In a National Review article of June 21, 2016, Michael Barone explored the question of whether the United States economy has shown any growth, and if not, why not. The article, entitled “Why We have—and Probably Will Keep Having—Sluggish Job Growth,” relies on a recently published book by the economist Arnold Kling, Specialization and Trade: […]
Archives
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Happy Tax Day (Late)
19 Apr 2016
Below is a chart comparing categories of income tax between 1913 and 2016, published by Americans for Tax Reform. Note the categories labeled “Top Tax Bracket Threshold” and “Family Standard Deduction,” both adjusted in terms of today’s dollars. Our tax liability now begins at 25 times the amount it began at in 1913. Our deduction […]
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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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Frederic Bastiat as Prophet
28 Feb 2016
I have been reading quite a few articles lately in which the individuals (politicians, bureaucrats and just ordinary citizens) are asked about various issues related to the presidential campaigns. One answer I have heard quite a bit is simply that “the government” should do something. Sometimes the issues are even cast in terms of a […]
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Taxation and Ethics: Further Reflection
16 Feb 2016
I have continued to read the comments on Jeff Haymond’s blog about progressive taxation, and my own complementary blog, and have decided I should make another foray into this subject to address in more depth the ethical theory of policies such as taxes (but, indirectly, others as well). The question to begin is: Is progressive […]
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At the Democratic candidate debate last week, Bernie Sanders was asked how big government should be. His response was illuminating, as was Hillary Clinton’s response to Sanders’ answer. Here is part of what he said: WOODRUFF: “And, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let’s get right to the questions. Senator […]
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A Biblical case for Proportional (flat) taxation
09 Feb 2016
In my previous post, I suggested progressive taxation was not Biblical, and challenged readers to convince me I was wrong. In the voluminous follow up comments, I didn’t see any Biblical arguments for progressive taxation. However several posters suggested that there was not Biblical support for any method of taxation (regressive, proportional or progressive). In […]
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What an interesting post and discussion in the comment section on progressive taxation. I hope Jeff Haymond doesn’t mind. Let me just add a little on the philosophical and ethical side, since the theological/Biblical has been pretty well covered and the economic problems have also been addressed. One word raised several times in the “Comment” […]
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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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A Generous People
19 Jan 2016
Well, for those who think the wealthy are stingy and selfish, a new study seems to disprove that old maxim, which, I hesitate to say it, but must, is most often heard from the lips of political liberals who believe the solution to problems requiring money (almost all problems for them) is money, is government. […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach