TCS Daily : February 2009 Archives
Mr. President, End this Farm Subsidy Boondoggle
Before taking office, President Barack Obama pledged to cut government waste: "We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness." Yet after signing the $410 billion omnibus (the largest annual incre
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Mr. President, End this Farm Subsidy Boondoggle
Before taking office, President Barack Obama pledged to cut government waste: "We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness." Yet after signing the $410 billion omnibus (the largest annual incre
Read More
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Why Obama's Economic Plan Will Fail
The recent passage of the $787 billion malapropism known as the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" on Friday the 13th was full of irony. Beyond the portentous date of passage, or its questionable moniker, was the ugly process...
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Poor Shimon Peres
Anyone with a keen interest in Israeli elections has a particularly satisfying hobby: they are not just interesting, but also frequent. The elections on 10 February were the 18th parliamentary elections the country has held in its 61 years of...
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Too Big to Fail?
Consider the Arctic versus the Amazon. The idea of cold versus heat will come to mind, but also the idea of a rarified ecosystem versus biodiversity. The Amazon has uncountable species while the Arctic has a few. This sparse ecosystem makes the Arcti
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An Interview with Senator Bob Corker on Auto Bailout Nation
Senator Bob Corker told me last night on The Kudlow Report that Team Obama needs to draw a line in the sand and finish negotiations with with GM & Chrysler. Here is the transcript of my CNBC interview with him...
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Privy Politics
With Bozeman's boom fading or gone, focus turns to the likely impact of the stimulus upon employment. Naturally, some recall FDR's Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935. This was one of many New Deal programs known by their letters and...
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Accounting for (Congressional) Dummies
This week, I watched, with amazement, Larry Kudlow's joust with Congressman Brad Sherman about accounting. Sherman was fresh from his Stalinist show trial of bank CEOs. Having spent the afternoon berating the banks for having the audacity to pay a...
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Accounting for (Congressional) Dummies
This week, I watched, with amazement, Larry Kudlow's joust with Congressman Brad Sherman about accounting. Sherman was fresh from his Stalinist show trial of bank CEOs. Having spent the afternoon berating the banks for having the audacity to pay a...
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Scientific Stagnation
Today is the 200th Anniversary of Darwin's birth, and this year marks the 150th Anniversary of the Publication of On the Origin of Species. But what should be a celebration of scientific discovery is spoiled by a simple and shocking truth -
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Unfinished Business Can Stimulate, Too
The world waits breathlessly for a final stimulus plan from President Obama and Congress, but we need only look back a little to identify a few win-win initiatives that could help boost the economy. Last year the Bush administration came...
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Keynesian Creationism - Part 2
Continued from Part 1...Keynesian Creationists have descended on Washington like the Promise Keepers on Houston. Their disciples are abuzz in the blogosphere, casting aspersions on the non-believers. Lest I be accused of empty ad hominem, allow me to put a...
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Keynesian Creationism - Part 1
By now, anyone who is interested in economic matters should be familiar with the term "market fundamentalism." It's a low-cost but effective elbow thrown by leftish intellectuals engaged in rhetorical team sports. The idea is to ridicule and deride, rather...
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How Republics Die
Insofar as an economic downturn has traceable causes, the present recession seems to have origins in the behavior of at least three groups of people: reckless lenders, who encouraged people to spend their money irresponsibly; reckless borrowers, who took their...
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Boomer Bust
In 2008 the housing bubble burst and wrecked havoc on the world economy. The realization that there was a problem brewing was delayed, and by the time it was clear, too late. Various cures are being hastily proposed and enacted,...
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Multiplier Madness
Do you believe in magic? When it comes to "stimulating" the economy, politicians across the nation are shamelessly relying on a bit of magic. The magic of the government spending "multiplier," that is. Ever wonder where President Obama got his...
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The Gregg Factor
So why would the estimable Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) quit his job to become commerce secretary in the Obama administration? Over the past year I've gotten to know Sen. Gregg through numerous interviews and a dinner with his wife...
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