Economics

It is hard to get there if you don’t know where you want to go. Despite the Democrats gaining control of Congress and his own previous mistakes, President Bush still has the opportunity to leave a constructive economic legacy, but to do so he must first clearly define his goals and determine what is realistically doable. Over the last couple Read More ›

PRISTINA, Kosovo. — This small European nonstate tucked between Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia is a living testament to the inability of the U.N. to solve problems. As some will recall, eight long years ago NATO and the U.N. intervened to stop the war between Serbia and its province of Kosovo, largely inhabited by people of Albanian origin (more than Read More ›

If the price of oranges increases, would you expect the quantity sold to rise or fall? I expect most of you reading that question would answer, “sales would fall,” because you were either taught the law of demand or intuitively understand that when prices rise people will spend less (there are a few rare exceptions). Congress is expected to increase Read More ›

Have you noticed New York residents do not fear a cutoff of their natural gas supplies because of a potential political or economic dispute with Texas? But envision a scenario where the State of Texas owned all of the natural gas in that state and the distribution network to other states, and where the governor of Texas decided to ignore Read More ›

The true scholar is inherently incapable of running anything. By temperament, he loathes the very concept of authority and, even more, the idea of exercising authority himself. Consequently our faculty is limited to its proper functions: teaching and research in that order. Students participate in governance the same way that customers participate in the governance of Macy’s: If they don’t Read More ›

If a politician does not vote to extend or make permanent the 2003 Bush tax cuts that are now set to expire at the end of 2010, is he or she voting for a tax increase? Most Republicans will say “yes” and most Democrats will say “no.” When it comes to tax increases, all too many Democrats, sounding like Bill Read More ›

Would you trust your life to U.S. government forecasts? The 2006 federal government fiscal year ended Sept. 30 with a deficit of $248 billion, which was $175 billion, or 71 percent smaller than that forecast by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in February of this year, a mere eight months earlier. The Clinton administration failed to predict the Read More ›

Would you be outraged if you knew your taxpayer dollars were being used to lobby for more government subsidies and higher taxes? Well you should be, because that is exactly what is happening. Over the years there have been many cases of government agencies lobbying Congress for more funds and/or higher taxes. As a result of earlier abuses, Congress prohibited Read More ›

GRAND CAYMAN, the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm. — If people were not allowed to own chickens and if chicken eggs and meat could not be legally sold, how many chickens would there be? The reason chickens, cattle, catfish, and goldfish are not endangered is because they are owned by private parties, bred and raised in captivity, and sold for commercial Read More ›

If you wanted to become really rich, yet at the same time help your fellow man, what would you do? There is no contradiction. The answer is — start a business — where you provide employment to others and also provide a new or improved good or service, or an existing good or service at a lower price. Thomas Edison Read More ›