Empty Words from Both Sides on the Debt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Empty Words from Both Sides on the Debt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Last month the Congressional Budget Office reported that Social Security had begun running permanent budget deficits. Medicare is facing future budget shortfalls larger than the entire budgets of most countries.

In response to this looming crisis, President Barack Obama's 2012 budget proposes to ... talk about it.

This gave Republicans an opportunity to seize control of the agenda and demonstrate that their new-found commitment to fiscal discipline was more than simple hostility to Planned Parenthood or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Given this chance, Republicans chose to ... talk about it."

"America is drowning in a sea of red ink. Recent discussion has focused on our $1.65 trillion budget deficit and $14.3 trillion national debt."

"In fact, if the unfunded liabilities of entitlement programs were to be included in our national debt figures, our total future indebtedness could top $127.5 trillion."

Money, Power, and Old Age - Jan Iwanik - Mises Daily

Money, Power, and Old Age - Jan Iwanik - Mises Daily: "Accumulation of capital, knowledge, and political connections takes decades. As a result, political power tends to rest in the hands of older people. The average age of the USSR's general secretaries was 62 years, for European monarchs it is 70, for voting Roman Catholic cardinals 73, and for US senators 62.

In the long run, changes in national retirement systems will probably reinforce democratic gerontocracies around the world. People of working age will continue being economic slaves of the pensioners. But living half of one's life as a slave and half as the master is not the same as being free."

Highlights of $1.2 trillion GOP spending bill - FoxNews.com

Highlights of $1.2 trillion GOP spending bill - FoxNews.com: "Republicans controlling the House are advancing a $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill to wrap up the unfinished 2011 spending bills they inherited from Democrats. The measure cuts $61 billion from the 2010 bills endorsed by President Barak Obama"

They are only cutting 5%?!?

What to make of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's "budget repair bill" | Wide White

What to make of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's "budget repair bill" | Wide White: "By now I'm sure you've heard about the proposed 'budget repair bill' proposed by newly-elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker."

The linked article does an excellent job of describing the issue.

'Zero Tolerance' Criminalizing Kids | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

'Zero Tolerance' Criminalizing Kids | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In a recent case, at Spotsylvania High School in Virginia, 14-year-old Andrew Mikel, an honor student, active in the ROTC as well as in his church, has been expelled for the rest of the school year for violent criminal conduct and possession of a weapon.

Following the lead of the school officials, the Spotsylvania County School Board referred the ninth-grader to local law enforcement, resulting in his now being involved in juvenile criminal proceedings for assault."

"in the school hallway during lunch period, kidding around, he was using the body of a pen to blow 'spit wads' at some of his fellow students."

The Healthcare Herring - Charlie Virgo - Mises Daily

The Healthcare Herring - Charlie Virgo - Mises Daily: "Even if we assume that the statistics are accurate and the opinions are valid, what evidence have they provided that more government is the answer? Simply announcing that 50 million Americans are uninsured doesn't mean a government-run healthcare system is necessary, because it could have been our government's involvement that has led to the current situation."

Shrinking Government | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Shrinking Government | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "This is a $300 billion increase in the deficit in this year of claimed 'economic recovery.' The House Republicans are trying to come up with a proposal to 'cut' $100 billion from this year's budget, and the White House says it is too much. To restate: The White House just increased its estimate of the budget deficit for this year by an amount much larger than the House Republicans are trying to save."

CrazyAuntPurl: That's so funky

CrazyAuntPurl: That's so funky: "according to the USDA, the term 'beef' can be only be used on products containing at least 40% beef.

Now that gave me pause. Shouldn't something called 'beef' be required to contain at least 50% of its namesake?"

"That is like saying I am 'tall' because I am at least 40% of the height of a supermodel."

What Should U.S. Do about Egypt? Very Little | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

What Should U.S. Do about Egypt? Very Little | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "To most people residing in the Kremlin's empire, the Soviet Union was a meddling, imperialist oppressor. America's moral support was welcomed because they saw the U.S. as the USSR's principal adversary. Even if America had not been a beacon of freedom and democracy, there would have been positive feelings toward the avowed enemy of their imperial overlord.

The situation in the Middle East is vastly — and depressingly — different. Populations in that part of the world generally view the U.S. with great suspicion. Indeed, all too many Middle Easterners regard Washington as the meddling, imperialist power that is responsible for their unsatisfactory lot in life. A succession of U.S administrations has reinforced that negative image by backing corrupt, authoritarian regimes that looted and brutalized their people.

The result is a deep reservoir of hostility toward Washington. A June 2010 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 82% of respondents in Egypt had an unfavorable view of the United States, and 79% in Jordan did so. That negative assessment is not confined to the Arab portion of the Muslim world. In Pakistan, the unfavorable rating was 68%, and in Turkey 74%.

Such pervasive animosity makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, for Washington to play a major constructive role in the political transition that we're now beginning to witness in the Middle East. Put bluntly, even if U.S. officials profess to support the goals of democracy and liberty, those statements have very little credibility with populations in that part of the world."

"embracing secular factions could easily backfire. Anti-American factions would almost certainly cite such support as evidence that Washington is continuing to meddle in their country's internal affairs, and they would use it to discredit their secular opponents."

What Can the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility Teach Us? - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Daily

What Can the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility Teach Us? - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Daily: "A monetary policy of increasing the money supply is therefore never 'neutral': It necessarily lowers the exchange value of the money unit, and it necessarily benefits some people (namely the first receivers of the new money) at the expense of others (namely the late receivers of the new money)."

"If government intervenes in the time market — by, for instance, increasing the supply of bank circulation credit and fiat money — it necessarily causes a deviation of the market interest rate from the pure interest rate (namely pushing the market interest rate below the pure market interest rate), which subsequently must lead to malinvestment and boom-and-bust."

"Violations of individual property rights (for instance through government taxation, regulations, etc.)" "thus raise peoples' time preference, increasing consumption at the expense of savings and investment, thereby reducing (or even reverting) the pace of capital accumulation. An interventionist-socialist societal order will therefore necessarily lead to impoverishment relative to a free market societal order, in which there are no systematic violations of individuals' property rights."