The International Monetary Fund isn’t my least-favorite international bureaucracy. That special honor belongs to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, largely because of its efforts to undermine tax competition and protect the interests of the…
Daily Analysis
Washington’s Action Plan for Ebola: Squalid Waste and Pork-Barrel Spending by the CDC and NIH, Seasoned with Corruption at HHS
Years ago, I shared a very funny poster that suggests that more government is hardly ever the right answer to any question. Yet in Washington, the standard response to any screwup by government is to make government even bigger. Sort of Mitchell’s Law on steroids. And…
The New York Times Accidentally Admits Superiority of Privatized Social Security
I confess that I get a bit of perverse pleasure when a left-leaning media outlet screws up and inadvertently shares information that helps the cause of limited government. A New York Times columnist, for instance, pushed for a tax-hiking fiscal agreement back in 2011…
Excessive Government Spending in Europe: Sowing the Seeds for another Fiscal Crisis
Europe is in deep trouble. That’s an oversimplification, of course, since there are a handful of nations that seem to be moving in the right direction (or at least not moving rapidly in the wrong direction). But notwithstanding those exceptions, Europe in general…
Hong Kong’s Remarkable Fiscal Policy
I’ve had ample reason to praise Hong Kong’s economic policy. Most recently, it was ranked (once again) as the world’s freest economy. And I’ve shown that this makes a difference by comparing Hong Kong’s economic performance to the comparatively lackluster (or weak)…
Obama Admin Prepares Rules Targeting For-Profit Colleges
Obama administration presses ahead in its war on for-profit colleges.
NSA Abuse Shows Importance of Financial Privacy
Arguments in favor of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act start and end with tax evasion. Those who question the validity of a massive and invasive financial dragnet for the purpose of catching a few tax cheats are accused of either being a tax evader themselves or…
Faced with Ebola Crisis, World Health Organization Decides to…Have a Moscow Conference to Push Global Tax Rules for Tobacco
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…
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…


