Quote of the Day

Governments cannot create but merely redirect. When the government spends, the money has to come from somewhere. If the government doesn’t have a surplus, then it must come from taxes. If taxes don’t go up, then it must come from increased borrowing. If lenders won’t lend, then it must come from the printing press, which…

Political Theater

Don Boudreaux Here’s a letter of mine appearing in today’s Washington Times: I agree with every sentence of Steve Chapman’s essay on Barack Obama save this one: “But Mr. Obama came to public attention because of a speech, at the 2004 Democratic convention, that showed he was capable not only of a clear thought but…

Madoff Scandal

Kurt Bouwhuis, Mackinac Center Intern The following is the best description I could find regarding the Madoff Scandal: “Madoff was arrested on one charge of securities fraud Thursday and released on $10 million bail. He faces up to 20 years in jail in what authorities say was “a giant Ponzi scheme.” Such a scheme can…

Are Politicians Like Santa Clause?

This is a portion of a post from the SFE blogger Isaac Morehouse.  Full post located here. “…We demand to be promised a world without risk and without failure; interest rates that constantly fall and house and stock prices that constantly rise – as well as wages, but not CEO wages or profits.  These are…

Harsanyi on the Czar

“Many people are asking: Why can’t these companies go bankrupt and reorganize like everyone else? In bankruptcy court, the process allows the auto industry to negotiate with creditors, stakeholders and unions. Well, the auto industry spent nearly $50 million lobbying Congress in the first nine months of this year while unions spent hundreds of millions…

What Deregulation?

Kurt Bouwhuis, Mackinac Center Intern The Federal Register, which lists new regulations, averaged 72,844 pages annually during the Carter years from 1977 to 1980. These were presumably, by Pearlstein’s 25-year standard, the last time before now that Americans didn’t have “faith” in open, unregulated markets. Then the average fell to 54,335 during the Reagan years,…