I think it may be time to update the dictionary definition of irony. George Soros, the billionaire who finances statist organizations and causes in order to promote more government, has decided that he doesn’t want to deal with some of the new regulatory burdens…
Daily Analysis
You Should Support a Value-Added Tax…if You Want Bigger Government and More Debt
I testified before the House Ways & Means Committee earlier today. As always, my trip inside the belly of the beast was an interesting adventure. The tax-writing committee was holding a hearing on the value-added tax. I was on a panel with five other witnesses,…
Taking on FATCA and Proposed Section 911 Elimination
Sound tax policy is hard to find these days. As CF&P has extensively covered, Congress included the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act as part of the HIRE Act, passed in March 2010. FATCA takes a fundamentally wrong-headed approach to tax policy. Rather than…
Obama’s Policies Are Bad News for Black America
I don’t have my finger on the pulse of black America, and I don’t pretend to understand the emotional and symbolic value of a black President to the African-American community. But I do know that the big-government policies of the Obama Administration have not been…
Republicans Should Copy the Bill Clinton Approach on Federal Spending
I’ve pointed out on several occasions that the burden of federal spending fell significantly during the Clinton years. Indeed, if we did nothing other than bring federal spending back down to 18.2 percent of GDP (where it was when Clinton left office), we’d have a…
The Short-Term Problem Is Obama’s Ideological Stubborness, the Long-Term Problem Is American Decline
As a Washington policy wonk somewhat involved in the current debt-limit fight, I will confess that it is very frustrating that the White House has never produced a deficit-reduction plan. I’d much prefer a spending-restraint plan, of course, but I’m flummoxed that…
Is Obama a Conservative?
That seems like a joke question, but it’s an apparently serious belief of Bruce Bartlett, a former supply-sider and Bush Administration official who has flipped sides and joined the left. I’ve known Bruce for decades and he’s a fun guy to hang out with, but he’s gone…
Inside the Debt-Limit Negotiations, a Love Song from Obama to Boehner
I hope the Speaker resists this siren song and says no to higher taxes.
The Transatlantic Government-Incompetence-and-Stupidity Contest: The U.S v. U.K.
Last week, we compared a bone-headed display tpqof incompetence by the German government with a perverse form of harassment by a local government in the United States. We have another America-v-Europe contest, but the roles are reversed. This time, the buffoons in…
Republicans May Win the Debt-Limit Fight? I Won’t Believe It ’til I See It…and I’m Not Sure It Would Matter
There are rumors that Obama may do a bit Clinton-era triangulation and agree to a GOP-friendly increase in the debt limit. That means no tax increases and as much as $3 trillion of so-called spending cuts. I’m skeptical, and even if it happens, I suspect that most of…