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Could the U.S. Become Argentina? | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The U.S. has a per capita income of about $47,000 per year, while Argentina's is just $14,000 on a purchasing-power parity (PPP) basis. A hundred years ago, Argentina's per capita income was about 80 percent of that in the U.S. If Argentina had done as well relatively as the United States, it would have a per capita income of about $38,000 today. Countries can become wealthy in a few decades, as have South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Finland, by following the correct economic policies. They also can become relatively poor, as have Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela, by doing the wrong things."
Read the article to see ways that we are following Argentina's path.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Ron Paul Challenges GOP's Foreign Policy Agenda | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
Ron Paul Challenges GOP's Foreign Policy Agenda | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Paul observed that conservatives, like liberals, enjoyed spending money, only 'on different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases.'
Similarly, Paul said, conservatives talked about following the Constitution, 'except for war. Let the president go to war anytime they want.'"
"Indeed, the 'Defense Department' has become anything but. Most of America's forces do nothing to secure the U.S. They instead are employed to remake failed societies, impose Washington's meddlesome dictates, and subsidize populous and prosperous allies."
"The Europeans might have a larger collective GDP and population. The South Koreans might enjoy a GDP 40 times that of the North. Japan might have the world's second largest economy. Israel might be a regional superpower with up to 200 nuclear weapons.
Yet in GOP eyes all are helpless American dependents, to be defended by Washington at all cost — and apparently forever."
"The U.S. was created as a constitutional republic, with a limited national government bounded by law. Yet the last Republican administration claimed that the president could unilaterally, subject to review neither by Congress nor the courts, order the arrest and indefinite detention of American citizens in America."
"While U.S. citizens pay to defend dozens of nations around the world, those countries invest in business enterprises, economic research and development, and generous welfare states. Trade competitors cheerfully accept U.S. military troops while excluding commercial products.
The defense budget is the price of our nation's foreign policy, and the price is high. The U.S. is spending more than $700 billion annually on the military. In real terms that is more than at any point during the Cold War, Korean War, or Vietnam War. Today America accounts for roughly half of the globe's military outlays."
Similarly, Paul said, conservatives talked about following the Constitution, 'except for war. Let the president go to war anytime they want.'"
"Indeed, the 'Defense Department' has become anything but. Most of America's forces do nothing to secure the U.S. They instead are employed to remake failed societies, impose Washington's meddlesome dictates, and subsidize populous and prosperous allies."
"The Europeans might have a larger collective GDP and population. The South Koreans might enjoy a GDP 40 times that of the North. Japan might have the world's second largest economy. Israel might be a regional superpower with up to 200 nuclear weapons.
Yet in GOP eyes all are helpless American dependents, to be defended by Washington at all cost — and apparently forever."
"The U.S. was created as a constitutional republic, with a limited national government bounded by law. Yet the last Republican administration claimed that the president could unilaterally, subject to review neither by Congress nor the courts, order the arrest and indefinite detention of American citizens in America."
"While U.S. citizens pay to defend dozens of nations around the world, those countries invest in business enterprises, economic research and development, and generous welfare states. Trade competitors cheerfully accept U.S. military troops while excluding commercial products.
The defense budget is the price of our nation's foreign policy, and the price is high. The U.S. is spending more than $700 billion annually on the military. In real terms that is more than at any point during the Cold War, Korean War, or Vietnam War. Today America accounts for roughly half of the globe's military outlays."
FOXNews.com - Senate Approves One-Time Audit of Federal Reserve Lending
FOXNews.com - Senate Approves One-Time Audit of Federal Reserve Lending: "At its peak at the end of 2008, the Fed's lending totaled $1.16 trillion. Overall, the Fed's balance sheet ballooned to $2.3 trillion, more than double where it stood before the crisis struck"
When the are using that much money, it sounds arrogant that they don't want to be transparent!
When the are using that much money, it sounds arrogant that they don't want to be transparent!
FOXNews.com - Trillion-dollar euro rescue plan offers short-term relief, stores up longer-term problems
FOXNews.com - Trillion-dollar euro rescue plan offers short-term relief, stores up longer-term problems: "Still, the package did not resolve the basic dysfunction at the heart of Europe's monetary union: Governments can still spend recklessly and saddle their partners with the bill."
Sounds like a good idea -- spend a trillion dollars but don't address the cause!
"But because of the debt crisis, private banks in the U.S. have been leery of making loans to banks in Europe. Hence the need for the currency swaps between the central banks."
So if bankers think it is a bad idea to loan money, then the central banks think it is a good idea? How is that not madness?
Sounds like a good idea -- spend a trillion dollars but don't address the cause!
"But because of the debt crisis, private banks in the U.S. have been leery of making loans to banks in Europe. Hence the need for the currency swaps between the central banks."
