Tag Archives : Stimulus
Doubling Down on Failure: Former Obama Official Calls for U.S.-Financed Keynesian Spending Binge in Europe
There’s an old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. This certainly is a good description of Keynesians, who relentlessly push more government spending as some sort of magic potion for the economy – notwithstanding a record of failure. The latest example is Larry Summers, the former […]
read more...Portuguese Finance Minister Admits Keynesian Stimulus Was a Flop, but Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting for Obama to Make a Similar Confession
President Obama imposed a big-spending faux stimulus program on the economy back in 2009, claiming that the government needed to squander about $800 billion to keep the unemployment rate from rising above 8 percent. How did that work out? One possible description is that the so-called stimulus became a festering pile of manure. About three […]
read more...Time to Follow Sweden’s Lead on Fiscal Policy
Sweden has a very large and expensive welfare state, but it’s actually becoming a bit of a role model for economic reform. I’ve already commented on the country’s impressive school choice system and noted that the Swedes have partially privatized their Social Security system. I even wrote a Cato study looking at the good and […]
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A Lesson for Krugman, et al, about Canada’s Real Fiscal Restraint vs. the United Kingdom’s Faux Austerity
Demonstrating that he’s probably not a fan of Mitchell’s Golden Rule, Paul Krugman recently asserted that fiscal austerity has failed in the United Kingdom. Citing Keynesian theory and weak economics numbers, he warned about “the austerity doctrine that has dominated elite policy discussion” and says that the British government made a mistake when it decided […]
read more...Classic Cartoon on So-Called Stimulus Is Amusing and Economically Accurate
People often ask why I put so much political humor on this site. The easy answer is that I like a good joke. But I also find that some cartoons and jokes do a very good job of helping people understand economics. I’ve always liked this cartoon, for instance, because it cleverly illustrates the impact […]
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Deconstructing Jonathan Alter’s “Five Myths about Barack Obama” in the Washington Post
The Washington Post is a left-wing newspaper, so I’m never surprised to find examples of biased reporting. Last month, for instance, I made fun of the Post for asserting that Germany was “fiscally conservative.” I also mocked the Post last March, when a reporter hysterically claimed that a proposal to trim $6 billion from a […]
read more...Just in Case You Needed More Evidence that Obama’s Faux Stimulus Was a Failure
Much of the “stimulus” debate has revolved around macroeconomic issues. Obama squandered about $800 billion, supposedly to “jolt” the economy, but growth has been anemic and the employment situation has been miserable. But it’s equally instructive to look at the microeconomic impact. And that’s exactly what the folks at Reason TV did with this expose […]
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The Less-than-Thrilled Case for Extending the Payroll Tax Holiday
When I think about taxes, my first instinct is to rip up the corrupt internal revenue code and implement a simple and fair flat tax. When I think about Social Security, my first instinct is to copy dozens of other nations and implement personal retirement accounts. Unfortunately, the political system rarely generates opportunities to enact […]
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Notwithstanding Media Coverage of Black Friday, Consumer Spending Does Not Drive Economy
By fighting for freedom in Washington, I’ve condemned myself to a life of frustration and aggravation. One of my many pet peeves is that so many people in DC believe that economic growth depends on consumer spending. Back in the early days of this blog, I wrote the following. Many people assume that consumer spending […]
read more...Germany’s Not a Good Role Model…Except When Compared to the Profligate U.S.
Last week in New York City, during my Intelligence Squared debate about stimulus, I pointed out that Germany is doing better than the United States and explained that they largely avoided any Bush/Obama Keynesian spending binges. One of my opponents disagreed and asserted that I was wrong. Germany, this person argued, was dong better because […]
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