January 3 of this year was the 99th anniversary of the signing of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. It enshrined into law an idea that stands in total contradiction to the driving force being the American Revolution and the whole idea of freedom itself.
The great "old right" commentator Frank Chodorov once described the income tax as the root of all evil. His target was not the tax itself, but the principle behind it. Since its implementation in 1913, he wrote, "The governme... (more)
Is James B. Stewart paying the highest tax rate in America?
Famous author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James B. Stewart added up all the taxes he paid in one year, and he was stunned to learn his tax rate is an astonishing 74%.
There's a Mexican restaurant I like (I'm not saying where it is) that seems to thrive in good times and bad. It never has a shortage of servers, cooks and people to bus the tables, even when there are only a few customer cars out front. Actually, it is hard to tell the workers from the customers, and extended family seems to appear from nowhere, people of all ages, sometimes eating, sometimes just visiting and sometimes going back and forth to the kitchen.
he talk is all about jobs, jobs, jobs in Washington and on the campaign trail as the unemployment rate continues to be elevated and long-term unemployment is higher than ever. Since getting government out of the way isn't an option, late last year congressional leaders decided to turn up the volume while crying that American workers are being damaged by China's undervalued currency — the renminbi (or yuan).
Bipartisan support was summoned to declare China a currency manipulator, t... (more)
(CNSNews.com) - The amount of money the federal government takes out of the U.S. economy in taxes will increase by more than 30 percent between 2012 and 2014, according to the Budget and Economic Outlook published today by the CBO.
At the same time, according to CBO, the economy will remain sluggish, partly because of higher taxes.
"In particular, between 2012 and 2014, revenues in CBO... (more)
Robert Reich who was secretary of labour under Bill Clinton wrote an article that he called "The Seven Biggest Economic Lies". I intend to show the reader how deeply flawed this article is in the hopes that sound economic principles may get the attention that they deserve. I will not take his statements out of context but rather quote them in their en... (more)
Presented by Jeff Tucker at "Contemporary Issues in Economics," a high school seminar hosted at the Mises Institute and sponsored by Jeremy S. Davis, 18 November 2011.
Who knew Texas had hundreds of rare exotic animals from all over the globe? Apparently, hunters who want to kill these exotic animals created a massive market for exotic hunting trips in the US, businessmen in turn have created massive wild life preserves where animals which almost went extinct flourish.
A higher percentage of the American population is receiving government benefits than ever before. Yes, there have always been poor people that have needed our assistance, but what does it say about our economy that the number of Americans dependent on the government is at an all-time high? Every night on the evening news we are told that the economy is improving, and Barack Obama is endlessly giving speeches about the "economic recovery" that is supposedly underway. But that is not th... (more)
The biggest con in history — bigger even than Social Security — might well be the one in which statists have conned the poor into believing that the welfare state helps them. If those at the bottom of the economic ladder were ever to realize how badly they’ve been conned, that could spell the end of the welfare-state way of life.
The welfare state is obviously a seductive notion, one that makes the poor especially susceptible to the con. The government offers free money (or othe... (more)
We are getting a sense of what life is like with the new Fed policy of openness. It means that the chairman tries to beat the world record for the longest, most-boring press conference in modern history. Ben Bernanke is getting even better at that crucial skill of repeatedly saying nothing at great length. The better he gets at this, the longer he is willing to entertain questions from reporters.
They all ask some version of the same question, in any case. It's the cocktail-hour q... (more)
With its announcement this week that it will keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014, the Federal Reserve has put another large crack into the foundations underlying the US dollar. In a misguided attempt to provide clarity and transparency, Ben Bernanke has instead laid out a simple road map for economists and investors to follow. The signposts are easily understood: the Fed will stop at nothing in pursuing its goals of creating phantom GDP growth, holding down unemployment, propp... (more)
Every year the porn industry rakes in $14 billion. A majority of porn is shot in the Los Angeles area, but now new regulations are jeopardizing the industry. Many feel this will be a blow to the profitable business and many believe the government should keep out of the industries rights to not use condoms in its films. Chanel Preston, adult film actress, joins us for m
What humors me about this law is it was supposedly initially in response to an unnamed actor testing positive for HIV a few months back, it turns out that test was wrong and the person was not HIV positive. Nonetheless, they drummed up this legislation and passed it despite the justification for it ceasing to exist. - Chris
In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night President Obama played the fairness card in calling for higher taxes on upper-income people. He said:
[W]e need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of Members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year,
Back in 1997 Gregory Bresiger penned a piece for the Free Market tearing apart the notion of "socially responsible investing" (SRI). Managers focused on social issues instead of profits will perform poorly as resources are diverted to unproductive uses. Bresiger looked to close the argument with this seemingly absurd proposition:
But SRI funds do point the way to solving a myriad of political debates in
Gold provided the best returns of all commodities in the past five years when adjusted for volatility, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says the rally will continue as options traders signal no change in the metal’s relatively low risk.
The BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING shows the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Gold Total Return Index produced a 6.5 percent risk- adjusted return in the five years ended yesterday, the highest among 24 commodities tracked by S&P, data compiled by Bloomberg s... (more)
Gold spikes up $46.50, or 2.79% after the Fed says interest rates are unlikely to rise all the way through 2014.
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the Federal Reserve is considering additional asset purchases to boost growth after extending its pledge to keep interest rates low through at least late 2014.
Policy makers are “prepared to provide further monetary accommodation if employment is not making sufficient progress
Rather than deal with the complexities of U.S. tax law, Americans living overseas are increasingly renouncing their citizenship in order to avoid paying their income taxes.
According to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, approximately 4,000 people gave up their citizenship from fiscal year 2005 to FY 2010. Renunciations increased sharply within the past three years, from 146 in FY 2008 to 1,534 in FY 2010. And during the first two quarters of FY 2011 alone, 1,024 Americans... (more)
The debate about the Fed is under way, and thank goodness. But as with many policy debates, there really shouldn't be a debate at all. That's because, if you think about it, the idea of central banking makes no sense.
We don't have a government-created central repository that plans and manages shoe distribution. The market takes care of that. We don't have one for cabbage, keyboards or curtains. Somehow we get books, clothes, tree-cutting services and everything else we need and w... (more)
Public school teachers in Buffalo can get botox, liposuction, hair removal, and various other nips and tucks from plastic surgeons -- all completely free. And taxpayers are footing the bill.
The Atlantic reports the perk is part of a self-insured rider in its teachers' contracts. There's no co-pay, so the school district pays for the... (more)
