We’ve already identified kids and low-income workers as groups that are being hurt by the new scheme for government-run healthcare. Now we can add retirees to the list. Gee, I wonder what happened to that promise about being able to keep your existing health plan?…
Daily Analysis
Taxpayers vs Bureaucrats, Part XLI
I’ve avoided this topic in recent weeks because it’s too depressing, but this story is too outrageous to ignore. The County of Los Angeles has 199 bureaucrats who “earned” more than $250,000 last year. According to Census Bureau data for 2008, the median household…
Would You Trade Higher Taxes for Much Lower Spending and Less Red Tape?
I hate taxes more than anyone, but other policies matter as well, so if I had the choice of replacing current government policies with the ones that existed at the end of the Clinton years, I would gladly make that trade. Yes, it would mean higher tax rates, but it…
Obama’s Policy Failure, Part I
Former Senator Phil Gramm had a column last week in the Wall Street Journal that deserves two blog posts. This first post highlights Gramm’s analysis showing that the U.S. has been very Keynesian compared to Europe, with numerous efforts to jump start the economy with…
Here’s How to Balance the Budget
Our fiscal policy goal should be smaller government, but here’s a video for folks who think that balancing the budget should be the main objective. The main message is that restraining the growth of government is the right way to get rid of red ink, so there is no…
The Second-Nicest Thing Ever Written about Me
In the “Five Things About Me” section of my blog, I included this blurb: A left-wing newspaper in the U.K. wrote that I’m “a high priest of light tax, small state libertarianism.” I assume they meant it as an insult, but it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about…
There Is No Libertarian or Conservative Argument for Higher Taxes
Eli Lehrer has an article on the FrumForum entitled “Five Revenue Raisers the GOP Should Back.” He argues it would be good to get rid of preferences such as the state and local tax deduction and the mortgage interest deduction, and he also asserts that there should be…
Low-Income Workers Are the Second Victims of Obamacare
This blog already has noted that Obamacare crippled the market for “kids only” health insurance policies. Unsurprisingly, that is just the beginning of the bad news. The latest development is that health policies designed to provide insurance to low-income workers may…
U.N. Bureaucracy Provides Right Diagnosis, but Offers Wrong Prescription
The bureaucrats at the International Labor Organization (which shouldn’t even exist) are correct to note that high levels of unemployment threaten social unrest. But like most left-wing international bureaucracies, they think the solution is more government –…
Washington’s Fiscal Nightmare
Here’s an amusing video from our friends at Reason. But there’s a serious point about how our fiscal problems are entirely the result of a rising burden of government spending. For those don’t have 3D glasses, here is the 2D version: