Why Some People Are Poorer - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Institute

Why Some People Are Poorer - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Institute: "Pockets of poverty may be the result of a failure to meet domestic or foreign competition, of a shrinkage or disappearance of demand for some product, of mines or wells that have been exhausted, of land that has become a dust bowl, and of droughts, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. There is no way of preventing most of these contingencies, and no all encompassing cure for them. Each is likely to call for its own special measures of alleviation or adjustment."

"We are most likely to see the problem clearly, however, if we stop blaming 'society' in advance and seek an unemotional analysis."

"Historically, many so-called 'conservatives' have tended to blame poverty entirely on the poor: they are shiftless, or drunks or bums: 'Let them go to work.' Most so-called 'liberals,' on the other hand, have tended to blame poverty on everybody but the poor: they are at best the 'unfortunate,' the 'underprivileged,' if not actually the 'exploited,' the 'victims' of the 'maldistribution of wealth,' or of 'heartless laissez faire.' The truth, of course, is not that simple, either way."

"An 'ideal' assistance program, whether private or governmental, would

1. supply everyone in dire need, through no fault of his own, enough to maintain him in reasonable health;
2. would give nothing to anybody not in such need; and
3. would not diminish or undermine anybody's incentive to work or save or improve his skills and earning power, but would hopefully even increase such incentives.
But these three aims are extremely difficult to reconcile. The nearer we come to achieving any one of them fully, the less likely we are to achieve one of the others. Society has found no perfect solution of this problem in the past, and seems unlikely to find one in the future. The best we can look forward to, I suspect, is some never-quite-satisfactory compromise.

Fortunately, in the United States the problem of relief is now merely a residual problem, likely to be of constantly diminishing importance as, under free enterprise, we constantly increase total production. The real problem of poverty is not a problem of "distribution" but of production. The poor are poor not because something is being withheld from them, but because, for whatever reason, they are not producing enough. The only permanent way to cure their poverty is to increase their earning power."

Why a Jobs Summit? | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why a Jobs Summit? | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "First the basics: Employers will hire more workers of any given experience and skill level when the cost of hiring them is lower rather than higher. More people are willing and able to work when their take-home pay is higher rather than lower."

"A major reason we have unemployment is that the government taxes both employers and employees, thus driving a "tax wedge" between what it costs the employer to hire someone and what the employee actually receives. The employer must pay payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, and other taxes for each worker he or she hires — thus reducing the demand for labor. The employee must pay payroll taxes and income taxes, thus reducing the supply of labor."

"These tax increases have two effects. The first is that business owners will have less money to pay their existing workers, let alone hire new ones; and second, these tax increases reduce their incentives to remain in or expand their businesses."

"Rescind the minimum wage increase that went into effect this past summer. This was equivalent to a 100 percent tax on the least experienced and least skilled workers. Employers predictably laid off many minimum-wage workers after the increase. It is both unfair and cruel not to let low-productivity workers get their first jobs where they can learn how to become high-productivity workers."

A Costly Mistake | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Costly Mistake | Malou Innocent | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The mistake made in Vietnam — as in Afghanistan — is the erroneous assumption proffered by our political and military elite that these countries constitute a vital U.S. national security interest. Policymakers forget that al Qaeda attacked America on 9/11, and unless Pakistan makes a corresponding effort to go after the al Qaeda sanctuary on their side of the border then America's massive and tremendously costly nation-building campaign in Afghanistan is pointless."

Fed Transparency Should Precede Bernanke Confirmation | Dean Barker and Mark A. Calabria | Cato Institute: Commentary

Fed Transparency Should Precede Bernanke Confirmation | Dean Barker and Mark A. Calabria | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The Fed has directly lent more than $2 trillion to financial and non-financial institutions in the last two years. It has guaranteed trillions more. It is also fair to say that few individuals and institutions played as large a role in the economy leading up to the crisis than Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve.

However, at the moment Congress lacks the independent and objective analysis needed to fully assess Bernanke's performance and therefore to make an informed judgment as to whether he deserves re-appointment. For this reason, Congress should put off a vote on Bernanke's nomination until there has been a full audit of the Fed's actions preceding and during the crisis."