I’ve contended that our economy, nationally and locally, remains week. The recent unemployment figures confirm that view. See, U.S. Economy: May Employment Gain Trails Forecast (Update1) – Bloomberg.com. The details of the latest report reveal a grim picture: American companies hired fewer workers in May than forecast and workers dropped out of the labor force,…
Economy
Economy
Tonight on Stossel: The Green Craze, 7 p.m. Central, on the Fox Business Channel
by JOHN ADAMS •
If you’ve not had a chance to catch John Stossel’s self-titled program, Stossel, on the Fox Business Channel, there’s a new program tonight, at 7 p.m. Central. On tonight’s show, Stossel discusses the green craze: ‘Going green’ – it sounds so good, so pure! Who wouldn’t want to save the planet? What can we do?…
Economy, Government Spending, Libertarians
Reason Magazine: Paul Ryan – Radical or Sellout?
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s a common libertarian complaint that no major-party candidate was, is, or ever will be, libertarian enough. So, Goldwater wasn’t good enough, Reagan wasn’t good enough, and Paul Ryan’s not good enough. That’s to be expected — these men didn’t set out to be good enough for us. They weren’t running as libertarians, but as…
Charity, Development, Economy, Free Markets, Planning, Poverty, Press
Madison’s Isthmus: Janesville on the Brink
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Madison’s Isthmus, one reads a story about hardship in nearby Janesville, hardship that should be of concern to those in Whitewater, too. No matter how dire the conditions for Janesville now, I believe that an abandonment of virtually every aspect of commercial and business regulation, along with drastic reductions in government spending except principally…
Economy, Government Spending
Do Earmarks Crowd Out Local Private Investment?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economy, Free Markets, Libertarians
Reason.tv: Gov. Gary Johnson on His Economic Vision for “Our America”
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Reason.tv, here’s a half-hour presentation from former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson on free market economic solutions for America. Here’s a description from Reason: On Tuesday, February 9, in the midst of one of the biggest snowstorms in recent Washington, D.C. memory, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Harvard economist (and Reason contributor)…
Economy, Libertarians
From Cato@Liberty: “Six Reasons to Downsize the Federal Government”
by JOHN ADAMS •
Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute offers Six Reasons to Downsize the Federal Government, and by doing so, assure Americans more freedom and greater prosperity: 1. Additional federal spending transfers resources from the more productive private sector to the less productive public sector of the economy. 2. As federal spending rises, it creates pressure to…
Economy, Free Markets
Epoch Times — Capitalism: Passé or Neo-Classic?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Neo-Classic! From the story in the Epoch Times: The economy seems to be showing signs of recovery, but people’s faith in capitalism are being put to a test in face of tough challenges such as the current health care reform. Has capitalism stopped working for the U.S.? What is the cure for today’s troubled economy,…
Economy
Do We Really Want to Mimic Western Europe’s Stagnant Welfare States? – Cato @ Liberty
by JOHN ADAMS •
Less productive, growing more slowly over time, and more likely to fall back into recession – Western Europe is a bad example, not a model, for America. Only for those erroneously seeing an economy as a fixed pie could Western Europe’s redistribution schemes make any sense. See, Do We Really Want to Mimic Western Europe’s…
Economy
RealClearPolitics – Greece and the Welfare State in Ruins
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economy, Free Markets, Libertarians
Libertarian Cato Institute Deservedly Named One of World’s Leading Think Tanks
by JOHN ADAMS •
Congratulations to the Cato Institute, named one of the leading policy institutes in the world, following a major academic survey. Libertarians have reason for confidence in their views in any event, but the policy scholars at Cato are admirably advancing ideas for “individual liberty, free markets, and peace.” Now you know, and I know, that…
Economy, Free Markets, Planning
Why the Slow Recovery? – Cato @ Liberty
by JOHN ADAMS •
Economy
Federal Deficit to Hit All-Time High
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Wall Street Journal, there’s a troubling story from Jonathan Weisman entitled, Deficit to Hit All-Time High. The situation is so alarming that a scholar from a left-leaning think tank is alarmed: Isabel Sawhill, a budget expert at the Brookings Institution, criticized the president’s goal – a deficit of 3% of GDP long…
Economy, Free Markets, Planning
Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Isn’t as Free as It Used to Be
by JOHN ADAMS •
No, it’s not, is it? The United States is losing ground to its major competitors in the global marketplace, according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. This year, of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. suffered the largest drop in overall economic…