I’ve criticized centralization of power in Washington, and I’ve condemned efforts for global “economic governance.” The simple message is that bureaucrats shouldn’t try to control our lives, regardless of whether those pencil-pushers reside in Washington or the United…
Daily Analysis
Notwithstanding Tea Party Election in 2010, Republicans on Capitol Hill Still Susceptible to Big-Government Virus
I’ve written before about the importance of getting rid of the Department of Transportation, and I’ve also written about Republicans getting in bed with big government. So you can imagine how agitated I was to read this article about transportation spending at…
Acting as the Typhoid Mary of the Global Economy, the OECD Urges Higher Taxes in Latin America
Is it April Fool’s Day? Has somebody in Paris hacked the website at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development? Have we been transported to a parallel dimension where up is down and black is white? Please forgive all these questions. I’m trying to…
DC’s Unjustified Optimism
According to Gallup, D.C. has the highest amount of economic confidence in the country…and it’s not even close. It would be easy to say that Gallup over-sampled White House staffers wearing Keynesian blinders, but the truth is far more depressing. It would…
Classic Cartoon on So-Called Stimulus Is Amusing and Economically Accurate
People often ask why I put so much political humor on this site. The easy answer is that I like a good joke. But I also find that some cartoons and jokes do a very good job of helping people understand economics. I’ve always liked this cartoon, for instance, because…
Richard Vedder on the Failings of Higher Education
Other than my affection for the Georgia Bulldogs, I’m not a big fan of higher education. Colleges and universities are hotbeds of political correctness, but that’s actually a minor issue. The big problem is that higher education consumes a huge amount of resources and…
Should the United Nations Have the Power to Impose Global Taxes?
What’s the worst policy idea that would cause the most damage to society? I’m tempted to say the value-added tax since our hopes of restraining the federal government will be greatly undermined if we give the buffoons in Washington a new source of revenue. Indeed,…
In a Victory for Gridlock, the Unemployment Rate Has Dropped 1.5-Percentage Points Since Republicans Took Control of the House
The new unemployment numbers show a joblessness rate of 8.3 percent. From a political perspective, this is good news for the White House. Even though the Obama Administration projected that the unemployment rate today would be about 2-percentage points lower if the…
One Year Later, Another Look at Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics
On this day last year, I posted two charts that I developed using the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank’s interactive website. Those two charts showed that the current recovery was very weak compared to the boom of the early 1980s. But perhaps that was an unfair…
Don Boudreaux Debunks Robert Reich
I’ve debated Robert Reich on issues such as tax havens, class warfare, and oil companies. Those interactions apparently aren’t enough, though, since several people have asked me to debunk this Reich video. But I had no desire to address Reich’s demagoguery, in part…