Even though it’s an uphill battle, I’m glad there are some lawmakers willing to fight Obamacare. They realize a hard battle today could help save America from genuine fiscal crisis in the future. I don’t know how this government-shutdown battle (which is morphing into…
Daily Analysis
Some Parts of Government Should Be Shut Down Forever
I realize we’re in the middle of a government shutdown and there’s a debt limit deadline rapidly approaching, but I’m not going to write about fiscal policy today. Instead, I’m going to share a story about evil and stupid government policy. I guess you could say this…
Cheered on by the OECD, Japan Announces Higher VAT Rate to Enable Bigger Government
If you have any long-term Japanese investments, sell them soon. In part, that’s because the Japanese Prime Minister announced another Keynesian spending binge earlier this year – even though several so-called stimulus plans in Japan have flopped over the past two…
The Shutdown Fight: Can Advocates of Fiscal Responsibility Overcome the Combined Forces of Obama, Lobbyists, and the Media?
I’m not overly optimistic about the outcome of the government shutdown fight. In part this is because our system of government, based on separation of powers, means it is very difficult to change the status quo. This system, by the way, generally has been good for the…
Is Today – the Anniversary of the Income Tax – the Worst Day in American History?
There have been some unfortunate and dark days in American history, but what was the worst day? Some obvious choices include December 7, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and September 11, when the terrorists launched their despicable attack. Another option…
What if We Had a Government Shutdown and Nobody Noticed or Cared?
What’s the likely outcome of the government shutdown fight? Well, in my libertarian fantasy world, we leave it closed. Or at least we never bother to reopen counterproductive bureaucracies such as the Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Department of…
Maybe the Real Lesson Is that It’s Best to Shut Down the Federal Government Before a New Fiscal Year Begins
The politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists and interest groups in Washington are hyperventilating that the federal gravy train may get sidetracked for a day or two by a shutdown fight between Republicans and Democrats. I’m not sure why they’re so agitated. After all, the…
Playing Hardball on a Government Shutdown Is the only Short-Run Way to Make Fiscal Progress
I haven’t written much about the budget fights over a government shutdown, Obamacare, the continuing resolution, and the debt limit for the simple reason that the battles are mostly about politics and strategy rather than policy. At the risk of oversimplifying, here’s…
End the Federal Subsidy for Big State Governments
The relationship between federal and state governments – the division of power between the two levels being known as federalism – is an integral part of the American constitutional system. Federalism uses separate and competing spheres of sovereignty to…
Medicare: Recipients Pay for Hamburger, They Get a Hamburger, but Taxpayers Are Being Charged for a Steak
One of the challenges of good entitlement reform (or even bad entitlement reform) is that recipients think they’ve “earned” benefits. If you tell them that programs such as Medicare are unsustainable and need to be changed, some of them suspect you’re trying to…