The Center for Immigration Studies recently put out a study arguing that immigration has had negative effects on California. One of their measures was a comparison of how many people in the state were receiving some form of welfare compared to other states. I found…
Daily Analysis
Taxpayers vs. Bureaucrats, Part XXXI
The competition to be the Greece of America has a lot of contestants. California and Illinois certainly are strong candidates. New Jersey was an early favorite, though Gov. Christie is actually doing some good things and pulling the state back from the precipice. But…
Will the Euro Turn into the Argentinian Peso or the Zimbabwean Dollar?
I hope the title to this blog post is completely wrong, but the news out of Europe is very grim. Politicians have been over-spending and going deeper and deeper into debt. This negatively affects the private sector in the usual ways (higher taxes, unproductive…
Taxpayers vs. Bureaucrats, Part XXX
It is probably safe to assume that government bureaucrats are overpaid in every city and state, but it won’t come as a big surprise to learn that San Francisco is especially profligate. Here are some disturbing details compiled by Investor’s Business…
Guilt-Ridden German Millionaires Endorse More Class-Warfare Taxation
CNBC is reporting that 51 German millionaires and billionaires have endorsed the idea of that rich people should have to give an extra 10 percent of their income to the government. I’m tempted to dismiss this story since (according to my rudimentary math skills)…
Postal Service Reform is Easy
The U.S. Postal Service has been hemorrhaging money for decades, and it’s not hard to understand why. As a government protected monopoly, the Postal Service cannot adjust to changing market conditions like an ordinary business. In addition, they are often…
Government "Inspections" Trump Actually Cleaning Oil
When you’re a government bureaucrat, it’s never a bad time to interrupt people with real jobs, doing real work, in order to apply pointless rules. Rather than deploying all resources to address the oil spill in the Gulf, the Coast Guard has been holding…
Bailouts Discourage Tax Competition Between States
Big Government bailouts haven’t just been directed toward businesses and Wall Street, they’ve also been deployed to prop up Big Governments. Having taken “stimulus” money while fully aware that it was a one-time windfall, politicians in many…
Daniel Hannan Sees America Europeanizing
Britain’s Conservative MP Daniel Hannan, made famous in America for the viral YouTube video of his fiscal takedown of Gordon Brown, recently wrote of his regret for supporting Barack Obama in the general election of the 2008 presidential campaign. A European…
Great Moments in Government Waste and Stupidity
Here’s a depressing story from the Columbus Dispatch that shows the government’s ability to be incompetent and wasteful at the same time. A labor dispute that never should have existed (but did, thanks to the incestuous relationship of unions and…