A Lesson on the Laffer Curve for Barack Obama | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Lesson on the Laffer Curve for Barack Obama | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'The key takeaway is that the IRS collected fives times as much income tax from the rich when the tax rate was far lower. This isn't just an example of the Laffer Curve. It's the Laffer Curve on steroids and it's one of those rare examples of a tax cut paying for itself.

Folks on the right, however, should be careful about over-interpreting this data. There were lots of factors that presumably helped generate these results, including inflation, population growth, and some of Reagan's other policies. So we don't know whether the lower tax rates on the rich caused revenues to double, triple, or quadruple. Ask five economists and you'll get nine answers.

But we do know that the rich paid much more when the tax rate was much lower.'

Executive Privilege Claim Ahead on Solyndra | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Executive Privilege Claim Ahead on Solyndra | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'as is so often the case in politics, the real scandal is what's gone on in broad daylight. Solyndra is a perfect illustration of the dangers of government/business "partnership."

"We're all in this together," has been Obama's continual refrain this fall while pushing his $449 billion jobs bill. Sure, it's a collectivist notion that's hard to reconcile with a country dedicated to the individual pursuit of happiness. But he doesn't really mean it.

In this half-socialized, corporatist sector of privatized profit and socialized loss, we're only "all in it together" if a federally favored company goes belly up — as Solyndra did, sticking the taxpayer with tab. "One has to take risks in order to promote innovative manufacturing," as Energy Secretary Steven Chu put it last week.'

'Today, with unprecedented levels of money and power flowing to Washington, more and more Americans fear that the game is rigged. Can you blame them?'

Keynes Was No Liberal - Allen McDaniels - Mises Daily

Keynes Was No Liberal - Allen McDaniels - Mises Daily: 'Keynes called his theory "general" because he claimed it would work not only in a laissez-faire setting but also, and more easily, in a totalitarian one.'

The Immorality of Democratic Voting - Kel Kelly - Mises Daily

The Immorality of Democratic Voting - Kel Kelly - Mises Daily: 'How is it that people are outraged when a CEO steals from his company, or a street thug steals a car, but they are not upset with themselves and their poorer neighbors for stealing from those who rightfully earned more money than they?'

'In 2008, congresswoman Maxine Waters threatened, on behalf of "society," to nationalize (i.e., to steal) the privately owned companies in the oil industry[9] due to the "large" profits they were making, since oil was at the highest price in years. But Congress itself brought about the high profits by

sanctioning the printing of money by the Fed (increased demand) and
preventing new oil drilling and refining (reduced supply).
One hundred fifty years ago, oil was a worthless substance. Companies voluntarily extracted and refined it, and made it useful, significantly improving our lives in the process. But by threatening nationalization, the government now threatens to take away the property of the millions of individuals who own these companies, by force, against their will. Americans should have been shocked and aghast that this government threat could happen in their own "free" country; instead, most agreed with her sentiments. If this is moral, then virtually anything could be argued as being moral.'