Poor Choices | James A. Dorn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Poor Choices | James A. Dorn | Cato Institute: Commentary: Poverty is often blamed on high taxes, onerous regulations, barriers to occupational entry and other economic factors. But poverty is also affected by people's choices. For individuals who wait to have children, get married and stay married, obtain more education, and stay out of jail, poverty rates diminish greatly.

Columns - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin

Columns - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin: Historically, if the minority objects, Senate rules dictate that a supermajority vote of two-thirds is first needed to cut off debate, before a simple majority vote can change the rules of the Senate. This requirement was established to protect the rights of the minority in the Senate, just as our Constitution was established to protect the rights of a single individual — the ultimate minority.

Time to Abolish DHS | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Time to Abolish DHS | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'As a result of the "gold-rush pathology" encouraged by the grants — to offer just one example — the midsize town of Grand Forks, N.D., now "has more biochemical suits and gas masks than police officers to wear them."'

'DHS handouts also further a burgeoning culture of police paramilitarization, funding armored personnel carriers for such "unlikely terrorist targets" as the towns of Adrian, Mich., and Germantown, Tenn.'

'to justify the increased post-Sept. 11 spending, we "would have to deter, prevent, foil, or protect against 1,667 otherwise successful [attempted Times Square car bomb-type] attacks per year, or more than four per day."'

Obama's Tax Falsehoods | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Tax Falsehoods | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Many on the political left are quick to recognize that tax rates affect behavior when applied to behaviors they do not like, such as smoking. They want to have high taxes on certain foods, such as candy, drinks containing sugar, and transfats, to discourage their use. But when it comes to labor and capital, those on the left often argue that those taxes have little effect on the willingness of people to work or invest in productive enterprises, despite both the empirical evidence and good economic theory. To quote Mr. Entin, who has studied and modeled the effects of taxes for more than 30 years, "Higher marginal tax rates on any group, especially those already paying the highest marginal rates, would reduce GDP [gross domestic product] and income across the board, and not just on the people paying the initial tax bill. Increasing the double taxation on corporate income by raising tax rates on capital gains and dividends would dramatically reduce capital formation and wages, and would not raise the expected revenue."'

Public Schools Eat Too Much At Government Trough | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Public Schools Eat Too Much At Government Trough | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'According to the federal Digest of Education Statistics, between 1969 and 2008 (the latest year with available data) public schools went from 22.6 students per teacher to 15.3. District administrative staff went from 697.7 students per employee to just 363.3. In total, students per employee dropped from 13.6 to 7.8.

And what happened to achievement? Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the "nation's report card" — flatlined for 17-year-olds, our schools' "final products."'

Operation Twisted Logic - Detlev Schlichter - Mises Daily

Operation Twisted Logic - Detlev Schlichter - Mises Daily: 'The Fed's entire policy program suffers from the same defect that all market interventions suffer from. The moment you stop intervening, the underlying problems come to the surface again. Just look at the short-lived results of QE2. Administrative price setting does not change economic reality, at least not for the better. The interventionist has to keep intervening and do so at an accelerating pace.

Surprisingly few people seem willing to ask what exactly the underlying economic problem is. As long as we avoid that question and simply talk superficially about slow growth, the risk of a "double dip" and the need for "stimulus," I guess the Fed will continue to get away with portraying an image of, at worst, innocent bystander or, at best, a well-meaning and public-service-minded bureaucracy that just keeps trying to fight the recession, diligently exploring all available policy tools. According to this popular view, our economic difficulties seem to have come over us like a bad harvest or an alien invasion. They appear to be entirely exogenous, and the Fed is our friend and partner helping us to get out of this mess.'

'When Nixon took the dollar off gold internationally, the monetary base and bank reserves in the United States, that is, the part of the overall money supply that the Fed controls directly, was $69.8 billion. Ten years later it was $147 billion, another ten years later it was $319.7 billion, another ten years later it was $645.1 billion, and last month, exactly 40 years after the dollar was "freed" from gold, it was $2,679.5 billion.'

"Economic Warfare" - Walter Block - Mises Daily

"Economic Warfare" - Walter Block - Mises Daily: 'The only "hostile" person [in a hostile takeover] is the CEO who was ripping off the firm. But when we say that in the market there is only peaceful cooperation, we mean on the part of those who engage in any specific transaction; e.g., the newspaper buyer and seller. Third parties, of course, can always be hostile.'

The Evidence Is Mixed | Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Evidence Is Mixed | Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Another rationale for targeted subsidies is that innovators in energy markets cannot capture the full benefits of their innovations. Notice that the complaint, however, is that business will underinvest in research and development across the board, not that investors pick the wrong technologies in which to invest. If this is a serious problem, the solution is to make all research and development more attractive through subsidies.'

Social Security Ponzi Scheme? Perhaps, but That's Not the Problem | Jagadeesh Gokhale | Cato Institute: Commentary

Social Security Ponzi Scheme? Perhaps, but That's Not the Problem | Jagadeesh Gokhale | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'That suggests that the program's various redistributive features do little to alter the distribution of economic well being. Other studies also refute the idea that Social Security is successful in providing social insurance through its redistributive provisions. In yet another study, I show how Social Security's current rules can prevent people from becoming richer over generations. Social Security's rules induce low income households to save very little through retirement, thereby preventing them bequeathing wealth to their children — unlike children of rich families.'

What Defense Cuts? | Benjamin H. Friedman and Caitlin Talmadge | Cato Institute: Commentary

What Defense Cuts? | Benjamin H. Friedman and Caitlin Talmadge | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Compared with 2011 spending, the deal requires only a minor trim in security budgets: $4.5 billion in 2012 and $2.5 billion in 2013. And that reduction — pocket change in a $529 billion annual defense budget — need not even come from the Pentagon.'

'Because the bill doesn't cap war spending, Congress may evade caps by shifting base spending to that account. The past decade has given appropriators ample experience in loading war bills with base spending. Already, Senate appropriators seem to have slipped more than $6 billion of expenses previously in the base budget into the 2012 war request.'

'The "doomsday" scenario would only return America to its 2007-level of defense spending.'