Archive for Economics
Brother, Can You Spare A Trillion: Government Gone Wild!
Posted by: | CommentsJust watch the video. Any description I can add will not improve the video or make you feel any better afterwards.
So How Much Is A Trillion?
Posted by: | CommentsProbably one of the best comparisons I’ve ever seen:
- 1 million seconds equals 12 days;
- 1 billion seconds equals 32 years;
- 1 trillion seconds equals 32,000 years.
Suspend The Bullies!
Posted by: | CommentsUnion and Democrats leaders are bullies. Always have been always will be. When in power they are not afraid to ram legislation down the throats of those who do not want said legislation, just think Obamacare. However, when the tables are turned and they do not have the political strength to stop what they do not like, they resort to tactics that are reminiscent of a three year old child, throwing public tantrums until they get their way.
Clarion Ledger Op-ed on the Stimulus Illusion
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday The Clarion Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, paper published my guest op-ed “Spending the Way to Recovery Proves to be an Illusion.” It discuss the economics of why stimulus will yield disappointing results at best. Check it out if you get the chance.
- The Professor
Milton Friedman Schools Phil Donahue
Posted by: | CommentsIn his book “Capitalism and Freedom” (1962) Milton Friedman (1912-2006) advocated minimizing the role of government in a free market as a means of creating political and social freedom.
An excerpt from an interview with Phil Donahue in 1979.
Calculating Your 2011 Tax Burden
Posted by: | CommentsThe Tax Foundation has launched a Bush-era tax cuts calculator at www.MyTaxBurden.org, which allows taxpayers to compare their 2011 federal income tax liabilities under three scenarios: if all the Bush-era tax cuts expire completely at the end of this year, if they’re all extended into 2011 or made permanent, and if President Obama’s budget is adopted, which includes a combination of expirations and extensions.
Check it out here: http://www.mytaxburden.org
Although this is just a tax estimator, it purports to show how you will fare under the three potential scenarios described above.
“I Want Your Money” Official Trailer
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Set against the backdrop of today’s headline – 67% of Americans don’t approve of Obama’s economic policies, the film takes a provocative look at our deeply depressed economy using the words and actions of Presidents Reagan and Obama and shows the marked contrast between Reaganomics and Obamanomics. The film contrasts two views of the role that the federal government should play in our daily lives using the words and actions of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.
The Jane Galt Tax Plan
Posted by: | CommentsIn the course of reading an article questioning whether we should tax the rich, I saw that the author provided a link to a blog article which included some really interesting tax ideas. Although it was originally written in 2002, I still found it interesting enough to share. Below are the key points, but I highly encourage you to click on the link at the bottom and read the rest of the article. Come back here when you are done and post your comments and thoughts.
The Jane Galt Tax Plan
Fritz Schrank asks how we should simplify taxes. Well, here’s the Jane Galt version, guaranteed to please no one but its author:
1) Get rid of all our poverty programs, except those aimed at the disabled, and temporary unemployment assistance, and institute the negative income tax. That is to say, the system should be continuously progressive, from a steep negative rate of up to 100% on very low earners, gradually declining until it zeroes out around $28,000 a year, and then rising gradually until it maxes out around 35% on the top brackets.
2) Eliminate FICA and pay for Social Security and Medicare out of general revenue. It’s time to stop pretending it’s a pension system, when there are no assets in the “trust fund”
3) Eliminate the corporate income tax
Facebook Blitz Is On!
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So far, 250+ people have “liked” TeaPartyConnect.com; however, to be truly effective for the November 2 Election, we need to increase the number of people receiving our messages significantly between now and then. To do that, we’ll be having several Facebook Blitzs to invite other Facebook users to “like” TeaPartyConnect.com.
The first goal is 500 and we need everyone’s help to invite at least one (1) new Facebook member to like us. (Personally, I prefer “fan” but that’s just me!)
TeaPartyConnect.com has been providing great material for Tea Party for six months now and if you’ve enjoyed our work, please suggest us to your friends!
