Category Archives: Economy

Could A Wealth Tax Solve the Problem of Government Debt?

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A recent IMF report suggests that this man's enormous wealth might help resolve the government's debt problem. [Credit: NY Post]

A recent IMF report sug­gests that this man’s enor­mous wealth might help resolve the gov­ern­men­t’s debt prob­lem. [Cred­it: NY Post]

The Inter­na­tion­al Mon­e­tary Fund (IMF) recent­ly report­ed that Euro­pean gov­ern­ments could reduce their debt back to pre-Great Reces­sion lev­els by con­fis­cat­ing 10 per­cent of the wealth held by their rich­est cit­i­zens. IMF isn’t rec­om­mend­ing that, of course.

They’re just sayin’. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

It’s Hard To Say No In That Fair Land of the Si’

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It's been a rough year for Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who narrowly lost an election and was convicted of a crime that may result in his expulsion from the Senate. [Credit: Getty images]

It’s been a rough year for Italy’s Sil­vio Berlus­coni, whose par­ty nar­row­ly lost an elec­tion and who was him­self con­vict­ed of a crime that may result in his expul­sion from the Sen­ate. [Cred­it: Get­ty Images]

“Ah, Pisa , you the scan­dal of the peo­ples of that fair land where si’ is heard.”

– Dante

Washington’s flir­ta­tion with default engen­dered end­less hand-wring­ing about the par­lous state of our polit­i­cal sys­tem. But by Ital­ian stan­dards, Con­gress and the Pres­i­dent are doing just fine.

Last month, while GOP “defund Oba­macare” vig­i­lantes near­ly caused the mas­sive spend­ing and bor­row­ing machine that is our fed­er­al gov­ern­ment to seize up, Italy’s gov­ern­ment served up a sump­tu­ous feast of dys­func­tion, replete with sex scan­dals, res­ig­na­tions of cab­i­net min­is­ters, and an abortive attempt to top­ple a gov­ern­ment inca­pable of gov­ern­ing. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Jon Corzine: Poster Boy for Crony Capitalism?

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President Obama unsuccessfully campaigned for Jon Corzine. Since then, nearly $1 billion in client money disappeared into the ether in a firm Corzine steered into bankruptcy.

Pres­i­dent Oba­ma unsuc­cess­ful­ly cam­paigned for Jon Corzine in 2009. Since then, near­ly $1 bil­lion in client mon­ey dis­ap­peared into the ether from a firm Corzine steered into bank­rupt­cy, but the Oba­ma Admin­is­tra­tion con­clud­ed that Corzine com­mit­ted no crime.

Jon Corzine is not a crook. No, really.

The Jus­tice Department’s inves­ti­ga­tion of the for­mer Wall Street titan, New Jer­sey Gov­er­nor and U.S. Sen­a­tor con­clud­ed last sum­mer that he’d done noth­ing wrong. Or at least noth­ing crim­i­nal. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

How TARP Begat Obamacare

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Wall Street titans successfully lobbied Congress for TARP in 2008. Their success made Obamacare possible. [Credit: UPI]

Wall Street titans suc­cess­ful­ly lob­bied Con­gress for TARP in 2008. Their suc­cess made Oba­macare pos­si­ble. [Cred­it: UPI]

Oba­macare goes live on Octo­ber 1, when new­ly-cre­at­ed gov­ern­ment exchanges are to begin sell­ing health insur­ance and enrolling peo­ple in Med­ic­aid. The date car­ries an eerie sig­nif­i­cance. Octo­ber 1 also is the fifth anniver­sary of the Sen­ate vote that made Oba­macare pos­si­ble: a 74–25 vote to cre­ate the Trou­bled Asset Relief Pro­gram, the $700 bil­lion Wall Street bailout bill, more com­mon­ly known as TARP. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

When Crony Capitalism Goes Bad

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The government has finally found someone to blame for the mortgage meltdown: S&P, a ratings agency. But the accused says the government has other motives. [Credit: Boston Globe]

The gov­ern­ment has final­ly found some­one to blame for the mort­gage melt­down: S&P, a rat­ings agency. But the accused says the gov­ern­ment has oth­er motives. [Cred­it: Boston Globe]

What hap­pens to crony cap­i­tal­ism when things go bad­ly? Every­body lawyers up and charges and coun­ter­charges fly hard­er and faster than in a nasty divorce. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Welfare or Work: A Difficult Choice

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The choice between welfare and work is not always an easy one, according to a new study by the Cato Institute. (Credit: LA Times)

The choice between wel­fare and work is not always an easy one, accord­ing to a new study by the Cato Insti­tute. (Cred­it: LA Times)

(NOTE: This post was updat­ed on Sep­tem­ber 23 to incor­po­rate the gov­ern­men­t’s new­ly-released pover­ty rate data.)

If forced to choose between a full-time job that paid $24.40 per hour and enrolling in a pack­age of gov­ern­ment ben­e­fits that paid a com­pa­ra­ble amount, which would you choose? Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Richmond Seizure Program: Dangerous Idea From a Dangerous City

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Richmond (CA) has a dangerous idea: unconstitutionally seizing private investments. (Credit: popphoto.com)

Rich­mond (CA) has a dan­ger­ous idea: uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly seiz­ing pri­vate invest­ments. (Cred­it: popphoto.com)

Rich­mond (CA) once was ranked among the nation’s most dan­ger­ous cities.  If city fathers have their way, it will become the most dan­ger­ous city for res­i­den­tial mort­gage investors. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Fed Up: Judge Strikes Down Federal Reserve on Swipe Fees

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The Fed holds all the cards when it sets a policy. Nobody bothered telling that to a federal judge, who last week struck down a Fed regulation on debit card swipe fees.

The Fed holds all the cards when it sets pol­i­cy. Nobody both­ered telling that to a fed­er­al judge, who last week struck down a Fed reg­u­la­tion on deb­it card swipe fees.

When it comes to bailouts, mon­e­tary pol­i­cy, and bank­ing reg­u­la­tion, the Fed­er­al Reserve has the last word. No one – not the Pres­i­dent, not Con­gress, not any­one – stops the Fed from doing what it has deter­mined to do. Until last week. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

How Washington Changed Obama

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Washington has changed the President's hair color, as it has with his predecessors. But the changes run deeper. [Credit: Post Chronicle]

Wash­ing­ton has changed the Pres­i­den­t’s hair col­or, as it did his pre­de­ces­sors’. But the changes it has made in him run deep­er. [Cred­it: Post Chronicle]

“So eight years ago, I came here to deliv­er the com­mence­ment address for the class of 2005. Things were a lit­tle dif­fer­ent back then. For exam­ple, I had no gray hair. Or a motor­cade. Didn’t even have a prompter.”

Pres­i­dent Oba­ma, Knox Col­lege, Gales­burg (IL), July 24, 2013

Many things have changed in the eight years that elapsed between Pres­i­dent Obama’s two Gales­burg address­es. But per­haps none of those things has changed as pro­found­ly as he. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Economic Inequality Not Obama’s Fault

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The "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations are a distant memory, but the economic disparities they decried still persist. [Credit: ABC News]

The “Occu­py Wall Street” demon­stra­tions are a dis­tant mem­o­ry, but the eco­nom­ic dis­par­i­ties they decried still per­sist. [Cred­it: ABC News]

Pres­i­dent Oba­ma has a new plan to revi­tal­ize the mid­dle class.  It almost cer­tain­ly won’t work, but that almost cer­tain­ly isn’t his fault.  Con­tin­ue read­ing →