The Obama Administration has decided to mandate that insurance companies provide dozens of tests to consumers at no charge. Any person with an IQ that is above room temperature understands, of course, that this doesn’t mean there is no cost for the tests. It just…
Daily Analysis
Roosevelt and Obama, Two Peas in a Pod
Walter Williams explains how Roosevelt’s policies extended the Great Depression. SInce Obama apparently would like to be the new FDR, this does not bode well for America’s future. The good news, so to speak, is that Obama’s policies are not nearly as bad as what…
Government Thuggery
It is common to mock paper-pushing bureaucrats and nanny-state politicians for silly laws and mindless regulations, but sometimes absurd policies translate into genuine oppression. John Stossel outlines some of the disturbing ways that the American people are being…
Debating on CNBC With Another CAP Collectivist
I cross swords with my long-time nemesis, Christian Weller. I suspect the most interesting part of the debate, however, is when I jump on one of the hosts for asserting that the Bush years were some sort of laissez-faire episode. How often do you get to ask for drugs…
Jousting on MSNBC (with a libertarian host?)
This MSNBC interview was halfway through before I got a chance to talk, so I was beginning to think I was a victim of bias, but then the host mentioned Greece degenerating like a scene out of Atlas Shrugged. I’m not sure what to think, but I did get in some good shots…
The Deadly Impact of the Death Tax
Australia got rid of its death tax in 1979. A couple of Aussie academics investigated whether the elimination of the tax had any impact on death rates. They found the ultimate example of supply-side economics, as reported in the abstract of their study. In 1979,…
Show Me the Money
A number of economists have been warning about the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policy, but defenders of the central bank often ask, ”if there’s an easy money policy, why isn’t that showing up in the form of higher prices?” Thomas Sowell has an answer to this…
Will America Be a Fiscal Failure?
Investor’s Business Daily has an excellent editorial on fiscal policy, and not just because they quote me. They understand that America’s fiscal problem is spending rather than deficits. They also realize that tax increases are completely misguided since the economy…
Did the Bush Tax Cuts Cause Today’s Deficits?
My former colleague at the Heritage Foundation, Brian Riedl, has a column in the Wall Street Journal today which discusses the degree to which President Bush’s policies can be blamed for current deficits. I think Brian is too easy on Bush’s terrible record as a big…
"Price Gouging" Laws Compound Natural Disasters with Political Disaster
Florida Senator Bill Nelson is seizing on the BP oil spill as an excuse to pass federal “price gouging” legislation. It’s certainly nothing new to see anti-market politicians stirring up populist rage with these so-called “price gouging”…