This video was featured on the Cato blog by my colleague Ilya Shapiro. It is so disgusting and reprehensible that it should be widely shared. Please forward this post to as many people as possible. Kudos to the local Fox affiliate for some great work.
Archive for September 1st, 2010
Local Government Can Be Just as Corrupt and Oppressive as the Federal Government
Posted in Corruption, Eminent Domain, Government Thuggery, Kelo, Local government, tagged Corruption, Eminent Domain, Government Thuggery, Kelo, Local government on September 1, 2010| 13 Comments »
More Arguments Against a Value-Added Tax
Posted in Big Government, Economics, Europe, Fiscal Policy, Higher Taxes, Tax Increase, Taxation, Value-Added Tax, VAT, Welfare State, tagged Big Government, Europe, Higher Taxes, Tax Increases, Value-Added Tax, VAT, Welfare State on September 1, 2010| 33 Comments »
Drums are beating in Washington for a value-added tax in addition to the “stimulus” taxes, health care taxes, energy taxes and other taxes President Obama has imposed and wants to impose on hard-pressed taxpayers. Supposedly a value-added tax is a magic elixir for curing budget deficits and excessive debt. Quack remedy would be more like it. If it worked, you’d observe that countries with a VAT had budget surpluses and no debt problems. But almost every country that has a VAT is plagued with budget deficits and excessive debt. … No surprise that the worst financial basket cases all have a VAT. Iceland has the highest VAT rates, but this didn’t prevent its financial crisis and the near bankruptcy of its government. Italy’s VAT rates are almost as high, and its debt exceeds its GDP. Financial crises are looming in Spain and Portugal, and of course they have a VAT. Greece has a VAT, too, and when politicians ran out of money to pay government employees for more than a year’s worth of work every year, they rioted in the streets. Great Britain has a VAT, and its government finances are in the worst shape since World War II — its budget deficit is expected to be bigger than that of Greece. Moreover, the OECD has acknowledged that “(VAT) tax and transfer wedges have discouraged firms from offering employment and individuals from taking it, reduced employment and increased inequality.”
VATs provide a significant amount of revenue. …But do these significant revenues cause government spending to grow larger? Or is it the case that adoption of a VAT is evidence of the desire for a larger government so that the causal arrow runs from a taste for Leviathan to a VAT, and not the reverse? …we find a statistically significant dynamic relationship between the rate of VAT taxation and the size of government. Although no single study is definitive, this is the first rigorous evidence that a VAT causes government to grow larger. …countries that adopted a VAT did in fact experience, on average, a 29 percent increase in the size of government. …The estimated coefficient of 0.262 indicates that adopting a VAT is associated with larger government. This estimate is statistically significant. …our results shift the burden of proof to those who deny that VATs fuel increases in the size of the public sector.
Should America Pay Mexico to Reduce Illegal Immigration?
Posted in Corruption, Europe, Government stupidity, Immigration, Migration, Taxpayer Ripoff, tagged Europe, European Union, Government stupidity, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Mexico, Migration, Taxpayer Ripoff on September 1, 2010| 3 Comments »
Mr Gaddafi suggested Monday during his speech to business representatives in Italy the EU should pay his country “at least €5 billion a year” to stop African migrants crossing the Mediterranean and avoid Europe becoming “black.” “Gaddafi is thinking what all north African leaders are thinking: they can’t and don’t want to be the keepers of Europe,” Mr Frattini said, adding that: “Europe needs to finally get a migration policy, giving plenty of funds to the migrants’ countries of origin and helping transitory countries face a huge burden.” While a European Commission spokesman declined on Tuesday to react to the Libyan leader’s comments, France said the immigration issue would be included in a broader accord with Libya, on the negotiating table since November 2008.