Although not necessarily the intent of this video, the impressive data visualization makes it hard not to see just how profoundly the spread of freedom and capitalism has dramatically improved the lives of billions throughout the world in such an historically short…
Daily Analysis
Even Folks at Harvard and the IMF Are Beginning to Realize You Don’t Solve an Over-Spending Problem with Higher Taxes
In his latest Bloomberg column, Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute notes that research from places such as Harvard and the International Monetary Fund confirms that spending restraint is the way to successfully reduce red ink – and it’s also the way to…
Someone Tell Bernanke You Don’t Cure Bad Fiscal Policy with Bad Monetary Policy
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is at it again, giving an interview that combines all of the worst features of Keynesian economics. I have an excerpt below from a New York Times report, which features an amazing amount of mistakes in a very short amount of space. Here are thr…
Federalism Spreads to the United Kingdom
The United States, Canada, and Switzerland are the only developed nations that have some degree of genuine federalism (Germany and Australia don’t count by my standards), and Switzerland is the only country where the central government is smaller than the…
Words I Don’t Say Very Often: “I Applaud Senate Republicans”
Much to my surprise, Senate Republicans held firm earlier today and blocked President Obama’s soak-the-rich proposal to raise tax rates next year on investors, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. I fully expected that GOPers would fold on this issue several…
Great Moments in State Government Stupidity
Make sure you don’t save an injured deer in Virginia. Not only will the bureaucrats take the animal away from you, but they’ll nail you with three misdemeanor charges just for good measure. I guess the legal approach would have been to let the dogs kill the helpless…
Great Video Exposing Failures of the Federal Reserve
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…
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…