It seems fashionable nowadays to compare Donald Trump to Marine Le Pen or the Trump movement to the French National Front. The idea behind this comparison is to suggest that the French far right might very well win the coming presidential elections in May 2017 and create a French “Trump surprise.” But, as when it came to comparisons between Brexit and Trump, comparisons between Trump and Le Pen tend to be hyped.
Tax day came and went this week, ironically moved to the 17th due to Washington DC celebrating “emancipation day.” Washington’s addiction to spending keeps tax rates high, while the labyrinthine enriches lobbyists while causing headaches for Americans across the country. As Ludwig von Mises write in Human Action, “The metamorphosis of taxes into weapons of destruction is the mark of present-day public finance.”
The cost of taxation isn’t limited to what government takes out of taxpayer wallets.
Renowned surreal fiction writer Franz Kafka would have had trouble conceiving of a more absurd plot than last week’s dropping of a 30-foot, 22,000-pound conventional bomb on poverty-stricken, war-ravaged Afghanistan right before Good Friday which commemorates the Prince of Peace.
Last year Florida became the 28th state to legalize medical marijuana when Amendment 2 passed with over 70% of the vote. Unfortunately, instead of abiding by the overwhelming voter mandate, the state Legislature is looking to impose severe restrictions on the industry. The move will hurt patients, while enriching a handful of licensed growers.
Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economic Relations at the Council on Foreign Relations. One can be sure, then, that his new comprehensive book, The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan, reflects an Establishment point of view. As if this were not enough to tell us where the book is coming from, Mallaby informs us that he had Greenspan’s full cooperation in writing it.
