Richard Epstein vs. George Soros, at the Cato Institute

George Soros participated in a forum on Hayek at the Cato Institute this past week, and the really fascinating part is watching him cross swords with University of Chicago Law Professor Richard Epstein. The video is more than one-hour long, so if you just want to see Soros and Epstein, you can skip forward to [...]

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Obama’s Medicare Appointee Has Accidental Encounter with Reality, Learns Nothing

I just read something that unleashed my inner teenager, because I want to respond with a combination of OMG, LMAO, and WTF. Donald Berwick, the person appointed by Obama to be in charge of Medicare, has a column in the Wall Street Journal that makes a very good observation about how relative prices are falling [...]

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No Contest When Comparing Reaganomics and Obamanomics

Both President Reagan and President Obama had to deal with serious economic dislocation upon taking office. But they used radically different approaches to deal with the problems they inherited. Reagan sought to reduce the burden of government, whereas Obama viewed government as an engine of growth. So who had the right approach? This image, taken [...]

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Why Do Rich Left-Wingers Support Class-Warfare Taxes?

Why do some people instinctively despise wealth and want to tear down those who are successful? This question has been percolating in my mind because I am in Monaco to speak to the IXth international conference of the Convention of Independent Financial Advisors. This tiny principality is an amazingly prosperous place, easily the richest jurisdiction [...]

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Very good Political Jokes from the Late-Night Comics

Here are several from Jay Leno. The one about Biden is the best. The good news is, President Obama was born in America. The bad news is, so was Donald Trump. It’s the 75th anniversary of the introduction of Social Security checks. For the younger viewers who don’t know what a Social Security check is, [...]

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The Long-Awaited Second Installment of the Hayek v Keynes Rap Video

The first entry in this series was an Internet sensation. Now you can enjoy Part II.

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There’s a Right to Government-Subsidized Pornography?

Like all sensible libertarian-minded people, I don’t think the government should be regulating pornography. There are obvious exceptions for things like child porn, of course, and I’d even throw animal cruelty into the mix of things that can be banned. But leave run-of-the-mill adult pornography alone. Yes, some people can take it too far and [...]

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Obama’s College Transcript Finally Revealed!

I suppose I should explicitly say that this is a joke, though it’s understandable that some folks might think it’s real, given the nonsense that is sometimes taught at Ivy League colleges. (h/t: Transterrestial.com)

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New York Leads the List of the Five Biggest Moocher States…and Utah Tops the List of the Five Most Self-Reliant States

I may have to stop being a New York Yankees fan. The state of my birth is a national embarrassment. People in the Empire State are national champions in the contest to rip off their fellow citizens according to analysis from USA Today. West Virginia, however, is the biggest deadbeat state if handouts are compared [...]

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Two More Excellent Political Cartoons

I praised Michael Ramirez a few days ago for his clever political cartoons, so it’s time to “spread the wealth” and draw attention to a couple of superb cartoons by Chuck Asay (I think his hometown paper is the Colorado Springs Gazette). Since I’ve bashed the biased and inaccurate work of the Congressional Budget Office, I [...]

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White House to Propose 26 Percent Corporate Tax Rate?!? Look before You Leap

According to an article in the New York Times, the Obama Administration is seriously examining a proposal to reduce America’s anti-competitive 35 percent corporate tax rate. The Obama administration is preparing to inject an unpredictable new variable into its economic policy clash with Republicans: a plan to overhaul corporate taxes. Economic advisers have nearly completed [...]

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Tax Increases Are Political Poison for the GOP

Republicans are fighting about taxes. But they’re fighting with each other, not Democrats. I’ve already written about this topic once, but the issue has become more heated, and the stakes have become much larger. And this time I’m going to focus on the political implications. First, some background. One side of this battle is led [...]

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A Semi-Unfair Look at what Happens When Policymakers Listen to Paul Krugman

I periodically get emails and phone calls from people wanting me to respond to particular statements from politicians, columnists, and other high-profile figures. Not surprisingly, Paul Krugman occasionally is the subject of these communications, particularly with regards to his view that Keynesian spending is an elixir and universal cure for economic stagnation. I certainly have [...]

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Senator Rubio, Representative Posey, and other Lawmakers Fighting to Stop IRS Proposal that Would Drive Investment from U.S. Economy

There hasn’t been much good economic news in recent years, but one bright spot for the economy is that the United States is a haven for foreign investors and this has helped attract more than $10 trillion to American capital markets according to Commerce Department data. These funds are hugely important for the health of [...]

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Bad News for Barack Obama, Tom Friedman, and other Statists Who Want to Use Taxpayer Money to Play with Trains

It’s not too surprising to learn that spending money on “high-speed” rail is foolish. And it’s hardly a revelation to learn that politicians over-promise and under-deliver when they push through these boondoggles. My Cato colleague, Randall O’Toole, has written extensively about these money-losing white-elephant projects. But it’s not exactly shocking news that libertarians would resist [...]

