The Wall Street Journal uses the clash between the Steelers and Packers as an opportunity to make a much-need point about taxes. Because of Pennsylvania’s flat tax, Ben Roethlisberger keeps a greater percentage of his salary than Aaron Rodgers, who gets raped by…
Daily Analysis
Happy 100th Birthday to Ronald Reagan
On the 30th anniversary of his inauguration, I posted a bunch of videos that captured Ronald Reagan’s greatness, but I think we need only one for the 100th anniversary of his birth. This video illustrates Reagan’s superior understanding of fiscal policy. He points out…
The Federal Bureaucracy: Even More Bloated When You Count the “Shadow” Workforce
Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has put together a very depressing column for National Review. To put it bluntly, he exposes the true size of the federal workforce, which has 5.5 hidden employees for every official bureaucrat. Officially, as of…
Two Recent TSA Decisions Will Make Flying a More Miserable Experience in the Future
I’m sick of the TSA and haven’t written about that incompetent bureaucracy since posting a mock press release early last month. But after enduring the slowest-moving line in recorded history at the Miami Airport yesterday, motivation is no longer a problem. So it was…
Global Warming Protest!
Al Gore really knows how to get a good turnout.
Great Moments in Government: The Fight against…umm…errr…Breaking Wind
I’m not really sure what to say about the politicians in Malawi. Is this really a serious problem in the country? Will there be a new government agency to enforce the rule? How do they identify perpetrators if there is…um…no accompanying sound? On the other hand, this…
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Government-Subsidized Happiness in Brazil
One of the many great things about America’s Founding Fathers is that the Declaration of Independence refers to “unalienable rights” including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But there’s not even a suggestion that it is the job of government to provide…
Tax Lawyers, Tax Complexity, and the Broader Problem of a Self-Serving Legal Profession
The internal revenue code is nightmarishly complex, as illustrated by this video. Americans spend more than 7 billion hours each year in a hopeless effort to figure out how to deal with more than 7 million words of tax law and regulation. Why does this mess exist? The…
School Choice Is a Necessary but not Sufficient Condition to Improve Educational Performance by Minority Students
School choice should be the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Rich people already have school choice, both because they have the ability to live in good school districts and they have the resources to send their kids to private schools. The children of poor…
Comparing Reaganomics and Obamanomics with Minneapolis Fed Data
Ronald Reagan would have been 100 years old on February 6, so let’s celebrate his life by comparing the success of his pro-market policies with the failure of Barack Obama’s policies (which are basically a continuation of George W. Bush’s policies, so this is not a…