Occupy Wall Street started with an emotion: anger. As average Americans dealt with an insecure job market, unemployment, underwater mortgages, and overwhelming increases in the cost of education and healthcare they watched as the financial industry was rescued from its own poor judgment by the federal government. What was perceived was a collusion of massive … Continue reading
Latest Entries
Short Memories: Repeating Policy Mistakes for “Positive Externalities”
About a month ago President Obama delivered the State of the Union Address. In it he pandered to the broad interests of teacher’s unions and educational institutions. He framed the issues as educational reform, affordable education, and transitioning priorities. President Obama calls for more resources for teachers, better pay for high quality teachers, and replacing … Continue reading
Freedom to lie? United States v Xavier Alvarez
The Stolen Valor Act was passed by Congress in 2006 to honor and respect the service men and women who have earned military medals. The Act prohibits people from falsely claiming they earned an armed service medal. Depending on the false claim, a person can be punished to up to six months to a year … Continue reading
Economic Daily Outlook
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 ECONOMICS: Winners and Losers From a Tax Proposal http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/business/tax-break-for-manufacturers-offset-elsewhere.html The Obama administration, seeking to promote domestic manufacturing without increasing the federal deficit, proposed Wednesday to offset new tax breaks for manufacturers by raising taxes on a wide range of other companies. Some of the prospective losers are familiar targets, including … Continue reading
Corporate tax “framework” misses the mark
The President announced his support today for corporate tax reform that reduces the rate to 28 percent by eliminating expenditures in the tax code, deductions, credits and the like. Ostensibly this reduction is a show of goodwill and a step forward. Yet under closer scrutiny, the President’s proposal hypocritically reinforces existing tax expenditures and fails … Continue reading
How About an Afternoon Tea Party?
CATO Institute recently held a book forum reviewing the newly published “Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution.” Authors Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin explained the origins of the Tea Party and what it does and does not stand for. The discussion also included comments by John Fund, a senior editor at the American … Continue reading
No, CNN, Mexico’s drug strategy is not working…
Last week CNN ran a column by Mariano Castillo entitled “Is Mexico’s’ drug war strategy working?” as part of a continuing series about the ongoing conflict in Mexico. My response to that question would be an emphatic “no, Mexico’s drug war strategy is not working!” Castillo’s article begins by noting that “on paper” the Mexican … Continue reading
The Conundrum of the Smartphone
With smartphones starting as low as $40, it’s hard to remember what life was like before mobile devices dominated our lives. In combination with a data plan, integrating our social and virtual lives is as easy as touching a simple button. While social media apps and ridiculous time wasting games like Fruit Ninja are a … Continue reading
State vs. Federal: the Fundamental Fight without the Facts
Judge Robert L. Hinkle on Saturday, February 18, 2012 upheld the 2009 determination that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had jurisdiction to mandate clean water regulations on the state of Florida’s major water bodies. In 1998, EPA mandated Florida to develop new rules to develop nutrient criteria on limiting phosphorus and nitrogen in waterways, which … Continue reading
Obama’s Corporate Tax Plan: More Politics than Reform
By Logan Albright Today, President Obama unveiled a plan to cut the corporate tax rate from its current level of 35 percent to 28 percent while eliminating deductions and loopholes with the aim of raising $250 billion of additional revenue over the next ten years. On its face, this sounds like a sensible proposal designed … Continue reading
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