"It may not feel like it in the West, but this is, in many ways, the best of times. Hundreds of millions are climbing out of poverty. The internet gives ordinary people access to information that even the most privileged scholar could not have dreamed of a few years ago. Medical advances are conquering diseases and extending lifespans. For most of human history, only a privileged few have reasonably been able to hope that the future would be better than the present. Today the masses everywhere can. That is surely reason to be optimistic."
Globalisation: The redistribution of hope | The Economist
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Redistribution of Hope
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Capitalism's Silver Lining in China
"Capitalism has proven itself a resilient system, having withstood the Great Depression, two world wars, recessions in the early '80s and '90s, the Asian financial crisis, and now the 'Great Recession.' This recent setback is yet another opportunity for leaders to address the challenges and uncertainties facing the world economy and, by doing so, to validate freer markets and globalization."
telegraphjournal.com - Look for capitalism's silver lining in China | John Philippe - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada
Mission Statement
The Bastiat Society promotes the fact that the world is getting better, and that it's the creation of wealth through business that is doing it.
The Society's argument can be simply stated:
* Trade is a fundamental and virtuous human activity.
* Peaceful and profitable trade creates wealth.
* Wealth makes the world better.
* Those who create wealth through trade are not villains, but are the true owners of the moral high ground and benefactors of the human race.
Instead of abandoning the moral high ground to glib academics, politicians, and other condescending moralists, the Bastiat Society reclaims the moral authority of peaceful and profitable business.
Assessing the Housing Sector
"Predicting the future is difficult, but the price and construction data so far do not seem to suggest that home values will be significantly different this year than they were in 2010."
Casey B. Mulligan: Assessing the Housing Sector - NYTimes.com
As Boomers Wrinkle
"FROM the moment they entered the workforce in the 1960s, baby-boomers began to shape America’s economy and politics. They will do the same as they leave."
Demography and the economy: As boomers wrinkle | The Economist
Incredible Shrinking Money
"Today there will be no wheelbarrows; money is created simply by entering keystrokes on a computer keyboard. Money created from nothing, from thin air, but that is how banks have always created it… ad infinitum by fractional, now fictional reserve banking, until there is so much it no longer has any value."
Incredible shrinking money » The Cobden Centre
Two Californias
"Abandoned farms, Third World living conditions, pervasive public assistance -- welcome to the once-thriving Central Valley."
Two Californias - Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online
New Lawmakers Bring Business Resumes
"Many are novice politicians with significant experience in industries they will now help regulate. This real-world experience, in the long run, may prove a more enduring feature of the new House majority."
New Lawmakers Bring Business Resumes - WSJ.com
Gov. Cuomo Vows No New Taxes
"The old way of solving the problem was continuing to raise taxes on people, and we just can't do that anymore. The working families of New York cannot afford tax increases. The answer is going to have to be that we're going to have to reduce government spending."
Gov. Cuomo vows no new taxes, even for the top wage earners - NYPOST.com
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Countdown to Disappointment
Is it too soon to declare the new Congress a failure?
Countdown to Disappointment: Don't expect the new Congress to cut spending - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine
"Saving" the Housing Market
"Rescuing particular people at the expense of other people— whether the others are taxpayers, savers or prospective home buyers— produces votes. It also produces dependency on government, which is good for politicians, but bad for society."
"Saving" the Housing Market by Thomas Sowell on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent
Obama & The New Congress
"Any time government resource absorption is reduced, potential investment for the private sector is unleashed."
Politics & Government: Obama & The New Congress - CNBC
A Golden Decade Of Government Failure
"The real question, pertinent to American freedom and prosperity, is not whether policies are Republican or Democratic, but whether they are pro-capitalist or not."
A Golden Decade Of Government Failure - Richard M. Salsman - The Capitalist - Forbes
‘Wonky’ Climate Alarmism Coming at You
"Big Environment, Big Science–are you still interested?
