Last week President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, which among other things will provide direct payments of $1,400 to many Americans, and extend a financial supplement to unemployment payments. It’s difficult to comprehend numbers as big as $1.9 trillion, but here are some ways to think about it. The US population...
Read More »

There’s a movement well underway to make it illegal for low-productivity workers to hold jobs. The idea is that people who are not productive enough to earn $15 an hour should not be allowed to work. Several states have already passed laws that will prohibit those who are not productive enough to earn $15...
Read More »

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, many governments are imposing (or reimposing) mandates, lockdowns, and in general, restrictions on business activity and personal behavior. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has stood (mostly) firm in opposing government mandates.

More than 80 wealthy individuals are petitioning for higher taxes on the rich to help pay for the billions in new government programs made necessary by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is petition is disingenuous at best. If the wealthy want to pay more to help fight COVID-19, they can choose to do so themselves....
Read More »

The question about whether governments have been too restrictive, or not restrictive enough, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will likely never have a definitive answer. We can see what governments actually did and what actually happened, but we can only conjecture about what would have happened if governments had done things differently. In...
Read More »

In 2008 Al Gore said climate change threatens to “destroy the future of human civilization.” He continued, “We are facing a planetary emergency which, if not solved, would exceed anything we’ve ever experienced in the history of humankind.” To address the problem will “require us to end our dependence on carbon-based fuels.” Not everyone...
Read More »

Milton Friedman said there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If some people are consuming health care, someone has to pay for it. But that’s not my point here. Many people think that Medicare for All would mean the government would pay for everyone’s health care, so those receiving health care would have...
Read More »

People tend to view taxes in one of two ways. One view is that taxes are the price people pay for government goods and services. The other is that taxes are a penalty levied on people who earn income or have wealth. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax takes the second view.

My hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, has the highest crime rate of any city in Florida and is plagued with gun violence. Why? The headline of this article says, “Pot dealers blamed for local gun violence.” Larry Keefe, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District in Florida, is quoted in the article as saying “the vast...
Read More »

Are policies to reduce inequality beneficial to those who are least fortunate? Sometimes they are; sometimes they are not.