Democrats love to paint the picture of Republicans cozying up to lobbyists. Their always either eating lunch in some impossibly upscale place where average folk couldn’t even sniff a reservation, or in some dark, smoke filled, bar smoking cigars and sipping Scotch, their pinky finger stuck out for good measure. The story goes, Republicans are in it for the money, Democrats are the ones left | Read More »
Former Bush advisor and Harvard economics professor Gregory Mankiw has some fantastic advice for President Obama if he wishes to work together with Republicans. He encourages him to focus on marginal tax rates rather than tax credits, to spread opportunity rather than spread the wealth, and to “have a beer with a Republican at least once a week.” But one recommendation in particular caught my | Read More »
The Irish are having another awful year. Not the Fighting Irish mind you, their year could better be described as mediocre, but hopeful. The future prospects of the nation of Ireland on the other hand are anything but hopeful. Having just announced an $113 billion bailout to rescue its banks, Ireland’s economy is still hovering on the brink of collapse. The luck of the Irish | Read More »
A battle is currently raging in Washington. To address our budget deficit should we raise taxes or cut spending. It is assumed that these are two sides of the same coin. Raising one dollar in taxes is the equivalent of cutting one dollar of spending. But is that true? Although the math may seem clear, history tells us that the two actions produce two different | Read More »
The United States should contract a few states heading into what should be a rough 2011 season. Baseball played around with the idea back in 2001, hoping to eliminate two small market teams like the Montreal Expos and the Florida Marlins in the hopes of shoring up the Leagues’ finances. “It makes no sense for Major League Baseball to be in markets that generate insufficient | Read More »
The house of cards that Democrats have been building over the past two years is teetering precariously. Namely, we have misused our status as the world’s global reserve currency of choice. Over the past year the Democrats have spearheaded a fiscal effort to jumpstart the economy. The centerpiece of this approach was the $862 billion stimulus bill that was supposed to pump money into the | Read More »
Congress has created a monster. For years the subject of public sector pensions raised the ire of heard, but never seen, conspiracy theorists. As the years have passed, they continued to grow with no oversight and very little public pushback. In the shadows they have grown into a ravaging monstrosity, a Frankenstein’s monster that is threatening the financial wellbeing of our local and state governments. | Read More »
Macroeconomics sounds about as approachable as astrophysics. Something that should just be left to the really, really smart people at the Federal Reserve while the rest of us just mind our own business. But, it’s not. As noted economist Henry Hazlitt wrote, “when we study the effects of various proposals, not merely on special groups in the short run, but on all groups in the | Read More »
We’ve done it. We’ve finally achieved a measure of bipartisan agreement on something. More and more Democrats are embracing the idea that the Bush era tax cuts should be extended for all Americans. Does this mean something will actually get done to prevent the tax increase? No. At least not if party leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have anything to say about it. | Read More »
If, like me, you spent the majority of your Labor Day weekend watching college football and cooking out then you likely missed President Obama’s enormous announcement. We’re going to stimulate the economy. I know, I know, it’s an absolutely shocking plan, the likes of which have never been seen or tried before. Here’s the deal, we’re going to pump billions of government money into the | Read More »
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