Immigration Humor

If we have another decade of big government interventionism like we’ve endured for the past 10 years under Bush and Obama, this amusing parody might turn into reality.

Read Full Post »

The Value-Added Tax Must Be Stopped – Unless We Want America to Become Greece

Sooner or later, there will be a giant battle in Washington over the value-added tax. The people who want bigger government (and the people who are willing to surrender to big government) understand that a new source of tax revenue is needed to turn the United States into a European-style social welfare state. But that’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Barack Obama’s Secret Weapon for 2012

A lot of my Republican friends (yes, I admit to having some) are feeling very confident about the 2012 election. They’re not quite measuring the drapes in the Oval Office, but this electoral map seems to be their “worst-case” example of how the states will break in 2012. Notwithstanding my reasonably accurate 2010 election predictions, [...]

Read Full Post »

Having Now Watched the Movie, Here’s a Glowing Review of Atlas Shrugged

I’m a lucky guy to work at the Cato Institute, and I’m especially happy to be at Cato’s Benefactor Summit in San Diego this weekend. One of our supporters, John Aglialoro, is the person most responsible for the movie version of Atlas Shrugged (he independently produced the film with his own money), and he let [...]

Read Full Post »

Why I Prefer the Flat Tax over the Fair Tax

I spoke at the Tea Party Patriots convention earlier today. Great people, great crowd. My job was to debate on the side of the flat tax over the fair tax. Several people asked for more information, and I promised to put this video on the blog. Long-time readers probably will have seen it before, but [...]

Read Full Post »

Some Political Jokes to Start the Weekend

I’m awake at a completely uncivilized hour in San Diego so I can catch a plane to Phoenix for a presentation to the Tea Party Patriots conference. Since it’s too early for me to say anything coherent, let’s start the weekend with some good jabs from the late-night comics. Moammar Gadhafi said that Libyan protesters [...]

Read Full Post »

Can the GOP Win the Government Shutdown Fight?

When existing spending authority expires on March 4, the “non-essential” parts of the federal government will shut down unless Republicans and Democrats reach an agreement. This is causing lots of agitation in Washington, both by Democrats who don’t want the money spigots in the off position and Republicans who fret that they will be blamed [...]

Read Full Post »

One Chart that Tells You Everything You Need to Know about Whether State and Local Bureaucrats Are Over-Compensated

The showdown in Wisconsin has generated competing claims about whether state and local government bureaucrats are paid too much or paid too little compared to their private sector counterparts. The data on total compensation clearly show a big advantage for state and local bureaucrats, largely because of lavish benefits (which is the problem that  Governor [...]

Read Full Post »

Astounding TSA Incompetence

This is really remarkable. We’re supposed to go through porno strip machines at the airport so the bureaucrats can detect firearms. Yet the Keystone Cops at the TSA in Dallas failed when an undercover agent tested their awareness by hiding a gun in her undergarments. They didn’t just fail. They. Failed. Every. Single. Time. Check [...]

Read Full Post »

Let’s Listen to the French and Shrink Government

Actually, I better add an important qualifier to that title and instead say that we should listen to a specific Frenchwoman. My friend Veronique de Rugy recently testified before a House Committee and she completely kicked you-know-what.

Read Full Post »

We Should Promote Liberty in the Middle East, not Democracy

I haven’t commented on what’s been happening in Libya, Egypt, and the rest of the Arab world. This isn’t because I don’t care, but rather because I don’t have much knowledge about the area and I’m not sure what, if anything, the United States should do. Or could do. I will say, however, that one [...]

Read Full Post »

Surgery humor

Five surgeons are talking. #1 The first, a California surgeon, says: “I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered.” #2 The second, a Texas surgeon, responds: “Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside of them is color coded.” #3 The third, an Oklahoman [...]

Read Full Post »

A Rather Depressing Article about the Human Cost of the Welfare State

This story from the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal makes the point, excerpted below, that the welfare state subsidizes dysfunctional behavior. But read the story to understand how big government destroys lives, ruins families, and creates inter-generational poverty. A very powerful, albeit very depressing article. It’s basically the American version of this grim news report from [...]

Read Full Post »

Spending Restraint Works: Examples from Around the World

America faces a fiscal crisis. The burden of federal spending has doubled during the Bush-Obama years, a $2 trillion increase in just 10 years. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Because of demographic changes and poorly designed entitlement programs, the federal budget is going to consume larger and larger shares of America’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Compared to the Reagan Era, the Bush-Obama Years Have Been a Fiscal Nightmare

Since February is the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth and I still haven’t gotten over my man-crush on the Gipper, I figured it would be interesting to look at Reagan’s fiscal record, particularly to see whether he was successful in restraining the growth of domestic spending. There is lots of good information in the [...]

