I’m in Vienna, Austria, for the annual European Resource Bank meeting. I had the pleasure last night of listening to Jose Pinera speak about economic reform in Chile, particularly the system of personal retirement accounts. He shared a chart that conclusively shows…
Daily Analysis
The European Parliament’s Pro-Tax Politicians Should Go After their Own Tax-Protected Salaries
What’s the most noxious example of hypocrisy from the political class? Is it left wingers from Obama’s cabinet utilizing tax havens while supporting higher taxes for the rest of us peasants? Or how about politicians who voted for Obamacare and are now trying to exempt…
A Rare – and Encouraging – Glimpse at How a Free Market Could Work in the Health Sector
I’ve complained ad nauseam about how government has screwed up the health sector, both because of spending programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and because of tax and regulatory distortions that have mutated the supposedly private insurance market into some bizarre…
A Primer on Austrian Macroeconomics
I had the gall to share a video yesterday of me lecturing for an hour about the economics of public policy (followed by another hour of Q&A). Though I also included this link to a six-minute video on the same topic for folks who just wanted to skim the surface….
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Economic Policy
I’ve narrated a video that cites Economic Freedom of the World data to explain the five major factors that determine economic performance. But that video is only six minutes long, so I only skim the surface. For those of you who feel that you’re missing out, you can…
Moral of the Story: Tax Havens Are Okay if You’re a Politically Connnected Leftist
Earlier this year, I had some fun when it was revealed that the President’s new Treasury Secretary had a lot of money in the Cayman Islands. After all, leftists want us to believe tax havens are rogue regimes that should be eliminated. Some of them even want military…
If You Want Competent Government, Shrink the Size and Scope of the Public Sector
Back in 2010, I posted a “word cloud” from a Gallup poll, which cited people’s reactions when asked to describe the federal government. Common responses included “incompetent” and “too big,” as well as “corrupt” and “confused.” Then, quoting from a very funny Mark…
Relying on Dishonest Poverty Numbers, OECD Bureaucracy Urges America to Copy Europe and Adopt an even Bigger Welfare State
With many European nations already in the midst of a fiscal crisis caused by excessive government, and with most other industrialized nations heading down the same path thanks to aging populations and poorly designed entitlement programs, this would be a good time for…
Getting High with the Laffer Curve
Two of my favorite things in life are the Laffer Curve and the Georgia Bulldogs. So you know I’m going to approve when an economics professor from the University of Georgia writes a column about the power of the Laffer Curve. And since I’m a libertarian and the…
Discussing Europe’s Faux Austerity with John Stossel
I want a smaller burden of government spending, so you can only imagine how frustrating it is for me to observe the fight in Europe. On one side of the debate you have pro-spenders, who call themselves “growth” advocates, but are really just Keynesians. On the other…