In addition to being in favor of more spending, increased regulation, bailouts, and protectionism, President Bush also saddled the economy with a big minimum wage increase. A new study shows that this pernicious policy has destroyed more than 500,000 part-time jobs. One of the most interesting insights in the report is that the economy (prior […]

In a new “Economics 101” video released today by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation (CF&P), Lotta Moberg, graduate student at Lund University, Sweden, explains that the economy of Sweden began to stagnate about 40 years ago because of excessive statism and government spending.

Sweden serves as a powerful example of the importance of public policy. Having once become rich when government was small, this Nordic nation began to stagnate as welfare state policies were implemented in the 1970s and 1980s. This video explains that Sweden is now shifting back to economic freedom in hopes of undoing the damage caused by an excessive welfare state.

For those of you who saw this segment of Wednesday’s show on CNBC, my co-host got quite agitated when I said I did not want America to have a substandard government-dictated healthcare system. Simon expressed doubt about my assertions, so it’s rather serendipitous that Investor’s Business Daily just editorialized about a new report (from the […]

The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador (akin to a state governor in the U.S.) defended his decision to get surgery in America with the statement that it was “my heart, my choice, and my health.” This is an admirably libertarian statement, and the “my choice, and my health” part could be the rallying cry for […]

A new study from the University of Michigan Law School’s Empirical Legal Studies Center finds that it is more difficult today for politicians to impose excessive financial regulation because firms can migrate to jurisdictions with more pro-market policy. The author notes tht this is less true for institutions, such as big banks, that want government […]

Here are a few interesting links to keep you informed about the fiscal crisis in Greece. Richard Rahn has a nice comparison in the Washington Times of Poland’s good policy and Greece’s profligacy. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/18/poland-versus-greece/ Reuters has a story about some new reforms in Greece, including a very Orwellian proposal to track everyone’s purchases by banning […]

Mark Steyn has a typically witty column that covers everything from the infamous Audi Superbowl commercial to the kid who was stopped by TSA for having Arabic-language flash cards. But he closes his piece with this powerful statement: …the difference between America and Europe is that, when the global economy nosedived, everywhere from Iceland to […]

Insanity is sometimes defined as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. On this basis the Euro-statists are clinically over the edge. They keep centralizing more power in Brussels and then they complain that European economies remain stagnant. On this basis, the new EU President must have escaped from […]

The White House recently released the Economic Report of the President. In a post at the White House blog, Christina Romer brags that the stimulus legislation was a big success. This Act is the great unsung hero of the past year.  It has provided a tax cut to 95 percent of America’s working families and […]