Amity Shlaes, author of the fine The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, has an essay originally published at Forbes in which she praises Calvin Coolidge as The Great Refrainer. Shlaes writes that When Harding died suddenly in 1923, Coolidge knew he was going to need another pair of hands to launch…
Taxes/Taxation
Economy, Government Spending, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
Number of the Week: Slow Growth Adds to Deficit – Real Time Economics – WSJ
by JOHN ADAMS •
If, for example, the U.S. economy grows at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 1.7% — about the rate it’s currently growing — government debt will reach 122% of annual economic output as of 2015, up from 93% now. Annual growth of 2.7% would cut that estimate to 110%. The difference equates to about $2.2 trillion,…
Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation, Wisconsin
Cato Institute’s 2010 Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Cato Institute has released its 2010 Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors, and Wisconsin fares poorly in the report. I’ve be a sometime critic of the outgoing Doyle Administration’s policies, but candidly, his Republican predecessors (Thompson, McCallum) left the state’s finances in poor condition, too. The return of a Republican to the governor’s…
Government Spending, Libertarians, Taxes/Taxation
Cato Institute’s DownsizingGovernment.org
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Cato Institute has a fine new website, entitled DownsizingGovernment.org, offering a ‘department by department guide to cutting the federal budget.’ Faced with debilitating federal deficits, for years to come, there’s no better time to consider downsizing government than now. A smaller, more limited government would advance liberty and prosperity. Here’s an advertisement that Cato…
Government Spending, School District, Taxes/Taxation
A Referendum for Whitewater’s Schools (Part 3)
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story today about the removal from the ballot of one of two referendum questions concerning our public school district. (The story rightly describes this as a ‘pause.’) See, Whitewater referendum ‘paused’. I’ve written about a referendum approved in August for Whitewater’s public schools. The first question of two authorized for the November ballot…
Government Spending, Politics, Taxes/Taxation
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Next Wisconsin Governor Faces Big Deficit
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story on Wisconsin’s difficult fiscal situation entitled, Next Wisconsin governor faces big deficit. The story has detail and analysis of all three major party candidates’ (Barrett, Walker, Neumann) views. Here’s a summary from the story: The gubernatorial candidates have unveiled plans to deal with a $2.7 billion projected shortfall…
Official Misconduct, Taxes/Taxation
Los Angeles Times: 41 White House Aides Owe $831,000 in Back Taxes – And They’re Not Alone
by JOHN ADAMS •
Apologists of big government wonder why there’s a gap between governors and the governed, why voters are dissatisfied. It’s because some bureaucrats behave as though the normal relationship is between rulers and ruled, and governors and governed. Dozens of White House aides owe a total of eight-hundred thousand dollars in back taxes. Nationally, federal workers…
Taxes/Taxation, Weird Tales
La Crosse Tribune: Romanian Senators Reject Tax on Witches and Fortune Tellers
by JOHN ADAMS •
The rejected legislation was contradictory: it called for both taxes on income from fortune-telling and liability for wrong predictions. Liability for wrong predictions would put fortune tellers out of business, so there’d soon be no income to tax. (If witches’ predictions were really any good, they’d be using those supposed powers in a field with…
City, Government Spending, Politics, Poverty, Taxes/Taxation
Dockside Inspections, a Lost Decade, and Municipal Obstructionism
by JOHN ADAMS •
Years ago, in the 80s, when trade with Japan was controversial, Americans leveled legitimate criticisms about how Japan used dockside inspections of cargo as a way to prevent importation of foreign goods. The regulations were often small, and although rational individually, they were collectively irrational and counter-productive. By inhibiting free trade, Japan’s insidious protectionism actually…
Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation
CSI Walworth County Sunday Editorial: The Growing American Divide
by JOHN ADAMS •
As fears grow that the economy is sputtering into a double-dip recession, it has become all but impossible to overstate the extent of the disconnect that now exists between the public and private sectors. While the latter remains crippled by high unemployment, tight credit, onerous taxation and consumer belt-tightening, the former feasts happily on its…
City, Government Spending, School District, Taxes/Taxation, University
Calls for Public Spending in a Small Town
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are, I think, two principal ways that a government spending proposal in a small town succeeds. (There are more than two ways, but here I’m simply considering principal ways.) The first way is how all spending proposals should be considered — on the merits. Is it necessary to tax for a public purpose, and…
Economy, Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation
Bury Keynesian Voodoo Before It Can Bury Us All: Kevin Hassett
by JOHN ADAMS •
If the economy is in deep trouble, there are two economic policy steps that one could take in order to create a positive stimulus: reduce tax rates, or spend more money. (The so-called tax cuts in the 2009 stimulus had little effect because they were primarily credits and deductions, rather than reductions in marginal rates.)…
City, Government Spending, Taxes/Taxation
The Whitewater, Wisconsin City Manager’s Unpersuasive Lament
by JOHN ADAMS •
I read, each week, the Weekly Report from Whitewater’s City Manager, Kevin Brunner. The August 13th issue has clippings that Brunner chose to include from news stories and columns published elsewhere. Brunner included one from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Here’s the clipping Brunner included: Krugman States Anti-Government Movement Hurting “Basic Government Functions.” Paul…
Economy, Taxes/Taxation
Analyst: Odds of Double Dip Recession Higher Than 50-50
by JOHN ADAMS •
I have no way of calculating the likelihood of another recession. More meaningfully, and without any predictions, one can see that present conditions are already hard for millions of unemployed Americans. It’s telling that no major analyst seems to be predicting better times soon. We can assure a return of better times sooner, however, if…