Facebook Bliz On!
Bureau Of The Public Debt
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Ok, so I’m reading an article from The Washington Times about June 30th, 2010 being the 3rd-largest, single-day debt increase; marveling at the $166 BILLION dollar jump and trying to absorb the fact that my household’s share of just this increase works out to nearly $1,500!
Interestingly enough, the article went on to say:
Daily debt calculations jump and fall, and big shifts are common. But all three of the biggest one-day debt increases have occurred under the tenure of President Obama, and all of the top six have been in the past two years – an indication of just how quickly the pace of deficit spending has risen under Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush.
Ignoring the implication equating Obama’s debt increases with Bush’s; the fact of the matter is that there is some truth to the fact that even if Bush had not pushed and gotten the original bailout bill during the last few months of his Presidency, he probably still would have been on this short list. But, what the article did not include was the actual list of those top six debt days they mentioned and I would really, really like to see that list.
Hayek’s Road to Serfdom
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Great ideas are timeless. Last week Glenn Beck devoted an entire show to F. A. Hayek’s 1944 classic The Road Serfdom. In just a few hours this book went from no where to the top of the Amazon best seller list. Not long after that the publisher had one to three month backlog.Why the interest in the writing of a defunct economist from the 40s? Simple, people are hungry to arm the selves to battle the tyranny of central government. For example, consider the interest in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. (see posts on that book) Hayek who was widely criticised during his time is one of the leaders of resurgence of classic liberalism and the power of free markets and individual liberty. Hayek won (earned) a Nobel Prize for economics in 1974. He was a colleague and intellectual soul mate of the most well known advocate of markets, Milton Friedman. Hayek has been studied by academics as well as leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Reader Digest published a condensed version of this which readily available on line. There is a also a cartoon version to wet your appetite for this classic. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation published this entry on their blog plus part of Glenn Beck’s show.
- The Professor
PS – You may want to check out the rap video, Fear the Boom and Bust, on Hayek v Keynes to further wet your appetite.
Must See TV – Stossel on Friedman’s Free to Choose
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Thursday night on the Fox Business Channel, John Stossel is spending an hour on Milton Friedman’s classic TV show and book Free to Choose. On the jacket of the book there is the following endorsement “A superb book. The Friedman’s eloquently diagnose that facing problems facing America and make imaginative proposals for change. It is ‘must reading for everyone – from the President to the private citizen – who is concerned with the future of America.” That endorsement came from a contender for the Presidency, Ronald Reagan.
This series which came out in 1980 provided much of the intellectual fodder for the Reagan revolution. In addition, it sparked the interest of a generation of students of all ages into the power of liberty and free markets including me. This book and series started me on the path to go the grad in economics. The original show can be watched on line. In addition, to Friedman’s Professor Friedman’s analysis of a key issue the show features a debate with the Professor and leading critics of his views.
This week, Glen Beck did a show on Friedman’s colleague and fellow Nobel Laureate, F. A. Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. In just a few hours it rose to the top of Amazon list and in a few hours sold out. This shows us that people are hungry to understand the power of political and economic freedom. Professor Friedman’s lessons are as timeless at as least as important today as in 1980.
- The Professor
Liberals Flunk Basic Econ
Posted by: | CommentsIn support of Barry Goldwater in 1964, then citizen Ronald Reagan in his national coming out speech made many memorable and timeless remarks about the power of conservatism and liberty. On of my favorite lines in “The Speech” as it is know by students of the Gipper is: “the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.”
In today’s Wall Street Journal, George Mason economics professor Daniel Klein examines the Gipper observation and applies it to economics in a piece entitled “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.” The bottom line in this piece which is based on academic article is that liberals tend to have a poor understanding of basic economics than others across the political spectrum. To most us this is not really a surprise, but it nice to have a rigorous study to demonstrate that. Professor Klein writes that this is due to the fact that “the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics.”
- The Professor
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