The main political goal of the left is to seduce Republicans into supporting higher taxes. Bluntly stated, all of their fiscal policy goals require more tax revenue coming to Washington. The most important factor (from their perspective) is that they can’t make…
Daily Analysis
Boost Economic Growth by Slashing the Size of Government
It doesn’t get much attention, but one of the most interesting economic experiments in American history occurred right after World War II. Despite warnings of Armageddon from Keynesian economists, government spending was slashed as the United States demobilized from…
Block-Granting Medicaid Is a Long-Overdue Way of Restoring Federalism and Promoting Good Fiscal Policy
This new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity explains why Medicaid should be shifted to the states. As I note in the title of this post, it’s good federalism policy and good fiscal policy. But the video also explains that Medicaid reform is good health…
Will the U.S. Government Get Downgraded…and Would It Matter?
Here’s another news appearance from my new youtube channel. I chat about the importance (or lack thereof) of a possible ratings downgrade for the United States government. You’ll see that I’m not overly impressed by Moody’s and the rest of the rating agencies.
Obama Wants American Taxpayers to Bail Out Greek Politicians and Dig the Debt Hole even Deeper
Here’s some completely depressing news. CNBC is reporting that President Obama is putting American taxpayers on the chopping block to bail out Greece’s corrupt politicians. But, to show he doesn’t discriminate, he also encouraged the German Chancellor to rape her…
Government Fiscal Estimates: Always Wrong, Usually Biased
My good friend Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University did a very illuminating interview with Bloomberg about the serial inaccuracy of government fiscal forecasts. Veronique uses health care as an example, giving particular attention to the…
How Redistribution Creates a Poverty Trap
I’ve beaten up on Newt Gingrich for his views on global warming and his attack on the Ryan budget plan, but I’m completely on his side in the faux controversy about whether it is racist to call Barack Obama the “food stamp president.” This story from ABC News should…
Unemployment at 9.1 Percent: Heckuva Job on that Stimulus, Mr. President!
Based on this morning’s numbers, I’ve updated my chart showing what the Obama Administration said would happen with the so-called stimulus compared to what actually has happened. As you can see, the unemployment rate is about 2.5 percentage points higher than the…
A Mind-Boggling Example of Government Waste
All I can say is that I’m thankful the United States is not part of the European Union, at least if this little tidbit from the UK-based Telegraph is true. American politicians waste a lot of money, but even I doubt they ever spent tax dollars on something that is…
The “I-Told-You-So” Blog Post about the Completely Predictable Failure of the Greek Bailout
Way back in February of 2010, I wrote that a Greek bailout would be a failure. Not surprisingly, the parasites at the International Monetary Fund and the political elite from other European nations ignored my advice and gave tens of billions of dollars to Greece’s…