Jun 19, 2019 ~ Donald Trump awards Dr. Arthur Laffer the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Laffer is the 'Father of Supply-Side Economics' used by Reagan, W. and Trump. Helped usher in 'the greatest economic expansion the world has ever seen in any country, at any time' acc. to Martin Anderson. [Trump Win, Economics, Tax Cuts]
Jun 19, 2019 ~ John Stossel argues Capitalism is the moral system. Capitalism is the only system people are free to trade goods and services and labor voluntarily with each other. 'The only way to get rich under capitalism is to serve your customers well.' System that helps the poor the most. [Economics, John Stossel]
Jun 12, 2019 ~ Ashe Schow debunks the claim that it is sexist and unfair that the women's US soccer is paid less than the men's. The real reason is 63K vs 240K average viewers, $17 million vs. $529 million ad revenue. 'Women's soccer earns less money, therefore they receive less money.' [Gender Pay Gap, Economics]
May 18, 2019 ~ Philadelphia's soda tax bombed as anyone who understands economics and human nature predicted. Sales of soda were down in Philadelphia but up in surrounding towns. Total tax revenue was way down because people shopped for everything out of town. Soda consumption was unchanged. [Economics, Taxes]
May 17, 2019 ~ Nima Sanandaji article, 'The Swedish Lesson: Welfare States Create Moral Hazard'. The more generous the benefits and the higher the taxes to pay for it, the more incentive there is to bail on legit work and game the system. Sweden had to scale back due to increasing cheating. [Socialism, Economics, Entitlements]
May 16, 2019 ~ Charles Cooke, Putting the word democratic in front of socialism does not make it less tyrannical or more successful. Socialism fails because of the knowledge problem, the elimination of rational incentives and intolerance for dissent. Fails most the people it claims to help most. [Socialism, Economics]
May 12, 2019 ~ Steve Moore article, 'Why free traders and all Americans should back Trump on China policy' 'I'm a free trader and I hate tariffs - which are consumer taxes' Everyone including Trump wants a level playing field but China's tariffs were 2.5 times ours. 'status quo is untenable' [Economics, Trade, China]
May 1, 2019 ~ Stossel article, 'A Lie, a Myth and a Question' debunks typical dem and Bernie talking point that 'the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.' Stossel shows that as the rich get richer, the poor also get richer. Also debunks the myth that there is little or no income mobility [Economics, John Stossel, Sanders]
Apr 24, 2019 ~ Kamala Harris is a fountain of misinformation and fake news. She starts with the fake wage gap claim, 'Women are paid on average 77% to the dollar? for doing the same work.' And moves to saying 'the majority of women are minimum wage workers.' Both claims are totally false. [Economics, Fake News, Gender Pay Gap, Harris, Minimum Wage]
Apr 13, 2019 ~ Democrats are Economic Science Deniers. They simply deny the existence of many basic laws of economics. They believe the government can set prices and wages above or below market and nothing bad will happen. We can substitute any fuel for fossil fuel with no consequence. Etc. [Economics, Energy]
Apr 12, 2019 ~ Dallas County district attorney John Creuzot said his office will no longer prosecute 'theft of necessary items' up to $750. Doesn't want to 'Criminalizing poverty' but encouraging shoplifting is not a good way to help poor people. Businesses will take the entire hit and leave. [Economics, Crime, Poverty]
Apr 10, 2019 ~ Economist Walter Williams lists many socialism vs. capitalism experiments that have run side by side. East vs. West Germany, North vs. South Korea, Venezuela and Argentina before and after socialism. 'Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.' [Socialism, Economics, Walter Williams]
Mar 27, 2019 ~ Amherst College created a PC 'language guide' which defined words with an extreme left wing bias. For example, it defined Capitalism as a system that 'leads to exploitative labor practices, which affect marginalized groups disproportionately.' 'Homonationalism' 'White Feminism' [College, Economics]
Mar 27, 2019 ~ Elizabeth Warren is proposing a wealth-tax but most countries that tried it have abandoned it. Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Sweden. Very difficult to administer. Raised little or no money. Caused exodus. [Economics, Taxes]
Mar 27, 2019 ~ Stossel lists many liberals that praised Hugo Chavez in 'The Socialist Fantasy'. They claim Venezuela not a socialism failure. It was 'mismanagement'. 'But mismanagement is what happens under socialist governments... always'. Fall back to Denmark & Sweden which are not socialist. [Socialism, Economics, John Stossel]
