I am highly supportive of Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America." This is a plan that the nation can get behind. It fixes the problems of entitlement sustainability, while protecting the entitlements that people are dependant on.
Here, Fred Barnes writes a very good, supportive piece. He says the Republican Party should do more than support it--they should make it their platform. I agree.
Click for the story here.
Click here for my page on entitlement reform.
5 Problems With the Financial Reform Bill (Frank/Dodd)
It is no surprise the Sen. Chris Dodd is authoring this new financial reform bill. First, he has a long history of being a corporate tool, who passionately bad-mouth's (what he calls) "corporations." Dodd had no chance of winning reelection in Connecticut, so he has no accountability for what he does this year. Its hard to believe he didn't really want to run again, considering he just ran for President two years ago.
As for Rep. Barney Frank, you have someone who fundamentally disagrees with the very concept of a free market, and he is not shy about it.
Alas, we get the Frank/Dodd financial reform bill. And again, this legislation is toxic. In this article, you have a good, logical case laid out against it by a respected scholar. I also suggest reading Posner's follow up, which is on the same feed.
Click here for the full story.
As for Rep. Barney Frank, you have someone who fundamentally disagrees with the very concept of a free market, and he is not shy about it.
Alas, we get the Frank/Dodd financial reform bill. And again, this legislation is toxic. In this article, you have a good, logical case laid out against it by a respected scholar. I also suggest reading Posner's follow up, which is on the same feed.
Click here for the full story.
School Finds Economics of Success
Ever since I had my first economics class, I've thought it should be taught at the elementary level along with reading and arithmetic. If our school system was competitive and students had choices, every school would be like the one in this story: click here.
The reason so many children (especially boys) are so turned off by school is because it is so painfully academic. Boys don't like sitting in classrooms, listening to someone talk. They especially don't like it when they become adolescents, and start wanting to do things with their lives.
At the school in this story, we see the difference between a government mandated, monopolistic school vs. a competitive charter school.
In 1959, the Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev, asked U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon why a nation needed 60 different kinds of washing machines.
If you know the answer to this question, then you know why conservatives are right about free choice in education, and why progressives are wrong. Click here for my page on this issue.
The reason so many children (especially boys) are so turned off by school is because it is so painfully academic. Boys don't like sitting in classrooms, listening to someone talk. They especially don't like it when they become adolescents, and start wanting to do things with their lives.
At the school in this story, we see the difference between a government mandated, monopolistic school vs. a competitive charter school.
In 1959, the Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev, asked U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon why a nation needed 60 different kinds of washing machines.
If you know the answer to this question, then you know why conservatives are right about free choice in education, and why progressives are wrong. Click here for my page on this issue.
Art Laffer: Unemployment Benefits Are Not Stimulus
Amazingly good article by Art Laffer, who is a renowned economist, famous for the "Laffer Curve."
Here, he lays out a logical argument for why Democrats are backwards in much of their thinking on unemployment benefits. I love writers who use strong examples and logic to support their points, rather than relying on political rhetoric.
The point Laffer misses here is glaring though: that the US economy is not a zero-sum game. The amount of money in the economy grows and shrinks, as does supply and demand of virtually everything. His examples are a little over-simplified because of his reliance on a static money-supply and labor supply. The Democrat's argument is that taking from one person, and redistributing to another "stimulates" economic growth. Thereafter, the beneficiary of the redistribution invests his money and ultimately produces more, hence, lessening the need for redistribution.
However, Laffer's overall point remains exactly correct. There is no evidence that redistribution stimulates at all. In fact, the exact opposite is true: redistribution actually creates an incentive NOT to engage in economic activity (i.e. to work or invest). This is especially true when the benefits are reliably forthcoming.
On my regular blog, I have written two recent posts discussing this issue further. As I stated there, unemployment benefits are necessary to ease the transition between jobs. Such transitions are important to growth, and accommodating them is a good idea. However, it can easily get out of control, and it certainly is not "economic stimulus" as Nancy Pelosi recently argued.
See Laffer's article here.
See my own writings on this subject here and here.
Here, he lays out a logical argument for why Democrats are backwards in much of their thinking on unemployment benefits. I love writers who use strong examples and logic to support their points, rather than relying on political rhetoric.
The point Laffer misses here is glaring though: that the US economy is not a zero-sum game. The amount of money in the economy grows and shrinks, as does supply and demand of virtually everything. His examples are a little over-simplified because of his reliance on a static money-supply and labor supply. The Democrat's argument is that taking from one person, and redistributing to another "stimulates" economic growth. Thereafter, the beneficiary of the redistribution invests his money and ultimately produces more, hence, lessening the need for redistribution.
