March 1, 2012
Why Liberals Like Taxing the Wealthy. In 2009, the top 1 percent of earners reported 17 percent of adjusted gross income and paid 37 percent of total income tax revenues. Are the rich paying their fair share? I think so. Does taxing them at a higher rate help me or you? No! It only makes Obama and the left feel better.February 25, 2012
Alabama Tackled Illegal Immigration and Unemployment Started Dropping Wow! Image that. Illegals are taking jobs that legal Americans want. I have been hearing for many years that illegals only take jobs that Americans do not want. Apparently that is not the case. Good for Alabama to show us how it is done.February 9, 2012
Unemployment: Is the administration Fudging the Numbers?. Cal Thomas thinks so and I agree.February 8, 2012
Walter Williams is always an interesting read. Do we have Economic Chaos Ahead?February 7, 2012
The minimum wage has hurt young and old alike. The minimum wage should be abolished. Thomas Sowell makes a good case for this: A Defining MomentFebruary 3, 2012
The Heritage Foundation asks the question: What Does 'Right To Work' Legislation Mean For The Economy? This is the reason that every state in this union should convert to Right to Work states. Update: This law has been passed in Indiana and signed by Governor Mitch Daniels (R).January 8, 2012
Tracking the Unreported (15.6%) Unemployed Aparna Mathur & Matt JensenJanuary 6, 2012
Is the 8.5% unemployment rate for real? Maybe not. John Ransom has some facts that you may not be aware.Obama Unemployment Magic Trick: Indefinitely Detain 4 Million People from WorkforceJanuary 3, 2012
First things first:Now for something really funny to start off the new year.
Debbie has a way of making statements that make you say "WHAT?". Which Obama policy is she really proud of? Wasserman Schultz: Obama Will Be Re-Elected "Because Of His Policies" Debbie goes on to say, because of the fact that he has brought this country out of the worst economic disaster that we faced since the great depression. Only Debbie and a few of her closest friends believe this. Most credible economists will tell you that had Obama done nothing we would have been much better off than we are now. Big government, big spending has never worked and it has not been working for the last three years. The Europeans tried this and it isn't working out too well. We need to cut spending now; we need to quit digging the hole deeper. If we don't we are going to be on a par with the Europeans and I am not looking forward to that. Obama has recently asked for another $1.2 trillion raise of the debt limit. Should not Obama be called "unpatriotic" for piling on more debt? Senator Obama calls Bush "unpatriotic" for adding trillions to debt. BTW, why do we need a debt limit anyway? It seems to be raised without even a second thought. Just a question to ponder. A little something to think about concerning the debt increase under the Bush administration. The debt increased about $5 trillion in 8 years to about $8 and half trillion. But also consider this; the election of 2006 was a complete take over of both houses of Congress by the Democrats. Up until the take over by the Democrats, the debt had raised about $3 trillion(in six years). The next two years it raises $2 trillion more. Obama's administration started with a debt of about $10 and half trillion. If this current request for another raise is passed by the House, the debt limit will be over $16 trillion. What do you think the chances are that we will reach that limit on or before the end of this year? My guess is that we will. That my dear reader will mean that we will have doubled the debt in six years.October 26, 2011
Walter Williams, wise well beyond his years, explains why profit is a good thing. Profits Are for PeopleOctober 10, 2011
October 2, 2011
If you do not know who Friedrich August von Hayek was, you should. He was a Nobel Prize-winning economist, philosopher and a prophet. The following are Ten (Mostly) Hayekian Insights for Trying Times. Adapted from a Heritage First Principles Essay of the same title by Bruce Caldwell. These principles are also expounded upon in Hayek's book The Road to Serfdom. 1. Recessions are bound to happen. Shifts between periods of economic growth and periods of stagnation or decline are a necessary and unavoidable part of a free market monetary economy. Downturns are not aberrations but rather painful and necessary medicine for restoring equilibrium to the economy. This insight, however, does not mean that all recessions are natural: government meddling in the economy (e.g., keeping interest rates too low for too long) will lead to malinvestment - too many investment projects get started that cannot ultimately be sustained - and culminate in a recession. 2. Central planning and excessive regulations sure don't work. The desire to plan and to subject the economy to the rule of experts endangers liberty. As Hayek succinctly noted: "The more the 'state' plans, the more difficult planning becomes for the individual." Hayek argued that central planning, if fully implemented, would lead to disastrous economic results and ultimately to restrictions on political and personal freedoms. 