Actually, Forbes is as prejudiced as Occupy. You can’t generalize about us one percenters. Some have indeed provided excellent products and services, or done good philanthropic work. Some have made money without doing much really productive for society, like hedgefunders. […]
Economics
Obama’s Dilemma, High Speed Rail, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Other Miscellaneous Observations
Joel Kotkin, director of one of our favorite sites, Newgeography.com, has exposed how Obama has alienated people on all sides, even though he will probably win the election. I notice, now that I think about it, that while the Occupy […]
On the Whole Postmodern in Law and Economics Thing
Victor Davis Hanson, in this attached essay, claims that President Obama has a postmodern vision of law. I am not necessarily going to argue that point. I have maintained, already, that President Obama has what I call an allergy to […]
How to do Deficit Spending or The Trouble with Keynesianism
The prescriptions of John Maynard Keynes have been controversial since his time: the idea of deficit spending for “priming the pump,” the idea of the “paradox of thrift,” and others that seemed to go contrary to traditional financial virtues. Many […]
Why Non-Suburbanites Distrust Suburbanites
I’ve had the great Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs, on in my car recently, and have been inspired by it to a few thoughts. Most people, especially people with children, aspire to a real house and not a condominium or an […]
The Two Income Trap
We have referred to Ms. Warren and Ms. Tyagi”s book, The Two Income Trap, rather often in these pages. When Obama wanted to appoint her consumer czar, she was attacked. Here is Christopher Caldwell, of the neocon magazine The Weekly […]
Raise Revenues by Reducing Taxes?
Now, Ramesh Ponnuru, long time of National Review, sees it. And Pawlenty is still convinced we are above the tip of the Laffer Curve, and that there are more revenues to be got by reducing taxes. This is debatable. Related: […]
This President Triangulates the Debt
Obama has been willing, in his desperation, to reform Social Security. Like Clinton and Welfare Reform. Maybe the Republicans forced him to it, but you could say the same of Clinton. And maybe only Obama could have taken on Social […]
Who is tossing whom over a cliff?
This column by Chris Laureys of New Jersey is one of the best I’ve ever seen on the distortions of our current welfare state. Related: “Who is tossing whom over a cliff?” by Chris Laureys at USAToday.com
Once Again, the Laffer Curve Curves
Michael Barone, whom I usually respect, confuses, like most Republicans, the issue about tax rates. Yes, when Kennedy cut the top rate from 90% to 70%, federal revenues did actually go up. And when Reagan cut the top rate to […]