So if bankers think it is a bad idea to loan money, then the central banks think it is a good idea? How is that not madness?
FOXNews.com - Federal Reserve Opens Credit Line to Europe
FOXNews.com - Federal Reserve Opens Credit Line to Europe: "Federal Reserve late Sunday opened a program to ship U.S. dollars to Europe"
How silly that some would want to audit the Fed and know details about what they are doing!
How silly that some would want to audit the Fed and know details about what they are doing!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Why the media ignored the Nashville flood | Cranach: The Blog of Veith
Why the media ignored the Nashville flood | Cranach: The Blog of Veith: "the media can only trade on a story’s novelty for a few hours, tops. It is new angles, new characters, and new chapters that keep a story alive for longer."
Monday, May 17, 2010
Partisanship Has so Far Been Tea Party Activists' Big Mistake | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary
Partisanship Has so Far Been Tea Party Activists' Big Mistake | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "57 percent of tea party activists view our last president favorably.
What's going on here? Tea party activists claim they're a group with a principled opposition to big government in all its forms. How can anyone take that claim seriously when the membership embraces a president who personifies everything they're supposed to hate?
Aren't these activists opposed to profligate spending? Then why do they look favorably on 43, who led the largest debt expansion in American history and spent more than his six predecessors, doubling the federal budget during his tenure?
Don't the tea party activists hate bailouts? Have they forgotten which president rammed through the $700 billion TARP, bailed out Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and gave $17 billion to Chrysler and General Motors after Congress refused to authorize tax dollars for failing automakers?"
"no right-minded supporter of limited government could possibly 'miss' a Republican president who, in Medicare Part D — the free-pills-for-seniors program — engineered the biggest expansion of entitlements between President Lyndon Johnson's Medicare and Obamacare."
What's going on here? Tea party activists claim they're a group with a principled opposition to big government in all its forms. How can anyone take that claim seriously when the membership embraces a president who personifies everything they're supposed to hate?
Aren't these activists opposed to profligate spending? Then why do they look favorably on 43, who led the largest debt expansion in American history and spent more than his six predecessors, doubling the federal budget during his tenure?
Don't the tea party activists hate bailouts? Have they forgotten which president rammed through the $700 billion TARP, bailed out Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and gave $17 billion to Chrysler and General Motors after Congress refused to authorize tax dollars for failing automakers?"
"no right-minded supporter of limited government could possibly 'miss' a Republican president who, in Medicare Part D — the free-pills-for-seniors program — engineered the biggest expansion of entitlements between President Lyndon Johnson's Medicare and Obamacare."
An Economy of Liars | Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr. | Cato Institute: Commentary
An Economy of Liars | Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr. | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Ludwig von Mises, predicted in the 1930s that communism would eventually fail because it did not rely on prices to allocate resources. He predicted that the wrong goods would be produced: too many of some, too few of others. He was proven correct.
In the U.S today, we are moving away from reliance on honest pricing. The federal government controls 90% of housing finance. Policies to encourage home ownership remain on the books, and more have been added. Fed policies of low interest rates result in capital being misallocated across time."
In the U.S today, we are moving away from reliance on honest pricing. The federal government controls 90% of housing finance. Policies to encourage home ownership remain on the books, and more have been added. Fed policies of low interest rates result in capital being misallocated across time."
Religious Persecution International | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
Religious Persecution International | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life explores religious persecution around the world. According to Pew: '64 nations — about one-third of the countries in the world — have high or very high restrictions on religion. But because some of the most restrictive countries are very populous, nearly 70 percent of the world's 6.8 billion people live in countries with high restrictions on religion, the brunt of which often falls on religious minorities.'
Include moderate restrictions, which most Americans also would consider to be intolerable, and more than half of the world's nations limit religious liberty. Fully 86 percent of the globe's people face significant limits on their right to worship God."
Include moderate restrictions, which most Americans also would consider to be intolerable, and more than half of the world's nations limit religious liberty. Fully 86 percent of the globe's people face significant limits on their right to worship God."
Campaign For Liberty — Profits Cure Disease
Campaign For Liberty — Profits Cure Disease: "If you were told you have cancer, would you want Congress to: a) eliminate taxes on companies developing a cure, or b) eliminate their profits?"
"Choose now, because once you are diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease it will be way too late to change your mind."
"The high profits from selling the first units of the cure to the rich provide the investment capital needed to expand production and lower unit costs, making the cure for cancer available to less-wealthy people. If you tax those profits, there is no money to reinvest and the cure will be only for the rich forever."
"Choose now, because once you are diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease it will be way too late to change your mind."
"The high profits from selling the first units of the cure to the rich provide the investment capital needed to expand production and lower unit costs, making the cure for cancer available to less-wealthy people. If you tax those profits, there is no money to reinvest and the cure will be only for the rich forever."
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