Robert P. Murphy
Business & Economics
Adopt a flax tax to avoid chronic budget crises
Tax time has come and gone, and California finds itself in yet another fiscal crisis. Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed 10 percent across-the-board spending cuts to help close the state’s now-$15 billion projected budget deficit through June 2009. These budget crunches hit the Golden State because of its highly graduated tax code. ...
Business & Economics
The Government’s Scapegoats
With food and energy prices soaring, housing prices collapsing, and the economy sinking into what could be a deep recession, the government has been searching around for villains. The latest scapegoats are speculators, OPEC, and of course, the big bad oil companies. As usual, our government ignores its own role ...
Business & Economics
Ending the Revenue Rollercoaster – The Benefits of a Three Percent Flat Income Tax for California
The PRI flat-tax plan for California will greatly simplify the current tax code. It will completely eliminate the alternative minimum tax, as well as estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. It will also revamp the convoluted, loophole-ridden corporate and personal income-tax codes with a simple flat rate of 3 percent on ...
Business & Economics
Designing the Market’s Mechanisms
LAST YEAR, THREE AMERICANS WON THE NOBEL MEMORIAL PRIZE in Economics for laying the foundations of “mechanism design” theory. The work of Leonid Hurwicz, Roger Myerson and Eric Maskin was cited for its help in implementing efficient voting, trading and regulatory schemes. In the laureates’ terms, a mechanism is a ...
Business & Economics
How a flat income tax can help California
Californians may have paid their federal and state taxes last month, but the Golden State remains in a fiscal crisis, with a projected 2008-2009 fiscal year budget deficit as high as $20.2 billion, according to the governor’s estimate on April 29. Such budget crunches hit California because of its highly ...
Business & Economics
How a Flat Income Tax Can Help California Avoid Fiscal Crises
Californians may have paid their federal and state taxes last month but the Golden State remains in a fiscal crisis with a projected 2008-2009 fiscal year budget deficit as high as $20.2 billion, according to the governor’s estimate on April 29. Such budget crunches hit California because of its highly ...
Business & Economics
Oil Prices
prices surpassed the inflation-adjusted record set back in 1980 during the Iranian hostage crisis. Since then, they have set all-time highs—over $111 per barrel as of this writing. These sky-high prices, as well as the “unconscionable” profits earned by the oil companies, have led to predictable calls for government to ...
Business & Economics
Memo To The Fed: Stop Those Rate Cuts
The markets rallied last Tuesday in response to the Fed’s growing assistance to holders of mortgage-backed securities. Yet many onlookers are convinced that an aggressive cut in the federal funds rate at the upcoming March 18 meeting is still necessary to avoid a painful recession. In our view, further loosening ...
Business & Economics
On Those Oil Profits
When it comes to public hatred of big business, there’s no better target than oil companies. This hatred has been all the more intense since Exxon Mobil announced last year’s net income at $40.6 billion, the largest-ever profit for a publicly-traded company. With the threat of recession looming, many policymakers ...
Business & Economics
Making the Mortgage Mess Worse
Recently the Bush administration unveiled a plan for homeowners facing foreclosure to receive a 30-day reprieve from their creditors. This might come as welcome news in Sacramento where a jaw-dropping 46 percent of December sales were foreclosed homes. Unfortunately, the latest plan-as well as earlier government ideas to freeze rate ...
Adopt a flax tax to avoid chronic budget crises
Tax time has come and gone, and California finds itself in yet another fiscal crisis. Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed 10 percent across-the-board spending cuts to help close the state’s now-$15 billion projected budget deficit through June 2009. These budget crunches hit the Golden State because of its highly graduated tax code. ...
The Government’s Scapegoats
With food and energy prices soaring, housing prices collapsing, and the economy sinking into what could be a deep recession, the government has been searching around for villains. The latest scapegoats are speculators, OPEC, and of course, the big bad oil companies. As usual, our government ignores its own role ...
Ending the Revenue Rollercoaster – The Benefits of a Three Percent Flat Income Tax for California
The PRI flat-tax plan for California will greatly simplify the current tax code. It will completely eliminate the alternative minimum tax, as well as estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. It will also revamp the convoluted, loophole-ridden corporate and personal income-tax codes with a simple flat rate of 3 percent on ...
Designing the Market’s Mechanisms
LAST YEAR, THREE AMERICANS WON THE NOBEL MEMORIAL PRIZE in Economics for laying the foundations of “mechanism design” theory. The work of Leonid Hurwicz, Roger Myerson and Eric Maskin was cited for its help in implementing efficient voting, trading and regulatory schemes. In the laureates’ terms, a mechanism is a ...
How a flat income tax can help California
Californians may have paid their federal and state taxes last month, but the Golden State remains in a fiscal crisis, with a projected 2008-2009 fiscal year budget deficit as high as $20.2 billion, according to the governor’s estimate on April 29. Such budget crunches hit California because of its highly ...
How a Flat Income Tax Can Help California Avoid Fiscal Crises
Californians may have paid their federal and state taxes last month but the Golden State remains in a fiscal crisis with a projected 2008-2009 fiscal year budget deficit as high as $20.2 billion, according to the governor’s estimate on April 29. Such budget crunches hit California because of its highly ...
Oil Prices
prices surpassed the inflation-adjusted record set back in 1980 during the Iranian hostage crisis. Since then, they have set all-time highs—over $111 per barrel as of this writing. These sky-high prices, as well as the “unconscionable” profits earned by the oil companies, have led to predictable calls for government to ...
Memo To The Fed: Stop Those Rate Cuts
The markets rallied last Tuesday in response to the Fed’s growing assistance to holders of mortgage-backed securities. Yet many onlookers are convinced that an aggressive cut in the federal funds rate at the upcoming March 18 meeting is still necessary to avoid a painful recession. In our view, further loosening ...
On Those Oil Profits
When it comes to public hatred of big business, there’s no better target than oil companies. This hatred has been all the more intense since Exxon Mobil announced last year’s net income at $40.6 billion, the largest-ever profit for a publicly-traded company. With the threat of recession looming, many policymakers ...
Making the Mortgage Mess Worse
Recently the Bush administration unveiled a plan for homeowners facing foreclosure to receive a 30-day reprieve from their creditors. This might come as welcome news in Sacramento where a jaw-dropping 46 percent of December sales were foreclosed homes. Unfortunately, the latest plan-as well as earlier government ideas to freeze rate ...
