Washington is in the middle of another debate about redistributing money. But that’s hardly newsworthy. Politics, after all, is basically a never-ending racket in which insiders buy votes and accumulate power with other people’s money. The current debate about extending unemployment benefits is remarkable, though (at least from an economic perspective), because certain politicians want to give people money on […]
read more...In the famous “Bridge of Death” scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, some of the knights are asked to name their favorite color. One of them mistakenly says blue instead of yellow and is hurled into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. I can sympathize with the unfortunate chap. If asked my least favorite part […]
read more...I’ve shared many charts over the years, but two of the most compelling ones deal with poverty. The numbers in this chart, which are based on Census Bureau data and scholarly studies (see here, here, here, and here), show that the poverty rate was steadily falling in the United States – until the federal government decided to launch a so-called […]
read more...One of my most widely read – but also most depressing – articles was from about two years ago and it exposed the fact that Washington, DC, is now the nation’s richest region. I explained that Washington is rich because of unearned wealth. Almost all of the loot that winds up in the pockets of highly paid lobbyists, […]
read more...Some things in life are very dependable. Every year, for instance, the swallows return to Capistrano. And you can also count on Dan Mitchell to wax poetic about the looming collapse of French statism. Back in 2011, I said France was engaged in economic self-destruction. In September 2012, I wrote that it was time to start the […]
read more...Over the years, I’ve shared some ridiculous arguments from our leftist friends. Paul Krugman, for instance, actually wrote that “scare stories” about government-run healthcare in the United Kingdom “are false.” Which means I get to recycle that absurd quote every time I share a new horror story about the failings of the British system. Today we have some assertions […]
read more...America desperately needs genuine entitlement reform to avoid a Greek-style fiscal future. The biggest problems are the health entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, but Social Security also has a huge long-run fiscal shortfall. That’s why I’m a big fan of the very successful reforms in places such as Chileand Australia, where personal accounts are producing big benefits for workers.These systems […]
read more...I hate to dredge up bad memories so early in a new year, but we need to remind ourselves of the awful TARP bailout of 2008. Our financial system had gone out of whack because of bad monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and unsustainable housing subsidies from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Some financial institutions gambled on […]
read more...The business pages are reporting that Chrysler will be fully owned by Fiat after that Italian company buys up remaining shares. I don’t know what this means about the long-term viability of Chrysler, but we can say with great confidence that the company will be better off now that the parent company is headquartered outside the United […]
read more...Let’s start 2014 with a depressing story about the reprehensible way in which big companies get in bed with big government. If asked to list the example of cronyism that I find most nauseating, the Export-Import Bank would be at the top of my list. The Obamacare handouts for Big Insuranceand Big Pharma obviously belong on the list as well. […]
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