There will be several pivotal fiscal policy battles this year and the fight over the debt limit may be the most crucial. This is a “must-pass” piece of legislation, so it will be a rare opportunity for fiscal conservatives in the House to impose some much-needed…
Daily Analysis
Time to Get Rid of the Corporate Income Tax?
Here’s a video arguing for the abolition of the corporate income tax. The visuals are good and it touches on key issues such as competitiveness. I do have one complaint about the video, though it is merely a sin of omission. There is not enough attention paid to the…
Great Moments in Human Rights: Creating an Entitlement for Free Soccer Broadcasts in Europe
Forget the Magna Carta and the Constitution. Don’t pay attention to the end of slavery. Ignore the defeat of the Nazis or the collapse of the Soviet Empire. If you want a real victory for humanity, European courts have ruled that people have the right to free soccer…
Beware of Greeks Accepting Gifts
On rare occasions, I dream about being a politician or high-level international bureaucrat. Not because I want to be a moocher (please put me out of my misery if that ever happens), but because I periodically read about some sleazy interest group making petulant…
Obama’s Budget Means the Burden of Government Spending Will be $2 Trillion Higher in Ten Years
Fiscal policy wonks (like me, I’m forced to admit) sometimes miss the forest because we focus too much on individual trees. So while I think my posts on the spending and revenue sides of Obama’s new budget contained lots of useful information, I didn’t pay any…
England’s Slow-Motion Death Panels
I’ve commented before about the sub-par government-run healthcare system in the United Kingdom, including patients dying of malnutrition, patients suffering needless pain and discomfort, and patients dying from poor care (additional examples at this link). I’ve even…
Deconstructing the Revenue Side of Obama’s Budget
I looked yesterday at the spending side of Obama’s budget and found some good news and bad news. The good news was the absence of any big new initiative to expand the burden of government. That’s a welcome relief since the past couple of years have featured budget…
Deconstructing the Spending Side of Obama’s Proposed FY2012 Budget
President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 has been released and there is lots of rhetoric in Washington about “budget cuts.” At first glance, this seems warranted. According to the just-released fiscal blueprint, the federal government is spending about…
To Fix the Budget, Bring Back Reagan…or Even Clinton
President Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2012 budget today, and there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that there’s no major initiative such as the so-called stimulus scheme or the government-run healthcare proposal. The bad news, though, is that government…
Obama the Born-Again Budget Cutter?!?
Chalk up another victory – at least on the rhetorical level – for the Tea Party. President Obama will release his fiscal year 2012 budget tomorrow and he’s apparently become a born-again fiscal conservative. Here are some excerpts from a Washington Post story….