3. Some regulation is necessary. Hayek made it clear that he was not advocating a system of pure laissez-faire, but one with a general system of rules that would enable individuals to carry out their own plans. Hayek's contribution was to stress the importance of institutions - a market system, in a democratic policy, with a system of well-defined, enforced and exchangeable property rights, protected by a strong constitution, and operating under the rule of law, in which laws are stable, predictable, and equally applied. 4. A stimulus will only stimulate the deficit. Past experience with trying to fine-tune the economy shows that counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary policy can sometimes make matters much worse (as in the 1970s). Wise politicians would therefore be advised not to meddle, however much their instincts tell them to show voters they're doing something. 5. The economy is too complex for precise forecasting. As Yogi Berra could have said: "I hate making economic predictions. Especially about the future." It's not that we don't know anything, but rather that what we do know revels the limits of our knowledge, and consequently, of our ability to plan and forecast. When the knowledge problem is joined with other political and economic obstacles, the hope of getting rational policy out of Washington becomes very dim. 6. Remember the rule of unintended consequences. History shows that when trying to realize certain ends - particularly when their achievement involves interfering with the workings of the price mechanism - all sorts of pernicious effects will occur that were not part of the original plan (see #10). Hayek was not altogether opposed to experimentation and change, but thought that piecemeal change is always preferable to wholesale attempts to remake society anew. 7. You won't believe how much you'll learn in Econ 101. While Hayek repeatedly pointed to the limitations inherent in a discipline that deals with a complex system like the economy, the basic principles of economics - scarcity, supply and demand, division of labor, etc. - can explain a lot about the world and help rule out certain inappropriate policy responses (e.g., price ceilings). A good economics course will therefore help to identify more appropriate policy responses - responses that utilize markets rather than fixing prices or trying to legislate specific outcomes. 8. Leave social justice out of it. Free markets necessarily lead to an unequal distribution of wealth and, just as inevitably, fuel calls for egalitarian social justice, as anyone who's read the editorial page of The New York Times or perused The Huffington Post knows. Hayek viewed such cries as misguided and dangerous. First of all, he denied that justice applies to an impersonal market process: a person's or an organization's actions may be just or unjust, but the market process is not planned and the income distribution it generates has nothing to do with justice. Secondly, the egalitarian demands of those who clamor for social justice violate the principle of the rule of law. If people differ in their attributes, then different people will necessarily experience different outcomes. The only way to get similar outcomes for different people is to treat them differently. Lastly, redistributive schemes presume that we possess knowledge that we, in fact, can never possess (see #5). 9. Nothing beats he free market. Hayek admitted that if we had more knowledge we could do a lot more to improve the world through planning and regulation. But we don't, and in the world of dispersed knowledge we live in much of the knowledge we actually do possess is due to the workings of the market mechanism. In a world that is filled with unpredictability, where the man on the spot has only his own small bit of local (and sometimes tacit) knowledge, market signals provide information on which he can base his decisions. His decisions, together with those of millions of others, fed into the system to form the prices that emerge. Bad decisions and mistakes are constantly made, but in a market system, errors made by some are opportunities for others, and the latter's profit-seeking actions help to correct them. The self-regulating market system, when it is functioning well, reduces some of the unpredictability that we all face in the economic arean and helps to coordinate ore actions with those of millions of others. It also allows individuals to act on their own local knowledge and thereby allows others to make use of that knowledge even though they do not possess the knowledge themselves. 10. As a rule of thumb, government cures are not only worse than the disease, but lead to further disease. When you consider that bureaucrats have an incentive to maximize bureaucracy, that politicians who seek re-election - and which one don't? - have an incentive to increase spending and decrease taxes, and that corporations have an incentive to squeeze out the competition through government conferred advantages, you'll conclude that the free market remains or best option (see #9). Does any of the above sound vaguely familiar with what we have seen over the last almost three years? It appears that the Obama administration has done everything that Hayek warned should not be done.September 27, 2011
