More Fun at the TSA’s Expense

I want to stop blogging about this issue, but can’t resist sharing this video.

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Fight against Corruption and Bailouts by Boycotting GM and Chrysler

I was on Fox News last week and unloaded on the General Motors bailout. I’m surprised I wasn’t foaming at the mouth. My conclusion is that people with honor and integrity should refuse to buy cars from companies that stole money from taxpayers.

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Three Cheers for Switzerland as Voters Reject Class-Warfare Tax Hike in National Referendum

I’ve always had a soft spot for Switzerland. The nation’s decentralized structure shows the value of federalism, both as a means of limiting the size of government and as a way of promoting tranquility in a nation with several languages, religions, and ethnic groups. I also admire Switzerland’s valiant attempt to preserve financial privacy in [...]

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A Long-Overdue Debunking of Keynesian Economics

I’m understandably fond of my video exposing the flaws of Keynesian stimulus theory, but I think my former intern has a great contribution to the debate with this new 5-minute mini-documentary. You may recognize Hiwa. She narrated a very popular video earlier this year on the nightmare of income-tax complexity.

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This TSA Stupidity Makes Me Want to Go Postal

I hate writing about the TSA and airport security, especially since I fly frequently and despise the pointless “security theater” of the whole process. I keep doing posts about the issue, though, because it seems a day doesn’t go by without some new revelation about foolish government action. Here’s a video (courtesy of Pejman Yousefzadeh [...]

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Pick Your Favorite TSA Motto

The resolution on these is not exactly crisp. Clicking and zooming will give you a better view. In any event, many of them are worth the trouble. I think the last one is my favorite.

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What Rabid, Hate-the-Poor, Right Wingers Uttered these Spiteful Words?

Here’s a passage from a speech by a well-known political figure, but it wasn’t Ronald Reagan, Ron Paul, or Milton Friedman. The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief [...]

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The Silver Lining to the TSA’s Dark Cloud

Freedom, liberty, and common sense are all good things, which explains why I criticize the TSA’s bureaucratic approach to airport safety. But I’m a glass-half-full guy, so here’s one good argument for the TSA’s new guidelines. And since we’re having some fun at TSA’s expense, here’s how the Taiwanese interpret our policy.

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Two Cheers for John Boehner, but Government Officials Should Not Get a Free Pass on TSA Screening

One of John Boehner’s first announcements after the GOP House takeover was that he would continue to fly commercial. This is in sharp contrast to Nancy Pelosi, who insisted on using luxury jets operated by the military. Boehner deserves praise for that decision, but he only gets two cheers rather than three since, like many [...]

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The Pilgrims Learned from Their Mistakes, so Why Can’t Obama?

There’s an odd debate in the blogosphere. As happens every Thanksgiving, libertarians and conservatives take joy in pointing out that there was mass starvation and suffering during the early years of the Plymouth Colony because of a socialist economic model. Here’s what John Stossel recently wrote. Long before the failure of modern socialism, the earliest [...]

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Hopelessly Naughty Joke…but Appropriate for Today

Things you should only say on Thanksgiving, the R-rated version. 1. Talk about a huge breast! 2. Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist. 3. It’s Cool Whip time! 4. If I don’t undo my pants, I’ll burst! 5. Whew, that’s one terrific spread! 6. I’m in the mood for a little dark meat. [...]

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Hopelessly Corny Joke…but Appropriate for Today

A  young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything [...]

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Who Says Communists Can’t Be Efficient?

I’m not sure if “killing two birds with one stone” is the right phrase in this situation, but…

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Craigslist TSA Ad

Warning, this is not G-rated. Here’s the original link, though I won’t be surprised if it gets taken down.

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“Daniel Mitchell Is Insane”

At least, that’s what a left-wing blogger thinks. So what did I do to earn this honor? I had the gall to say that tax loopholes should be removed, but that all the revenues should be used to finance lower tax rates. Call me crazy, but I don’t think either our economy or our fiscal [...]

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Great Interview with former Obama Colleague, Richard Epstein

The folks at Reason TV have a fascinating interview with one of President Obama’s former colleagues at the University of Chicago Law School. But while it is interesting the hear Professor Epstein reminisce about his interactions with Obama, the best part of the interview is his commentary about public policy. If we had five people [...]

