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Robert Reich, Mythed Up
Consumer sovereignty is the idea that in markets consumers call the shots. In capitalism, most mass production is indeed for the masses, and the masses have a big say in what gets done. All profits and...
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Prophecy Failed
In the first week of June we were told to expect egg shortages. The avian flu had infected millions of hens: egg production would plummet. This was news, reported as “Egg Rationing in America Has...
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The Fed Feeds a Scam
Real and effective “anti-establishment” ideas come from unexpected places. That is, they are unexpected if you read only the dominant media and its insider sources, or follow politics only during the...
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Shocking Consequences
Five years into (the latest phase of) the Greek debt crisis, a former bureaucrat who was unable to withdraw her money from an ATM when the government declared a bank holiday had this to say: “How can...
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Fifteen or Fifty or Zero?
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell just stumbled into a truth. Raising minimum wages could be disastrous. Depending on the rate. While “Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley and a host of other...
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Plotting Progress
The prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize has been tarnished by some more-than-dubious awards, in our time . . . Henry Kissinger and Barack Obama, most obviously. Same goes for the Bank of Sweden’s...
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Assuming the Fix
Social Security, like similar systems in Europe, is on a trajectory to insolvency, which could lead to a sovereign debt crisis. The reason for the crisis? Social Security has always been a pay-as-we-go...
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Why Protectionism
Why do so many people (especially politicians) favor high tariffs, “managed trade,” embargoes and domestic subsidies, all of which — first as “mercantilism” and then as “protectionism” — have been...
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Miseducated and Unemployed
The persistence of the issue of raising the minimum wage is an indictment of public education, for at least two reasons: It shows that “our” schools are not teaching basic economics. Generally, those...
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Inconvenient Cash?
Everywhere I turn these days, I am hearing something about the push to get rid of cash. Yes, cash. Greenbacks. Federal Reserve Notes. You might think that getting rid of cash is a no-brainer. Cash...
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Three, Three, Three Mints in One!
Microsoft just announced an innovation that might give folks who fear business behavior — or are extremely skeptical of the positive public outcome of markets — pause. The Bellevue, Washington, company...
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Death and . . .
It’s a sure thing — that most folks will like President Trump’s tax cuts. Though we don’t yet know all the details. When it comes to taxes, less is more. That is, if you’re paying taxes. It is no...
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While the Clock Ticks
Pushing annual federal spending over a trillion bucks into the red? It has consequences. “Our debt is growing, and it’s growing fast,” writes Veronique de Rugy at Reason. “Though it’s a shame that...
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Driven to Sanity
Having the federal government centrally plan the economy is “a huge waste of everyone’s time and resources” states an amazingly common-sensical Washington Post editorial. “In a well-functioning modern...
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Test of Humanity
It has been a big week for socialism — or, rather, anti-socialism. The high point was probably President Trump’s State of the Union Address, in which he opposed not only the murderous, ruinous regime...
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Just Like That!
“We will do that,” he said. Do what? “We will look at the average costs of prescription drugs in Canada, the UK, Germany, Japan and France,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders (I/D-Vt.), “which are 50 percent...
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Bernie and Economic Law
One of the things Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is known for is his push for a $15 per hour “living wage.” But this is politics — a policy position is never complete until its advocates demonstrate...
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Money for Robots and Representatives!
Yesterday I addressed Senator Bernie Sanders’ minimum wage problem. Today it is member of Congress and “The Squad” Rashida Tlaib’s turn. She is unsatisfied with the just-passed national $15/hour...
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Negative Logic
“The idea that negative interest rates will produce loans and generate growth,” concludes Richard Rahn in a Washington Times op-ed, “is not supported by the evidence to date.” Citing current markets...
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Science Isn’t Morality
“Scientist” — what an abused term! When a journalist needs an authority to write about some nutty, wildly improbable affront to common sense, a “scientist” will do. Case in point, turn to Newsweek:...
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