Micromanagement of the economy, by this administration, has created uncertainty and disaster for this, the greatest nation the world has ever known. We have more than a year to get this country back on the right track. I hope it will not be too late to bring the real change that is needed. Thomas Sowell has some thoughts on the politics of this mess. Politics vs. Economics Another view on economics by Walter Williams: The Financial Mess in the US and EuropeSeptember 22, 2011
"Wimpy" Logic Rules Washington, Michael MedvedSeptember 13, 2011
In the following post, Judson discusses the fact that corporations, and any business for that matter, do not pay taxes. Anyone who purchases their products and/or services pays the taxes. The business simply rolls any taxes or fees into the cost of doing business. Eliminating any tax on business would go a long way toward improving the economy. Not just for a year, but forever. Posted by Judson Phillips on September 9, 2011 at 7:24am in Tea Party Nation Forum.Last night, America endured one of the worst NFL pregame shows ever: Barack Obama's speech to America. The speech was simple. Tax the rich, spend more money that we do not have and let's ignore the fact that the last time we tried the Obama ideas, they were an epic failure. At one point in the campaign speech, er, I mean the address to a joint session of Congress, Obama said he was willing to listen to new ideas. We know that is not true. Obama is not interested in anything other than his doctrinaire socialist tax, borrow and spend economic policies that have driven America into the great Obama depression. How about a simple program that would stimulate the economy? Here is one. I doubt the Obama, Pelosi, Reid axis of fiscal evil would even entertain this idea but it is an idea and it is better than any idea they have. Here is the idea. Every American company that increases the size of its work force by 10% in the next ninety days will not have to pay any taxes. Period. None, zero, zilch. In fact, other than filing a form that offers proof they are in compliance with this law, they would not even have to file a corporate tax return. While liberal heads immediately explode at the thought of this, it makes a lot of sense. Obama and his partners in economic disaster call for corporations to "pay their fair share." Here is a news flash for Obama. We know you are not that bright but corporations do not pay ANY taxes. Consumers do. When Walmart, with 1.8 million employees, America's largest employer is hit with a corporate tax, the price of men's socks goes up. When McDonalds, America's second largest employer with 447,000 employees is hit with a corporate tax, the price of cheeseburgers goes up. The top 50 American corporations employ approximately 11,539,535 people. Let's say Congress fast tracked this legislation so it could be signed and in effect by January 1, we would see just from the top 50 employers in this country hiring of 1.1 million new employees. That does not take into consideration the medium sized and small businesses that would take advantage of such a program. The economic impact would be immediate. Unemployment would drop dramatically and spending would increase immediately. Liberal critics of this kind of plan, after their heads have exploded, will point out that the Federal Government cannot control state and local taxing. That is absolutely correct. But the Feds have purse strings. The Federal Government is not shy about attaching conditions to federal money that is sent to the states, counties and cities, so as a part of this bill, the Federal Government would have to mandate that any state, county or city that receives any federal funds must also agree that any corporation participating in this program would be exempt from all taxes for a year. The other requirement for this program is, the jobs must be filled by American citizens and must be American jobs. There can be no loopholes for this. Some companies would want to take advantage of this by hiring a thousand new employees in Shanghai or New Delhi. If we tell companies, you do not even have to file a tax return for next year if you will increase your work force by 10%, then these companies will be fighting over new hires. This will create significant demand, particularly in certain skilled professions. This is a very simple plan that will get America working again and will do so within 90 days of being enacted. Unfortunately, the Obama, Pelosi, Reid axis of fiscal evil has no interest in putting Americans back to work. All they are interested in is saving their jobs. And that is shameful.
September 10, 2011
Thomas Sowell has an excellent understanding of how our society and the world work. Both parts of Two Different Worlds are well worth the read. Two Different Worlds and Two Different Worlds: Part II AP FACT CHECK: Obama’s Jobs Plan Paid For? Seems Not…, THEBLAZESeptember 9, 2011
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”President Gerald Ford, Presidential address to a joint session of Congress (12 August 1974) Wonder who’s to blame for today’s stagnant economy? Look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to see where the buck ought to stop. Four Ways Obama Has Blocked Job Growth, The Heritage Foundation.
