Super Failure: No Spending Cuts, and the Debt Keeps Rising
With the failure of the super committee to recommend at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, Congress’s latest attempt at budget control has collapsed. There… Read More
Christmas Tree Tax ‘Stayed Indefinitely’
Last week, The Heritage Foundation reported on a 15-cent fee the Obama Administration’s Department of Agriculture planned to impose on certain sales of Christmas trees… Read More
EconomyNews
Morning Bell: America’s $15 Trillion Nightmare
This week, the U.S. national debt clock hit a nightmarish milestone: a record $15 trillion. Words can’t even begin to describe the scope of borrowed… Read More
72 Representatives Know What America Needs, and It Is Not a Tax Hike
Seventy-two Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representatives Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Jim Jordan (R-OH), have joined 33 U.S. Senators in standing tall… Read More
America Hits $15 Trillion of Debt
Yesterday, the United States hit an unsavory milestone–$15 trillion in total national debt. Unfortunately, the number shouldn’t have come as a surprise. America’s debt has… Read More
Goodbye to Venezuela’s Globovision?
On October 7, 2012, the Venezuelan people will have the opportunity to elect a new president. In the months leading up to the election, Venezuelans… Read More
First-time Homebuyers Tax Credit Shows Government Can’t Fix Housing
Government programs cannot stop the decline in housing prices. The latest evidence of this comes from a study of first-time homebuyers who took advantage of… Read More
Spending Bills Setting Up Reckless Defense Cuts
Cracks in the Budget Control Act’s (BCA) spending caps are growing more visible as negotiators near completion of the first three appropriations bills for fiscal… Read More
Morning Bell: Obama’s Christmas Tree Tax
Christmas is more than a month away, but the Obama Administration just couldn’t wait to hang a shiny new ornament on every fresh Christmas tree… Read More
The FCC’s Universal Service Folly
Are mobile phones and Internet access necessities that require taxpayers to foot the bill for the supposed “have-nots”? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) evidently thinks… Read More
Is China More Prosperous Than the U.S.?
The Legatum Institute has just released its 2011 Prosperity Index. The index has a number of strengths, topped by the versatility of its supporting Web… Read More
Courting Disaster: Two Gaping Loopholes in the Debt Deal That Will Drive Up Spending
Among the more egregious failings of the Budget Control Act (BCA)—the proxy fiscal plan spawned by the summer’s debt ceiling debate—are a pair of gaping… Read More
Income Inequality vs. Wealth Inequality
Recently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest statistics on income inequality. Economists, bloggers and others have been furiously debating their implications. Over at… Read More
The Death of Colombia’s Guerrilla Prince
The armed forces of Colombia have scored a major battlefield victory. They finally hunted down, confronted, and killed the leader of the narco-terrorist Revolutionary Armed… Read More
Morning Bell: Straight Talk for the Super Committee
It has been 12 months since the American people spoke resoundingly at the polls against overtaxing, overspending, and overborrowing, but memories can be short in… Read More
Harvard Students Channel ‘Occupy’ Movement, Protest Economics Class
Protests that began on Wall Street and spread to cities across America have now reached the pristine halls of Harvard. That’s right, the country’s oldest… Read More
Morning Bell: Obama Spins His Wheels; Economy Stuck in First Gear
No news is good news–except when it means that the story about America’s slow-moving economy remains the same. A new report this morning from the… Read More
Morning Bell: Debunking Obama’s Latest Jobs Myth
Imagine a high-speed train zooming down hundreds of miles of glistening train track stretching across sunny California, connecting Anaheim to San Francisco. It’s a bullet… Read More
Myths of Austerity Failures
Evidence shows that “austerity” during a sharp downturn in 1920 coincided with quick economic recovery and robust growth throughout the rest of the decade. Nevertheless,… Read More
What Kirchner’s Win in Argentina Means for the U.S.
It came as no surprise when Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner swept the election on Sunday, earning herself a second term. After all, polls… Read More
Gibson Guitar Targeted as the Lacey Act Falls Flat in Nashville
In recent months, the U.S. government has dispatched heavily armed federal law enforcement officers to raid Gibson Guitar factories—American guitar factories!—in Tennessee for violations of… Read More
Does ‘Austerity’ Work?
Remember the Great Depression of the 1920s? If not, that’s because it didn’t happen. The recession of the early ‘20s quickly ended after spending and… Read More
EconomyNews
Senate Finance Republican’s Tax Recommendations a Good Start
The Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee recently submitted their recommendations for tax reform to the deficit reduction super committee. Their recommendations lay out… Read More
Latest Obama Mortgage Refinance Plan Another Dud
Undeterred by the underperformance of several previous efforts at mortgage refinancing, the Obama Administration has announced yet another plan designed to refinance the “underwater” mortgages… Read More
The Video AARP Hasn’t Made: Medicare’s Need for Structural Reform
Medicare—on its current path—cannot be sustained. At a recent hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Ranking Member Senator Bob Corker (R–TN) stressed… Read More
Forget the Facts. Reid Says Private-Sector Employment Is ‘Just Fine’
Apparently unemployment is not much of a problem in the private sector. At least Senator Harry Reid (D–NV) thinks so. Debating the Senate’s proposed… Read More
Tax Cuts and Supply-Side Effects
Lawmakers have recently paid lip service to cutting the corporate tax rate to help boost economic growth. Doing so would be good policy, but it’s… Read More
Morning Bell: Wall Street is the Wrong Place to Occupy
A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that when it comes to assigning blame for the country’s economic woes, more Americans point the finger at Washington,… Read More
Quality of Light, Quality of Life
The soon-to-be-effective ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs creates more concerns than just the forceful shift of market shares; it also raises questions regarding individual… Read More
Freer Trade, Greater Prosperity
Some critics of free trade say that trade agreements just help the “rich” get richer while making the “poor” poorer, but in fact, free trade… Read More
