Earlier this month, Argentina President Javier Milei dissolved the Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP), the nation’s largest tax bureau. Argentina’s presidential spokesperson Manual Adorni announced that a new agency will replace the AFIP, eliminating nearly 3,100 public employees and saving Argentine taxpayers 6.4 billion Argentine pesos (roughly $6.5 million). While this measure will reduce...
A few months ago I wrote a piece for FEE on Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei. Milei took on the presidency of Argentina with a particularly pressing challenge: government overspending was driving out-of-control money creation and its by-product—inflation. Milei’s goal was explicit. He promised to cut government largesse. In my article, I argued that his...
It’s hard to be an economist and, at the same time, be a Democrat. The reason? Most left-leaning Democrats reject the main teachings of economics. Yet more than 80% of academic economists are Democrats. For every Republican economist on college faculties, there are 4.5 Democrats. Consider just a few of the ways in which what...
On November 5, North Dakota will vote on Measure 4, a ballot measure that could make it the first state to eliminate property taxes. This decision isn’t just a local concern; it’s a critical moment that could shape the future of property tax reform nationwide. If successful, the measure will challenge the notion that property...
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has launched AI Pencil, a new AI chatbot to help answer questions about free enterprise philosophy and economics. “We’re proud to be techno-optimists at FEE,” states an announcement posted Monday, Nov. 11, on fee.org. “We see emerging technology not just as a tool but as a pathway to transformative...
Northwood University has posted a fresh lesson in the Philosophy of Free Enterprise, a free online course for anyone interested in learning about the importance of freedom and free-market economics. “Inflation has been a major issue leading up to the U.S. presidential election, so this latest lesson is particularly timely,” stated Northwood Economics Chair Dr....
The year is 1997. It’s movie night! You hop in the car and drive to Blockbuster. When you open the door, new movies flash out from the shelves: Independence Day, Space Jam, and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. Having picked out your movie—Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs—you finally make your way to the front of the...
Daylight saving time this year ended at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, Nov. 3, after being in effect for nearly eight months. Standard time will resume in most of the United States for the next four months, reverting again to daylight saving time, or DST, on March 10 next year. “Springing forward” and “falling...
Last fall a reader reached out to journalist Rachel Cohen and confessed that she didn’t know what she could do to fight homelessness. “I often feel helpless to enact change,” the reader wrote to Cohen, a policy correspondent who covers social policy for Vox. Cohen had written about homelessness for years, and she knew organizations...
“It’s about paying their fair share,” explained Vice President Kamala Harris in a September 25 interview with MSNBC. “I am not mad at anybody for achieving success, but everyone should pay their fair share.” “Pay their fair share” is a practiced mantra in Washington, DC. Politicians, from Vice President Harris to President Biden, Senator Bernie...
Whatever the politicians say during the presidential campaign, the United States will continue to need a significant number of immigrants and Latin America will need to continue exporting part of its population to this country. The native U.S. workforce is shrinking, a trend that will increase in the next few years. In the short run,...
Back in August, an article in The Atlantic titled “Sometimes You Just Have to Ignore the Economists” stirred up controversy. The article, authored by Zephyr Teachout, was primarily focused on Kamala Harris’s recent support for price control laws. The article begins by claiming that Kamala isn’t proposing price controls in normal times; rather, she’s opposed...
Is Google a monopoly? No. What about the National Association of Realtors—does it deserve this moniker? Certainly not. Did monopoly status ever fit Rockefeller’s Standard Oil of New Jersey? Not at all. How about IBM during its years-long antitrust case? Fuhgeddaboudit. Is monogamous marriage a monopoly? You’ve got to be kidding. Is the US Post...
Hurricane Helene’s devastation reminds us that we may be one disaster away from losing our homes and businesses and even the food and water we take for granted. When supplies are in high demand, whether before or after a disaster, sellers may be tempted to charge more simply because higher prices are what “the market...