Black Friday Spending Spree (in Washington)
American shoppers aren’t the only ones getting ready to spend big this holiday season. In Washington, members of the budget conference committee are considering several… Read More
The Thanksgiving Menu: Overstuffed with Regulations
On the fourth Thursday of November, our attention naturally turns to food and football the Pilgrims who celebrated America’s first Thanksgiving. After great privation, a… Read More
GSE Reform: Housing Finance Experts on the Future of Fannie and Freddie
Nearly five years after one of the largest federal government bailouts in American history and the enactment of a colossal federal regulatory law (Dodd–Frank), policy… Read More
Obamaphones: Rife with Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Free cell phones for low-income Americans, one of the fastest growing welfare programs in the United States, is—by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) own admission—rife… Read More
JFK Cutting Taxes: A Fiscal Camelot
As the country marks the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, there are many reflections about the man and his legacy. For those old enough,… Read More
Tales of the Red Tape #42: Peeling Back Nonsense in Vehicle Regulation
General Motors Corp. (GM) is recalling 18,941 Chevy Camaros (model years 2013 and 2014) for violating Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208—Occupant Crash Protection…. Read More
Baucus Heads Wrong Way on Important Part of Tax Reform — Again
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus (D–MT) continues to release draft proposals on important parts of tax reform. His latest draft proposal is… Read More
Volcker Rule Gets Stuck on Reality
Slate seems to have picked up on a classic regulatory problem that relates to the (still being finalized) version of the new Volcker Rule. The… Read More
The Fed Inflation-Unemployment Trade-Off: Outlasting the Energizer Bunny
George Selgin has a new post on the Free Banking Blog that highlights the economic quandary the Fed now has the U.S. in. The post… Read More
Baucus Joins International Tax Reform Debate, but His Plan Falls Short
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus (D–MT) released his draft proposal for reforming the tax treatment of multinational businesses. It is a positive… Read More
The Truth About Spending Cuts and the Economy
Liberal economists like Paul Krugman might be calling for more government spending to help our ailing economy, but federal spending cuts are the better bet… Read More
Farm Bill: Taxpayers and Consumers Are Getting Catfished
As lawmakers look for ways to cut spending from the farm bill, they should go hunting for catfish—the new, not-so-pretty face of government waste. The… Read More
Lawmakers’ Currency Demands Could Backfire on U.S. Exporters
A number of U.S. legislators want to give the Obama Administration the power to impose tariffs on imports from countries that manipulate their currencies. Such… Read More
A Case for Separating the Farm Bill: Passing Trillion-Dollar Bills Should Be a Fuss
As of last week, President Obama’s number one economic priority is a new farm bill. He recently stated: Number one, Congress needs to pass a… Read More
Tax Increases Really Hurt Growth and Jobs
Some lawmakers, led by Senate Budget Committee chair Patty Murray (D–WA), are seeking to raise taxes in the budget conference to replace the modest spending… Read More
A Farm Bill in Name Only
To paraphrase a famous Mark Twain quote, suppose you passed a farm bill. And suppose you passed a food-stamp bill. But I repeat myself. Hard… Read More
Changing the Transportation Status Quo: Empowering the States
Senator Mike Lee (R–UT) and Representative Tom Graves (R–GA) have introduced twin bills (S. 1702 and H.R. 3486) called the Transportation Empowerment Act (TEA), which… Read More
Liberals Angry About Food Stamp Program “Cuts” They Supported
Food stamp program benefits decreased at the beginning of November when a temporary boost from the 2009 stimulus package expired. This reduction is now being… Read More
How President Obama Is Killing Jobs
Five years on and President Obama still refuses to assume responsibility for his woeful economic record. The buck stops with Republicans, other countries, changes in… Read More
Promoting Economic Freedom in Asia: Time for Secretary Lew to Step Up
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is touring Asia this week. He will visit Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam and end with a much-anticipated visit to… Read More
Employee Rights Act: Protecting Workers from Union Overreach
Sponsored by Representative Tom Price (R–GA) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R–UT), the Employee Rights Act addresses insufficient protections employees have vis-à-vis unions. The bill would… Read More
“Use It or Lose It” Shows There’s More Room to Cut Spending
As the budget conference committee meets to negotiate U.S. federal spending, lawmakers should not lose sight of the billions in taxpayer money still being wasted… Read More
Senator Mike Lee: Time to Rethink the War on Poverty
Progressives sometimes accuse conservatives of not caring about the poor. But it’s liberal policies that deepen, prolong, and institutionalize poverty. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) made… Read More
Regulation D Rule Would Harm Entrepreneurs and Economic Growth
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed a rule that would impede capital formation, job creation, innovation, productivity improvement, and economic growth by making… Read More
Debt: Seven out of 10 Voters Think the U.S. Is on the Wrong Track
A recent Peterson Foundation poll showed that 70 percent of registered voters believe that the country is on the wrong path when it comes to… Read More
Congress Should Do These 3 Things in the Next 31 Days
In the next 31 days—starting today—the budget conference committee will try to accomplish something Congress has failed to do for the past four years… Agree… Read More
Still Not the Time to Raise Federal Pay
President Obama has announced a 1 percent across-the-board federal pay increase in 2014. This comes on top of federal employees’ already scheduled seniority-based raises. Unless… Read More
European Central Bank Lowers Interest Rates, Trumping “Zero Lower Bound” Theory
The European Central Bank (ECB) lowered a key interest rate to 0.25 percent on Thursday. This is a big deal, since it demonstrates that the… Read More
Wal-Mart and Economic Freedom in India
Wal-Mart recently decided to part ways with the Indian firm Bharti, thus ending its efforts to penetrate India. The breakdown in cooperation between the Indian… Read More
Why Conservatives and the Business Lobby Can’t Just Get Along
Even before Democrat Terry McAuliffe narrowly defeated Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race, lobbyists representing the business community were rethinking their relationship with… Read More