Mar 25, 2019 ~ New York waitresses write letter telling celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Williams, Amy Poehler and Amy Schumer to 'butt out'. They are pushing for wait staff to make minimum wage. But when adopted, it kills their tips and they make far less. [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Mar 21, 2019 ~ AOC was one of the people who pushed for a $15 minimum wage in NYC. It turns out, that was exactly what put 'The Coffee Shop' in Union Square out of business. The very place that AOC worked. Unsurprising to economists, 75% of whom oppose a $15 minimum wage. Dems are all in. [Economics, Minimum Wage, For the record, it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez]
Mar 21, 2019 ~ The EU, whose primary purpose is to extort money from successful and popular businesses, extorts another $1.7B from Google after looting $5B last year over alleged antitrust abuse. The EU has previously extorted billions from Apple, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, airlines and many more. [Economics]
Mar 12, 2019 ~ Steve Moore writes an article about 'The Tariffs Nobody Wants' referring to the auto manufacturer tariffs that Trump wants. Moore says usually tariffs hurt consumers but at least help the targeted industry. But even the auto makers don't want these. Do more harm than good. [Economics]
Mar 8, 2019 ~ Many economists have debunked the 'gender pay gap' when properly comparing similar work. Google recently found 'more men than women were receiving less money for doing similar work'. This is what happens when you take corrective action for a non-problem. [Gender Pay Gap, Economics]
Mar 6, 2019 ~ Survey 74% of Economists oppose hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour. 84% think $15 minimum wage would negatively affect youth employment. 77% believe it would have a negative impact on the number of jobs available. But democrats are all in. They don't understand economics. [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Mar 6, 2019 ~ Amazon Raises Minimum Wage For Whole Foods Workers to $15 per hour. But then cuts hours significantly to compensate. Many making less than before minimum wage hike. Dems think they can simply legislate what people make. Why not $100 then? [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Feb 27, 2019 ~ Stossel takes on the sugar subsidies again - calls them 'Welfare for the Rich'. Hurt US businesses. a University of Iowa study shows they cost the US 20,000 jobs per year. Hurt consumers with higher prices and less healthy alternatives HFCS. [Economics, John Stossel]
Feb 27, 2019 ~ Bernie Sanders refuses to call Maduro a dictator - reluctant because he knows Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and the USSR, all nations he's praised, are textbook cases of socialism. Now he cites countries that reject the socialist label like Denmark as socialism success stories. [Economics, Socialism, Sanders]
Feb 19, 2019 ~ Trump administration suspends and is proposing to eliminate Obama 'Payday Loan' regulations. Cato study shows that is good because 'the predatory costs of payday loans may be nonexistent and the benefits are real and measurable.' especially to millions of poor who use each year. [Trump Win, Economics]
Feb 13, 2019 ~ The federal government collected a record figure in individual income taxes in calendar year 2018, according to Treasury figures. Proving again that tax cuts usually increase rather than decrease revenue to the Treasury. Laffer Curve counter intuitive. Dems don't understand it. [Economy, Economics, Tax Cuts]
Feb 12, 2019 ~ California Governor Gavin Newsom Cancels High-speed Rail Project that was supposed to be a high speed train between LA and San Francisco - Was unaffordable - original estimate of $33B ballooned to over $100B - completed in 2033 at best [Economics]
Feb 7, 2019 ~ The airline industry replaced rail so that trips could take hours instead of days. Dems want to set us back more than a century. 'build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary'. Meanwhile, the elites take 1500 private jets to Davos Climate Conf. [Economics, For the record, it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Green New Deal, Climate Change]
Feb 7, 2019 ~ 100 Democrats including most of the Presidential candidates endorse the Green New Deal despite it being insane- net 0 emissions in 10 yrs, end of air travel, combustion engines, farting cows. guaranteed income and healthcare, upgrade all buildings. [Economics, For the record, it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Green New Deal]
Feb 7, 2019 ~ Kimberley Strassel of the WSJ explains how unserious the so called Green New Deal is. 'If a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job. It is beautiful.' [Economics, For the record, it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Green New Deal]
Feb 4, 2019 ~ The number of women in the workplace is at an all time high. [Trump Win, Economics]
Feb 4, 2019 ~ The Unemployment Rate for Americans with Disabilities has reached an all time low. [Trump Win, Economics]
