“I was so happy to see the back of George W. Bush and his administration, with their disregard for the Constitution, foolish and unnecessary war, attempt to subvert habeas corpus, reckless spending, and overall arrogance and disregard for limits on power. His successor has decided to follow even more carefully the examples set by Benito […]
Archive for March, 2009
Mar30th2009
Alot better, says Newsweek:
For nearly a decade, the entrance to the city of Compton, Calif., just off the 91 Freeway, was a huge, vacant lot, overgrown by weeds. Surrounded by an eight-foot steel gate, the once-bustling auto dealership had become a haven for the homeless; a place where people dumped trash, loitered, caused trouble….
By the […]
Mar27th2009
President Obama after newly elected:
President Obama’s budget chief hinted Wednesday that the president’s signature campaign issue — a middle-class tax cut — will not likely survive a budget battle with Democrats on Capitol Hill. On a conference call with reporters in advance of the president’s trip to the Hill to speak before the Senate Democratic […]
Mar26th2009
From a recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper:
This paper documents a stylized fact not well appreciated in the literature. The Third World has been undergoing an emigration life cycle since the 1960s, and, except for Africa, emigration rates have been level or even declining since a peak in the late 1980s and the early […]
Mar25th2009
So says John McWhorter, writing in The New Republic:
The forum was a typical one on race and education, as ritualized as a religious service. First, an introducer recites the latest dropout statistics. Then, discussants and audience questioners flag the usual terms–Low Expectations, Parental Involvement, Vested Interests, Resources, Accountability–each greeted with knowing murmurs and applause. A […]
Mar24th2009
Given by CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, via Sally Pipes, via Greg Mankiw:
[T]he assertion that the costs of providing health insurance cripples American corporations in the global economy is simply wrong. CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf explained this last week to the Senate Committee on Finance, which is chaired by Max Baucus, a leading proponent of […]
Mar23rd2009
Latin America Fact Of The Day
Published by in Hispanics (Minority Issues) and LatinAmerica. 0 CommentsGiven by Harvard’s economic historian Jeffrey Williamson:
Most analysts of the modern Latin American economy hold to a pessimistic belief in historical persistence — they believe that Latin America has always had very high levels of inequality, suggesting it will be hard for modern social policy to create a more egalitarian society. This paper argues that […]
Mar19th2009
“TARP recipients paid out $76.7 million on lobbying and $37 million on federal campaign contributions in 2008 and (through Feb 2, 2009) received access to $295.2 billion in TARP funds. The ratio of lobbying expense to TARP receipts suggests that, during the initial stages of the crisis, financial institutions have reaped extraordinary benefits from investing […]
Mar18th2009
He writes in the Wall Street Journal:
As I noted on this page in December 2007, the presumptive cause of the world-wide decline in long-term rates was the tectonic shift in the early 1990s by much of the developing world from heavy emphasis on central planning to increasingly dynamic, export-led market competition. The result was a […]
Mar17th2009
“Shouldn’t Obama call off his war on carbon emissions “for the duration” of the economic downturn? If the economy is roaring back in 18 months, swell, let’s all start fighting carbon again then. But if we’re in for a decade-long depression, then carbon emissions will be way down by themselves, and the last thing we […]
Mar16th2009
The Most Dangerous Part Of Obama’s Tax Proposals
Published by in Economics, ModernPolitics and Taxes. 0 CommentsAlvin Rabushka, an expert in taxation in the United States, alluded to it in discussing the recently passed “fiscal stimulus” bill:
There is danger lurking in this measure. The vast majority of federal income taxes is being paid by fewer and fewer households. The share of federal income taxes paid by the top 20% of all […]
Mar11th2009
I leave to Monterrey, Mexico in a few hours. I should be back on Monday. See you then.
Mar11th2009
The Protectionist And Anti-Immigration Congress
Published by in (modern day) Liberalism, General, Hispanics (Minority Issues), Immigration and ModernPolitics. 3 CommentsThe Harvard Crimson reports:
Troubled financial institutions that recruit heavily from Harvard may soon face restrictions on hiring international students if they accepted federal bailout funding. Under a recently passed amendment to the federal stimulus bill, companies participating in the Troubled Assets Relief Program—a government financial-rescue plan implemented last fall—will face more restrictions in hiring H-1B […]
Mar10th2009
“In this “new era of responsibility”, as the budget document is called, it would have been better for Obama to signal that huge and desirable initiatives like universal health care will impose at least some costs on all Americans. It is literally impossible to make the rich pay for everything, and telling 95% of voters […]
Mar9th2009
“Mr. Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget blueprint, by his own admission, redefines the role of government in our economy and society. The budget more than doubles the national debt held by the public, adding more to the debt than all previous presidents — from George Washington to George W. Bush — combined. It reduces defense spending […]
