Should she win in November, Hillary Clinton’s platform on financial services will likely serve as the financial policy roadmap for the next four years. Notable within Clinton’s Wall Street plan, released last October, is a call for a financial transaction tax (FTT) on high-frequency trading (HFT). A financial transaction tax is an excise tax on trades … Continue reading
Last week, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote an op-ed titled, “A Victory for the American People Against the Export-Import Bank.” The “victory” being Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) blocking a vote on the nomination of J. Mark McWatters to the export credit agency’s board. By blocking the nomination from a Senate vote, Sen. … Continue reading
Among the many popular topics of the 2016 presidential campaigns, healthcare remains a timeless defining issue sparking vivid debate on both sides of the political spectrum. In the 2016 presidential campaign, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – commonly referred to as “Obamacare” – has become the privileged scapegoat. However, beyond the political contention, an aspect … Continue reading
In February of 2015, President Obama called on the Department of Labor (DOL) to update the rules and requirements for retirement advice. The administration stated that its goal would be to end loopholes that allow some advisors to put their own profits ahead of their clients’ best interests. In response to this request, the DOL … Continue reading
History has all but forgotten Thomas Marshal. After surviving an attempted bombing, the former governor of Indiana managed to serve two terms as Vice President under Woodrow Wilson. Narrowly escaping death, however, seems to have been Marshal’s greatest accomplishment in office. He took a cynical approach to the job, readily acknowledging the ‘insignificance’ of the … Continue reading
For years, there has been concern over stagnant wages, unemployment, and the persistence of poverty across the United States. Many different remedies have been proposed, and at times implemented, in an effort to improve the U.S. labor market. One of the solutions most vehemently advocated for is the increase of the minimum wage, both on … Continue reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Drug Administration (FDA) have infringed upon my economic liberties. Collectively, these government bodies created an inefficient marketplace that burdens contact lens retailers and consumers. In hopes of curtailing market power granted to contact lens prescribers by FDA regulation, the FTC designed the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act … Continue reading
Economic freedom gives individuals the ability to pursue self-wants in the most efficient way possible—via the market. Many laws and regulations, in the name of consumer protections or marketplace fairness, take away our fundamental right of economic freedom. Continue reading
The global economy has been experiencing its fair share of ups and downs. Many eyes, including my own, have been locked on Greece as the country struggles to stay afloat under the overwhelming weight of its government debt. Furthermore, Prime Minister Tsipras’s leftist economic policies have all but dismantled the Greek economy. Outlandish tax rates … Continue reading
Greece has been in the throes of economic crisis for years. Turmoil first erupted after Greece’s economy was badly bruised by the global impacts of the Great Recession, and the Greek people have been suffering ever since. In 2009, a poor economic climate combined with a debt level of over 119 percent of GDP caused … Continue reading
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