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Cartoon Contest

Michael Ramirez is a first-rate cartoonist for Investor’s Business Daily. Here are two of his recent gems. As always, humor works when it is based on something true. With that in mind, do you prefer this cartoon, which shows Obama scolding the Founding Fathers for their extreme libertarian views? Or what about this cartoon, which [...]

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I’ll Gladly Trade America’s IRS Agents for Pakistan’s Transgender Tax Collectors

I suppose there are some good jokes to make about Pakistan employing transgender tax collectors in an attempt to coerce more money from taxpayers, but I’m enough of a policy wonk to have serious questions about the system. First, why does the government need to “shame” people. Can’t they just arrest taxpayers and/or seize their [...]

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Obama’s Embraces another Class Warfare Proposal – “Tax the Rich” Is the Universal Cure!

Under current law, Social Security is supposed to be an “earned benefit,” where taxes are akin to insurance premiums that finance retirement benefits for workers. And because there is a cap on retirement benefits, this means there also is a “wage-base cap” on the amount of income that is hit by the payroll tax. For [...]

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Would You Prefer Privatization or a Death Panel?

Welcome Instapundit readers. This post looks at the politics of Medicare reform. You may also want to click on this post to see a video that succinctly explains the policy of Medicare reform. =============================================================== Republicans are understandably nervous about polling data showing considerable opposition to the Ryan plan’s Medicare proposal – particularly since they just [...]

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Senator Corker Explains His Plan to Cap Spending and Reduce the Fiscal Burden of Government

America is in fiscal peril in the short run because of a 10-year spending binge by Bush and Obama and in the long run because of a toxic combination of entitlement programs and demographics. Congressman Paul Ryan has introduced a budget plan to address America’s fiscal crisis, but Senator Reid and President Obama have summarily [...]

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Yes, We Should Cut the Defense Budget

There are very serious ways to save huge amounts of money from the defense budget, largely by making smarter choices about defining America’s national security. This obviously involves high-profile decisions about whether it is smart to engage in nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it also involves what seem to be “gimme” choices about whether [...]

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The Boundless Stupidity of State Governments

I’m an over-protective parent. Even now, with my kids ranging between 18 and 23, I will try to herd them together while skiing so I can follow them down the slopes and watch for potential injuries. And I never got them a jungle gym when they were young, even though I somehow managed to survive [...]

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Relationship Advice: If You’re a Nymphomaniac, Marry Someone from the Government

Another corny PG-13 joke from my inbox, but I can’t resist sharing anything that takes a swipe at government. ========================== A young man married a beautiful woman who had previously divorced 10 husbands. On their wedding night, she told her new husband to “Please be gentle; I’m still a Virgin.” “What?” said the puzzled groom. [...]

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Greetings from Argentina – An Obamaesque Land of Crony Capitalism and a Warning to America

Welcome Instapundit readers. Thanks, Glenn. After reading below about Argentina’s decline, several people have emailed to ask how Chile compares. Ask and ye shall receive. This post from last month shows shows Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela. Very powerful, which is why I gave the post such a grandiose title. ============================== There’s been a lot of [...]

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This Cartoon Is Very Funny, but also Does a Great Job of Teaching Economics

Economists often do a crummy job of teaching people about the impact of fiscal policy on the labor force, largely because we put people to sleep with boring discussions about “labor supply” decisions (my blog post from last year perhaps being an example of this tendency). From now on, I will try to remember to [...]

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America’s Awful Tax System

Happy Tax Day! Or, if you’re like me, happy tax extension filing day. In the past couple of days, I’ve posted about the benefits of a better tax system and the unfairness of the current system. Those were compelling posts, at least I hope. But now let’s tie these themes together. Art Laffer has a [...]

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Let’s Offset the Misery of the Tax-Filing Season with some Good Tax Jokes

Nothing can compensate for the misery of having your money seized by the IRS and sent to Washington where it will be squandered by vote-buying politicians. But if you’re a fan of gallows humor, these jokes that people have sent me over the years may brighten your day. ==================================== A man about to have a [...]

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The IRS: Even Worse Than You Think

Since it is tax-filing season and we all want to honor our wonderful tax system, let’s go into the archives and show this video from last year about the onerous compliance costs of the internal revenue code. Narrated by Hiwa Alaghebandian of the American Enterprise Institute, the mini-documentary explains how needless complexity creates an added [...]

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Imagine How Simple Life Would Be if America Had a Non-Corrupt Tax System

If you go to the IRS website, there are about one thousand forms (and accompanying material such as instruction documents) that you can download. Fortunately, most of us only have to worry about a small fraction of what’s on that list, but it’s still a nightmare – and one that gets worse every year because [...]

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Top 10 Tax Day Tips from David Letterman

Because of their well-known kindness and generosity of spirit, our wonderful friends at the IRS are letting us wait until Monday before filing our tax returns (or tax extensions, for those of us love to postpone misery). So let’s have a fun weekend returning the love and affection. We’ll start with a top-10 list from [...]

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