“Political economy” on The Daily Caller

Outgoing Florida Republican Sen. George LeMieux plans to make his Senate colleagues put their money where their mouth is on deficit and debt reduction by forcing them to vote on it before the end of the year. (more)

When the Simpson-Bowles Obama Commission “chairman’s mark” came out last week, there were far too many conservatives who were too quick to say nice things about it. Blinded by lower marginal tax rates and some entitlement reforms, they chose to ignore the fact that the plan is a ten-year tax hike of over $1 trillion, and would saddle taxpayers with a taxes-to-GDP ratio of 21 percent, the highest in American history. A week later, the Rivlin-Domenici commission released their report with a $500 billion tax hike. Americans for Tax Reform actually produced our own (balanced) budget plan that cuts spending and cuts taxes in a reasonable way. But it’s worth reflecting on what too many on the Right said about the “higher taxes” plans for almost-balanced budgets. (more)

It’s been a week since the great electoral tsunami of 2010, and the exit polling is coming in.  This bi-annual ritual allows us to dig into the real thoughts and feelings of voters.  ATR commissioned a poll by Kellyanne Conway’s The Polling Company, inc./Woman Trend to see what voters thought about a value-added tax (VAT).  The results are a stunning rejection of a VAT for America. (more)

While Americans are unhappy with the level of government spending, a new poll shows that recipients of popular and expensive programs don’t want their benefits cut and highlights the problems that lawmakers are facing in reducing the deficit. (more)

Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. (more)

A rift has emerged within the Democratic Party between liberal economists, who generally view the 2009 stimulus package as a success and say that Keynesian economics should remain the heart of the party’s economic policy, and elected officials, who in growing numbers have shunned affiliation with the $787 billion effort and are expressing doubts about the effectiveness of fiscal intervention. (more)

There you are, about to sign the papers, when the car salesman offers to throw in a $1,000 options package.  He knows those options will cost you a further $440 by reducing the performance of your new car’s engine, but he doesn’t tell you that. (more)

Basic government spending rose by 9 percent in fiscal 2010, driving the country to a $1.291 trillion deficit down $125 billion from 2009, but still the second-largest hole on record, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. (more)

It’s that time of year again when students head back to the classroom to embark on the joys of learning.  Parents will assume the arduous chore of back-to-school shopping to ensure that their children are well equipped for their learning endeavors.  This task hits Americans’ pocketbooks and wallets hard. (more)

In the past, readers of this column received reports about the real causes underlying the problems affecting the credit markets, the housing situation, the general economy, and more. (more)

The 14th-century English philosopher William of Ockham (Occam) came up with the “crazy” notion that sometimes the simplest solution to a problem is the best one.  That idea became known as “Occam’s Razor.” (more)

The Social Security Trustees recently released their annual report on the state of the Social Security program, and it’s not pretty.  For the next 75 years, the liability now stands at nearly $8 trillion.  Projected into the infinite horizon, this debt stands at $18.6 trillion.  The unfunded liability is the difference between the benefits that have been promised to current and future retirees and what will be collected in dedicated taxes. This means that the government would have to have such an amount in the bank today, earning interest, in order to pay Social Security benefits into perpetuity. (more)

After a year and half of “stimulus” and bailouts gone bad, what has the shift towards higher government spending and an encroaching nanny state cost you? This year, it has cost you 231 days out of your life, or 63 percent of 2010. (more)

Contained within the mammoth Obamacare legislation that Pelosi instructed legislators to pass in order to find out was in it later, one finds a seemingly innocuous change in the conditions that require a business to submit a Form 1099 to the IRS. However minor this change may seem, it makes doing business prohibitively expensive, and, worse, it lays the groundwork for a Value-Added-Tax (VAT). (more)

In 2001 and 2003, under the administration of George W. Bush, Congress passed significant tax reductions. These will expire on December 31, if Congress does nothing. Instead, Congress should seize the opportunity to show economic leadership, by extending the cuts and cutting federal spending. (more)

“In short, tax increases appear to have a very large, sustained and highly significant negative impact on output… the more intuitive way to express this result is that tax cuts have very large and persistent positive output effects.” (more)

While there is a smörgåsbord of Democratic energy bills floating around Congress, the common thread they all share is a yearning to further tax oil and natural gas producers. Expected to be voted on today, H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010 (CLEAR Act) levies a tax of $2 per barrel of oil and 20 cents per million BTU of natural gas. Thursday the House voted on H.R. 5893, the humorously named, Investing in American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, a bill which would tax oil and natural gas producers and raise gas prices for consumers. (more)

Congressional Democrats don’t always legislate as though they understand human nature. In fact, legislation in theory often deviates from its practical implementation. Senator John Kerry’s recent attempt to avoid the high boat-use tax rates of the Bay State shows that when a legislative body aims to alleviate its fiscal morass by imposing ever-higher tax rates on its people they often only succeed in producing unintended consequences. Those advocating the expiration of the Bush tax cuts should take note. (more)

With over $13 trillion in national debt and the recent projection that it will top 100% of GDP in 2012, we are entering uncharted fiscal waters which threaten our economy.  Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University has found that economic growth is 2.6 percentage points higher for countries with debt below 30 percent of GDP than for countries with debt above 90 percent of GDP.  If Washington continues to do nothing, America is headed for a Greece-like debt catastrophe. (more)

Jobs are hard to come by. Our economic future is uncertain.  Faced with this situation, President Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress have a proposal for the American people: higher taxes and more government spending.  Unfortunately, the president and Democrats in Congress have been trying this method, and failing, for the last eighteen months.  And it now looks like they will only make matters worse by dramatically raising taxes on all taxpayers in January. (more)