Adams on Taxes
Charles Adams, author of For Good or Evil (a history of taxation) is intereviewed on Jim Puplava’s Financial Sense New Hour on the topic of the history of taxation. [interview]
Why The Change In The FOMC’s Reaction Function?
“Pipeline inflationary pressures are greater and the economy is stronger today than they were ten years ago when the FOMC began raising the fed funds rate. Why is the FOMC reluctant to raise the funds rate now?” Another good read from Paul Kasriel at Northern Trust.
Tax Free in Dubai
From Dan Bowden
Is Dubai a Hoppean monarchical paradise? Not exactly, but (according to this Forbes piece) the Prince of this tiny Arabian country does seem to be managing his assets (which are basically the same as the government’s) well. He’s instituted a number of free-market programs which have helped the country become rich from industries other than oil.
The Widening Safety Net
Industry concentration is not usually a problem in the free market, writes Christopher Mayer. But the banking industry is hardly free.
The Myth of Efficient Government Service
[This excerpt from Man, Economy, and State, with Power and Market is an explanation and elaboration of points first made in Ludwig von Mises’s Bureaucracy—and provides an excellent example of how Murray Rothbard’s treatise built on Mises’s to employ and extend the core analytical framework. The footnotes have been shortened. The excerpt is from pages 1260–72.]
Spain’s Sophisticated Voters
“I want a government that does not intervene in the economy.” Don’t we all? But these are not the words one expects to come out of the mouth of a self-proclaimed socialist – much less the standard-bearer of a socialist party who is about to take power at the head of a major West European nation. [MORE]
Convicted for Fearing Conviction
The entrapment of Ms. Stewart and Mr. Bacanovic, writes Ilana Mercer, conjures the scene in the movies where the suspect bolts and the cop gives chase. “If you are innocent, why did you run?” the detective demands.
Bank of Japan Considers “Exit Strategy”
“The dollar fell to two-week lows against the Japanese yen Tuesday after a newspaper report indicated the Bank of Japan is considering an exit strategy for its dollar-buying intervention.”
“Japan has spent a record amount of reserves to sell yen for dollars, depressing the home currency and buttressing a broadly declining dollar, in order to keep Japanese exports more attractive on world markets.”
Logical, Economic Refutation Requested
In The SS TRUST Fund I conclude that even if the SSTF contained real economic assets instead of the non-marketable Treasury securities that it does, the distribution of those assets as a part of SS payments would have essentially the same economic effect as if the payments were made with a current equivalent number of newly printed paper dollars.
Ignoring the implications, please provide the logical economic reasoning required to convince me that my conclusion is wrong.
Alan Greenspan’s Free Lunch
Today’s New York Times reports on the growing concern over consumer debt, which has climbed from $54,000 in 1990 to $79,000 last year. Mortgage foreclosures, credit card delinquencies and personal bankruptcies are all at near record levels. Greenspan’s view is that household balance sheets are “in good shape,” and perhaps stronger than ever, because the value of people’s homes and stock portfolios have risen faster than their debts.
