Imagine what would have happened to the economy if Congress had extended the tax rates permanently instead of for just two years. Imagine what would have happened if the payroll tax holiday had been for a year for the employee and the employer, and for the full 12.4 percent Social Security portion. (more)
Apparently Russia understands basic economics and self-control better than the Obama administration. (more)
Taxes must not be allowed to increase in 2011. However, the deal on the table today to extend the Bush tax cuts is not a good one. Americans sent a clear message on Election Day — that Republicans need to stand firm on what they really believe: the Bush tax cuts should be made permanent, and that spending must not be increased. The current deal made with President Obama and some Democrats in Congress does neither. (more)
Please take a moment and let this sink in — it doesn’t matter whether or not Bush’s tax cuts expire. Either way, taxpayers will be on the hook for the trillions in obligations that Washington has incurred and continues to add to at an alarming and ever-accelerating rate. (more)
On the eve of the midterm elections, a third-quarter GDP report showing a meager 2 percent growth rate is the final nail in the Obama Democrats’ political coffin. (more)
President Obama has repeatedly voiced his opposition to extending the Bush tax cuts for “rich Americans,” though he favors extending the Bush tax cuts for individuals making less than $200,000 and families with incomes below $250,000. His persistent class warfare and continued demonization of the successful is hurting the recovery. (more)
In a recent Wall Street Journal column, Princeton economist Alan Blinder wonders why 64 percent of Americans do not believe the $849 billion “fiscal stimulus” bill “saved or created” many jobs. “The main reason,” he explains, “appears to be that the White House’s January 2009 forecast was too optimistic—projecting, for example, an unemployment rate around 8% by the end of 2009 if the stimulus passed.” He thinks that’s unfair. (more)
How to mask any failed policy: claim we would be worse off without it. (more)
The debates raging over what policies will pull the U.S. economy out of its Great Recession replicate one that occurred during the Great Depression. Thanks to the efforts of Richard Ebeling, a professor of economics at Northwood University, we have compelling and concise documentary evidence. He has unearthed letters to the Times of London from the two sides that mirror today’s debates. (more)
President Obama has appointed three new doves to the Federal Reserve Board, thereby taking command of the nation’s central bank. But there’s a split developing inside the Federal Reserve System: The Reserve Bank presidents, appointed by their own district boards of directors, are increasingly likely to wage a battle royale against the central-bank headquarters in Washington and its free-money, ultra-easy policies. (more)
There is a myth in wide circulation that the superiority of free trade is simply a settled question on which all serious economists agree. The flip side of this myth, of course, is that anyone who criticizes free trade must either be ignorant of economics, or the spokesman of some special interest that hopes to benefit from trade restrictions. Such critics are not only wrong, the story continues with admittedly impeccable logic, but also profoundly worthy of public contempt, as they are necessarily either dumb or corrupt. (more)
Government should be run like a business. One of the most prevalent reformist assertions about government is also one of the most inaccurate. Why when government assumes the proper role of private enterprise, does the business aspect never prevail? Because government and business are virtual opposites—much to taxpayers’ detriment. Until this, and the reason for it, are understood, any chance of real reform is simply wishful thinking. (more)
If a meteorologist was asked what the day’s high temperature had been, would it be acceptable to simply repeat his/her earlier forecast? Of course not. The forecast was merely a prediction, which should now be replaced with what actually happened. (more)
When policies fail to reach their stated goal, just move the goal posts. That is the obvious lesson of the new report from the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) claiming that last year’s stimulus bill created or saved somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million jobs. (more)
Clearly my education is incomplete. I thought the ideas of John Maynard Keynes were put to bed by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. I thought even the most hard-headed of thought leaders – higher education – had replaced outdated, irrelevant economics texts with something more reflective of reality – that markets create growth (i.e., jobs). (more)
Abstract: Despite decades of repeated failure, President Obama and Congress continue to promote the myth that government can spend its way out of recession. Heritage Foundation economic policy expert Brian Riedl dispels the stimulus myth, lays out the evidence that government spending does not end recessions–and presents the evidence for what does end recessions. Hint: It’s not another “stimulus package.” (more)
Alan Wolfe Argues that Behavioral Economics is the Real Threat to Liberalism (more)
