Thanks to the folks at the Mises Institute, Professor George Selgin of the University of Georgia (!) has a superb presentation on the failings of the Federal Reserve. George was one of my professors at George Mason University back in the 1980s and is one of the…
Daily Analysis
How’s that Stimulus Working, Mr. President?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning that the unemployment rate jumped to 9.8 percent last month. As you can see from the chart, the White House claimed that if we enacted the so-called stimulus, the unemployment rate today would be about 7 percent….
The Hidden Explanation for Bernanke’s QE2 Policy?
Maybe I’m crazy, or maybe I’m just getting into the Christmas spirit, but I saw this photo of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on the Drudge Report and my mind instantly connected his image with this character from “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.” This might explain…
American Taxpayers Should Not Bail Out the European Union
The fiscal disintegration of Europe is bad news, though I confess to a bit of malicious glee every time I read about welfare states such as Greece, Ireland, and Portugal getting to the point where they no longer have the ability to borrow enough money to finance their…
Fiscal Commission Is Using Washington’s Dishonest Budget Math
The Chairmen of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission have a new draft proposal that is filled, according to Reuters, with “sharp spending and benefit cuts.”
That’s music to my ears, so I quickly flipped to the back of the report in hopes of finding hard number…
Are House Republicans already Selling Out?!?
I don’t want to give anyone indigestion, but The Hill is reporting that GOPers on Capitol Hill want to require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, which is one of the key provisions of Obamacare. Speaking to more than 100 students at American…
Untangling Sherrod’s Keynesian Nonsense
Nancy Pelosi was rightly mocked for her nonsensical assertion that subsidizing unemployment is the best way to stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, as we pointed out at the time, such claims reflect nothing more than standard Keynesian economics as understood by so…
A Sign of the Times
Management of roads used to be the business of local governments – that is, until the federal government dangled its grant money over the states as leverage. Now, thanks to this usurpation of authority, we have stories like this: …[T]he Federal Highway Administration…
Fight against Corruption and Bailouts by Boycotting GM and Chrysler
I was on Fox News last week and unloaded on the General Motors bailout. I’m surprised I wasn’t foaming at the mouth. My conclusion is that people with honor and integrity should refuse to buy cars from companies that stole money from taxpayers.
Three Cheers for Switzerland as Voters Reject Class-Warfare Tax Hike in National Referendum
I’ve always had a soft spot for Switzerland. The nation’s decentralized structure shows the value of federalism, both as a means of limiting the size of government and as a way of promoting tranquility in a nation with several languages, religions, and ethnic groups….