Do you really want to debate? Or do you want to just present the doom-and-gloom neo-Malthusian side and then try to sell wind and solar and pagan lifestyles as somehow good for us?"
‘Hey America’: ‘Wonky’ Climate Alarmism Coming at You (Big Science, Big Environment want to scare you into energy, economic retrogression) — MasterResource
Basic Economics With Thomas Sowell
"Thomas Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, discusses, with Hoover fellow Peter Robinson, the financial crisis and who should be held accountable for the problems."
Uncommon Knowledge: Basic Economics revisited with Thomas Sowell: Chapter 1 of 5 | Hoover Institution
Cornhucksters
"What kind of Republican supports high tariffs on imports, dubious green tax credits, and consumption mandates to prop up unprofitable environmental darlings?"
Cornhucksters - Katrina Trinko - National Review Online
Republicans Need To Explain Economic Specifics
"David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, talks to Steve Inskeep about the economic agenda of the new Congress."
Republicans Need To Explain Economic Specifics : NPR
Happy Meal Ban
"San Francisco and Santa Clara County’s banning of McDonald’s Happy Meals is a bad use of government regulatory authority. Pro or con?"
Happy Meal Ban: A Sad Day for the U.S.A.: Newsroom: The Independent Institute
Monday, January 3, 2011
Labels Won't Solve Obesity and Alcoholism
"Regulators should allow producers to provide any information that they want on their labels outside of fraudulent claims. Consumers can vote with their pocketbooks."
LOGOMASINI: Labels won't solve obesity and alcoholism - Washington Times
Why A.D. 2011 Beats 100,000 B.C.
"Freedom is not some airy-fairy concept but an objective, measurable quantity."
Cross-check: Why A.D. 2011 beats 100,000 B.C.: More choices, free will, freedom
Personal Well-Being Overshadows Income Inequality
"The strongest class envy in America, it turns out, may be the resentment of those who were one club above you at Yale."
Articles & Commentary
Latest Genius Idea From Central Planning: Mandatory Anti-Entrepreneurial Posters
"Private employers will be required to display pro-unionizing posters in their businesses under a newly proposed federal rule."
Latest Genius Idea From Central Planning: Mandatory Anti-Entrepreneurial Posters - Investors.com
How Quickly Can We Rein in Fannie and Freddie?
"Frankly, the damage caused by these government-sponsored mortgage entities is largely done. Little will be accomplished by trying to do away with them too quickly."
How Quickly Can We Rein in Fannie and Freddie? - Daniel Indiviglio - Business - The Atlantic
Toward A New Economic Consensus
"The idea that higher spending and higher tax rates are good for economic growth and job creation is losing its appeal."
Toward A New Economic Consensus - Forbes.com
Why the Spending Stimulus Failed
"These empirical studies leave many leading economists dubious about the ability of government spending to boost the economy in the short run. Worse, the large long-term costs of debt-financed spending are ignored in most studies of short-run fiscal stimulus and even more so in the political debate."
Michael J. Boskin: Why the Spending Stimulus Failed - WSJ.com
Modest Proposals to Help the New Congress Survive and America to Thrive
"The country is on the verge of bankruptcy, the federal government is at a low point in terms of popular legitimacy, and not just Congress, but the entire political class, is on probation."
Sunday Reflection: Modest proposals to help the new Congress survive and America to thrive | Washington Examiner
The Locavore's Dilemma
"A major flaw in the case for buying local is that it is at odds with the principle of comparative advantage."
Jayson L. Lusk, F. Bailey Norwood, The Locavore's Dilemma: Why Pineapples Shouldn't Be Grown in North Dakota | Library of Economics and Liberty
Why the Left Really Hates Tax Cuts for the Rich
"Millionaires, as it turns out, are here today, gone tomorrow, largely the result of the variability of capital gains realizations..."
Why the Left Really Hates Tax Cuts for the Rich: Caroline Baum - Bloomberg
The Inequality That Matters
"Does growing wealth and income inequality in the United States presage the downfall of the American republic?"
