Peter and Paul Redux
Dana Milbank doesn’t like Paul Ryan’s budget proposal that was released this week. Why? Well, Ryan cuts spending on the poor in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Milbank writes:
Bernanke’s Deep Understanding
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went back to the classroom to educate young minds at George Washington University about the history and role of central banks and the Federal Reserve in particular.
On the topic of financial panics, Bernanke asks the students if they’ve seen the movie “A Wonderful Life.” Not as many students had seen the movie as he had hoped. Bank panics are a serious problem Bernanke explains. Banks borrow short and make long-term loans that are illiquid.
Private vs. Public Barbershop
The Supreme Court is going to consider the constitutionality of ObamaCare in the coming weeks, but the government takeover of healthcare didn’t start with the current president, but with Harry Truman decades ago.
We’re told the nation’s health care needs fixed: That the free market isn’t providing for this vital service adequately. However, America’s healthcare hasn’t been left to the free market since World War II. The president has promised that more government will make healthcare cheaper and more available.
Mises on the Basics of Money
Why would people give up goods and services for little disks of silver and gold that they never actually use?
Obama on Fair Trade
Barack Obama’s recent statement on fair trade, a statement applauded by some leading Republicans, contains some easily recognizable errors in international trade theory. The central problem with his remarks is seen in his following position:
Tyler Cowen Ignores the Unseen
Tyler Cowen is impressed over “how much war can spur innovation.” He does not mention all the innovation that redirecting resources away from serving consumers and toward slaughter and destruction will at the same time preclude.
Promoting Entreprenuership, Wasting Capital
Small business is the subject for debate in today’s Wall Street Journal. Small business is said to be the main job creator in the U.S. economy and with unemployment still high, and a punk business climate, a goosing from government policy is thought to be the tonic to put us right back comfortably in bubble land.
Praxeology Over Positivism
Professional economists’ certainty with regard to models crafted out of fragmentary data is misguided and has hastened the expansion of the total state.
Rhode Island’s Founder Abandons Liberty
The heroic fighter for liberty out of power is often tempted, once he has the reins of command, to rationalize that now “order” must be imposed — by him.
Laundered Money
The free market can and will respond to the demand of ordinary citizens for a reliable and convenient money.
