Obama's Soak-the-Rich Tax Hikes Won't Work | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Soak-the-Rich Tax Hikes Won't Work | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The individual income tax brought in 7.8% of GDP from 1952 to 1979 when the top tax rate ranged from 70% to 92%, 8% of GDP from 1993 to 1996 when the top tax rate was 39.6%, and 8.1% from 1988 to 1990 when the highest individual income tax rate was 28%. Mr. Obama's hope that raising only the highest tax rates could keep individual tax receipts well above 9% of GDP has been repeatedly tested for more than six decades. It has always failed."

In Japan, Let's Stop Sweating the Small (Nuclear) Stuff | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

In Japan, Let's Stop Sweating the Small (Nuclear) Stuff | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: "This is the familiar story of misplaced concern about tiny risks while blithely ignoring other major ones. People who have irrational fears of small amounts of ionizing radiation have no problem crossing a busy street in the city.

Others are terrified by flying and drive instead, even though there were nearly 34,000 automotive fatalities in 2009 in the U.S., compared with 50 on scheduled planes.

People stay up at night worrying about the 5% increase in sunburn-causing radiation as a result of stratospheric ozone depletion, and the next morning go to the beach and expose 95% of their skin to the same rays."

A Pyrrhic Victory | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Pyrrhic Victory | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Worse, contrary to assurances by the Republican leadership, the budget agreement actually increases the budget baseline. While that sounds like the sort of accounting-speak that makes eyes glaze over, it means that next year's budgeting process will start with an automatic assumption of higher spending, making it more difficult to cut spending in the 2012 budget.

From the negotiating brinkmanship, Republican leaders made it clear that they were more concerned with avoiding a government shutdown than in making real spending cuts. That's exactly what they got."

The Myth of Japan's Lost Decades - Kel Kelly - Mises Daily

The Myth of Japan's Lost Decades - Kel Kelly - Mises Daily: "The misleading measurement of growth in question is GDP growth, because it is practically the sole indicator used by professionals to assess economic output. The problem is that GDP is in fact not a measure of real, physical production of goods and services, as it is intended to be. It is primarily a measure of inflation, which it is not intended to be."

"prices can rise overall throughout an economy only if the quantity of money in the economy increases faster than the quantity of goods and services."

Not Just the Size of the Debt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Not Just the Size of the Debt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In 2008, the Congressional Budget Office reported that in order to simply pay for spending that was locked in at that time, we would have to raise both the corporate tax rate and the top individual tax rate from their current level of 35 percent to 88 percent, raise the 25 percent tax rate for middle-income workers to 63 percent, and raise the 10 percent rate for low-income Americans to 25 percent. That was before Obamacare and the post-2008 spending binge."

Taxing the rich won't fix the problem.

Florida's Vocational Deregulation | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Florida's Vocational Deregulation | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Government has no business enacting arbitrary regulations to protect the profits of a closed fraternity of privileged companies — especially when the effect is higher prices, narrower choices, and fewer new firms started by emergent entrepreneurs."

Campaign For Liberty — Nullifying the Drug War �� by Jacob Hornberger

Campaign For Liberty — Nullifying the Drug War by Jacob Hornberger: "After both sides have rested in a civil suit, the judge has the power to enter what is called an 'instructed verdict.'He does that if there are no facts in dispute. Since there is nothing for the jury to determine, given that both sides agree on the facts, the judge can dismiss the jury and enter judgment for the side he believes should prevail on the law.

Not so, however, with a criminal case. Even if all the facts are agreed upon -- even if the defendant openly confesses on the witness stand to having committed the offense -- the judge lacks the power to dismiss the jury and summarily enter judgment for the state. The judge must nonetheless send the case to the jury because the jury is the final judge of not only the facts but also the law. It has the power to acquit the defendant even if the evidence conclusively establishes that the defendant has committed the offense."

Umbrella Mistaken for a Gun Sends Mall Workers Scrambling - FoxNews.com

Umbrella Mistaken for a Gun Sends Mall Workers Scrambling - FoxNews.com: "A man cleared out a mall in Massachusetts after the black umbrella he was carrying was mistaken for a rifle,"

Isn't this the 2nd time an umbrella has been mistaken for a gun in a mall?!?

A Privacy “Bill of Rights”? � John Stossel

A Privacy “Bill of Rights”? John Stossel: "Worse, though, is the gall that Senators Kerry and McCain have to call this a “bill of rights” when they explicitly exempt the federal government from these new rules. So, you have a “fundamental right” to privacy from data collection by private companies, but not from snooping by your government."

Why Monetary Expansion Must Stop - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily

Why Monetary Expansion Must Stop - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily: "With the creation of new fiat money, wealth has been redistributed from the current holders of money — the rightful owners — to illegitimate new allocators who steal, without getting noticed, other people's money. The first or early receivers of the new money benefit at the expense of those who receive it later, through the market process, or do not receive it at all — for example, retirees living on privately accumulated wealth. The early receivers buy at existing lower prices, while later receivers pay higher prices."

"Under sound money, GNP remains the same, because the quantity of money — and thusly, the quantity of total spending — remains unchanged.

But fiat-money inflationary spending, caused by planned inflation of the money supply, is described as economic 'growth.' The more government inflates the quantity of money, the greater economic growth appears to be as measured by GNP. But this is an illusion. It is not growth at all. It is just a consequence of measuring higher prices."

"Increasing bureaucratic oversight rests on two false ideas — that bureaucrats can discern potential problems to which bankers are blinded and that, unlike bankers, bureaucrats are not greedy by nature, so they will not take on increased risk."

"Expansion of the money supply and lowering of interest rates in order to stimulate the economy is not compatible with increased bank capital requirements and oversight boards to detect systemic risk.

The government expects that a lower rate of interest will promote more economic activity through increased lending. Yet the law of diminishing marginal utility applies also to lending . The only way to make more loans is to lend to less creditworthy customers. Yet this is the situation that more oversight attempts to prevent. Therefore, even if the government's oversight boards could detect less creditworthy borrowers, the very purpose of lower interest rates is to make loans to such people."