One of the good features of the Internet is that it gives people more options. But this is bad news for politicians, who like to control – and tax – what people are doing. But it’s not easy for politicians at the state level to impose high sales taxes on consumers…
Daily Analysis
Great Moments in Human Rights
Forget the Magna Carta and the Constitution. Finland is now on the cutting edge of protecting, promoting, and guaranteeing fundamental rights. As the BBC story excerpted below reports, Finland has announced that broadband access is now a legal right! Yes, you’re…
Illinois May Beat California to Bankruptcy
The New York Times has a story about the budget debacle in Illinois, which is a classic case of a state with too much government and too many overpaid bureaucrats. Other than being an example of what not to do, the most interesting aspect of what’s happening in…
America's Best Governor Wants to Starve the Beast
Chris Christie of New Jersey has done a remarkable job so far, but his biggest battles are still ahead of him. A key fight is whether the state will impose a cap on property taxes. As the Wall Street Journal opines, this reform has worked very well in Massachusetts…
Is Clarence Thomas the Best Supreme Court Justice?
I’m not a lawyer, so I certainly can’t pretend to have expert views, but everytime I read something like this, my regard for Justice Thomas rises even higher. In the McDonald case, the justices were asked by the plaintiffs to strike down Chicago’s…
More Unemployment Is the Key to Stimulus!
Nancy Pelosi is being appropriately mocked for her strange assertion that subsidizing unemployment is a great way to “stimulate” the economy, but keep in mind that this she is just mindlessly regurgitating standard Keynesian theory. Here are two videos. The first is…
Pelosi: Paying People Not to Work Creates Jobs
I’ve heard a few economic whoppers in my time, especially from the mouths of politicians, but this statement by Speaker Pelosi has got to be one of the most foolish yet. Talking to reporters, the House speaker was defending a jobless benefits extension against…
The Uncertainty Induced Failure of Obamanomics
Allan Meltzer has an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal explaining the failures of Obamanomics. One of the causes he identifies is the high level of uncertainty surrounding tax rates and regulatory policy under this administration. Such uncertainty is the enemy…
California Scheming
This has not been a good period of time for California’s moocher class. A public uproar recently forced the state to prevent welfare recipients from using government-provided ATM cards in casinos. Now there’s a similar storm brewing about handouts being obtained using…
Thanks to Tax Competition, Corporate Tax Rates Continue to Fall in Europe
Many people assume that Europe is the land of high-tax welfare states and America is an outpost of laissez-faire capitalism. We should be so lucky. The burden of government in America is still lower than it is in the average European nation, but the United States is a…