The Inequality That Matters - Tyler Cowen - The American Interest Magazine
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Imagine No Possessions
"It turns out that the composer of 'Imagine' had a hearty appetite for property, snapping up no fewer than five apartments in the Dakota, one of New York's swankiest adresses."
John Lennon: Imagine no possessions | The Economist
'Renewable' Energy Crisis Sinking Spain
"No wonder Obama stopped saying 'look at Spain.'"
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : 'Renewable' Energy Crisis Sinking Spain
In the Long Run It's All Microeconomics
"Whatever macro tells us, the secrets of long term economic growth are still rooted in micro."
In the long run it's all microeconomics
Reaganomics 2.0 in the Driver’s Seat - CNBC
"Of course, the tax deal is far from perfect. But low tax rates will be preserved for personal incomes, capital gains, dividends, and estates. This is pro-growth and pro-capital formation, and it’s a confidence builder, too."
Larry Kudlow — CNBC Money Politics Blog — Reaganomics 2.0 in the Driver’s Seat - CNBC
Tyranny by Decree
"Why persuade or vote when you can rule by fiat?"
Tyranny by Decree - Washington Times
Don’t Accuse Me of Blaming America When I Blame the Government
"In my view, replying to policy critics by accusing them of “blaming America” is worse than linguistically crude and ideologically twisted; it is stupid."
Don’t Accuse Me of Blaming America When I Blame the Government | The Beacon
Saturday, January 1, 2011
In Defense of Shopping Malls
"A standard critique of American capitalism is that it produces shopping malls. Shopping malls are said to be ugly. They all look alike, and they all clutter the landscape with mediocrity. They have replaced diversity with uniformity. They replace traditional architecture with cookie-cutter architecture.
This is a short-sighted criticism."
In Defense of Shopping Malls by Gary North
'Fair Trade'? Free Trade Is Fair Trade
"You say, 'Williams, I've never heard anything so farfetched! Explain yourself.'"
'Fair Trade'? Free Trade Is Fair Trade - Investors.com
Fred Kahn’s First-Class Flight
"If you can’t explain what you are doing to people in simple English, you are probably doing something wrong."
FT.com / Technology / New Technology Policy Forum - Fred Kahn’s first-class flight
GOP Aims To Slash Spending And Deficit
"It's not enough, however, to just hold the line on spending. We need to cut spending"
GOP Aims To Slash Spending And Deficit - Investors.com
A New Year’s Resolution for Politicians: Understand Profit
"I humbly propose that our political leaders understand an important lesson. Voluntary trade is not conflict, it is not combat, and there are no losers. In a voluntary society, the profit of one is not the damage of another. The profit of one is the benefit of another."
A New Year’s Resolution for Politicians: Understand Profit - Art Carden - The Economic Imagination - Forbes
Friday, December 31, 2010
Obamacare, the Constitution, and the Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause
"Several lawsuits over the health-care reform’s individual mandate hinge on interpretations of the constitution’s Commerce Clause. This clause is widely believed to grant Congress broad power over national markets. But that isn’t what the founders had in mind."
Obamacare, the Constitution, and the Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause: Newsroom: The Independent Institute
John Stossel
"Politicians are so arrogant that they think they can make people wealthier just by mandating it."
Minimum Wage Hurts Workers (Tonight on Fox News @ 10pm ET) « John Stossel
The Politics of 'Nudge'
"Watch out for any attempt to use your inertia to steer you. Freedom should be the default."
The politics of 'Nudge'
Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts
"What's the track record of those most worried about global warming?"
FoxNews.com - Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts
Tariffs and Freedom
"America’s impressive economic growth during the nineteenth century was in fact the result of free trade—trade unhampered within the expansive boundaries of a country that was huge, growing, and diverse in both its geography and its population."
