In recent months, I’ve displayed uncharacteristic levels of optimism on issues ranging from Obamacare to the Laffer Curve. But this doesn’t mean I’m now a blind Pollyanna. We almost always face an uphill battle in our efforts to restrain the power and greed of the political class. And in some areas, such as the fight […]
read more...I periodically compare the actions of brainless politicians and bureaucrats in both the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the most bizarre examples I cited was from England. It showed how a local government decided to install the most pointless sign in the history of the world. Our British friends are famous for […]
read more...I’m very leery of corporate tax reform, largely because I don’t think there are enough genuine loopholes on the business side of the tax code to finance a meaningful reduction in the corporate tax rate. That leads me to worry that politicians might try to “pay for” lower rates by forcing companies to overstate their […]
read more...Remember the Spending Quiz from 2010, which asked people to guess whether absurd examples of government waste were true or false? Well, we have a new video on government waste, though bureaucrats and politicians have become so profligate it doesn’t even bother to trick people with fake examples. While very well done, I do have […]
read more...Did Cyprus become an economic basket case because it is a tax haven, as some leftists have implied? Did it get in trouble because the government overspent, which I have suggested? The answers to those questions are “no” and “to some degree.” The real problem, as I explain in this interview for Voice of America, […]
read more...If America descends into Greek-style fiscal chaos, there’s no doubt that entitlement programs will be the main factor. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Disability are all fiscal train wrecks today, and the long-run outlook for these programs is frightful. Just look at these numbers from the Bank for International Settlements and OECD to see how […]
read more...I could only use 428 words, but I highlighted the main arguments for tax havens and tax competition in a “Room for Debate” piece for the New York Times. I hope that my contribution is a good addition to the powerful analysis of experts such as Allister Heath and Pierre Bessard. I started with the […]
read more...If you include all the appendices, there are thousands of pages in the President’s new budget. But the first thing I do every year is find the table showing how fast the burden of government spending will increase. That’s Table S-1 of the budget, and it shows that the President is proposing $41 trillion of […]
read more...I’m going to make an assertion that seems utterly absurd. The enactment of Obamacare may have been good news. Before sending a team of medical attendants to cart me off to a sanitarium, allow me to elaborate. I’m not saying Obamacare is good policy. After all, I’ve written over and over again that it is […]
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