Feb 3, 2019 ~ Robert Bryce article 'The Three Major Problems with a Carbon Tax' 'It would disproportionately hurt low-income consumers, it would inevitably be watered down by special interests, and it would have to be imposed on our trading partners'. And no climate impact [Climate Change, Economics]
Feb 1, 2019 ~ Former Socialist finally admits it doesn't work 'The Bolivarian God That Failed', 'By 2004, I was already well aware of what Marxist-Leninist socialism had done to the twentieth century. So why did I fall for the socialism of Venezuela?' At least he learned. Modern dems have not. [Economics, Socialism]
Feb 1, 2019 ~ MSNBC Katy Tur tries false dem talking point that 'almost no middle class any longer' - median income has increased $6K in last 2 years - 52% of people in middle class - has gotten a little smaller bc people making over $100K went UP, from 8% to 28%. [Fake News, Economics]
Jan 31, 2019 ~ New Yorkers shocked to find food prices rising after minimum wage hike - higher prices, less demand, reduced hours, layoffs, closings - all of the predicable results. [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Jan 29, 2019 ~ Why America needs more billionaires - 70% have created their own fortune - most provide society with far more value in terms of jobs, services and products than they are worth - many have changed the world - would they under extreme taxes? [Economics]
Jan 28, 2019 ~ Elizabeth Warren proposes a 'wealth tax' - besides being unconstitutional in the US, other countries have tried it and abandoned it - 'Denmark repealed its wealth tax in 1996. Sweden and Iceland repealed their wealth taxes in 2007' [Economics]
Jan 19, 2019 ~ Predictably, NYC Restaurants Slash Staff over $15 Minimum Wage that was instituted late last year - 'We lost control of our largest controllable expense. So in order to live with that and stay in business, we're cutting hours.' [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Jan 15, 2019 ~ The 'unintended consequences' of Philadelphia's 2017 soda tax becoming more apparent - Raised a fraction of predicted money bc those who could buy outside of the city did - hurt the poor the most who could not - hurt local businesses, jobs [Economics]
Jan 4, 2019 ~ President Trump is freezing pay for civilian federal workers, cancelling their automatic 2.1% raise for 2019 - Necessary to start bringing govt salaries and benefits more in line with private sector - Govt time off, job security better also [Trump Win, Economics]
Jan 1, 2019 ~ John Stossel, 'Sweden Isn't Socialist' - They tried something similar in the 70s and abandoned it because economy tanked. They now have market econ. high flat-ish tax. Everyone pays a lot. Less regulation, more privatization e.g. pensions. [Economics, Socialism, John Stossel]
Dec 29, 2018 ~ Kevin Williamson, 'On Minimum Wage, a Flight from Reality' - Great piece explaining why legislating wages is self defeating - you can't force people to value anything including labor more than it is worth because labor is traded for goods and people know how they value goods. [Minimum Wage, Economics, Kevin Williamson]
Dec 21, 2018 ~ Walter Williams article, 'Miseducated or Stupid'. Williams comments on the ignorance of American Millennials who view Socialism more favorable than Capitalism. 51% want to live in a socialist or communist country. Don't know the horrors those systems caused. 100 million dead. [Walter Williams, Socialism, Economics]
Dec 21, 2018 ~ A Harvard study is another in the long line of studies that debunk the Democrat fiction called the 'Gender Wage Gap'. THERE IS NO UNEQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. This has been illegal for decades. The 'gap' results from differing choices made by men and women, not discrimination. [Economics, Gender Pay Gap]
Dec 17, 2018 ~ Stossel reviews old book- 'Myth of the Robber Barons' - Shows that capitalists such as Rockefeller and Vanderbilt were neither robbers nor barons- 'They got rich by creating better things'- made average and poor people's lives much better. [Economics, John Stossel]
Dec 16, 2018 ~ Stephen Moore's Three enduring lessons should be learned by the 1990 budget deal - Tax increases always lead to more government spending - Tax increases damage the economy and increase the deficit. Tax increases lead to Republican losses. [Taxes, Economics]
Nov 30, 2018 ~ Kevin Williamson, "The Man-Made Affordable-Housing 'Crisis'" - 'Rules that prohibit cheap housing lead to ... a lack of cheap housing' - they chase poor people out of town instead of magically giving them a nicer place to live. Uses Dallas as a case study. [Economics, Kevin Williamson]
Nov 17, 2018 ~ Stossel analyzes the problems with 'Single Payer Health Care'. Its unaffordable, requires rationing, lines, inferior care. The longer life expectancy stats of other nations are not due to health care. They save money by freeloading off US innovation but no innovation without US. [Health Care, Economics, John Stossel]