A couple of years ago, I was presenting at a small education conference in New York when someone asked what a success indicator might be for a dynamic, decentralized education marketplace. “When we see some schools shutting down,” I responded. In an education free market, parents are the customers. If they are not satisfied with...
John Joseph Mearsheimer recently summed up in a single sentence why Julian Assange should go free. “Journalists don’t go to jail for publishing classified information in the United States,” Mr. Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, said in a recent video. There has been endless ink spilled on Mr. Assange, whose lawyers...
The distribution of the income tax burden in America is a surprising study, to say the least. Two recent studies produced by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation analyzes who pays the federal income tax burden and what the burden and cost of preparing income taxes really is. The short version? Rich people do pay their...
The Federal Reserve system, including its twelve regional district banks that issue our US currency, is a creature of Congress, which passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 to create our central bank. The Fed is neither part of the executive branch of the federal government, nor is it an independent federal agency within the...
Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot distinguish fact from fiction. It also isn’t creative or can create novel content but repeats, repackages, and reformulates what has already been said (but perhaps in new ways). I am sure someone will disagree with the latter, perhaps pointing to the fact that AI can clearly generate, for example, new songs...
There’s been another bump in the disinflationary road. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.4 percent in February and 3.2 percent year-over-year, exceeding many economists’ predictions. That’s up slightly from January’s 0.3-percent monthly and 3.1-percent annualized increases. Much of the increase is due to shelter and gasoline prices, which...
The United States is in fiscal trouble. The burden of government spending has increased by nearly $3 trillion over the past 10 years—nearly doubling in just one decade! And that means more resources diverted from the economy’s productive sector, which is bad news whether the spending is financed by taxes, borrowing, or money printing. To...
It does not take too much upstairs to see through the Biden administration’s rejection of the JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger. The latter is on the verge of bankruptcy. It is $1.1 billion in debt. It faces the headwinds of a new labor agreement raising pilot pay by 34% and has trouble with its Pratt & Whitney...
Gore Vidal once said “I told you so” are the four most beautiful words in the English language. Perhaps this is why it’s difficult to resist sharing new data that show how Sweden’s much-maligned pandemic response was right after all. For those who’ve forgotten, Sweden was excoriated by corporate media and US politicians for its...
Tax policy in Michigan makes no sense. It’s a seesaw that favors those who back the winning candidate in a general election. Members of each party work to deliver preferential tax treatment for supporters and buy favorable, job-related press coverage. It doesn’t matter if Republicans or Democrats do it — it’s wrong either way and...
Inflation picked up in January, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI), which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, grew at a continuously compounding annual rate of 4.1 percent in the first month of the year. The PCEPI has grown at...
Wendy’s came under considerable fire this week after news broke that the fast-food chain was planning to test a new “dynamic pricing” model. Part of a $20 million initiative experimenting with digital menu boards, the move was roundly condemned as an attempt to implement “Uber-style” surge pricing. “There are people who view dynamic pricing as...
For years, my daughter, who is 12, has asked to have a room in the basement. My wife finally relented, and the two of them recently gave a fresh paint job to what will be her new room on the lowest level. I’m relieved they got the job done quickly, because a new bill (SF...
Lawmakers in Michigan are considering bills that would impose rent control on mobile home operators. Five bills before the Senate create many new regulations, including restrictions on owners of manufactured housing communities. Instead of determining their rental rates independently, they would have to submit any rent increases above the inflation rate to a state board...