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…
Daily Analysis
Happy Crony New Year
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…
The Best and Worst Policy Developments of 2013
One year ago, I looked at the worst policy developments of 2012. I had some very good (or should I say bad?) options for that award, including the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision, the IRS’s lawless decision to make American banks act as tax collectors for foreign…
You Be the Judge: When Should Government Be Allowed to Take Your Children?
As part of my “You Be the Judge” series, I periodically share stories that presumably create moral quandaries for libertarians and other advocates of limited government and individual liberty. Though I’ve been lax in this regard since my last iteration in the series…
Bipartisanship Is Generally a Good Thing…but for Politicians rather than Taxpayers
If you like to go along to get along, I suggest you don’t become a libertarian. At least not if you follow politics or work in Washington. Otherwise, you’re doomed to a life of endlessly pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. Here are three examples. 1. When…
The Biggest Risk Factor Leading to Premature Death Is…?
Nope, the answer isn’t smoking. Or fatty food. Or 16 oz. sodas. And it’s not alcohol, driving too fast, or standing between politicians and a TV camera. In the past 100 years or so, the biggest cause of premature death has been government. Back in 2011,…
A Golden Rule Christmas
Jay Leno had the all-time best Christmas joke and the school bureaucrats in Haymarket, VA, win the prize for the all-time worst example of anti-Christmas lunacy. But I must win the prize for being the biggest Christmas policy dork. I make this confession freely…
It’s a Very Merry Christmas for Washington’s Parasite Class
Last year, while writing about the sleazy and self-serving behavior at the IRS, I came up with a Theorem that explains day-to-day behavior in Washington. It might not be as pithy as Mitchell’s Law, and it doesn’t contain an important policy prescription like…
A Victory for the IMF…and a Defeat for Good Fiscal Policy
It’s not easy being a libertarian, particularly if you follow public policy. Thomas Jefferson almost certainly was right when he wrote that “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” Heck, just look at how small government…
The Amazing Adventures of Super Bureaucrat!
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no it’s Super Bureaucrat! Actually, look to New Jersey, because you’re going to see a taxpayer ripoff that will get your blood boiling. Depending on your perspective, this may be worse than the toll collector on the New…