News
Recent posts and articles from IGEG fellows, advisers, experts and scholars.
America in Free Fall Economic freedom in the U.S. is dropping fast
The annual Economic Freedom of the World report, including an index of country rankings, has just been released, and it should be a wake-up call. The United States was known as the bastion of economic freedom for more than two centuries, and it was because of its...
The Wrong Doctors Central bankers are putting all at risk
Central banks are being pressured by their political masters to solve a problem they cannot solve. On Wednesday, a German court is going to rule whether the European Central Bank can buy an unlimited amount of debt from the national banks of the countries in the...
Former Satellites Take on Europe From iron curtain to economic prosperity
Year by year, the current nine countries of Eastern and Central Europe that were controlled by the Soviets -- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia -- become relatively more prosperous in comparison to the...
Democrats’ Hypocrisy with the Rich Lower taxes increase prosperity
Did you know that President Obama is responsible for the loss of more U.S. jobs than any other person? Did you know that Sen. John F. Kerry and his wife are three to four times as rich as Mitt and Ann Romney, according to the New York Times, yet paid a lower tax rate...
Stop Global Economic Malpractice Growth in spending requires cutbacks
Two centuries ago, it was common practice for the doctors to bleed a patient in the belief that it would get rid of the "vapors" that were thought to be causing the illness. As a result, most patients got worse and many died. Much of the world is now suffering from...
Lessons from the Olympics Reward, not envy, is American way
Do you admire what the Olympic athletes have been able to accomplish, and do you think they should be applauded for their outstanding performances? Most people in the world would answer the question in the affirmative. Most people also admire and applaud great...
Resist the U.N.’s Disability Convention Pact could impinge on U.S. sovereignty
Which level of government do you think should have the responsibility for protecting the rights of the disabled -- local, state, federal or the United Nations? The United States has been a global leader in protecting the disabled and advancing its interests. Over the...
No Excuse for Bad Policies Claiming failure isn’t president’s fault doesn’t fly
The Obama administration and its apologists, including many in the media, keep telling us that the Great Recession was the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s, and that is why the recovery has been so anemic. Is that true? When President Obama took office,...
Irrational Infatuation with Biofuels Lawmakers drive up cost of food and energy
Are you upset about rapidly rising food costs and high gas prices? You can thank members of Congress and the administration for this situation. Much of the United States is in the midst of a major drought. That's not the fault of the political class, but those folks...
Obama Plans to Fund Government for Eight Days Romney should adopt strategy to fund it for eight years
When President Obama announced that he again wanted to increase taxes on the top 2 percent of taxpayers, I would have recommended to Mitt Romney that he reply by saying: "President Obama has called for a tax increase on job creators, which will only fund the...
Rise of the Global Tax Collectors Congress is giving international bureaucrats the power to intrude
The Constitution gives Congress the exclusive right to tax Americans at the federal level. Yet Congress continues to give away this most fundamental responsibility to international organizations, the most dangerous of which is the Paris-based Organization for Economic...
Similar Problems, Similar Solutions Nations large and small can dodge economic disaster with pro-growth policies
The world financial and debt crisis can, at times, be better understood by looking at a small entity that is suffering from the same diseases as the major countries. The small Central American-Caribbean nation of Belize is, in many ways, a microcosm of Europe and the...
Wanted Servants Not Celebrities Norman lent modeled founders in practicing limited government
Barack Obama has been loudly proclaiming that he is not responsible as president for the big increase in spending because it was already "baked in the cake." He could have been more accurate by noting that under the Constitution, Congress is responsible for spending....
Wrong Tools for the Job Central banks can create money, but only private sector creates wealth
Assume you are a skilled heart surgeon and your patient needs a new heart valve, but you were given a spoon rather than a scalpel to cut open a chest. Relying on the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) to cure the lack of job growth is going to be no...
Taxation Goes Global Distant bureaucrats want your money with little accountability
What government unit has the right to tax you - your local government, regional or state government, federal government or multinational organizations, such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organization? The reason the question is becoming...
Spending Lies Run into Facts Congress leads on spending, and democrats gained control in 2006
Many in the political class, including President Obama and many members of Congress, have an interest in confusing, rather than enlightening, the public. The effort to misinform about the growth in spending and the impact of government spending on job creation reached...
How Soon They Forget Bigger government always means less growth
If you are a nonimmigrant American reading this, do you know why your ancestors came to America? The fact is, a large percentage of immigrants were trying to escape various forms of government persecution, including religious and tax persecution. The American...
Killers of Banks and Jobs Lawmakers attack private-sector mismanagement while ignoring their own
Last week, Jamie Dimon, CEO of the nation's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, revealed that the bank had made a $2 billion-plus trading mistake. The bank has more than $2 trillion in assets and made a profit of about $20 billion last year. So it lost one-tenth of 1...