Earlier this week we heard with great candor from former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, expressing dismay at the Trump budget. Why? Cuts in the EPA? Cuts for Big Bird and PBS? No. Senator Kerrey is concerned about Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to do something about our biggest budget challenge–the runaway growth of […]
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In an article from CNS News dated December 16, 2016, we have the new but predictable Census Bureau statistics on median income for households in counties of the United States. The first four richest counties are, …, you guessed it, all in the Washington, DC area, and range from about $99,000 per year to $122, […]
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Yesterday saw all three of the major U.S. stock indexes reach new all time highs, and today the Dow is over 19000 for the first time ever. The post-election Trump bull continues to run, but for how long? Almost all economic prognosticators expected the market to go down after the election, albeit for different […]
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Earmarks, Pork and the Meat Axe: Time for Action
17 Nov 2016
Today Representative John Culbertson (R-Texas) pulled (that is, withdrew) a bill that would have made changes to the earmark ban the House imposed earlier. An earmark is basically an addition to a bill that includes some kind of project or spending for the congressman’s home district. It is a rider. And normally, it constitutes “pork […]
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I have so far avoided taking any position on the two main candidates for president. For my colleague Mark Smith, don’t worry, I will. I intend to continue the path of avoidance in this blog. Today I would like to examine and evaluate each candidate’s economic program. I say nothing about their personal morality, or […]
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The United States of Insolvency
22 Apr 2016
This past week my macroeconomics classes finished their review of the national debt. I assign it in the vain hopes that perhaps my small efforts will awaken at least our students from the slumber of wishful thinking and denial of reality. One of the best parts of being at a Christ-centered university is to be […]
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Taxes Versus Spending
02 Mar 2016
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a DC group, had this to say about Ted Cruz’s campaign proposals: “Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has, by our count, put forward seven sets of policy proposals on his campaign website covering areas such as immigration, military spending, and tax reform. By our very rough […]
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Have we reached a critical mass of voters? On what issue you might ask. On whether big government is bad on the whole. I have read a couple of articles recently, addressing that question. I don’t honestly know whether or to what extent people may believe big government is basically good. But here is a […]
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“Dark Matter” in the Federal Universe
11 Dec 2015
I regret I cannot compete with my colleague Mark Smith for sheer humor. In fact, talking about Federal regulations can be really boring. But what they lack in pizzaz, they make up for in importance–unfortunately in a negative way. I read a very illuminating study by Clyde Crews, entitled “Mapping Washington’s Lawlessness: A Preliminary Inventory […]
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Barack Obama: The $20 Trillion Man
02 Nov 2015
“Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.” So began the narration to one of my favorite boyhood television shows in the mid-1970s. The […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach