of The Sneetches and Other Stories? The solutions to some of the very problems that gave rise to this episode are in there for those willing to learn. Also, it’s a great book.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

• “Dr. Seuss monetizes the culture wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Richmond, North Carolina Observer, 03/09./21
• “Dr. Seuss monetized cancel culture,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Greenville, North Carolina Reflector [web and print], 03/10/21
• “Dr. Seuss monetized cancel culture,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Martin County, North Carolina Enterprise [web and print], 03/10/21
• “Dr. Seuss monetized cancel culture,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Bertie County, North Carolina Daily Advance [web and print], (03/10/21)
• “Dr. Seuss Monetizes the Culture Wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, OpEdNews, 03/10/21
• “Dr. Seuss Monetizes the Culture Wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Ventura County, California Citizens Journal, 03/12/21
• “Dr. Seuss monetizes America’s culture wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, El Reno, Oklahoma Tribune [web and print], 03/12/21
• “Dr. Seuss Monetizes the Culture Wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, CounterPunch, 03/12/21
• “Thomas Knapp: Dr. Seuss monetizes the culture wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Claremont, New Hampshire Eagle Times, 03/13/21
• “After controversy, Dr. Seuss books raking in the cash,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Kingsport, Tennessee Times News, 03/15/21
• “Dr. Seuss monetizes the culture wars,” by Thomas L. Knapp, New Rockford, North Dakota Transcript, 03/15/21
• “Dr. Seuss and lemonade,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Orangeburg, South Carolina Times and Democrat, 03/16/21