Using data stolen from service providers in the Cook Islands and the British Virgin Islands, the Washington Post published a supposed exposé of Americans who do business in so-called tax havens. Since I’m the self-appointed defender of low-tax jurisdictions in…
Statists are in a tough position. For years, they’ve been saying the United States should be more like Europe. And, as shown in these very funny cartoons by Michael Ramirez and Bob Gorrell, President Obama is a cheerleader for that effort. But now Europe’s welfare…
Are we about to see a new kinder-and-gentler Obama? Has the tax-and-spend President of the past four years been replaced by a fiscal moderate? That’s certainly the spin we’re getting from the White House about the President’s new budget. Let’s look at this theme,…
It’s been more than three weeks since I targeted French fiscal policy for abuse and more than one week since I wrote something negative about the French fiscal system. I must be slowing down as I get older, so it’s time of rectify this oversight. My fundamental…
One of the great things about federalism, above and beyond the fact that it both constrains the power of governments and is faithful to the Constitution, is that is turns every state into an experiment. We can learn what works best (though the President seems…
The Obama Administration is proposing to once again put the economy at risk by subsidizing banks to give mortgages to people with poor credit, even though we’re still dealing with the economic and fiscal damage caused by the last episode of government housing subsidie…
Back in 2010, I wrote a post entitled “What’s the Ideal Point on the Laffer Curve?“ Except I didn’t answer my own question. I simply pointed out that revenue maximization was not the ideal outcome. I explained that policy makers instead should seek to maximize…
Folks, the pendulum is swinging in the right direction. In recent weeks, I’ve shared a bunch of examples to support my hypothesis that libertarians, small-government conservatives, and classical liberals are finally making some progress. This trend actually started…
Our lords and masters in Washington have taken a small step in the direction of recognizing the Laffer Curve. Here are some details from a Politico report. Here’s one Republican victory that went virtually unnoticed in the slew of budget votes last week: The Senate…
Sometimes I myopically focus on fiscal policy, implying that the key to prosperity is small government. But I’ll freely admit that growth is maximized when you have small government AND free markets. That being said, our goal should be to expand freedom, not merely to…