It’s tempting to just give up and become a liberal

Every single time I look at the headlines, I get frustrated and indignant. That’s because every headline describes a new way the federal government is proposing to reduce the efficacy of the free market (which it laughingly calls “unfettered”), reduce the choices available to consumers, reduce the ability of entrepreneurs to innovate and support themselves, [...]

An old liberal trick unveiled

Every once in a while, there is a glimmer of honesty that shows through the muck of power-brokering and obfuscation in Congress. When it comes to the government-interventionists responding to the economic downturn, these glimmers of honest are few and far between, but here’s a good one tucked away in an MSNBC story regarding the [...]

Obama hypocritically embraces “trickle-down” economics

It’s now official. After decades of trying to deny the fact that fiscally healthy and profitable corporations create jobs and sustainable economic growth, the Democrats have finally embraced the so-called “trickle-down” effect. The only problem is that they recognize it only when they themselves are directly controlling the spending, and the fates of the companies [...]

Obama works to divide and conquer

The strategy of the Democratic party – and of leftists in general – is to continually push policies that centralize control of citizens’ lives at the federal level. This is where they – the elite who have much better ideas than we, the benighted rabble – can have the most impact on us while remaining [...]

Obama threatens to strike at the heart of free society

I have been dismayed by the Obama administration’s willingness – nay, even its eagerness – to use the coercive power of government to warp and distort the free market in the name of “fairness,” or of “addressing our national crisis.” But the latest news is truly chilling:
One possibility is a stepped-up effort to enact legislation [...]

Brainlessness behind the “stimulus”

I couldn’t have said it any better than this brilliant column in Reason magazine. The core of its brilliance:
The theory of economic stimuli suffers from several serious problems. First, it assumes people are stupid. Tax rebates, for example, presume that if people get money to increase their consumption, businesses will expand their production and hire [...]

Salary controls: The drumbeat of socialism grows louder

It’s been all the buzz for the last couple of days: the Obama administration intends to cap the pay of executives at banks receiving significant taxpayer bailout funds. The cap will be $500,000, and there will be scrutiny of their perks and fringe benefits as well. There are two unsettling aspects of this government power-grab.
First, [...]

Artificial demand is no way to “fix” the auto industry

President-elect Obama and like-minded supporters have made much of their grand idea to force the U.S. auto industry into producing “green” vehicles as the next wave of the future, with electric cars and plug-in hybrids held up as  particularly attractive saviors. Never mind that there are no indications that consumers actually want to buy these [...]

Obama’s ‘Stimulus’ plan has been tried – and it failed

As the incoming Obama administration watches its job get tougher with each day, it’s working hard to come up with a plan that convinces everyone the new president means business. Unfortunately, a new president with something to prove is the last thing the economy needs, and Obama’s proposal to dump a trillion dollars into the [...]