The French government finally “gets it”. Or they have been forced to get it. In response to the euro-zone debt crisis France has been increasing taxes to cut its deficit. But the French economy has hit the wall. In France Says It Will Miss Budget Deficit Targets published in The Wall Street Journal, William Horobin […]
Archives
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The French “Get it” – Why Not the US?
12 Sep 2013
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From William Galston in the WSJ today. Mr. Galston is referring to the same book that we commented on after the Financial Times of London made a similar review earlier this month. Mr. Galston picks up on the theme that government spending on R&D has historically resulted in a lot of winners, including some of […]
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So says a new book reviewed by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times, The Entrepreneurial State. The basic thesis is that Yes, innovation depends on bold entrepreneurship. But the entity that takes the boldest risks and achieves the biggest breakthroughs is not the private sector; it is the much-maligned state. Martin Wolf approves of this […]
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Late this afternoon Gov. Snyder of Michigan authorized Detroit’s emergency manager moving Detroit into Ch. 9 bankruptcy. I have not seen the details of this proposal (and much more is coming out tomorrow), yet what we do know is encouraging from the perspective of the people of Detroit. Detroit is an utter disaster in many […]
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Kagan and the Demise of Democracy
02 May 2013
Donald Kagan, a history professor, gave a “farewell lecture” at Yale University last week and made the statement “Democracy may have had its day.” Dr. Kagan is not one to shy away from controversy and has often raised the ire of his colleagues through his public statements and actions. By way of explanation, he argued […]
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President Obama’s 2014 Budget: To what end?
10 Apr 2013
As promised, President Obama unveiled his 2014 budget today, albeit 2 months late. We discussed some of the proposed outlines on Monday, which you can find here. But in his public comments as reported by CNBC, Mr. Obama continues an approach which can only divide, not unify. Whether this is by design is only a […]
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Margaret Thatcher: October 13, 1925 – April 8, 2013 “No liberty unless there is economic liberty”
08 Apr 2013
Freedom lost a true ally with the passing of the “Iron Lady”, Margaret Thatcher. The quote in the title is from a Time interview from May 14, 1979 as her successful campaign for Prime Minister was coming to a conclusion. Prime Minister Thatcher was a (perhaps the) leading politician along with Ronald Reagan (the “second […]
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Economic Freedom in the 50 States
28 Mar 2013
Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore published a very interesting editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal. The editorial highlights the fact that states which have more economic freedom are more prosperous than states with less economic freedom. States with lower taxes and less onerous regulations provide a better environment for entrepreneurship. This relatively rich economic soil […]
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Good news about economic growth? While consumer confidence took a nosedive in March thanks largely to continued fiscal uncertainty focused on the sequester, business investment is up in the first quarter of 2013. Although uncertainty over the fiscal sanity of our politicians and unease about the global economy are still very real, some US firms […]
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In a comment to a post I made yesterday, Jeff Haymond asked “Can you speak to what the biblical vision would be and why Representative Ryan’s proposal has at least parts that fit that vision?“. I’d like to respond to Jeff’s first question by summarizing welfare reform architect Lawrence Mead’s From Prophecy to Charity: How […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach