eronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center has a very good – but somewhat depressing – analysis of the fiscal crisis in Greece. She basically concludes that bailouts will continue because nobody in Europe is willing to do the right thing. This got me thinking about what…
Daily Analysis
New Paper Explains Why Low-Tax Jurisdictions Should Resist OECD Attacks Against Tax Competition and Fiscal Sovereignty
One of the biggest threats against global prosperity is the anti-tax competition project of a Paris-based international bureaucracy known as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD, acting at the behest of the European welfare states that…
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Which Nation Has the Most Debt of All?
Last night, I spoke at the closing dinner of the European Resource Bank. My message was simple and straightforward: Entitlement programs are killing the developed world. That’s not exactly a surprise, but what may be shocking is America’s relative position. In my…
It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…No, It’s Super-Bureaucrat
I’ve had dozens of posts about overpaid bureaucrats. Indeed, I’ve largely stopped blogging about the topic because it is so depressing to constantly be reminded about how a privileged class of people is manipulating the system to coercively obtain undeserved…
Who’s Right on Medicare Reform, Ryan and Rivlin or Obama and Gingrich?
This new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity discusses a proposal to solve Medicare’s bankrupt finances by replacing an unsustainable entitlement with a “premium-support” system for private insurance, also known as vouchers. This topic is very hot right…
Dissecting Obama’s High-Speed Rail Boondoggle and other Transportation Nightmares
It’s 45 minutes long, but this video from the folks at Reason TV is filled with good information on the foolish ideas of central planners who want to control our transportation. You’ll learn in the first half of the video, for instance, how high-speed rail is like…
Could Technical Default Today Save America from Greek-Style Fiscal Disaster in the Future?
There’s a lot of buzz about a Wall Street Journal interview with Stanley Druckenmiller, in which he argues that a temporary delay in making payments on U.S. government debt (which technically would be a default) would be a small price to pay if it resulted in the…
As a Matter of Fact, the Baltic Nations Are a Success Story
I got a few cranky emails after my post suggesting the United States should copy the Baltic nations and implement genuine spending cuts. These less-than-friendly pen pals were upset that I favorably commented on the fiscal discipline of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia…
Growing Dependency Is a Terrible Indicator for America’s Future
I’m often torn between optimism and pessimism about the future. In my cheerful moments, I marvel at the American system and cheer the private sector’s ability to adapt and survive even the stupidest government interventions. But at other times, I fret that those…
Let’s Copy the Baltic Nations and Really Cut Spending
All the talk of spending cuts in Washington is fictitious. Even the House Republican Study Committee budget allows spending to increase, on average, by 1.7 percent each year for the next decade. The Ryan budget, which critics deride for its “savage” cuts, allows…