After reading below about Argentina’s decline, several people have emailed to ask how Chile compares. Ask and ye shall receive. This post from last month shows shows Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela. Very powerful, which is why I gave the post such a grandiose title….
Daily Analysis
This Cartoon Is Very Funny, but also Does a Great Job of Teaching Economics
Economists often do a crummy job of teaching people about the impact of fiscal policy on the labor force, largely because we put people to sleep with boring discussions about “labor supply” decisions (my blog post from last year perhaps being an example of this…
America’s Awful Tax System
Happy Tax Day! Or, if you’re like me, happy tax extension filing day. In the past couple of days, I’ve posted about the benefits of a better tax system and the unfairness of the current system. Those were compelling posts, at least I hope. But now let’s tie these…
The IRS: Even Worse Than You Think
Since it is tax-filing season and we all want to honor our wonderful tax system, let’s go into the archives and show this video from last year about the onerous compliance costs of the internal revenue code. Narrated by Hiwa Alaghebandian of the American Enterprise…
Imagine How Simple Life Would Be if America Had a Non-Corrupt Tax System
If you go to the IRS website, there are about one thousand forms (and accompanying material such as instruction documents) that you can download. Fortunately, most of us only have to worry about a small fraction of what’s on that list, but it’s still a nightmare – and…
Washington’s Make-Believe Spending Cuts
The recent agreement between Obama and Boehner supposedly cuts spending by $38 billion. I’ve already explained that this number is disappointingly small and noted that the effect on spending for the current fiscal year is almost too small to measure. But my analysis…
Why Are Geithner and Bernanke Trying to Panic Financial Markets with Debt Limit Demagoguery?
By taking advantage of “must-pass” pieces of legislation, Republicans have three chances this year to restrain the burden of government. They didn’t do very well with the ‘CR fight” over appropriated spending for the rest of FY2011, which was their first…
Obama’s Budget Plan: Class-Warfare Tax Policy and Bureaucrat-Controlled Health Care
President Obama didn’t offer a budget plan yesterday. The White House hasn’t released anything beyond a set of talking points. But that’s not terribly surprising since his speech was really the opening salvo of his 2012 reelection fight. And it’s clear that a central…
I Wish I Had Been Wrong about the Budget Deal
Some people thought I was being unfair when I referred to the budget deal as a kiss-your-sister agreement. But as more information is revealed, it looks like the GOP got the short end of the stick – largely because they were afraid of a government shutdown (even…
Obama’s Tax Increase Trigger: Punishing Taxpayers with Automatic Tax Hikes When Politicians Overspend
Responding to widespread criticism of his AWOL status on the budget fight, President Obama today unveiled a fiscal plan. It already is being criticized for its class warfare approach to tax policy, but the most disturbing feature may be a provision that punishes the…