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News
Recent posts and articles from IGEG fellows, advisers, experts and scholars.
Taxes, Fines and Government Extortion Americans must root out officials who contravene the Cconstitution to fleece taxpayers
When the government "fines" you for not buying health insurance, is it, in fact, a fine, a tax or government extortion? The biggest U.S. banks have been "fined" something in the neighborhood of $125 billion (yes, billion) over the past five years, without anyone in...
The Economics of Blueberries Food costs jump when politicians mandate higher wages
Blueberries are healthier than bread, so why don't people eat more blueberries and less bread? Perhaps it's because blueberries cost roughly 15 times more than bread (depending on the time of year) for the same number of calories. Blueberries are a labor-intensive...
The Long-Run Solution to an Economic Mess First, downsize the excessively large government sectors
Yes, the world is a mess — but there is a long-run solution. The solution is a world of modest-size governmental units — like Virginia and Switzerland, with no larger entity to bail them out if they make bad decisions. Most countries, including those with the biggest...
Winning Issues that are not just about ‘not Obama’ Positive messages about spending reduction and tax reform will resonate with voters
If you were a campaign manager for Republicans running for the Senate or House in November, what policy positions would you advise them to take? The Republican Party has been under a lot of criticism for running a campaign of "not Obama" rather than presenting a...
An Aspirational Society to Emulate The currency of Hong Kong is effort, rather than envy
Why is Hong Kong succeeding while New York City is receding? They are both world-class cities with about the same per-capita income and great natural harbors. New York is about 15 percent larger in population, while Hong Kong is about one-third larger in area (but...
Hong Kong’s Miraculous Progress Economic freedom has made a tiny seaport into a financial giant
How did this small city-state of 7.3 million people go from having a per-capita income of only a few hundred dollars per year to a per capita income that is equal to that of the United States in only 50 years? The simple answer is they had the British common law legal...
When Regulators Break Their Own Rules Officials look the other way when insider traders are their own
Do you think people in government are more or less honest than those in the private sector? A major function of most regulatory agencies is to keep those in the private sector honest and from abusing power. Yet we know that those in government often abuse the power...
No Government Austerity, No Gain Predictably, the Keynesian model has failed to produce a healthy economy
Do you think government has grown or contracted during the past seven years? If you listen to the political class and many of their lackeys in the news media, you would think there have been massive cuts in government spending. The truth is the opposite both in the...
The Original Jersey British isle where small government has led to large financial muscle
This small island, about two-thirds the size of Washington, D.C., with only 100,000 people, is home to one of the world’s largest financial centers. Americans know of the state of New Jersey, but few know that it was named after the isle of Jersey, which is located in...
When Money Mischief Goes Global Treaty would let tyrants peer into Americans’ financial information
Do you want the Obama administration sharing all of your financial information with the Russian, Chinese and Saudi Arabian governments? You may be thinking, not even President Obama would go that far. Not so, read on. This past week, the Organization for Economic...
Government Corruption on the Rampage The bureaucrats have exempted themselves from punishment for their malfeasance
The Obama administration is arguably the most corrupt administration in U.S. history. Corruption destroys civil society and economic growth by undermining the rule of law and protection of private property. Corruption takes many forms, from the simple payment to a...
How Congress Lost Control of Government Spending Incremental expansion of programs now drains off almost every dollar
Did you know that the portion of the federal budget that Congress actually votes on (the discretionary budget) has been falling for years? The so-called "entitlements," such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and Obamacare, take a larger and larger...
The End of the Progressive Income Tax The new IRS rules for global income reporting could break the system
July 1 might go down in history as the beginning of the end of the comprehensive, progressive income tax. A progressive income tax, in which the government attempts to tax all labor income and capital income, such as interest, dividends and capital gains more than...
An Act of Economic Strangulation Obama’s new tax rules for foreign accounts will punish Americans
Do you know why the U.S. economy shrank almost 3 percent in the first quarter of this year? When the news of the dreadful gross domestic product (GDP) number came out last week, many were surprised, but none were more surprised than the folks in the Obama...
The Cold Facts about Reality Deniers The gullible give in to the government’s global-warming myth
Much of the media treat those who are skeptics about man-made global warming with the pejorative term “global-warming deniers,” as if they were Holocaust deniers. Yet many of those in the media who watched presidential spokesperson Jay Carney engage in what can only...
Reducing the Risk of Oil Price Spikes Better fuel production and transport could enhance U.S. Security
You may have noticed gasoline prices are rising. If the Middle East situation gets much worse, gasoline prices will rise even more. The good news is that we are likely to avoid long gas lines as we had in the late 1970s under President Carter, because fracking and...
So Many Bad Decisions, So Little Time A fatal conceit is the undoing of many a politician
Would you have traded five terrorists for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl? The decision may have been wrong or right, but what is striking is that President Obama seems to have made this decision, and all too many others, in an ad hoc way, rather than using decision theory....
How Fracking has Saved Obama The president is loath to admit oil and gas have kept his economy afloat
Without fracking of oil and gas deposits, there would have been no economic growth in the U.S. over the past five years. Yet the oil and gas industry has been a favorite whipping boy of the environmental zealots both inside and outside of the administration. Without...