President Obama’s policies have been criticized by some as harming the economy. The “stimulus” policies he has put into place are not working, according to critics. Indeed, the economic recovery has been unusually slow. Here and here are two of the many articles critical of the president’s economic policies. When I Googled “stimulus not...
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A rancher* friend of ours—fancying himself a free man, self-sufficient, and disinclined to outsiders’ meddling—was stopped in airport security not too long ago, caught carrying a fancy pocketknife: the Mini Leatherman at right, in fact, a handy all-in-one tool just right for a working man. Not taking kindly to the suggestion that he give...
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States have been trying to collect sales tax on internet purchases for decades—since the beginning of internet commerce. The holdup has been a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that states cannot require businesses in other states to collect taxes for them. Now, legislation is moving through the U.S. Senate to facilitate internet sellers to collect...
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On Wednesday morning President Obama unveiled his 2014 budget and urged the nation to reduce the federal deficit “in a balanced and responsible way.” Predictably, his opponents in Congress are offering a vastly different interpretation of what this sensible-sounding proviso should entail. Some may even reach across the aisle and succeed in recruiting members...
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Robert Higgs’ wonderful book, Crisis and Leviathan, says that government grows in response to crises. A crisis comes along and government responds by expanding, both in size and in scope. After the crisis passes, government shrinks, but not back to its former level. Government grows by ratcheting up in response to crises. Rahm Emanuel,...
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The media are bombarding us with stories of how sequestration, with its “drastic cuts” in government spending, will affect our lives. Marketplace ran one yesterday about the USDA and the potential loss of federal meat inspectors. Don’t worry, we were told, the authorities won’t allow tainted meat on the shelves! But they might inspect...
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The culmination of last night’s Oscars broadcast with a Live! feed from the White House with Mrs. Obama (hangin’ with her military BFs) marks the official recognition of the Presidency as theater: like the old Western sets, no substance required. From the very beginning, President Obama was elected based on his strong delivery of...
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The fiscal cliff is in the news again. After (mostly) settling the tax side of the fiscal cliff in January, the big deal now is that if an agreement is not reached prior to Friday, March 1, $85 billion in automatic spending cuts will take effect. That’s the dreaded sequester that has everyone so...
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This is the centennial year of the 16th Amendment — the income tax amendment — which was ratified in 1913. While often associated with the growth in government spending, its biggest effect has been to shift the balance of power toward the federal government and away from the states. It is not difficult to...
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French president Francois Hollande’s statement saying that the euro should not fluctuate according to the mood of the market; the complaint by Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker about the euro being “dangerously high”; and the Bank of Japan’s recent decision to weaken the yen with “aggressive” quantitative easing confirm what we already knew: The world...
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