Category Archives: Economics

Economics, Philosophy, Political Commentary

The Real Story Of The Debt-Limit Fight

17 Comments

It’s not about a Tea-Party Victory, but the death of the socialist left:

Most pundits are crediting this U-turn to the political muscle of the Tea Party and it’s true that President Obama would never have agreed to this deal if the Tea Party Republicans in the House of Representatives hadn’t engaged in the brinkmanship of the past few weeks. But to focus on the Tea Party is to ignore the tectonic political shift that’s taken place, not just in America but across Europe. The majority of citizens in nearly all the world’s most developed countries simply aren’t prepared to tolerate the degree of borrowing required to sustain generous welfare programmes any longer.

Let’s hope, though socialism is driven by innate human traits, primarily laziness and envy (and to be fair, misplaced compassion), so it will always rear its ugly head as long as we remain human.

[Update a while later]

Was this Obama’s “read my lips” moment?

And so we have the best of both worlds politically: a deal that leaves the Tea Party unsatisfied and therefore fired up for the next battles and election cycle, and a demoralized liberal base that can’t come to grips with the fact that socialism is over because we’ve run out of other people’s money…

Is it almost the end of the beginning?

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society

Who Are You Going To Believe?

37 Comments

The climate models, or the lying empirical evidence?

The new NASA Terra satellite data are consistent with long-term NOAA and NASA data indicating atmospheric humidity and cirrus clouds are not increasing in the manner predicted by alarmist computer models. The Terra satellite data also support data collected by NASA’s ERBS satellite showing far more longwave radiation (and thus, heat) escaped into space between 1985 and 1999 than alarmist computer models had predicted. Together, the NASA ERBS and Terra satellite data show that for 25 years and counting, carbon dioxide emissions have directly and indirectly trapped far less heat than alarmist computer models have predicted.

But let’s not let a little pesky science get in the way of social justice.

[Update a while later]

Gee, whaddaya know? A “climate researcher” who implied that our SUVs were drowning polar bears is being investigated for “integrity issues.”

It’s just the ninety percent of them who make the rest look bad.

[Update late afternoon]

Weep not for the polar bears: James Delingpole piles on.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Time To Raise Taxes

26 Comments

…on the poor:

Distressingly, neither the president nor the Democrats offer any rigorous account of the optimal level of tax progressivity. Rather, the president seems to think that no matter how high the current marginal tax rates, the correct social policy is to move them upward. As such, he cannot explain why the top marginal tax rate for the rich should not approach 100 percent as they accumulate more and more wealth. After all, why not push the limits if efforts to redistribute wealth do not at some point impede its creation?

My view is the polar opposite of Obama’s. I believe, now more than ever, that the optimal level of progressivity in the system is zero, so that today’s marginal adjustments in taxes should increase taxes on those on the bottom half of the income distribution. To explain why, let us start with the premise that the defenders of any progressive tax have to give some principled account of the optimal degree of tax progressivity. They have to identify which of the infinite number of progressive tax schedules they embrace, and then explain why it is best.

They can’t. It’s all about “fairness,” not rationality or revenue. Or preventing the country from going into a tipping point of entitlement.

[Update a while later]

Are we having a Gettysburg moment in the long cold civil war?

If so, I hope that the Republicans continue to press their advantage, as Meade didn’t.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

The “Adult In The Room”

27 Comments

…has blown up a bi-partisan plan. Because reelection is more important to him than saving the economy, or country.

[Update a few minutes later]

Our petulant and inept president.

It’s a bad combination. And I think that more and more people are starting to recognize it.

[Tuesday morning update]

Is Barack Obama a has been? I think he’s a never was, and people are finally starting to figure it out.

[Update a few minutes later]

Thoughts on the Obama plan:

As the president faced the nation on Monday evening, he knew his economic legacy was on the line. Historians will judge him for his economic stewardship.

The assessment will not be good. Going deep into his presidential term, he presides over a country that suffers from high unemployment, record home foreclosures, and a no-growth economy. But when the most pivotal issue of our decade emerged — a $16.8 trillion debt crisis — where was the “Obama plan”?

The sad truth is there is no Obama plan and there never has been a plan. The president gingerly approached the debt crisis as he has approached other issues: intellectually, coolly, passively, and with great detachment.

Bill Clinton never had a plan to balance the budget, either. It didn’t happen until the Republicans took over. But not having grown up a red-diaper baby, he was more ideologically flexible than Barack Obama.

[Update mid morning]

Remembering the golden age of Clinton. Accurately, unlike the Democrats who think that the boom was a result of tax increases.