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 Has the tax-and-spend President of the past four years been replaced by a fiscal moderate?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,…
Daily Analysis
The Fuse Is Burning Brightly on France’s Fiscal Time Bomb
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…
What Can We Learn by Comparing the Employment Situation in Texas vs. California?
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…
Apparently Learning Nothing from the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Disaster, the Obama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans
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…
What’s the Right Point on the Laffer Curve?
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…
Being in Favor of Markets Is Not the Same of Being in Favor of Business
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…
Another Victory for Good Fiscal Policy
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…
Ranking the States for Economic and Personal Freedom
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…
Does Your Family Have an Extra $5,500 to Pay the Higher Energy Taxes Proposed by the Bureaucrats at the IMF (Who Get Tax-Free Salaries)?
If asked to name my least-favorite international bureaucracy, the easy answer would be the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. After all, it was only a few days ago that I outlined different ways that the Paris-based bureaucracy is seeking to expand…
Revenge of the Laffer Curve…Again and Again and Again
If I live to be 100 years old, I suspect I’ll still be futilely trying to educate politicians that there’s not a simplistic linear relationship between tax rates and tax revenue. You can’t double tax rates, for instance, and expect to double tax revenue. Simply…