September 6, 2011
Obama: "No more manufactured crises, no more games." Do I detect a little bit of projection going on here? I think more than a little. Obama, I have a deal that could work. Senator Coburn (OK) has a created a document titled Back in Black. I am sure someone around you and maybe you have checked this out. At least I hope so. He documents ways of cutting $9 trillion over the next ten years. Doing some simple math here, I come up with close to a trillion we could cut this year. If you tried hard, I bet you could come up with more than that. There appears to be many programs and agencies that are duplicated, inefficient or out lived their usefulness. Find the number you need for your infrastructure spending and go for it. I will bet the congress would be very happy to help you find that number and would pass it in a heart beat. Everyone would be happy. Well, maybe not everyone, but a sizable majority. What do you think? ‘Let’s Take These Sons Of Bitches Out’: Teamsters President Hoffa Calls for War on Tea Party at Obama Labor Day Event. It appears Mr. Hoffa did not get the memo on civility. Maybe it only applies to our side of the aisle?September 3, 2011
I have said over and over this economy can be fixed by doing four simple things, cut taxes, cut spending, cut regulations and last, but by no means least, get out of the way. Or forget the prior three and get out of the way and let the economy fix itself. Recessions have come and gone many times in the past. Most recessions will cure themselves within 6 to 9 months. Recessions can be extended by many months and years by government officials trying to fix things that do not need fixing. Do we have An Unusual Economy? Thomas Sowell has an interesting take.August 28, 2011
Sobering words about unemployment from Nina Easton. Washington needs to wake up to the jobs crisis.August 27, 2011
Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal, tells us what Reagan would have done if he were in charge today. Obamanonics vs. ReaganomicsAugust 24, 2011
Obama has mentioned in a speech or two that he must reward his friends and punish his enemies. My guess is Obama has far fewer friends than enemies and that is a good thing.The EPA claims the new rules will “prolong lives by reducing harmful smog and soot pollution,” and yet power plants supplied by General Electric, one of Barack Obama’s biggest campaign contributors, have received an EPA waiver and will not be subject to the regulations.Is that not great? It is good to be a friend of Obama. Obama Hits Struggling Americans With Energy Rate Hikes, Paul Joseph Watson
August 11, 2011
Why Won't Obama Embrace Growth to Create Jobs? Larry Kudlow Really? Matthews: Everyone Knows Government Creates Jobs! Mark Finkelstein. Americans Want the Honor of 'Earned Success' Michael BaroneAugust 7, 2011
I have heard references to the GAO report on duplication in government agencies and programs. So I dug around to see if could find out what they are and is anyone doing something about them. I found Senator Jim DeMint's blog on which he discussing the GAO report. I stumbled on a report titled Evaluating Federal Social Programs: Finding Out What Works and What Does Not by David Muhlhausen, Ph.D. This is a very interesting report that discusses when, if and how social programs should be evaluated. I am sure I don't have to point out to anyone with at least a room temperature IQ that evaluations of existing programs are far and few between. I doubt seriously that any Congressman, or Congresswoman, would take up their valuable time to try and find out whether the program(s) they are responsible for is really doing what it is designed to do. Then I found Senator Tom Coburn's report titled Back in Black. Wow! This report is 621 pages and contains 3056 footnoted references. If the savings in this report were implemented it would save major money. It would put a serious dent in the budget, deficit and debt. In fact, this would cut 9 trillion. I would like to see some, if not all, of this implemented ASAP. Senator Coburn wrote a letter to his colleagues about some of his findings with brief descriptions.July 29, 2011
The Debt-Ceiling Divide Charles KrauthammerJuly 27, 2011
The union thugs in Wisconsin warned of a catastrophe if Gov. Walker and the legislature passed the reforms to get a handle on the state's out of control spending. But it appears that the opposite is happening. Read more about it here in this article: The Falling Price of Wisconsin Public Education. What should an employer pay an employee? Maybe a better question should be: who is better to determine what an employee is to be paid: the employer or the government? At this time the federal government sets a minimum wage that an employer must pay an employee. I think the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. Some states have it set higher. But if $7.25 an hour is good, wouldn't $10 be better? Why not raise the minimum wage to $20, or $30, or $50. Wouldn't that even be better yet? You might say it is absurd to raise it beyond what is reasonable. Who determines what is reasonable? I think the minimum wage in itself is unreasonable. I think it is unreasonable to tell a business in the private sector how to run its business. The minimum wage simply shuts out unskilled workers from even having a chance at a job. Star Parker writes about this in more depth is her article: Bachmann is Right About the Minimum Wage.July 20, 2011
Governor Walker of Wisconsin signed legislation restoring voter control over their government. Other states are following Governor Walker's lead. Jeff Jacoby, Close the door on public-sector unions, writes about how Massachusetts is trying to do similar reforms, but coming up a wee bit short. After all, it is a very blue state.
