Populism and The Denial of the Invisible
John Hayward| The housing crash "is one of many cases in which a populist impulse—make young voters happy by helping them buy a house!—ignored powerful economic undercurrents that were difficult for both central planners and voters to perceive...Politicians are naturally inclined to see only problems they can "solve" in a high-profile way, with the only tools at their disposal: regulation and compulsion...
New Fiscal Buzzwords Obscure Old Problems
Amity Shlaes| So what is a fair share? In the rest of the English language, “fair” means proportionality. “Share” implies equality by percentage. A bigger man lifts a bigger load, in proportion to his size. But our tax system isn’t proportional. It’s progressive, with a graduated scale, so that the wealthier man pays more than his share. The bottom half of all earners pay less than 5 percent of the income tax. ... That so many Americans don’t know the difference between progressivity and proportionality is convenient to revenue-hungry Washington...
The Monetary Foundations of Economic Prosperity
Peter Ferrara, Forbes| Overall, since America abandoned the firm link to gold of Bretton Woods, real economic growth (1972-2010) has been a full percentage point lower than during the Bretton Woods era (1948-1971). If economic growth had continued at the Bretton Woods era rates, by 2010 GDP would have been $21 trillion instead of $15 trillion, and the federal budget would have been in surplus ... How can we reverse course? A modern version of a link to gold for the dollar is known as the “price rule”...
8.8 Billion Hours of Federal Paperwork
ChicagoTribune| According to official federal calculations, it took 8.8 billion man hours in fiscal year 2010 to comply with all the end-of-year paperwork required by the federal government...
Shoppers Help Deliver Holiday Gift to Markets
WashingtonTimes| The Dow Jones Industrial average surged 337 points as investors shrugged off worries about the European debt crisis and the political stalemate in Washington and focused on news that U.S. consumers are flocking back to the malls for last minute Christmas shopping and that even the long-dead housing market is showing some signs of life ...
No Fault of Their Own
Ross Kaminsky, American Spectator| It's official: Liberal compassion and legalized plunder are synonymous [but] charity is only charity if given willingly. Money taken by threat of force, whether by a mugger or by government, is theft. As for the latter, Frédéric Bastiat properly termed it "legalized plunder." ...
An Energy Crisis Created by Government
Editorial, Orange Co Register| U.S. could be self sufficient with fossil fuel; Washington insists on alternatives that need tax support...
Social Security: Is Means-Testing Just?
Raul Rahe| Think of what this means. If means-testing is adopted, the federal government would tax one group and tax it heavily ... and in return for its contributions provide them with nothing or next to nothing at all. It would be a form of punishment...
Gallup 'Fear' Poll, the GPS Case, and the Ninth Amendment
Mark Fitzgibbons| In November, the government made the Orwellian argument before the Supreme Court that law enforcement officials may attach GPS tracking devices to cars without a warrant. This month, Gallup issued poll results showing that 64 percent of Americans fear big government. Well, gee whiz...
Printing Money to Save Euro-Socialism
Charles Gasparino, NYPost| The same “sophisticated” investors who bid up the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly 500 points on Euro-bailout euphoria also bid up the Dow to record levels in 2007 — betting that the big banks were safe just months before we all discovered they weren’t...
The Trouble with Crony Capitalism
Powerline| The Solyndra scandal gets worse and worse, and ... it teaches one lesson after another about the evils of entangling government with private enterprise...
How Class Warfare Weakens America
Paul Ryan, NYPost| Class is not a fixed designation in this country. We are an upwardly mobile society with a lot of movement between income groups.
Four Reasons Keynesians Keep Getting It Wrong
Allan Meltzer, WSJ| Those who heaped high praise on Keynesian policies have grown silent as government spending has failed to bring an economic recovery...
Obama Added More to National Debt Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan
Terence Jeffrey, CNS| In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan...
Ryan's Strong Antidote to ObamaCare
Ramesh Ponnuru| Republicans say they want to "repeal and replace" the health-care law President Obama signed last year, but they are a lot more specific about the first half than the second. Rep. Paul Ryan wants to bring some balance to the slogan...
