In "Wishful Thinking on the Minimum Wage," Steve Chapman offers the best single sentence I've seen recently about economics: "Economics was dubbed 'the dismal science' because it is constantly at war with one of life's most pleasant occupations -- wishful thinking."

This excellent overview of the issues concludes thusly: "It may be deeply unwelcome to hear that the government can't fix the price of anything without self-defeating side effects. But even dismal truths are true."