There’s a lot of buzz about a Wall Street Journal interview with Stanley Druckenmiller, in which he argues that a temporary delay in making payments on U.S. government debt (which technically would be a default) would be a small price to pay if it resulted in the…
Daily Analysis
As a Matter of Fact, the Baltic Nations Are a Success Story
I got a few cranky emails after my post suggesting the United States should copy the Baltic nations and implement genuine spending cuts. These less-than-friendly pen pals were upset that I favorably commented on the fiscal discipline of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia…
Policies that Disproportionately Hurt Blacks Are Bad, even if They Are Unintentionally Racist
Professor Walter Williams comments on new research showing how the minimum wage is hurting African-American employment. Last week, two labor economists, Professors William Even (Miami University of Ohio) and David Macpherson (Trinity University), released a study for…
Growing Dependency Is a Terrible Indicator for America’s Future
I’m often torn between optimism and pessimism about the future. In my cheerful moments, I marvel at the American system and cheer the private sector’s ability to adapt and survive even the stupidest government interventions. But at other times, I fret that those…
Let’s Copy the Baltic Nations and Really Cut Spending
All the talk of spending cuts in Washington is fictitious. Even the House Republican Study Committee budget allows spending to increase, on average, by 1.7 percent each year for the next decade. The Ryan budget, which critics deride for its “savage” cuts, allows…
Talking about the Debt Limit at a Tea Party Press Conference
I spoke yesterday at a press event put together by some of the Tea Party groups. Here’s what I said about the debt limit. I debunked the notion that a higher debt limit was needed to avoid default and explained that the problem is too much spending and that deficits…
With a Few More “Successes” Like the GM Bailout, We’ll Be Greece in Record Time
Most of us have probably heard the joke about the moronic salesman who admitted to losing money on each sale but was hoping to make it up with higher volume. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post is taking this financial approach to a new level. His column today asserts…
How Will You Celebrate Europe Day?
You probably didn’t realize that May 9th was Europe Day. Yes indeed, this is the day that you celebrate European unity, at least according to the bureaucrats of the European Union, who get to celebrate every day since they unify themselves with the tax dollars of…
Robert Murphy of San Francisco Is a Despicable Thief
I’ve never met Robert Murphy, but he is a reprehensible person. I don’t know if he’s as bad as Michael Wolfensohn, but he’s definitely a sorry excuse for a human being. For all I know, Mr. Murphy goes to church every day, volunteers at a homeless shelter, reads books…
From East Coast to West Coast, Bureaucrats Are Ripping Off Taxpayers
Let’s start in Washington, where USA Today reports that there are “at least 17,828 federal employees whose annualized salaries totaled $180,000 or more in September 2010.” That’s rather distressing news for taxpayers, but these excerpts from the story provide…