Government Spending
Business & Economics
Obama fast becoming Canada’s best friend
Canada has a new secret weapon. His name is Barack Obama. At least, that’s one interpretation of negative fiscal consequences likely to flow from the Democratic president’s ambitious, big-ticket government agenda and not a far-fetched one at that. According to an analysis offered last week by economist Jason Clemens, research ...
Business & Economics
Labor Day in California: Not Much to Celebrate
Californians work hard and Labor Day will provide them with a much needed break. The festivities, however, should not overshadow a disturbing reality. Nowhere are California’s economic problems more serious than in our labor market. The best known and perhaps most watched labor statistic is the unemployment rate. California’s unemployment ...
Business & Economics
When Economic Stimulus Does Not Stimulate
A majority of Americans now give President Obama’s handling of the economy a negative rating and many economists and city officials are concerned that Obama’s gargantuan stimulus effort has not given the expected quick boost to the economy. Some argue this is because funds have been slow in coming due ...
Business & Economics
Christina Romer’s Faulty Depression History
Romer on the “Mistakes of 1937” Romer worries that President Obama will cave in to political pressures, and cut stimulus efforts before the economy has sufficiently healed. She alleges that this was the same mistake Roosevelt made after his initial (apparent) success in battling the Depression: [T]he recovery in the ...
Business & Economics
California: The National Petri Dish
Supposedly, trends start in California and then spread to the rest of the country, a notion that seems to be confirmed by the latest economic news. In May, California’s unemployment rate hit 11.5 percent—the highest it has been since 1941. This morning we learn that unemployment for the entire country ...
California
The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease
How three liberal states got into deep trouble with ‘progressive’ ideas. President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It’s hard to miss the irony that he’s pitching this change in Washington even as the same ...
Commentary
How to Bankrupt a Country
What if you found that your personal income this year will be $55,000, but you will spend $100,000 — even though you had no prior savings? And what if next year’s picture looked similar, and the year after that, and so on? If President Obama were your personal financial advisor, ...
Agriculture
Analyzing the politics of climate change
San Francisco Examiner, June 9, 2009 We hear it every day. News headlines read: “Global Warming Biggest Threat of 21st Century, Experts say.” (businessweek.com. May 13th, 2009. Gardner, Amanda). News anchors provide us with a choice, either we believe the scientists that support global warming hypotheses, or we reject science ...
Business & Economics
California’s Economy: Boxer And Krugman Get It Wrong
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued in a May 25th column that California’s economic problems are rooted in a dysfunctional government that finds it “extremely hard to raise taxes, even in emergencies.” On May 28, California’s junior Senator, Barbara Boxer made a similar argument on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Both ...
Business & Economics
An Agenda For California’s Fiscal Reform
The California state budget for years has been “balanced” with heavy borrowing, various kinds of raids on localities and special funds, and transfers from the future to the present. More generally, spending profligacy, high tax rates and onerous regulations have worked their magic: The gap between the ability of the ...
Obama fast becoming Canada’s best friend
Canada has a new secret weapon. His name is Barack Obama. At least, that’s one interpretation of negative fiscal consequences likely to flow from the Democratic president’s ambitious, big-ticket government agenda and not a far-fetched one at that. According to an analysis offered last week by economist Jason Clemens, research ...
Labor Day in California: Not Much to Celebrate
Californians work hard and Labor Day will provide them with a much needed break. The festivities, however, should not overshadow a disturbing reality. Nowhere are California’s economic problems more serious than in our labor market. The best known and perhaps most watched labor statistic is the unemployment rate. California’s unemployment ...
When Economic Stimulus Does Not Stimulate
A majority of Americans now give President Obama’s handling of the economy a negative rating and many economists and city officials are concerned that Obama’s gargantuan stimulus effort has not given the expected quick boost to the economy. Some argue this is because funds have been slow in coming due ...
Christina Romer’s Faulty Depression History
Romer on the “Mistakes of 1937” Romer worries that President Obama will cave in to political pressures, and cut stimulus efforts before the economy has sufficiently healed. She alleges that this was the same mistake Roosevelt made after his initial (apparent) success in battling the Depression: [T]he recovery in the ...
California: The National Petri Dish
Supposedly, trends start in California and then spread to the rest of the country, a notion that seems to be confirmed by the latest economic news. In May, California’s unemployment rate hit 11.5 percent—the highest it has been since 1941. This morning we learn that unemployment for the entire country ...
The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease
How three liberal states got into deep trouble with ‘progressive’ ideas. President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It’s hard to miss the irony that he’s pitching this change in Washington even as the same ...
How to Bankrupt a Country
What if you found that your personal income this year will be $55,000, but you will spend $100,000 — even though you had no prior savings? And what if next year’s picture looked similar, and the year after that, and so on? If President Obama were your personal financial advisor, ...
Analyzing the politics of climate change
San Francisco Examiner, June 9, 2009 We hear it every day. News headlines read: “Global Warming Biggest Threat of 21st Century, Experts say.” (businessweek.com. May 13th, 2009. Gardner, Amanda). News anchors provide us with a choice, either we believe the scientists that support global warming hypotheses, or we reject science ...
California’s Economy: Boxer And Krugman Get It Wrong
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued in a May 25th column that California’s economic problems are rooted in a dysfunctional government that finds it “extremely hard to raise taxes, even in emergencies.” On May 28, California’s junior Senator, Barbara Boxer made a similar argument on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Both ...
An Agenda For California’s Fiscal Reform
The California state budget for years has been “balanced” with heavy borrowing, various kinds of raids on localities and special funds, and transfers from the future to the present. More generally, spending profligacy, high tax rates and onerous regulations have worked their magic: The gap between the ability of the ...
