The United Nations is not nearly as bad as other international bureaucracies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or the International Monetary Fund. But that’s because the U.N. tends to be completely ineffective. So even when the…
Daily Analysis
What Happens When Too Many Voters Support Redistribution?
Back in 2010, I shared some wise words from Walter Williams and Theodore Dalrymple about how society can become unstable when people figure they can “vote themselves money.” On a related note, I shared the famous “riding in the wagon” cartoons in 2011 and the “Danish…
Believe It or Not: A Communist Nation Is the World’s Most Pro-Capitalist Country
Every so often, I share polling data from other nations that is either encouraging or puzzling. Looking through the archives, here are some memorable examples. *Americans are more libertarian than Europeans. *On the other hand, the French support spending cuts by a…
The United States Improves to #12 in New Rankings of Global Economic Freedom
Divided government is good for America’s economy. Or, to be more specific, divided government is a net plus if the alternative is to have statists fully in charge of economic policy. I made this point back in 2012 when I pointed out that the unemployment rate started…
Myths about Capitalism
In addition to his side job as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Economics Department at Harvard University, Jeff Miron is Director of Economic Studies at the Cato Institute. He’s also the narrator of this video from Learn Liberty that discusses three myths…
A Very Bad Year for Obamacare…and a Worse Year for the Victims of Obamacare
In the last few months of 2013, Obamacare suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks dealing with everything from a clunky website to plan cancellations tothe White House feeling compelled to arbitrarily ignore the law. Since that time, though, people seem to have…
The Ebola Virus and the Case for Limited – and Competent – Government
Does big government necessarily and automatically imply incompetent government? Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. Robert Samuelson, for instance, has written that the federal government is so large that it breeds failure and disappointment. I added my two…
Bureaucrats at the United Nations Endorse Sweeping New Tax Powers for Politicians
I’m not a big fan of international bureaucracies. Regular readers know that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is the worst institution from my perspective, followed by the International Monetary Fund. Some folks ask why the United Nations isn’t…
Minimum Wage Follies
The great Krugtron the Invincible argues the minimum wage can be increased without much consequence. He says there’s “hardly any cost to raising it,” and that “we can raise these wages without losing lots of jobs.” Notice the weasel…
Obama Is Right about the European Economy…But Doesn’t Grasp the Implications
I’m not a big fan of Obamanomics. I don’t like the President’s class-warfare mentality on taxes. I don’t like his support for Keynesian spending policy. And I don’t like his costly expansions of government such as Obamacare. Indeed, I even like mocking his reflexive…