Topic: Fiscal Policy

“Detached From Reality” – FreedomWorks

– March 16, 2011

“By 2020, public debt in the United States is set to reach 90 percent of GDP, a line that many economists demarcate as when accumulated debt pushes an economy to the precipice of fiscal demise. Entitlement spending remains on autopilot and some federal …

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When Money Dies – Fergusson

– March 11, 2011

“Just before the First World War in 1913, the German mark, the British Shilling, the French franc, and the Italian lira were all worth about the same, and four or five of any were worth about a dollar. At the end of 1923, it would have been possible to …

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“Two Years of Epic Stimulus Failures” – Steve Stanek

– March 9, 2011

“We’ve just passed the second anniversary of “economic stimulus” under President Barack Obama. Aside from spending on the stimulus itself—the actual price tag soon climbed from $787 billion to $862 billion—not much else has been stimulated. Well over h …

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“The Fiscal Stimulus Follies” – Richard Wagner

– March 8, 2011

“If people individually reduce their spending, the fiscal stimulists claim that government can fill the void by spending more. This is a portrait of government spending as providing a “shot of adrenaline for a slumping economy,” to cite a common image. …

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“Oil Jump Presents Conundrum for Fed” – WSJ

– March 8, 2011

“Two top Federal Reserve officials on Monday offered conflicting views on the right response to higher oil prices, kicking off what’s likely to be a lively debate within the central bank. While Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher signaled higher oil pr …

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The Power to Tax – James M. Buchanan

– March 7, 2011

“The Leviathan exploitation of the revenue potential of the money-creation power is a possibility that will be among those to be reckoned with in the constitutional deliberations of the citizen when he considers the possible efficacy of granting indepe …

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“Been There Done That: The Political Economy of Déjà Vu” – Boettke, Smith, and Snow

– March 2, 2011

“In the midst of the current financial crisis the economics profession has seen a monumental resurrection of Keynesian ideas. The debate, which Keynes started back in the 1930s, is being picked up again, not where it left off, but in exactly the same p …

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Say’s Law and Keynesian Economics

– February 24, 2011

It is reflected in Keynesian economics that the solution to a crisis is to expand aggregate demand. The economy is not producing at its maximum capacity; it is located inside its production possibilities frontier (PPF). Thus, the solution consists in t …

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The Crime Known as Quantitative Easing – Cobden Centre

– February 23, 2011

“Rather helpfully, on the Bank’s website there is an explanation of how Quantitative Easing was supposed to improve the economy. Quite clearly, the Bank explains that they purchased British Government bonds (gilts) and high quality (investment grade) b …

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“Obama’s Budget and It’s Discontents” – Bloomberg

– February 22, 2011

“The President’s budget is informed by his belief that government has a strategic role to play in guiding the economy. That means in some cases picking winners and losers and directing capital to individual industries and technologies that have a shot …

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“Our fiscal paradox: Governments too costly to function” – WP

– February 22, 2011

“Many governors face more than a spending crisis. They preside over failed systems that have discouraged fiscal restraint and sometimes preferred the interests of state employees to the interests of taxpayers. “The most important changes,” says John Ho …

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“Obama’s Louis XV budget full of gimmicks” – Chicago Tribune

– February 21, 2011

“Classic Obama debt reduction: Add $2 trillion in new taxes, then add another $1 trillion in new spending and, presto, you’ve got $1 trillion of debt reduction. And what of those “painful cuts” Obama is making to programs he really cares about? The cat …

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