I’m in Milan, at the office of the Institute Bruno Leoni, which overlooks the famous Castle Sforza and is almost within shouting distance of the remarkable cathedral. This evening, I’ll be talking about how Italy should balance its budget by limiting the size of…
Daily Analysis
With Apologies to Dickens, One was the Best of Senators, One was the Worst of Senators.
The title of this post doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” But what can you expect when you compare politicians to the opening line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. That’s what came to my mind, though,…
Sweden Is a Role Model…but for Free Market Reforms, not Socialism
Johnny Munkhammar is a member of the Swedish Parliament and a committed supporter of economic liberalization. He has a column in the Wall Street Journal Europe that does a great job of explaining how Sweden became rich when it was a small-government, pro-market…
Greetings from San Marino
Hello from the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, a 24-square mile enclave centered around Monte Titano in eastern Italy. I’m here for a conference on “Competition and Alliances among States.” Like many other so-called tax havens, San Marino has been bludgeoned in…
Time to Shut Down the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Very few things that happen in Washington are legitimate functions of the federal government. I’ve already posted about the need to dismantle the Department of Transportation and send it back to the states, but some things shouldn’t even be handled by state and local…
New CBO Numbers Re-Confirm that Balancing the Budget Is Simple with Modest Fiscal Restraint
Many of the politicians in Washington, including President Obama during his State-of-the-Union address, piously tell us that there is no way to balance the budget without tax increases. Trying to get rid of red ink without higher taxes, they tell us, would require…
Obama’s State-of-the-Union Speech: Maybe New Rhetoric, Definitely Old Ideas
I’m disappointed, but not surprised, to read in the Washington Post that President Obama has decided against any changes to restrain Social Security spending. He’ll still probably subject us to pious and insincere rhetoric about fighting red ink in tonight’s…
All Libertarians and Conservatives Should Agree to End Federal Abortion Subsidies
Regardless of what one thinks about abortion, it is preposterous for the federal government to be subsidizing the procedure. Yet that is what happens thanks to annual subsidies of as much as $363 million for Planned Parenthood. Defenders of Planned Parenthood…
Obama’s Crony Capitalism Means the Poor Subsidize the Rich
I’ve always rejected coercive redistribution, particularly when imposed by the federal government. But some types of redistribution are worse than others, and when big business and big government get in bed together, ordinary people are the ones who get screwed. This…
English Anti-Tax Haven Ideologues Are Just as Foolish and Ignorant as their American Cousins
There’s a supposed expose in the U.K.-based Daily Mail about how major British companies have subsidiaries in low-tax jurisdictions. It even includes this table with the ostensibly shocking numbers. This is quite akin to the propaganda issued by American statists….