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Great Moments in State Government

Great Moments in State Government

Back in 2010, I shared parts of a Dave Barry column that mocked the government for bizarre examples of stupid law enforcement. Barry was specifically making fun of OSHA bureaucrats… Read more »

Special Employment Rights for Crooks: Our Tax Dollars at Work

Special Employment Rights for Crooks: Our Tax Dollars at Work

As an economist with a boring personality (sorry to be redundant), I sometimes focus on numbers. And when contemplating the cost of regulation and red tape, there are some numbers… Read more »

Obama’s Hidden $236 Billion Tax Hike

Obama’s Hidden $236 Billion Tax Hike

Obama imposed a big tax hike last year. But I’m not talking about the fiscal cliff and the President’s class-warfare trophy of higher tax rates on those evil rich people…. Read more »

Havoc Wreaked By FATCA Spreads

Havoc Wreaked By FATCA Spreads

As the rest of the world is forced to deal with imperialist US tax policy, Americans and the US economy are continuing to suffer the consequences. We’ve already written about… Read more »

While Much of America Suffers with Stagnation, Washington’s Political Class Is Having a Very Merry Christmas

While Much of America Suffers with Stagnation, Washington’s Political Class Is Having a Very Merry Christmas

In large part because of an excessive burden of government, the American economy is suffering European-style stagnation, with even the Washington Post now confessing that growth far below the long-run… Read more »

Giving Control of the Internet to the United Nations Would Be Like “Handing a Stradivarius to a Gorilla”

Giving Control of the Internet to the United Nations Would Be Like “Handing a Stradivarius to a Gorilla”

The United Nations may be useful as a forum for world leaders, but it is not a productive place to develop policy. The international bureaucracy compulsively supports statist initiatives that… Read more »

Will Natural Gas Cronyism Lead to a Post-Election Regulatory Deluge?

Will Natural Gas Cronyism Lead to a Post-Election Regulatory Deluge?

Veronique de Rugy documented today the degree to which the natural gas industry has captured the ear of government, receiving favorable treatment as a result: Public outrage at cronyism and… Read more »

Price Controls Are Exacerbating the Damage of Hurricane Sandy

Price Controls Are Exacerbating the Damage of Hurricane Sandy

Price controls are a spectacularly foolish idea, and that’s true whether they’re imposed by thugs such as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela or bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human… Read more »

Free Markets Protect Consumers with “Mutually Reinforcing” Private Regulation

Free Markets Protect Consumers with “Mutually Reinforcing” Private Regulation

I’ve written before about the heavy costs of regulation, including these rather sobering statistics. Or, to be more accurate, here are some staggering numbers. Americans spend 8.8 billion hours every… Read more »

Assuming You’re Intellectually Lazy, there’s a Very Strong Argument for Command-and-Control Regulation

Assuming You’re Intellectually Lazy, there’s a Very Strong Argument for Command-and-Control Regulation

Even though I’m a fiscal policy economist, I often get hit with questions on other topics. This frequently happens when I’m overseas and I’m put in the position of defending… Read more »