Tariffs and Freedom | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty
Government Costs More Than You Think
"If you seek to measure the cost of a government, its budget is a good place to start. But your search won’t end there. Only some of the costs imposed by government in any given year show up in its operating budget."
John Hood's Syndicated Weekly Column | Government Costs More Than You Think | John Locke Foundation
Looking into the Crystal Ball for Tax Policy in 2011
"As we get ready to ring in the New Year, it is fun to look into the crystal ball and see what 2011 will bring us in the world of tax policy."
The Tax Foundation - Looking into the Crystal Ball for Tax Policy in 2011
Minister Warns on Mortgage Regulation
“The problem is that, at the moment, it [the mortgage market] is not competitive enough.”
FT.com / Companies / Property - Minister warns on mortgage regulation
IRS 2010 Milestones
A not very scientific list of 10 highs and lows we taxpayers saw in 2010, mostly from the IRS, but some from our elected representatives in Congress.
IRS 2010 Milestones - Robert W. Wood - The Tax Lawyer - Forbes
Spending Cuts, Student Revolts, and the Debt Crisis
"Prospective university students are a fairly small and powerless group which is probably why they were among those targeted for these relatively minor cuts. Given the considerable amount of disruption this small group has caused after being asked to contribute more for their subsidised education, it is disturbing to contemplate the public disorder that would likely erupt should more drastic cuts occur down the road. "
Spending Cuts, Student Revolts, and the Debt Crisis » The Cobden Centre
Fox News Makes You Stupid?
"Beware pranksters disguised as pollsters trying to suggest Fox News viewers are dumber than most Americans. It is somehow 'misinformed' if you don't support Obamanomics."
Bozell Column: Fox News Makes You Stupid?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Freedom Trumps China's Economic Model
"While the 'American Consensus' has run off the rails in recent years, that does not mean its model of economic liberalization and freedom has failed. The problem is that America has fallen off the free-market wagon and is acting more like China - not the other way around. Both nations need more free-market economics and less Chinese-style 'consensus'-directed solutions."
Freedom Trumps China's Economic Model | The Heritage Foundation
Reason.tv's Greatest Hits in 2010!
"Attack ads, TSA follies, Beck/Stewart rallies, dramatic Olbermann vs. dramatic chipmunk, and more."
Reason.tv's Greatest Hits in 2010! - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine
The Five Worst Op-Eds of 2010
"For my last column this year, I'd rather tap into my inner Scrooge for a list of the worst op-eds of 2010."
The Five Worst Op-Eds of 2010 | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary
Constitution In Focus
"When Republicans take over the House next week, they will do something that apparently has never been done before in the chamber's 221-year history:
They will read the Constitution aloud."
Constitution is focus of new GOP House rules
Assessing 2010’s Economy and Looking Ahead
"It was the year that the economy started to recover and then slid back into a slump — only to offer reason for renewed hope in the final weeks."
Assessing 2010’s Economy and Looking Ahead - David Leonhardt - NYTimes.com
Government Is Creating Another Bubble
"It is hard to believe, but it looks like the government will soon use the taxpayers' checkbook again to create a vast market for mortgages with low or no down payments and for overstretched borrowers with blemished credit."
Articles & Commentary
Book Review: When Money Dies
"Images of kindling currency and economic chaos are an essential element in our understanding of the rise of Hitler. Mr. Fergusson adds valuable nuance to a familiar story. His tale begins not, as would be popularly assumed, in the aftermath of Germany's political and military collapse in 1918 (by which point the mark had halved against the pound) but in the original decision to fund the war effort largely through debt—a decision with uncomfortable contemporary parallels (one of many in this book) tailor-made for today's end-timers."
Book Review: When Money Dies - WSJ.com
End Of American Era? Don't Count On It
"The current debt, recession, wars and political infighting have depressed Americans into thinking they soon will be supplanted by more vigorous rivals abroad. Yet this is an American fear as old as it is improbable."
