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]
Nov 11, 2018 ~ Kevin Williamson, 'Rent Control Resurgent'. Dems keep going to the playbook of old failed programs like Rent Control. Even Krugman has said the 'negative results' are 'entirely predictable'. Walter Williams, 'no surer way to destroy a neighborhood short of carpet bombing it.' [Economics, Walter Williams, Kevin Williamson]
Oct 30, 2018 ~ Price Gouging During a Natural Disaster. Walter Williams explains why its actually better to allow it than to ban it. Allowing prices to rise incentives people who don't really need gas to forgo purchase. Otherwise you get a shortage and those who need it don't get it. [Walter Williams, Economics]
Oct 20, 2018 ~ Trump brings Canada back in and negotiates a New NAFTA Deal with Mexico and Canada called USMCA - Even Schumer and left wing economists admit that it is a better deal than original NAFTA - 10 yr drug patent protection means Americans don't subsidize the world. [Trump Win, Economics, Trade]
Oct 16, 2018 ~ Walter Williams reviews a new widely anticipated textbook called 'Universal Economics' by UCLA economists, Armen A. Alchian and William R. Allen. 680 pages. written for the layperson but if you grasp it, you will know more than many DC economists. [Economics, Walter Williams]
Sep 23, 2018 ~ Stossel explains again why 'price gouging' after a hurricane is a good thing - 'Gougers deserve a medal' said Milton Friedman - a guy drove 600 miles with generators after Katrina - was thrown in jail - no one got needed generators. [Economics, John Stossel]
Sep 23, 2018 ~ Laffer curve proved again - With lower tax rates, income tax revenue went UP 9% which will bring in an $1T in additional taxes over 10 yrs. Democrats said tax cuts would increase the deficit. Cuts also led to wage & salary increases and other higher economic activity. [Trump Win, Tax Cuts, Economics]
Sep 10, 2018 ~ Tucker Carlson who usually knows better and Bernie Sanders who never does argue that Amazon should be taxed the amount their workers get welfare - its the same flawed minimum wage argument for paying workers more than they are worth. Welfare would be more without the job. [Minimum Wage, Economics, Sanders]
Aug 25, 2018 ~ Ben Shapiro, "Context Is Key in Evaluating Nordic so called 'Socialism'" - The major advantage held by Nordic countries is a cultural focus on education, law-abiding behavior, and hard work - too many Americans lack these qualities [Socialism, Economics, Ben Shapiro]
Aug 19, 2018 ~ Laura Hollis, 'A Business Lesson for Socialists' - They seek to only distribute and re-distribute what exists but socialism kills the incentive for inventing new things - this is why places like East Germany fell decades behind West Germany [Socialism, Economics]
Aug 18, 2018 ~ John Stossel, 'Social Security Fail's - Stossel tries once again to warn about the coming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare - no one is courageous enough to address the problem. Any cuts would be demonized even though unsustainable. Democrats say spend even more. [Entitlements, Economics, John Stossel]
Aug 12, 2018 ~ Minnesota minimum wage hike leads to predictable results - hikes have led to slower job growth in the restaurant industry and significant job losses among younger workers, a new study has found [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Aug 4, 2018 ~ Stossel explains again why increasing minimum wages in restaurants would do more harm than good - where it was tried hundreds of restaurants closed, hours were cut, etc. - did not lower harassment either [Minimum Wage, Economics, John Stossel]
Aug 4, 2018 ~ Jibran Khan, 'Kamala Harris's Rent Subsidy Would Help Landlords, Not Renters' - The new rents would just adjust to the subsidies like always happens - same happened with college tuition - real problem is supply artificially kept low by dems [Economics, Harris]
Aug 2, 2018 ~ Ben Shapiro, 'Unintended Consequences' of government action very often worse than the intended consequences - examples, tariffs, rent control, minimum wage, student loans, certain welfare programs [Economics, Ben Shapiro]
Jul 30, 2018 ~ Kevin Williamson, 'Understanding Trade Deficits' - Why they are not bad and not caused by tariffs - trying to eliminate them would do more harm than good - will wipe out much foreign investment. [Economics, Kevin Williamson]
Jul 29, 2018 ~ Michael Bargo, Jr., 'The Blue-State Housing Bubble' - Illinois the worst - property taxes INCREASING $10000 on small homes that already had ridiculous rates - these people are screwed - can't sell the house now so can't flee the high tax state - handcuffed [Taxes, Economics]
Jul 23, 2018 ~ Jazz Shaw, 'The Fight for 15 Is Knocking NYC Out'. 'This minimum wage spike has forced several New York City businesses to shutter their doors and will claim many more victims soon.' Fight for 15 fools are winning themselves a place in the unemployment line. [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Jul 23, 2018 ~ Adios, entry level jobs at the Golden Arches - McDonalds is installing self serve kiosks in all locations by 2020 - The Fight for 15 fools won themselves a place in the unemployment line. [Minimum Wage, Economics]
Jul 22, 2018 ~ Michael Tanner, 'The Dangers of America's Obsession with Inequality' - Capitalism does produce inequality - its necessary to provide the incentive - but it also produces the most wealth for everyone including the poor who live like kings used to live. [Economics]
Jul 15, 2018 ~ Walter Williams explains why trade wars are bad again - if they shoot a hole in their end of the boat, does it help to shoot a hole in ours - also trade deficits are not bad. We buy more goods but they use those dollars to invest in America. [Economics, Walter Williams]
Jul 15, 2018 ~ Steve Moore, 'Trump's Zero Tariff Solution'. 'Zero tariffs would be the ultimate victory for totally free and fair trade' - Trump asks why can't we just do that - We have the lowest tariffs - Europe's are 30% higher than ours. [Economics, Economy]
Jun 24, 2018 ~ Starbucks bailing on urban centers after minimum wage hikes - Closing 130 stores, many in locations that have raised minimum wage - company cited wage increase requirements as one of the reasons [Minimum Wage, Economics]