With Crimea potentially breaking away from Ukraine and the ongoing risk of conflict, it’s time to revisit the topic. I explained a few weeks ago that decentralization was one way of defusing the crisis. Now Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute has a refreshing and important analysisexplaining how bad economic policy has hindered Ukraine’s development. He explains […]
read more...The headline of this post might not be completely honest. Indeed, if you asked me to grade the accuracy of my title, I’ll admit right away that it falls into the “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” category of mendacity. But I’m only prevaricating to set the stage for some satire […]
read more...The official motto of the United States is “In God We Trust.” The official motto of Washington, DC, is “Justitia Omnibus,” which means “Justice for All.” These are nice statements, but they apply too broadly. We also should have a motto specifically for politicians. Something that captures the zeitgeist of our overlords in Washington. I […]
read more...I wish there was a magic wand that somebody could wave and all of us would have more money. Or maybe Santa Claus could play that role, or some version of the Tooth Fairy. And if that magic person only had limited powers, I would want more money specifically for those with modest incomes. Unfortunately, we […]
read more...When I first started working on fiscal policy in the 1980s, I never thought I would consider Sweden any sort of role model. It was the quintessential cradle-to-grave welfare state, much loved on the left as an example for America to follow. But Sweden suffered a severe economic shock in the early 1990s and policy […]
read more...Regular readers may have noticed that I generally say that advocates of big government are “statists.” I could call them “liberals,” but I don’t like that using that term since the early advocates of economic and personal liberty were “classical liberals” such as Adam Smith, John Locke, and Jean-Baptiste Say. And proponents of these ideas […]
read more...The United States is supposed to be enjoying a recovery. Indeed, we’re now supposedly in the fifth year of an expanding economy. Many Americans must wonder why it doesn’t feel that way. In part, that’s because growth has been very anemic. Indeed, this is the weakest recovery since the Great Depression. But it’s also because the […]
read more...It’s sometimes difficult to make fun of Keynesian economics. But this isn’t because Keynesian theory is airtight. It’s easy, after all, to mock a school of thought that is predicated on the notion that you can make yourself richer by taking money from your right pocket and putting it in your left pocket. The problem […]
read more...In recent weeks, I’ve pontificated on Obama’s spendthrift budget, Congressman Dave Camp’s timid tax reform plan, and the corrupt cronyism of Washington. I got to elaborate on all these topics – and more – in this interview with Professor Glenn Reynolds, more widely known as Instapundit. If there was an overall theme, it’s that President Obama’s statist agenda is not […]
read more...If you look at measures (such as the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index) of what makes a nation competitive and prosperous, you’ll find some obvious variables such as fiscal policy, trade openness, regulatory burden, and monetary policy. But in addition to those policy levers, you’ll find that it’s equally important that a nation does a good job […]
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