As if housing and the violent gyrations of securities markets were not enough, now we have another market in which prices have fallen by half.

The market for “‘investment grade’ big snakes—critters with genetic mutations that create rare colorings” has collapsed according to a Feb. 12 Wall Street Journal article (“Bear Market in Boas: Proposed Laws Strangle Sales of Mutant Snakes.” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 12, 2010, p. A1.

Prices in this market have dropped from $40,000 to $20,000.  This has been partly caused by a proposed federal law that would ban interstate shipments of these guys.  “Snakes on a Plane,” anyone”

“An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy.” (Daniel Webster, McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 327 (1819).  Also paraphrased by Chief Justice John Marshall in the Supreme Court’s decision.)

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