Every so often, when the temptation is too great, I’ll comment on something written by Paul Krugman. When he botched his analysis of Estonia, for instance, I joined that nation’s President in correcting some egregious errors. And I periodically remind people that…
Daily Analysis
Caribbean Junkets: You Pay While Bureaucrats Play
One of my first blog posts, way back in 2009, was about bureaucrats from the Social Security Administration squandering more than $700,000 on a boondoggle conference at a fancy Arizona resort. To pick a more recent example, taxpayers have plenty of reasons to be upset…
The Essence of Government, as Captured by Cartoons
I greatly admire the way some political cartoonists are able to effectively capture the essence of an issue. And when it comes to government, I’ve always enjoyed the cartoons that portray the state as a blundering, often-malicious, overweight nitwit. But I don’t…
OECD and G20 Won’t Save Us From FATCA
My friend Dr. Eduardo Morgan Jr. recently published an article for La Estrella de Panamá, in which he succinctly summarizes not only the goals of but also the significant problems with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) was…
Big Government Redistributes Money from Ordinary Americans to Benefit Washington’s Gilded Class
Regular readers know I complain about the army of overpaid bureaucrats in Washington, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The larger problem is that Washington also is filled with hundreds of thousands of other people who get rich thanks to big government. And…
Will Paul Ryan and GOP Budget Negotiators Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory?!?
There’s a joke in Washington that Democrats are the evil party and Republicans are the stupid party. Except this joke isn’t very funny since a lot of bad policy occurs when gullible GOPers get lured into “bipartisan” deals that expand government. Consider, for…
Is Obama “One of the Best Presidents Ever”?
While I’m critical of the overall design and impact of President Obama’s economic policy, I don’t have a partisan agenda and I’m willing to give the White House credit when it’s warranted. I’ve pointed out, for instance, that Obama has increased spending at a slower…
Some Jobs Are Bad Jobs, Even in the Private Sector
It’s no secret that I think we have too many government bureaucrats and I’ve shared very strong evidence that most of them are grossly overpaid. I also have shown some data suggesting that they don’t work very hard, though I confess to mixed feelings about that…
Obama Administration Urges More Unemployment
President Obama has presided over a terrible jobs market. Unemployment is more than two-percentage points higher today than the White House claimed it would be if the so-called stimulus was enacted. Even more worrisome, the employment-population ratio seems to have…
Obamacare, Schadenfreude, and the Joy of Just Deserts*
I’ve periodically used “Schadenfreude” to describe my feelings about certain issues. Maybe this makes me a bad person, but I’ve openly admitted to a perverse sense of happiness at the misfortune of others when, for instance, France’s class-warfare tax policy backfired…