Triggered by an appearance on Canadian TV, I asked yesterday why we should believe anti-sequester Keynesians. They want us to think that a very modest reduction in the growth of government spending will hurt the economy, yet Canada enjoyed rapid growth in the…
Daily Analysis
Challenge for Keynesian Anti-Sequester Hysterics: Why Did Canada’s Economy Boom When the Burden of Spending Was Sharply Reduced?
In this appearance on Canadian TV, I debunk anti-sequester hysteria, pointing out that “automatic budget cuts” merely restrain government so that it grows $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years rather than $2.5 trillion. I also point out that we shouldn’t worry about…
The New York Times Calls (again) for Higher Taxes on Middle-Class Americans
ll statists want much bigger government, but not all of them are honest about how to finance a Greek-sized welfare state. The President, for instance, wants us to believe that the rich are some sort of fiscal pinata, capable of generating endless amounts of tax…
The Tax Code Shouldn’t Steer Capital to State and Local Governments at the Expense of Private Investment
I’m a proponent of a pro-growth and non-corrupt tax code. I mostly write and talk about the flat tax, though I’d be happy to instead accept a national sales tax if we could somehow get rid of the 16th Amendment and replace it with something so ironclad that even…
The Laffer Curve KO’s the IRS
What’s the revenue-maximizing tax rate? Since I’m interested in the growth-maximizing tax rate instead, I don’t think that’s even a legitimate question. That being said, it seems like everyone – both on the left and on the right – should agree that it makes no sense…
After Reviewing the Federal Reserve’s Lousy Track Record, Thomas Sowell Asks Why such a Deeply Flawed Institution Should Be Allowed to Accumulate more Power
When speaking about the difference between the private sector and the government, I sometimes emphasize that mistakes and errors are inevitable, and that the propensity to screw up may be just as prevalent in the private sector as it is in the public sector. I…
From Employment to Savings, Bad Government Policy Is Undermining the U.S. Economy
First, some good news. The United States is in much better shape than most other developed nations, particularly if you look at broad measures of prosperity and living standards. And our economy is growing and the private sector is creating jobs. That’s the…
In a Continuing Indictment of Obamanomics, another Bad Jobs Number Showing the “New Normal” of High Unemployment
I almost feel sorry for the Obama Administration’s spin doctors. Every month, they probably wait for the unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics with the same level of excitement that people on death row wait for their execution date. This has been…
Rather than Helping the Poor, Higher Tax Rates Redistribute Rich People
Daniel Hannan is a member of the European Parliament from England. He is one of the few economically sensible people in that body, as demonstrated in these short clips of him speaking about tax competition and deriding the European Commission’s corrupt racket. And as…
Why GDP Data Shouldn’t Be Interpreted in Ways That Support Keynesian Spending
Fighting against statism in Washington is a lot like trying to swim upstream. It seems that everything (how to measure spending cuts, how to estimate tax revenue, etc) is rigged to make your job harder. A timely example is the way the way government puts together data…