End Of American Era? Don't Count On It - Investors.com
Beyond the Start-Up Nation
"Israelis tell a joke about a Jew who takes to reading Arab newspapers. A friend, puzzled, asks him why. If I read the Israeli papers, all I hear is bad news about the Jews, he replies; but the Arab papers constantly claim we are all rich and successful, and rule the world."
Schumpeter: Beyond the start-up nation | The Economist
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Copernican Revolution Coming to Economics
"...the whole idea of macroeconomics is a fraud"
Fact And Comment - Forbes.com
Bastiat Society Meeting - January 5th
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Doug Walker from the College of Charleston Economics Department.
Dr. Walker received his Ph.D at Auburn in Economics in the Spring of 1998. His research focuses on economic and social effects of gambling. Walker published the book titled The Economics of Casino Gambling in 2007 and has been published in numerous journal articles on the economic impact of gambling. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Annals of Tourism Research, the UNLV Gaming Research and Review Journal, and is a member of the Bastiat Society.
His talk is entitled:
'Is Legalized Casino Gambling Good for the Economy?'
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Where We Stand and Where We Must Go
"I would argue that the Austrian school of economics, long forgotten amongst the elite is the only school that has consistently explained why economies grow and why they collapse, and how it is government intervention, primarily through the central planning of money and credit in a bank like the Federal Reserve that sows the seeds of ultimate collapse; and secondarily through intervention in confiscatory taxation, subsidization, protectionism, incessant regulation and redistribution of wealth that ends up bankrupting nations and has done so historically, with the central bank as the trusty aid of the politicians who perpetuate this system by helping pay off chosen constituents."
» Where We Stand and Where We Must Go - Big Government
The Power Politics of the Prize
"Vargas Llosa’s politics are libertarian: He supports free trade, opposes drug prohibition, and frequently quotes Milton Friedman."
The Power Politics of the Prize - Reason Magazine
Local Government Stupidity Contest
"This post could be entitled, “So many bad decisions, so little time"
Local Government Stupidity Contest | Cato @ Liberty
Undoing College
"These students, however, are not exhausted from “working on” anything. Rather, their state of mind is akin to how someone looks at a second slice of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner after he has already downed 5000 calories of turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, and that first slice of pie. "
NAS - The National Association of Scholars :: Articles and Archives Undoing College Jason Fertig
Follow Our Leader
"American business leaders, most of them, will continue to follow their leader, together with their enemies, the liberals and the left."
Capitalism Magazine - Follow Our Leader
How Government Failure Caused the Great Recession
The interaction of six government policies explains the timing, severity, and global impact of the financial crisis.
How Government Failure Caused the Great Recession — The American, A Magazine of Ideas
Political End-Runs
"Progressives consider the Constitution, and our elected representatives, disposable nuisances."
Political End-Runs - Thomas Sowell - National Review Online
Monday, December 27, 2010
Government as Placebo
Perhaps science has explained, unwittingly, why so many people think well-intentioned government policies work better than they actually do.
Even Knowingly Taking A Placebo Seems To Help : NPR
Dead End Work
Definition: what happens when government policies encourage people to acquire the skills used in an already troubled industry.
Persistent unemployment and the jobless: The New Yorker
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Abiding Faith Of Warm-ongers
No matter what the weather, it's due to global warming.
The Abiding Faith Of Warm-ongers - Investors.com
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
The Top 10 Economic Myths of 2010
Journalists' tall tales included praising GM for 'keeping faith' with taxpayers, comparing soda to cocaine, and attacking the Chamber of Commerce over baseless 'foreign money' claims.
The Top 10 Economic Myths of 2010
Vinod Khosla: Searching For The Radical Solution
"Environmentalists have been very good at identifying the problems we need to solve. They are horrible at picking the answers. I believe most environmentalists most of the time are getting in the way of answers that make economic sense. Economic gravity always wins. That's why I have the mantra about unsubsidized market-competitiveness."
Vinod Khosla: Searching For The Radical Solution: Scientific American Podcast
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)