Here’s another news appearance from my new youtube channel. I chat about the importance (or lack thereof) of a possible ratings downgrade for the United States government. You’ll see that I’m not overly impressed by Moody’s and the rest of the rating agencies.
Daily Analysis
In Symbol of Government Stupidity, the Nanny State Meets the Quota Cops
Here’s the kind of story that makes me fear for the future of the nation. It is a disturbing example of both government stupidity and soft tyranny. The police may not be ticketing for smoking in the parks, but they are still ticketing parker visitors for crimes…
Bill Cosby Cites High Taxes As Reason For Not Performing In Canada
Bill Cosby, actor and comedian, cited the comparatively high taxes in Canada as to why he has no tour dates there anytime soon. Asked by a fan on his Twitter account why he isn’t coming to our neighbor to the North, he replied: It is a commonly held belief that famous…
Why Is a Car Company CEO Urging a Gas Tax Hike?!?
I’ve finally set up a youtube page for my TV interviews. Here’s my discussion with Judge Napolitano about crony capitalism, General Motors, and the bizarre case of a car company CEO endorsing an increase in the gas tax. The most important point of the interview, at…
An Unofficial Death Panel in England Shows How to Save Money in a Government-Run Healthcare System
This is rather remarkable. According to a story in the UK-based Daily Mail, a man was left to die, on a hospital floor, over a period of 10 hours. I’m not sure whether this is the worst example of government-run healthcare (or non-healthcare, to be more precise). I’ve…
Obama Wants American Taxpayers to Bail Out Greek Politicians and Dig the Debt Hole even Deeper
Here’s some completely depressing news. CNBC is reporting that President Obama is putting American taxpayers on the chopping block to bail out Greece’s corrupt politicians. But, to show he doesn’t discriminate, he also encouraged the German Chancellor to rape her…
The Real Lesson of Weinergate
I’m sure I will surrender to temptation and do a couple of posts with Weinergate jokes, but I want to begin on a higher note and make a serious point about Washington’s latest scandal. Big government means that politicians have a lot of power over the lives of…
The Chicago Way of Corruption and Crony Capitalism
Here’s a stomach-turning story from the Chicago Sun Times about how the political class uses special insider deals to get rich (or richer). What’s remarkable is that there may be nothing technically illegal in this story of crony capitalism and government contracts….
If We Want to Fix the Healthcare Mess, We Better Understand the Real Problem
This is the most depressing – but revealing – thing I have read in a long time: “the health-care sector has twice as many clerical workers as nurses and nine times as many as doctors.” That passage is from a very good column by Robert Samuelson, in which he covers a…
Government Fiscal Estimates: Always Wrong, Usually Biased
My good friend Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University did a very illuminating interview with Bloomberg about the serial inaccuracy of government fiscal forecasts. Veronique uses health care as an example, giving particular attention to the…