Yearly Archives: 2013

Is College A Scam?

"The system is broken, the middle class is disappearing, being carved through the middle by a trillion dollars in student loan debt, and everyone is still raising tuition faster than inflation. And 50% of kids with college degrees now are underemployed. And that one statistic that 'if you go to college you make a million dollars more' is totally flawed and I explained why using basic Statistics 101 knowledge. I talked about the girl who was practically naked while hula hooping so she could make debt payments from a tip jar. I spoke about the two kids who were now clerks in an eyeglass store getting paid by the hour, and they felt they were 'lucky' because their other friends did not have jobs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs College A Scam?

Student Loan Consequences: Real, Costly, and Personal

"Under the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) signed into law as part of ObamaCare in March of 2010, students may borrow money directly from the federal government regardless of their credit score or any other financial 'issues' they may be facing. They are not priced according to any 'individualized measure of risk' nor are there loan limits. They are instead politically determined by Congress with undergraduates receiving lower interest rates than graduate students, but graduate students allowed to borrow more than undergrads. This forced entry by the government into what was once a private market transaction has numerous consequences." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudent Loan Consequences: Real, Costly, and Personal

Tax Havens Are Crucial if We Want to Restrain Predatory Government

"Politicians have little incentive to control spending and reform programs if they think that higher taxes are an option. So how do we control their appetite for more revenue? There’s no silver bullet solution, but part of the answer is that we need tax competition and tax havens. Politicians are less likely to over-tax and over-spend if they’re afraid that the geese that lay the golden eggs can fly across the border. In other words, tax competition is a necessary but not sufficient condition to promote good policy. And that’s why I’m willing to defend tax havens, even if it requires bringing a message of liberty to traditionally hostile audiences such as readers of the New York Times and viewers of CNN." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Havens Are Crucial if We Want to Restrain Predatory Government

The Three Types of Austerity

"Reading the financial press, one gets the impression there are only two sides to the austerity debate: pro-austerity and anti-austerity. In reality, we have three forms of austerity. There is the Keynesian-Krugman-Robert Reich form which promotes more government spending and higher taxes. There is the Angela Merkel form of less government spending and higher taxes, and there is the Austrian form of less spending and lower taxes. Of the three forms of austerity, only the third increases the size of the private sector relative to the public sector, frees up resources for private investment, and has actual evidence of success in boosting growth." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Three Types of Austerity

Scandinavian Welfare States Realize Too Many Handouts Are Destructive

"It’s hardly radical libertarianism to reduce unemployment benefits from four years to two years, but it is rather significant when even politicians realize that it’s not good – as illustrated by these powerful cartoons – to lure people into the wagon when nations need more people pulling the wagon. It's a bit depressing that Denmark actually ranks higher than the United States in the most recent Economic Freedom of the World rankings. Yes, their welfare state is too big, their tax system is a nightmare, and they are saddled with one of the world’s most expensive bureaucracies, but Denmark has ultra-free market policies in other areas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScandinavian Welfare States Realize Too Many Handouts Are Destructive

Government Interference in the Bowling Shoe Sector

"New York State Senator Patrick Gallivan (R-59th District) New York State Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D-140th District) are sponsoring a bill that would cover bowling shoes. The bill in the assembly is co-sponsored by Assembly members Brian Kolb, Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Jane Corwin. It would require alley owners to post signs, warning keglers not to wear bowling shoes outside, lest they become wet and increase the likelihood that a bowler could slip and fall when they come inside. I think we have pretty much everything covered. Can we now disband all state and federal law making bodies?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Interference in the Bowling Shoe Sector

Strangled By Red Tape

"We’re talking about a huge cost to the economy, and it’s been getting worse for the past 12 years. If those numbers don’t make you sit up and take notice, how about these ones? Americans spend 8.8 billion hours every year filling out government forms. The economy-wide cost of regulation is now $1.75 trillion. For every bureaucrat at a regulatory agency, 100 jobs are destroyed in the economy’s productive sector. The Obama Administration added $236 billion of red tape just in 2012. Today’s Byzantine system is good for tax lawyers, accountants, and bureaucrats, but it’s bad news for America." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStrangled By Red Tape

Feds sending free mobile phones to dead people: congressman

"Dead people don’t need cell phones. That’s the message Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas wants to send Congress, after he says a controversial government-backed program that helps provide phones to low-income Americans ended up sending mobiles to the dead relatives of his constituents. Griffin has introduced a bill that targets the phone hand-out program, which has ballooned into a fiscal headache for the government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds sending free mobile phones to dead people: congressman

Free Lunches for All Students in Boston

"The federal government has taken a chunk of taxpayers’ money and handed it over to Boston’s tax-funded schools. The money will be used to supply free lunches for all students. There will be no means-testing. Rich kids will get free meals. Why? So as to avoid the sense of shame in the hearts of poor kids, who might see their families as charity cases, which of course they are. Reality is painful. Self-awareness is painful. Politicians spend their careers trying to find ways to shield voters from reality." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFree Lunches for All Students in Boston

Wind farms are a breach of human rights says UN. No, really.

"Plans for future wind farms in Britain could be in jeopardy after a United Nations legal tribunal ruled that the UK Government acted illegally by denying the public decision-making powers over their approval and the 'necessary information' over their benefits or adverse effects. The new ruling calls into question the legal validity of any further planning consent for all future wind-farm developments based on current policy, both onshore and offshore. The commission declared that the UK flouted Article 7 of the Aarhus Convention, which requires full and effective public participation on all environmental issues and demands that citizens are given the right to participate in the process." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWind farms are a breach of human rights says UN. No, really.