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Tax Loopholes Are Corrupt and Inefficient, but They Should only Be Eliminated if Every Penny of New Revenue Is Used to Lower Tax Rates

There’s been a lot of heated discussion about various preferences, deductions, credits, shelters, and other loopholes in the tax code. Some of this debate has revolved around whether it is legitimate to refer to these provisions as “tax expenditures” or “subsidies.” My Cato colleague Michael Cannon vociferously argues that subsidies and expenditures only occur when [...]

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Advocating Good Tax Cuts rather than Gimmicks on CNBC

A “bipartisan” task force recently unveiled a budget plan that includes lots of tax increases, but also has a one-year payroll tax holiday supposedly designed to boost the economy. In a debate with a former Bush Administration appointee on CNBC, I explain why this is a dumb way to try to boost growth. My Lima-beans-in-a-steakhouse [...]

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A Proposal for More Immigration that Should Have 100 Percent Support

On my recent trip to Colorado, I had dinner with Congressman Jared Polis, a Democrat from Boulder. He’s not exactly a small-government conservative, but he understands the importance of low marginal tax rates, free trade, and other important economic principles (whether he votes the right way is a separate question, of course, so I’m curious [...]

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Earmarks are the Gateway Drug to Big Government Addiction

I haven’t commented much on earmarks, but an oped in today’s Washington Post was has goaded me into action. A former Reagan Administration appointee (the Gipper must be spinning in his grave), who now makes a living by selling our money to the highest bidder, made several ridiculous assertions, including: …earmarks are largely irrelevant to [...]

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TSA Warning Sign

A pretty good summary of where we stand. I wonder if the IRS is getting jealous of their friends at the TSA?

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What Happens on School Choice in Colorado May Be More Important than Stopping Obama’s Tax Hikes

I generally focus on fiscal policy and I love low tax rates, so when I say that what happens on school choice in Douglas County, Colorado, may be more important to the future of the nation than what happens with Obama’s plan for higher tax rates next year, that should give you an idea of [...]

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If the GM Bailout Is Obama’s Definition of Success, No Wonder America’s Heading to Bankruptcy

The President wants us to believe that the recent IPO for General Motors was a smashing success. And it was…if you believe that it’s a good idea to lose money (the direct cost of the bailout) and make the economy less efficient by misallocating resources (the indirect cost of the bailout). The always superb John [...]

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Exposing Warren Buffett’s Dishonesty and/or Innumeracy on CNBC

I get nauseated and disgusted when guilt-ridden wealthy people try to come across as friends of the common man by endorsing soak-the rich taxes. I’ve even debated a couple of self-loathing trust fund babies (see here and here) about class-warfare policy. If neurotic rich people believe that the government should have more money, there’s nothing [...]

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Pick Your Favorite Quote: Old Hickory or the Bible

Here are two interesting quotes. The first is from the New International Version of the Bible, and it’s been circulating among right wingers over email. Have fun with it. The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. The second quote – and this one is serious – [...]

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Hungary Joins the Flat Tax Club

Every since the current government won a landslide election, there’s been a widespread assumption that Hungary would be the next nation in Europe to hop on the flat tax bandwagon. Well, the assumption has become reality. Here’s a report from Tax-news.com. The Hungarian parliament has approved the government’s 2011 tax bill, which introduces a flat [...]

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Don’t Blame Ireland’s Mess on Low Corporate Tax Rates

Ireland is in deep fiscal trouble and the Germans and the French apparently want the politicians in Dublin to increase the nation’s 12.5 percent corporate tax rate as the price for being bailed out. This is almost certainly the cause of considerable smugness and joy in Europe’s high-tax nations, many of which have been very [...]

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Column on TSA Wins “Sentence of the Day” Contest

Our airport security system is a giant hassle. It’s very costly. And now we have the incredible privilege of having government bureaucrats grope our private parts. So are we getting big benefits to offset these high costs? Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner has a column about the TSA that includes a single sentence (actually, [...]

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The Few, the Brave, the…um…Old?

Time for a brief detour from political commentary. We finally got the picture from last month’s softball world series tournament in Arizona. These amazing specimens of manhood are the ”Beltway Bandits,” our over-50 team. As noted in an earlier post, we made it to the final day but didn’t come back with a first-place trophy. Liberals [...]

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Another Tax-Hike Scheme from another “Bipartisan” Group of Washington Insiders

I’ve already commented on the proposal from the Chairmen of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission (including a very clever cartoon, if it’s okay to pat myself on the back). Now we have a similar proposal from the so-called Debt Reduction Task Force. Chaired by former Senator Pete Domenici and Clinton Administration Budget Director Alice Rivlin, the Task Force proposed [...]

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