Walter E. Williams: Education Is Worse Than We Thought. We have many problems with public education, but cheating by the teachers and administration is almost beyond belief.July 18, 2011
Minimun wage and welfare has hurt everyone, not just the poor. Good intentions have consequences as John Stossel discusses in this piece, Government Against Blacks.
Our public education is in need of major reform. It must start with elimating the Department of Education and taking the control away from the teachers unions. Get the federal government out of the way. The schools must be returned to the local communities. A major scoring scam has recently taken place in Atlanta, Georgia. Marybeth Hicks wrote a column about this: Public school systems cheating nation's youth.I have some other articles and my opinions under Issues:Education.
July 15, 2011
Robert Eugene Simmons wrote a scary column today that can be found on the American Thinker called The Soft Dictatorship. It is scary because it is true. Read it and weep for the greatest country in the history of the world. Can Obama be stopped? I sure do hope so. It is going to take all of us to stand up and voice our concerns. Call, write, email or any other way you may want to contact your Congressman and Senators and tell them to do everything they can to stop Obama. It may take more than that!July 13, 2011
Taxes: Everybody earning a living should have skin in the game.
I have heard recently that there may be as many as 50% of income earners pay no income taxes. Indeed, many low income earners get money from the government called an Earned Income Tax Credit.
What this means is the roughly 50% of no income tax earners are voting for taxes on the rest of the income earners. They have no skin in the game. A tax hike does not affect them. The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute points out this problem in Guess Who Really Pays the Taxes.
What I want to suggest is tax all income earners and get rid of Earned Income Tax Credits. Low income earners should pay something to the IRS. It could be as low as 1%. After all it is their patriotic duty. That is what many politicians (mainly on the left) tell the "Rich". It is the patriotic duty of the "Rich" to pay their fair share. I am talking only about the taxes on earnings. I know most income earners, even those with low incomes, pay other taxes, but I am only talking income taxes here. And while we are at it, welfare recipients need to be drug tested and required to do some public service. At least the able bodied.July 11, 2011
Unless you are a masochist, you may want to skip 16 Reasons To Feel Really Depressed About The Direction That The Economy Is Headed.June 26, 2011
We have oil, gas and coal reserves to last many, many years, but most is off limits. Why? Paul Driessen has some facts that puts perspective into the situation we face.June 24, 2011
Our fiscal policies are in a mess. One of the biggest is Social Security. It is on life support and getting worse. Thomas Sowell gives us a reality check.June 10, 2011
WSJ Economist Moore: Obama Is Just Wrong on Debt Ceiling - Andra Varin and Kathleen Walter, Jun 4, 2011What business does the government have in telling business how the business should run their business? This has been a pet peeve of mine for many years and it is getting worse. There are many members of Congress that think they know how to run a business better that the business owner or corporation management. There are many members of Congress who have not run a business or had to make a payroll. Yet they want to tell a business who they can hire, fire, how the employees should be paid and how much, and many other unfunded mandates.
The bottom of half of all taxpayers (that's 50%!) pay only 4% of all income taxes. If you are a recent graduate of our public (government) school system, I will have to help you with the math. The balance of the revenues (96%) collected by our IRS is paid by the upper 50% of income earners. So when the left wail and whine the rich don't pay their fair share of taxes, throw this statistic at them. The source for these numbers is the IRS. This document is a IRS Excel Spread Sheet. Go to the bottom of the spread sheet and check it out. Another amazing statistic is the top 1%, that's is the highest income earners, by the way, pay more than one third of all the income tax revenues. Don't tell me that the rich don't pay enough taxes. They pay far more than their fair share!
For further information, please check out a very good site called the NCPA Idea House.
Further links for your edification.
Random thoughts on the passing scene - Thomas Sowell, Mar 22, 2011