The Wall Street Journal opines about the good work of Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana. As the excerpt below notes, Schweitzer has vetoed wasteful spending and balanced the state budget without adding to the tax burden. Too bad there aren’t…
Daily Analysis
H&R Block and the IRS: An Unholy Alliance to Ransack Taxpayers.
The late George Stigler, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, is famous in part because of his work on “regulatory capture,” which occurs when interest groups use the coercive power of government to thwart competition and undeservedly line their own…
Don't Trust Economists.
Sometimes a picture really does tell a thousand words. Here’s a chart, based on data from the Philadelphia Fed, showing actual economic results compared to the predictions of professional economists. As you can see, my profession does a wretched job. Comparisons…
Karl Rove's Hypocritical Call for Fiscal Rectitude.
Even though I’ve been in Washington for almost 25 years, I still get shocked by the deceit and double-talk that characterizes this town. A perfect example can be found in last week’s Wall Street Journal, which features a column by Karl Rove attacking…
The European Political Elite Will Grab any Excuse to Push Tax Harmonization.
Politicians from high-tax nations hate tax competition. It’s hard to turn people into tax slaves, after all, if they can shift economic activity to a less oppressive nation. But this is old news. What is worth noting, though, is the lengths to which the statists…
Should the Government Subsidize Mortgages for People Who Bought More Home than They Could Afford?
Appearing on Larry Kudlow’s show, Dan Mitchell debates this topic. More important, he asks the fundamental question of whether there should be any government intervention in housing markets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXpcJkGcrXs
Is France the Best Place in the World to Live?
A new survey from International Living says that France has the highest quality of life, followed by Australia and Switzerland. The United States, meanwhile, is in seventh place, behind nations such as Germany, New Zealand, and Luxembourg: To produce this annual Index…
Higher Tax Rates Causing More Problems in London.
With Barack Obama planning big tax rate increases in America, it’s useful to see how that policy is working in the United Kingdom. According to the Mayor of London, the answer is not very encouraging. Many successful entrepreneurs and investors are fleeing for…
Great Moments in European Waste, Part II.
While American politicians are experts when it comes to squandering money, they may be just amateurs compared to the kleptocrats at the European Commission. The overall burden of government is heavier in Europe, so that certainly suggests that there are greater…
Great Moments in European Waste, Part I.
In the ongoing contest to see which group of politicians can squander money in the most obscene fashion, it appears that the bureaucrats at the European Commission in Brussels might be surpassing their counterparts in Washington. Here’s a story from the…