American Thinker | by Randall Hoven | Mar. 12, 2009
I think I have it figured out, roughly. And I’m ready to assign blame. If my narrative is not exactly true, it is a hypothesis that appears to fit the facts. This particular hypothesis is conspiracy-free, although I still think something is really fishy about the timing of the financial crisis, peaking as it did just when McCain started leading in the polls. But until we see some smoking guns, no conspiracy theory from me. [Read more…]
Wall Street Journal | Feb. 26, 2009
Take everything they earn, and it still won’t be enough.
President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end “tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans,” and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won’t see their taxes increased by “one single dime.”
This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can’t possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama’s new spending ambitions. [Read more…]
Investor’s Business Daily | February 19, 2009
The world’s leading maker of microprocessors plans to create 7,000 jobs in new and expanded plants that will churn out computer chips 30% more powerful than the current generation of chips. But California-based Intel won’t make them in California.
Instead, the company is expanding in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. Anywhere but California, which is now so unfriendly to business, even its home-grown firms don’t want to expand there.
This is bad news for the Golden State, which has one of the worst business environments in the country. And it won’t be helped a bit by the recent budget deal reached between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democrat-led legislature. [Read more…]
The Wall Street Journal | February 17, 2009
If you thought Washington’s stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California. The Golden State’s deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal. [Read more…]
The Wall Street Journal | by Stephen Moore| January 9, 2009
Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read “Atlas Shrugged” a “virgin.” Being conversant in Ayn Rand’s classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only “Atlas” were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I’m confident that we’d get out of the current financial mess a lot faster. [Read more…]
by Chris Banescu –
In today’s turbulent financial times and difficult economic conditions, a lot of unjustified criticism and unwarranted accusations have been laid at the doorstep of capitalism. Many in the mainstream press and academia, a majority of politicians, and a large number of Americans have jumped on the bandwagon and unfairly blame capitalistic principles for the huge mess that we are in. Such widespread confusion evidences a misunderstanding by many Americans of how value is actually created in society and what capitalism really represents.
All societies, in order to prosper, grow, and take care of its citizens must create new value to sustain its economy and support an expanding population. Common sense and experience dictate that there are only three (3) possible ways for anyone in life to have, create, or obtain value (monetary or economic) or acquire any assets (property) to be able to live or sustain oneself or one’s family: [Read more…]