Greg Mankiw explains why the issue of the gas tax proposed by McCain and Billary matters:
This issue is like the canary in the coal mine: No one really cares about the canary, but its condition tells us about deeper problems that lie below.
Many economic issues (e.g., health care, corporate taxation, the trade deficit) are vastly […]
Archive for the 'ModernPolitics' Category
May12th2008
May7th2008
The oracle of Omaha, in a recent Fortune Magazine article, comments:
Do you think the U.S. financial markets are losing their competitive edge? And what’s the right balance between confidence-inspiring standards and …
… between regulation and the Wild West? Well, I don’t think we’re losing our edge. I mean, there are costs to Sarbanes-Oxley, some of […]
May2nd2008
The New York Times reports:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton lined up with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, in endorsing a plan to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for the summer travel season. But Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic rival, spoke out firmly against the proposal, […]
Apr28th2008
Why The Age Divide Between Hillary And Obama Supporters?
Published by in General and ModernPolitics. 1 CommentDavid Friedman, son of Milton Friedman, gives us his opinion:
I have a different theory, one that also helps explain the mirror image problem—the reason so many people dislike Hilary. To me, at least, she comes across as bossy, cautious, conservative, someone who knows what is good for other people and will firmly make them do […]
Apr25th2008
“What they are saying is that in zip codes where lots of folks were turned down in 1996, you see lenders approving many more loans, and at lower risk spreads in 2001 through 2005, fueling the home price bubble. The lower risk spreads tells me that this was not predatory lending, but the opposite…It sounds […]
Apr24th2008
“John McCain is now aggressively exploiting loopholes in . . . wait for it . . . McCain-Feingold. Presumably this is all right because as we know, McCain is not like those other nasty politicians who take money as part of a corrupt quid-pro-quo. McCain is taking money in order to fight the good fight, […]
Apr18th2008
What Is A Libertarian?
Published by in Capitalism, Economics, Environment, General, ModernPolitics and Myths. 0 CommentsDo you want to know what a Libertarian really believes in? Listen to the father of modern day Libertarianism, Milton Friedman define it without all the distortions and misrepresentations from those who claim to know what libertarianism is.
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Apr18th2008
Milton Friedman On Race, Poverty And Government
Published by in Capitalism, Chicanoism, Discrimination, Economics, Education, General, Hispanics (Minority Issues), Minimum Wage, ModernPolitics, Myths, Poverty, Vouchers and affirmative action. 1 CommentYou need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
From an old speech but just as relevant today as it was then.
Apr14th2008
A new CBS/New York Times poll asked:
“From what you know, how much do you think the cost of the war in Iraq has contributed to the U.S. economic problems: a lot, some, not much or not at all?”
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw responds:
I have never taken a public position on the Iraq war: The issue is […]
Apr12th2008
Thomas Sowell On Income ‘Stagnation’
Published by in Economics, General, ModernPolitics and Myths. 0 CommentsYou need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
Many of you have already heard the talking heads who claim income has been stagnant for many years but likely few of you have heard the response. Thomas Sowell gives it here.
Apr11th2008
“Michelle Obama has two Ivy League degrees, private school for her children, a third-of-a-million-dollar salary, a large home, and a U.S. Senator as husband and would-be President—and says she has hitherto not been proud of the United States. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has created a huge following in his Trinity Church, merchandises his lectures, enjoys nationwide […]
Apr10th2008
Quote Of The Day
Published by in (modern day) Liberalism, Economics, General, Inequality and ModernPolitics. 7 Comments“What the American people really should feel awkward and defensive about is the level of inequality and excess of political power. Instead of asking ourselves what we can do about Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, we should be asking ourselves about what we can do about the Clintons and the Spitzers. Those who want more […]
Apr9th2008
“”Need” now means wanting someone else’s money. “Greed” means wanting to keep your own. “Compassion” is when a politician arranges the transfer.” — Joseph Sobran via the Adam Smith Institute
Apr4th2008
“The Democrat-led Congress last year broke a promise to slash pork spending and doled out $17.2 billion for pet projects, a 30% increase over the previous year’s $13.2 billion expenditure, according to the Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) 2008 “Pig Book.” Congress stuffed 11,610 projects into fiscal 2008 spending bills, the second-highest total ever and […]
Mar25th2008
“What I have always liked about Obama (and what Paul Krugman appears to hate) is that he sees the America not as a system of antagonisms defined along race or class lines, but as a fundamentally cooperative venture for mutual advantage. What I have never liked about Obama is his apparent failure to grasp how […]
Mar10th2008
The New York Sun reports:
The candidate who looks strongest on the education issue at the moment is Senator McCain. It hasn’t escaped the Arizona Republican, apparently, that the daughters of both Senator Clinton and Obama attended elite private schools of the kind that can be accessed by pupils from ordinary families only where there are […]