Read Full Post »

The Most Despicable and Reprehensible People in Washington Are Republicans

I sometimes assert that the greatest enemies of freedom in Washington are mortgage payments and tuition bills. When people give me a blank stare, I say that I’m joking, but I use the opportunity to explain that the desire for easy wealth (and the lifestyle it enables) lures many Republicans to become lobbyists and to [...]

Read Full Post »

Politically Incorrect Terrorism Humor from England

I got this joke from an English friend. I’m a bit leery about posting politically incorrect humor, but it is funny and I don’t think I can get in too much trouble for jokes about Europeans. =========================== The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security [...]

Read Full Post »

How to Fix the Entitlement Problem

One of my presentations at CPAC addressed America’s long-term entitlement crisis. I was part of a panel organized by the National Taxpayers Union, and I discussed how to solve the long-run fiscal problems caused by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The lighting and focus leave something to be desired, but hopefully my message is crisp [...]

Read Full Post »

Very Snarky Anti-Obama Humor

I have a non-partisan sense of humor. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed jokes about George W. Bush, Dan Quayle, and Bill Clinton. I’ve even laughed at jokes about Ronald Reagan. So you won’t be surprised to learn that I found this worth sharing.

Read Full Post »

As Wisconsin Goes, so Goes the Nation

After dozens of posts about overpaid government employees, I’m sick of writing about the topic. But what’s happening in Wisconsin is critically important in the fight for long-run fiscal sanity, so I’m reluctantly wading back into this fight. Simply stated, bureaucrats have figured out how to manipulate the system and they are bankrupting state and [...]

Read Full Post »

Senator Toomey’s Legislation Would Protect Financial Markets During a Debt Limit Showdown

There will be several pivotal fiscal policy battles this year and the fight over the debt limit may be the most crucial. This is a “must-pass” piece of legislation, so it will be a rare opportunity for fiscal conservatives in the House to impose some much-needed spending restraint. But it’s also a high-stakes game. If [...]

Read Full Post »

Jay Leno Channels Milton Friedman to Zing Barack Obama

One of Milton Friedman’s great lines was his observation that people are more likely to be irresponsible when spending other people’s money. Jay Leno must be a closet libertarian, because here’s one of his jokes from the other night. First lady Michelle Obama told “Regis & Kelly” she was expecting jewelry on Valentine’s Day. She [...]

Read Full Post »

Talking Fiscal Policy: Podcasts and PJTV at CPAC

I discuss taxes, spending, and other fiscal policy issues in three interviews at CPAC. In this interview for PJTV, I mostly chat about taxes, including the fight over the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the threat of a value-added tax, and the potential for real tax reform. In this podcast for the Institute for Liberty [...]

Read Full Post »

Time to Get Rid of the Corporate Income Tax?

Here’s a video arguing for the abolition of the corporate income tax. The visuals are good and it touches on key issues such as competitiveness. I do have one complaint about the video, though it is merely a sin of omission. There is not enough attention paid to the issue of double taxation. Yes, America’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Great Moments in Human Rights: Creating an Entitlement for Free Soccer Broadcasts in Europe

Forget the Magna Carta and the Constitution. Don’t pay attention to the end of slavery. Ignore the defeat of the Nazis or the collapse of the Soviet Empire. If you want a real victory for humanity, European courts have ruled that people have the right to free soccer games on TV. Apparently, people are now [...]

Read Full Post »

Beware of Greeks Accepting Gifts

On rare occasions, I dream about being a politician or high-level international bureaucrat. Not because I want to be a moocher (please put me out of my misery if that ever happens), but because I periodically read about some sleazy interest group making petulant demands for handouts and I think about how much fun it [...]

Read Full Post »

Obama’s Budget Means the Burden of Government Spending Will be $2 Trillion Higher in Ten Years

Fiscal policy wonks (like me, I’m forced to admit) sometimes miss the forest because we focus too much on individual trees. So while I think my posts on the spending and revenue sides of Obama’s new budget contained lots of useful information, I didn’t pay any attention to the elephant in the room (I’m really [...]

Read Full Post »

England’s Slow-Motion Death Panels

I’ve commented before about the sub-par government-run healthcare system in the United Kingdom, including patients dying of malnutrition, patients suffering needless pain and discomfort, and patients dying from poor care (additional examples at this link). I’ve even commented on the NHS wasting money on politically correct nonsense while letting patient care deteriorate. Now we have another distasteful [...]

Read Full Post »

Deconstructing the Revenue Side of Obama’s Budget

I looked yesterday at the spending side of Obama’s budget and found some good news and bad news. The good news was the absence of any big new initiative to expand the burden of government. That’s a welcome relief since the past couple of years have featured budget busting proposals such as the so-called stimulus [...]

Read Full Post »

Deconstructing the Spending Side of Obama’s Proposed FY2012 Budget

President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 has been released and there is lots of rhetoric in Washington about “budget cuts.” At first glance, this seems warranted. According to the just-released fiscal blueprint, the federal government is spending about $3.8 trillion this year and the President is proposing to spending a bit more than [...]

Read Full Post »