The proposed tax wasn't about progress. In the next century, the states that relieve dangerous regulatory and tax discrepancies by reducing taxes and regulations will be the ones that maintain their current levels of capital investment and attract new stores of it. Low taxes are no longer an ideal from which to gauge relative policy prescriptions. Rather, they are an imperative.
The issue of government debt and deficits lay dormant throughout the high-revenue 1990s. But with recession and exploding government spending, the issue has become enormously important again. Sadly, just about everyone is missing the central point, which not that we need budget reform so much as drastic monetary reform.
Sumner was referring to the seemingly endless attempts to harness the power of the State to further one's own ends at the expense of other people. All human types—generals, millionaires, priests, scholars and so on—have made these attempts. The disease is not confined by race, color or creed, by age or occupation, by democracy or dictatorship. The desire to live at the expense of other men is a constant theme that runs through all of human history.
Some rich people have gained notoriety by publicly volunteering to forego a tax cut or to pay more in taxes to support spending on their favorite government programs.
Former President Clinton is a prime example. The implication is that rest of us are selfish. In fact, their statements do not make them Mother Teresa.
With more money in their pockets, the president believes Americans will be able to spend more and this will speed up economic recovery. According to President Bush, "By ensuring that Americans have more to spend, to save and to invest, this legislation is adding fuel to an economic recovery. We have taken aggressive action to strengthen the foundation of our economy so that every American who wants to work will be able to find a job."
The historical record shows that commercial freedom is the best policy in peace and war. Cooperation is more fruitful than coercion. And if one wants the friendship or assistance of others it is better to appeal to their interests instead of their fears. Above all, foreign trade should be as free and unrestricted as trade within a nation.
Every good libertarian should favor tax cuts. The money belongs to us in the first place, and it should be an occasion to celebrate when Washington wises up and gives some back. We've been promised a tax cut as long as memory serves, but it never seems to arrive. At last, here it is, thanks to Bush having pushed so hard for this as an economic stimulus measure.
Though news coverage of Enron has evaporated, its aftereffects remain. This supposed crisis led to an expansion of leviathan in the form of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Unfortunately, the high costs of this act are not getting anywhere near as much coverage as the 'crisis' that fueled support for it.
Germany's biggest economic troubles trace to Otto von Bismarck, who conceived of a system of social security for the industrial workers in the late 19th century. His goal was to bring them under the control of the State. It was first during World War I and its aftermath and under the Third Reich in the 1930s when the welfare state experienced its greatest expansions.
People can feel socially secure in Denmark—at least for now. People don't get rich from welfare but they can live a comfortable life. Practically all people are eligible for one program or another. But it is not sustainable in the long run. At some point, the trough will be empty. Per Henrik Hansen explains.
