Statists view “the rich” as nothing more than ATM machines for funding big-government welfare states. They think they can take as much as they like – they’re rich, after all! – without consequences. Once they empty the machine, the bank comes out and fills it up again. But real people don’t work that way. They […]
read more...Iain Murray writes at the Washington Examiner that advocacy groups Change.org and the Alliance for Climate Protection are arguing – in an email entitled, “Don’t Let BP Win!” – that “Stalling climate and energy legislation would be a big win for oil companies like BP, but a huge loss for the rest of us.” Someone […]
read more...Florida Senator Bill Nelson is seizing on the BP oil spill as an excuse to pass federal “price gouging” legislation. It’s certainly nothing new to see anti-market politicians stirring up populist rage with these so-called “price gouging” laws. Many states already have them on the books, and politicians are quick to warn greedy capitalists against […]
read more...The statists in Congress are enamored with Keynesian big government policies and profligate spending as a means of “stimulus.” But while they travel the country to tout so-called “stimulus success,” the public displays a far better understanding of the underlying economics. Not only does a plurality find that the stimulus bill actually hurt – rather […]
read more...I’ve heard a few economic whoppers in my time, especially from the mouths of politicians, but this statement by Speaker Pelosi has got to be one of the most foolish yet. Talking to reporters, the House speaker was defending a jobless benefits extension against those who say it gives recipients little incentive to work. By […]
read more...Allan Meltzer has an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal explaining the failures of Obamanomics. One of the causes he identifies is the high level of uncertainty surrounding tax rates and regulatory policy under this administration. Such uncertainty is the enemy of growth. Robert Higgs first introduced “regime uncertainty” in his 1997 article explaining […]
read more...The lazy politician looks at deficits and screams, “soak the rich!” But as CBO’s latest analysis of federal average tax rates shows, they are already paying a highly disproportionate share of taxes. The graphs above show that the highest earners are already paying considerably more in taxes than their share of total income due primary […]
read more...Dan Mitchell recently appeared on MSNBC to explain why we should not be surprised to learn that more than $9 million dollars in home buyer tax credits were given to prison inmates who were clearly not new home owners. This kind of waste is to be expected when Congress writes a 70,000+ page tax code […]
read more...Shakespeare would likely describe the latest major legislation winding its way through Congress as a piece of legislation crafted by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Rather than address the systemic distortions created by prior government policies, and which caused the financial meltdown, policy makers are now “[putting] a lot of faith in […]
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