A couple of months ago, after reading an excellent column in the semi-official newspaper of the Vatican, I joked that we should send Obama to Rome for an economics lesson. I now completely retract that statement. There may be some economically astute people who write…
Daily Analysis
Republicans vs. the Free Market
Over and over again, I tell people to ignore whether politicians have a D or an R after their names. That’s because Democrats sometimes do the right thing and Republicans often do the wrong thing. My latest example of Republicans doing the wrong thing come from…
Debating against Obama’s So-Called Stimulus, Advocating Pro-Growth Policy
I’m going to be in New York City next week to join with Richard Epstein as we participate in an Intelligence Squared debate against Mark Zandi and Cecilia Rouse. I’m looking forward to this event because Richard Epstein is a rock star for freedom. It also gave me an…
What’s the Difference Between an American Politician, a Greek Politician, and an Anguillan Politician?
Sounds like the beginning of a joke, sort of like, “A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar…” But I have a serious point to make. I’m currently in Anguilla (yes, this is just one of the sacrifices I make in the fight for liberty), where I just gave a speech…
The Simple Solution to the European Fiscal Crisis
The welfare states of Europe are in deep trouble. Decades of over-taxing and over-spending have sapped economic vitality and produced high levels of debt. The high debt levels, by themselves, might not be a problem if European governments implemented good policy….
Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Plan: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Actually, the title of this post should probably read, “The Good, Good, Good, Bad, and the Ugly.” That’s because Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan has low tax rates, it eliminates double taxation, and it wipes out loopholes, and those are three very big and very good…
The Laffer Curve Wins Again: Snooki 1 – IRS 0
The Laffer Curve is the simple notion that higher tax rates don’t necessarily generate as much loot as politicians expect because taxpayers have less incentive to earn and/or report income. And it works in both directions. Lower tax rates don’t lose as much revenue as…
New Video Has Important Message: Freedom and Prosperity vs. Big Government and Stagnation
The folks from the Koch Institute put together a great video a couple of months ago looking at why some nations are rich and others are poor. That video looked at the relationship between economic freedom and various indices that measure quality of life. Not…
More Problems with Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan
I like the overall approach of Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan. As I recently wrote, it focuses on lower tax rates, elimination of double taxation, and repeal of corrupt and inefficient loopholes. But I included a very important caveat. The intermediate stage of his…
Will Republicans Choose Sequester Savings or a Supercommittee Surrender?
The budget fights this year began with the “shutdown” battle, followed by the Ryan budget and then the debt limit. These fights have mostly led to uninspiring kiss-your-sister outcomes, which is hardly surprising given divided government. Now the crowd in DC is…