However, Laffer's overall point remains exactly correct. There is no evidence that redistribution stimulates at all. In fact, the exact opposite is true: redistribution actually creates an incentive NOT to engage in economic activity (i.e. to work or invest). This is especially true when the benefits are reliably forthcoming.
On my regular blog, I have written two recent posts discussing this issue further. As I stated there, unemployment benefits are necessary to ease the transition between jobs. Such transitions are important to growth, and accommodating them is a good idea. However, it can easily get out of control, and it certainly is not "economic stimulus" as Nancy Pelosi recently argued.
See Laffer's article here.
See my own writings on this subject here and here.
Why Obama-nomics Has Failed
In this article, the author lays out a great case for the problems with President Obama's approach to the economy.
Basically, the problem is an activist government that thinks it knows better than 310 million people.
Click here for this article.
Basically, the problem is an activist government that thinks it knows better than 310 million people.
Click here for this article.
Hypocrisy of the Court's Progressives
This is a series of recent articles which expose the hypocrisy of the Supreme Court's progressives, which has been further exposed by the recent gun case, McDonald.
When it suits them, they are all about federalism and democracy. However, when it does not suit them, they are against it. This is not to say the Court's conservatives are never hypocritical, however, even at their worst, the conservatives are not even comparable to this.
I've come to believe the confirmation process should be entirely based on the past record of the nominee. The hearings themselves should be meaningless. This article points out that nominees flatly lie to get on the court, knowing that the public would never accept liberal/progressive approach to jurisprudence.
Gun Shy - Reason
Sotomayor and the 2nd Amendment - Reason
Kagan's Kabuki Theatre - Washington Times
David Souter's Whitewashing of Jim Crow - Richard Epstein - Forbes
David Souter, Jim Crow & The Living Constitution - Damon Root - Reason
The Trouble With Progressives - Richard Epstein - Forbes
When it suits them, they are all about federalism and democracy. However, when it does not suit them, they are against it. This is not to say the Court's conservatives are never hypocritical, however, even at their worst, the conservatives are not even comparable to this.
I've come to believe the confirmation process should be entirely based on the past record of the nominee. The hearings themselves should be meaningless. This article points out that nominees flatly lie to get on the court, knowing that the public would never accept liberal/progressive approach to jurisprudence.
Gun Shy - Reason
Sotomayor and the 2nd Amendment - Reason
Kagan's Kabuki Theatre - Washington Times
David Souter's Whitewashing of Jim Crow - Richard Epstein - Forbes
David Souter, Jim Crow & The Living Constitution - Damon Root - Reason
The Trouble With Progressives - Richard Epstein - Forbes
Americans Relate to Founders; Not Progressives
In this article, Michael Barone lays out some history of the progressive movement. I agree very strongly with his assessment of how property ownership and politics are very intertwined. Because of this, progressive are at a disadvantage in America, in the long run.
See the story here.
See the story here.
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Obama Watch
- "The Making of George W. Obama." Foreign Policy Magizine
- Obama Bush Continuity: Reason TV: Barrack W. Bush
- Obama Top Economic Advisors Took Bribes from JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Others
- WSJ: Obama Using TARP to Control Banks
- WSJ to Obama: How Not to Fight Discrimination
- Reuters: Businesses Move to Switzerland to Avoid Obama
- Economist Give Obama and Team Failing Grade So Far
- Newsweek, Howard Fineman Critiques Obama: "He'd have made a fine judge. But we don't need a judge."
- Liberal Economist Paul Krugman Criticises Pres. Obama's Economics
- Wall Street Journal: Is Our Troubled Economy a Responce to Obama's Policies?
- Jim Cramer: Is this Friend of Democrats on Obama's Enemies List? His Responce.
- Reuters: Obama Budget Sends $11,000 Bill to Every American
- Wall Street Journal: Obama's Mortgage Plan: Dukes of Moral Hazzard
- Obama Rhetoric is a Real Problem - Wall Street Journal
- CATO Calls Out Obama Admin's Lie About Economists
- Congressional Budget Office Says Obama Stimulus Will Hurt Economy in Long Term
- Peter Schiff (you know, the guy who predicted the current crisis) Say Obama Stimulus Will be a Disaster
- Obama "Stimulus" Bill May Have Serious Problems
Past Articles: March 24 - Aprile 16
- WSJ: The Greatness of Capitalism Can Save Us: Lessons from the Recovery of 2001
- Democrats: Merit-Based Pay? Fugetaboutit !
