Where to Cut the Federal Budget? Start by Killing Corporate Welfare | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Where to Cut the Federal Budget? Start by Killing Corporate Welfare | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Imagine how Americans would suffer if, for instance, ethanol producers didn't receive multiple subsidies. Imagine the national hardship if homeowners had to pay the full cost of buying their houses. Imagine the mass weeping and gnashing of teeth if companies had to pay for their own research!"

"Although liberal Democrats often are perceived as anti-business, they usually are more pro-government. Which means that many support corporate welfare as enthusiastically as do Republicans, who usually are pro-business even if perceived to be anti- (or at least not quite as pro-) government."

"hile participants in the marketplace are imperfect and make mistakes, the marketplace involves people and institutions from across the nation and even world. Their collective judgment will almost always be better than that of ambitious and self-interested politicians and apparatchiks who control government."

"while the Left tends to rail against special interests and their role in election campaigns, its support for ever larger government inevitably enhances the role of special interests and their role in election campaigns. If government is actively enriching and destroying companies and entire industries, they have a right to influence government. The more booty that is available for political winners, the more business will spend and the harder it will fight to achieve victory."

The Bipartisan Imperial Presidency | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Bipartisan Imperial Presidency | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "[Paul Ryan is ] one of "only six Republicans who voted yes on the auto bailout and both bank bailout votes," "

"in areas where the president has much more discretion than he does over the budget — there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two tickets. Among those questions: Can the president launch wars at will, subject American citizens to military detention and assassinate them via drone strike?"

"You can't expect the American presidency to operate as the Supreme Warlord of the Earth while abroad and remain a constitutionally constrained chief magistrate at home."

"A government big enough to whack its citizens with drones is big enough to make them buy health insurance."

Stop Global Economic Malpractice | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Stop Global Economic Malpractice | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Politicians tend to like bigger government because it gives them more power — so they have a natural inclination to try to increase taxes rather than cut spending. The problem is the type of tax that does the least damage to economic growth and job creation is a tax on consumption that hits everyone. Politicians know the greatest chance of public approval for a tax increase is aiming at relatively few people and, particularly, people who can be characterized as evil — such as "the rich." "