A little over a week ago we had primary elections here in Ohio, and despite the low likelihood of my vote mattering in an election (toward the outcome), I made sure my “expressive vote” was heard. The idea is that while individual votes don’t matter (at least in general, national elections) our votes are very […]
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Quote for the Day–John Maynard Keynes!
16 May 2014
Whoever thought Bereansatthegate would feature a quote for the day from Lord Keynes? Yet here we are: Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth […]
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I am a bit torn as to what to write about today, there are so many interesting and important subjects. But I dedicate this day to all of the “sister” schools of Cedarville University, especially Bryan College in Tennessee. If they care to read I would also dedicate this blog (to modify a phrase used […]
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Let the beating commence until morale improves! Senator Levin says close the tax loopholes!
08 May 2014
Sen Levin has a new target in the war against our large budget deficits–corporations that legally flee the U.S. to avoid paying taxes: It’s become increasingly clear that a loophole in our tax laws allowing these inversions threatens to devastate federal tax receipts. We have to close that loophole,” said Levin in a statement. This […]
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Don’t Forget History
08 May 2014
Amity Shlaes has written a fine piece in National Review Online on one particular aspect of the Great Depression having to do with minimum wages (NRO, May 7, 2014). As she points out, recent research has changed the way we evaluate that event in economic history. In case you don’t remember, the dominant narrative had been that […]
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Allan Meltzer is perhaps the greatest living monetary economist; his A History of the Federal Reserve, is the definitive standard on the Fed. He was a contemporary of Milton Friedman, and a noted monetarist scholar in his own right. Discussing the Fed today, he ventures slightly off course: Broadly speaking, the Obama administration has pursued […]
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She Didn’t Make the Grade
05 May 2014
Another commencement speaker bit the dust, as Condoleesa Rice, former Secretary of State, withdrew from her appointment to speak at Rutgers University, the New Jersey flagship institution of higher (or lower) education, due to the vocal and aggressive protests by a handful of faculty and students. Now let me say that I was not in […]
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Ron Swanson Took My Politics Class!
01 May 2014
Ron Swanson took my politics class! In my introductory government class, I had an exam turned in by “Ron Swanson.” I am attaching pictures of this piece of genius that some student took the time to craft, either instead of, or in addition to, their examination. I have no doubt that if Ron Swanson, of […]
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The “Point One” Percent
01 May 2014
We are all collectively the “point one percent” now. That is, we live in an economy that measured ,1% (you read that right) growth in GDP in the first quarter of 2014. Are we in for a “double dip” recession–have we really emerged from the previous one, despite fine economic definitions (and let’s be clear, […]
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Rules, Rules for All
30 Apr 2014
Readers should check out this short article in Investors.com on United States regulatory costs (April 30, 2014). The article is entitled “U. S. Regulatory Costs are World’s No. 10 Economy.” As the title suggests, the total cost in one year to affected parties of all Federal regulations is larger than all but ten of the […]