Friedman's Four Ways to Spend Money
American Spectator| It would be nearly impossible to exaggerate how many of our current economic problems are explained by Milton Friedman's four ways of spending money...
This Isn't Your Grandfather's Class Warfare
Victor Davis Hanson| The president's argument apparently is not that the top 5% haven't paid enough taxes. Indeed, they pay almost 60% of all income taxes collected, while nearly 50% of households pay no income taxes... But 21st century class warfare is a weird thing.
Breaking Down the Buffet Tax
Gerri Willis, Fox Business News| The Oracle of Omaha should break out his calculator again.
Eight Problems with a 'Balanced' (Tax-Raising) Approach
Randall Hoven, American Thinker| When the two parties can't agree, we good democrats (small "d") say split the difference. The Simpson-Bowles deficit commission played Solomon, opting for new taxes and spending cuts each of 21% of GDP beginning in 2015. Here are 8 problems with that approach...
Another Day, Another Plan
Boston Herald| Yesterday Obama unveiled a $1.5 trillion tax hike with the usual Obama it's-my-way-or-the-highway threats ... the only good news yesterday was that at least he didn't ask for another joint session of Congress to advance this utterly lackluster plan...
New Government Fees Pepper Obama Deficit Plan
AP| It's not just millionaires who'd pay more under President Barack Obama's latest plan to combat the deficit. Air travelers, federal workers, military retirees, wealthier Medicare beneficiaries and people taking out new mortgages are among those who would pay ...
The 2013 Tax Cliff
WSJ| the President is setting up the U.S. economy for one of the biggest tax increases in history in 2013...
Bastiat for President in 2012
Amity Shlaes| His "insight illuminates our troubles as no current politicians' ideas seem to..."
Electric Cars are an Extraordinarily Bad Idea
Forbes| Electric cars are about to do a barrier crash into economic reality ... Taxpayers' $2.4 billion is destined to join Obama's $535 million investment in solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra at the bottom of the crony-capitalism "stimulus" rat hole...
Spending Cuts, Not Tax Hikes, Best for Deficit, Say Economists
CNBC| The majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics believe that the federal deficit should by reduced only or primarily through spending cuts...
Spending, Not Entitlements, Created Huge Deficit
Byron York| The deficits are largely the result not of entitlements but of an explosion in spending related to the economic downturn and the rise of Democrats to power in Washington...
It's the Spending, Stupid
Paul Kengor, American Thinker| Looking closely at the chart is an eye-opening experience. Spending rises every year, but revenues don't increase every year... [chart is OMB's historical spending tables 1789-2010]
The Invisible Cage
John Hayward| American voters are trapped by 4 dangerous assumptions about taxation...
RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
The End of Prosperity: How Taxes Will Doom the Economy, if we let it happen
Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, & Peter J. Tanous, Threshold Editions, 2008| The U.S. is in an economic crisis, and Americans are worried. This new book explains to the layman which policies have proven to attract capital, expand industry and jobs, and build prosperity - and why other policies have failed miserably. Readers will find it an understandable roadmap for turning the U.S. economy from crisis to recovery, and a timely, useful guide by which to judge elected leaders' handling of the nation's economy.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism
Robert P. Murphy, Regnery Publishing, 2007| The liberal media and propagandists masquerading as educators have filled the world - and deformed public policy - with politically correct errors about capitalism and economics in general. This book cuts through all their nonsense, shattering liberal myths and fashionable socialist cliches to set the record straight.
The Forgotten Man
Amity Shlaes, Harper Collins| What happens if government intervenes in a nation's economic crisis and makes it worse? Journalist Amity Shlaes tells such a story in her well-researched book, "The Forgotten Man: a New History of the Great Depression." See review.
Few of us are trained in economics, so we arrive at adulthood feeling uncomfortable with the subject and doing our best to avoid it. Avoidance, however, is a luxury we can no longer afford. The economy is in shambles, and our lifestyles, careers, wages, and property are on the line. If only for self-preservation, we must engage in today's economic policy debates and make our voices heard.
Author Jackie Gingrich Cushman puts the numbers in perspective and offers a quick guide to help understand today's economic debates.
Ten years ago I believed that environmentalists were genuinely good and kind and caring. They were concerned about nature, the animals, and keeping the world clean and unpolluted. They were doing this work for all of the rest of us, and I was grateful because I was too lazy to do anything to save the whales myself.
This all changed when, as a journalist, I was sent to cover the story of a Canadian mining company who wanted to open Europe’s largest gold mine in Transylvania, Romania.
Journalist and film producer Author Ann McElhinney explains why environmentalists' claims are often bad faith.
When asked, "Are you a feminist?," most American women say no.
For good reason, says the author, who makes the case that the feminist movement has been taken over by aggrieved eccentrics who are fighting a gender war that few women support or understand. The potential for harm is enormous to women here and abroad.
Author Christina Hoff Sommers explains how the once noble cause of feminism has been derailed, exposes the destructive nature of modern feminism's public policies, and argues that mainstream American women have to put it back on track.
by Sally C. Pipes, CEO of Pacific Research Institute and one of the world's top health care experts.
We've all heard the statistic "47 million Americans do not have health insurance" as an underlying argument for massive health care reform. But did you know that 57 percent of the 47 million uninsured have annual incomes above $50,000? Or that two-thirds of the 47 million are between the ages of 18 and 34? Are younger Americans being sold another Social Security scheme?
"Young Americans," says the author, "have the most to gain or lose by the outcome of the health care debate."
by Barry R. Chiswick, Ph.D., Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago
Current immigration laws and policies are not serving the best economic interests of the United States. What changes in border and interior enforcement policies would help stem the flow of illegal immigrants? What reforms in U.S. immigration law would encourage more highly-skilled legal immigrants and increase the economic benefits of immigration for the American public?
Professor Chiswick addresses these questions and suggests how the tide in immigration can be turned.
by Nonie Darwish, author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror.
Most Americans think of Islam as just a religion. Islam is much more; it is a one party state with a very elaborate legal system, called Sharia law, that can put you to death if you leave it. The lives of women living under Sharia law and those living under democratic law are a world - and centuries - apart.
Ms. Darwish describes the danger America faces from Sharia advocates who claim that Sharia Islamic law is a religious right compatible with democracy and suggests that American women can stand together against the spread of radical Islam and its discrimination against women in the Western world.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth is Director of Employment Policy at the Hudson Institute. She served as chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor and chief of staff at the President's Council of Economic Advisors.
Ms. Furchtgott-Roth discussed the incoming Administration's economic proposals with women at a Luce Institute Conservative Women's Network event in Washington DC.
by Karol Boudreaux, Senior Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
How do everyday choices of shampoo, shoes, magazines, and electronics make the capitalist free-market economic system work? What are the economics of choice, and why is consumer choice a fundamental indicator of individual liberty and democratic societies?
Author Karol Boudreaux explains in this report. "The endless variety of choices Americans enjoy is extraordinary," says Boudreaux, "and yet so common it can be easily taken for granted."
by Elizabeth Kantor, Ph.D., author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature.
Classic Western literature has traditionally played a large role in sustaining "Western culture." If Western culture has, on balance, been a benefactor of the human race, then the abandonment of its great literature by college literature professors is a very great loss, both to students and to the long-term health of Western civilization.
Dr. Kantor argues that universities today should be teaching the classic literature of our culture to their students.
by Miriam Grossman, MD, UCLA psychiatrist and author of Unprotected
A college freshman - I call her Heather - came to me for help with her mood: every so often she had episodes of feeling down, crying easily, and hating herself. Normally, she was social and outgoing; these days she was spending hours alone in her room. Heather didn't know where this was coming from. Everything seemed to be going so well: she liked school, had plenty of friends, and got along well with her family.
She paused at one question: did you recently begin or end any relationship? Well, yes ... I can think of one thing. I recently got a "friend with benefits," and actually ... I'm confused, because it seems to me like he's getting the benefits, but I'm not getting the friendship. ...
by Ryan Lynch, Deputy Director of Students for Saving Social Security.
Social Security is the largest investment most of us will make in our entire lives, and it will likely be one of our worst. Some working women are particularly hard hit, and today's young workers can expect a one to two percent rate or return on investment - a deal worse than the local bank.
At what cost will we continue paying into a system that has repeatedly raised taxes and cut benefits since its inception? At what point will we demand that Social Security stop undermining the retirement security of future generations?
by Roy W. Spencer, PhD, Principal Research Scientist at the University of Alabama's Earth System Science Center.
Global warming is in the news nearly every day now. Calls for action to reduce mankind's greenhouse gas emissions are being made by scientists, environmentalists, politicians, movie stars, and op-ed columnists. Some view the threat to be greater than that from terrorism. But just how real is the threat? And even if global warming becomes dangerous, what can be done about it?
You might have heard that "all reputable scientists" agree on global warming -- that there is a "consensus," and that the science is "settled." But there is only one aspect of the problem that scientists agree on: that global warming has occurred in the last century. What is not agreed upon is the degree to which mankind is responsible for that warming ...
by Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute
American health care stands at a critical crossroad. National policymakers are debating two very different courses: one toward expanded government-directed health care; the other toward free-market, consumer-directed health care.
Americans of all ages have a stake in this public debate, for the policy outcome will shape the cost, care, coverage, and control of their health care services for decades to come.
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The Austerity Myth: Federal Spending Up 5% This Year
Few of us are trained in economics, so we arrive at adulthood feeling uncomfortable with the subject and doing our best to avoid it. Avoidance, however, is a luxury we can no longer afford. The economy is in shambles, and our lifestyles, careers, wages, and property are on the line. If only for self-preservation, we must engage in today's economic policy debates and make our voices heard.
Ten years ago I believed that environmentalists were genuinely good and kind and caring. They were concerned about nature, the animals, and keeping the world clean and unpolluted. They were doing this work for all of the rest of us, and I was grateful because I was too lazy to do anything to save the whales myself.
When asked, "Are you a feminist?," most American women say no.
We've all heard the statistic "47 million Americans do not have health insurance" as an underlying argument for massive health care reform. But did you know that 57 percent of the 47 million uninsured have annual incomes above $50,000? Or that two-thirds of the 47 million are between the ages of 18 and 34? Are younger Americans being sold another Social Security scheme?
Current immigration laws and policies are not serving the best economic interests of the United States. What changes in border and interior enforcement policies would help stem the flow of illegal immigrants? What reforms in U.S. immigration law would encourage more highly-skilled legal immigrants and increase the economic benefits of immigration for the American public? 
Most Americans think of Islam as just a religion. Islam is much more; it is a one party state with a very elaborate legal system, called Sharia law, that can put you to death if you leave it. The lives of women living under Sharia law and those living under democratic law are a world - and centuries - apart.
How do everyday choices of shampoo, shoes, magazines, and electronics make the capitalist free-market economic system work? What are the economics of choice, and why is consumer choice a fundamental indicator of individual liberty and democratic societies? 
Classic Western literature has traditionally played a large role in sustaining "Western culture." If Western culture has, on balance, been a benefactor of the human race, then the abandonment of its great literature by college literature professors is a very great loss, both to students and to the long-term health of Western civilization.
A college freshman - I call her Heather - came to me for help with her mood: every so often she had episodes of feeling down, crying easily, and hating herself. Normally, she was social and outgoing; these days she was spending hours alone in her room. Heather didn't know where this was coming from. Everything seemed to be going so well: she liked school, had plenty of friends, and got along well with her family.
Social Security is the largest investment most of us will make in our entire lives, and it will likely be one of our worst. Some working women are particularly hard hit, and today's young workers can expect a one to two percent rate or return on investment - a deal worse than the local bank.
Global warming is in the news nearly every day now. Calls for action to reduce mankind's greenhouse gas emissions are being made by scientists, environmentalists, politicians, movie stars, and op-ed columnists. Some view the threat to be greater than that from terrorism. But just how real is the threat? And even if global warming becomes dangerous, what can be done about it? 
American health care stands at a critical crossroad. National policymakers are debating two very different courses: one toward expanded government-directed health care; the other toward free-market, consumer-directed health care. 
