Both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama entered office during periods of economic misery. But they adopted dramatically different solutions. Reagan reduced the burden of government and Obama increased the burden of government. So which approach worked best? In his…
Daily Analysis
Yet Another Reason Soaking-the-Rich Doesn't Work
Statists view “the rich” as nothing more than ATM machines for funding big-government welfare states. They think they can take as much as they like – they’re rich, after all! – without consequences. Once they empty the machine, the bank…
Pontificating about Class Warfare Taxation in the New York Post
I have a column in today’s New York Post about Obama’s plan for higher taxes next year. My main point is that higher tax rates on the so-called rich have a very negative impact on the rest of us because even small reductions in economic growth have a big impact over…
Should American Taxpayers Subsidize Left-Wing Bureaucrats in Paris (Who get Tax-Free Salaries) so They Can Advocate Higher Taxes in America?
The federal government is capable of enormous waste, which obviously is bad news, but the worst forms of government spending are those that actually leverage bad things. The old welfare system, for instance, paid people not to work and have babies out of wedlock (this…
With Tax Increases Looming, CBO Does About-Face and Frets about Deficits and Debt
Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the Congressional Budget Office follows a predictable pattern of endorsing policies that result in bigger government. During the debate about the so-called stimulus, for instance, CBO said more spending and higher deficits…
New Academic Study Shows Obamanomics Will Undermine Prosperity
These results won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has compared long-run growth rates in Hong Kong, the United States, France, and North Korea, but there’s a new study by three economists showing that nations with better tax policy grow faster and create more jobs….
Peter Ferrara’s Too-Nice Attack on Phony Washington Budget Deals
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Peter Ferrara of the Institute for Policy Innovation explains that Washington budget deals don’t work because politicians never follow through on promised spending cuts. This is a very relevant argument since Obama’s so-called…
Budget Deficits Force Local Governments to Do the Right Thing for the Wrong Reason
There are legitimate reasons for local governments to own land, but surely it doesn’t make sense for them to hold on to surplus acreage. Better to get that land back in private hands, where it will be used for some productive purpose. This is why the downturn does…
The White House Has Declared Class War on the Rich, but the Poor and Middle Class Will Suffer Collateral Damage
The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of this year, which means a big tax increase in 2011. Tax rates for all brackets will increase, the double tax on dividends will skyrocket from 15 percent to 39.6 percent, the child credit will shrink, the…
Another Sad Example of Mitchell’s Law
I’ve decided my one legacy to the world is the phrase, “Bad government policy begets more bad government policy.” This term, which I am modestly calling Mitchell’s Law, describes what happens when government intervention (Fannie and Freddie, for example, or Medicare…