- Deregulation? Bush was the Biggest Regulator in Decades
- The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One
- Cost for Bailout Jumps...Again.
- Watchdogs: Treasury Still Wont Release Details of Bailouts
- How NOT to Fight Discrimination - Obama Admin Goes After Wal-Mart
- "A Moderate Manifesto" David Brooks Feels Betrayed By Obama - NYTIMES
- George Will - The Toxic Assets We Elected
- The REAL AIG Disgrace - WSJ
Past Articles of the Day - Feb 9 - March 24 2008
- Wells Fargo Chief Critiques Bailout, Calls Plan "Asinine"
- Government Forces Doctor to Raise Fees
- NY Times: "Stimulus Report" Further Evidence that Central Planning Does Not Work
- Bailout Woes Continue With Citi
- WSJ: How California Became France. (one of the best articles I have read)
- Investing Legend Jim Rogers Speaks on the Economy
- The Popular Uprising Against Central Banking
- Tax Payer Risk 9.7 Trillion on Crisis
- Pushing Banks to Loan Could Backfire - WSJ
- Fed Still Refuses to Disclose Recipients of 2 Trillion Dollars
- Government Watchdog Agencies Chide Treasury On Bailout Handling - WSJ
- China Lectures Paulson on Economic Policy - US No Longer Holds Moral High Ground
- Sen. Jim Demint: "Republicans Must Fight for Freedom to Regain America's Trust"
- The Other Auto Industry
- Is Uncle Sam's Credit Line Running Out?
- Obama's Clinton Problem: Deregulation Led to the Prosperity of the 90's; Just Ask Bill Clinton
Past Articles of the Day
- Why Republicans Need to Get Back to their Roots
- Gun Control and Crime
- Myth: Ethanol is Great.
- Silly Senator, Corn is for Food! Why Ethanol is not What It's Cracked Up to Be.
- Freedom to Choose Flat Tax
- What Happened to Detriot
- Great Article on Ivy League Schools by William Deresiewicz
- America is the World's Highest Drug User
- Petro-politics: As Oil Prices Rise, Human Rights Go Down. by Thomas Friedman, Foreign Policy Magazine
- Finally! Democrats Vote to "Privatize" a Wastful Goverment Program!!!
- Unlike Others, U.S. Defends Freedom to Offend in Speech - NYTimes
- Wall Street Journal: "Our Collectivist Candidates" by David Boaz
- We Knew About the "Housing Crisis" Well Before it Struck
- The Trillion Dollar War
- "Yes, the Market is Unfair" - Insightful Article on the Economics of the Stock Market
- Ron Paul's Libertarian Lesson for John McCain (U.S. News W.R.)
- Raw Milk - More Government Shutting Down Legitimate Business Under False Pretense
- 5 Myths About No Child Left Behind
- Making College More Expensive: The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid
- What If Public Schools Were Abolished?
- Ten Days the Changed Capitalism
- Universal Health Care: '08 Presidential Race
- Florida Looks to Regulate Toilet Paper in Bathrooms
- "Unfettered Speech, Now" by Bradly Smith & Steve Simpson
- Litigating for Liberty
- 1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says
- Scalia the Civil Libertarian? by The New York Times
- Montana: They'll Cecede From the Union if Supreme Court Rules Wrong
- Of Horses Teeth and Liberty. by The Economist
- Americans Go to Mexico for Affordable Dental Care
- US Military May Not Be Ready for Attack
- How Cincinnati Turned It's Schools Around
- "Waving Goodbye to Hegemony" by Parag Khanna, NY Times
- "Social Entrepreneurs" - Better Than Government Activism
- The Education of Ben Bernake
- Bush's Stimulus Flop
- Stimulus Stupidity
- Inflation and the Tax Man
- Why Ignorance Is'nt Bliss. How Ignorance Threatens Democracy
- Newsweek: "Bothersome Intel on Iran"
- Liberal-tarians
- GOP Fusion Comes Unfused
- Financial Times: "An Ottoman warning for indebted America"
- "American Power. Still #1" by The Economist
- How to Fire and Incompetent Teacher
- Few senators read Iraq NIE report
- US Mercantilist Machismo, China Replaces Japan
- Ten Days the Changed Capitalism