Mar 14
Government education is a monstrous failure by any measurement. This graph shows that while government spending in education has increased faster than inflation for decades, ALL MEASUREMENTS OF EDUCATION OUTCOMES–whether SAT scores, standardized-test outcomes, or basic reading or math performances–HAVE SHOWN NO IMPROVEMENT. The graph is from the Cato Institute.
Mar 13
All trusters of centrally-planned economies dream the same dream: a utopia of enterprises–owned by the collective–which operate according to principles of sharing instead of profits. Socialist takeovers of oil, mining and industrial firms have occurred many times. And each time the results are the same: poverty, corruption and violence. Socialists worldwide cheered the revolution of …
Mar 09
If the power of capitalism and free markets were unleashed on health care, we would immediately see costs go down. The poorest people in society could afford high-quality health care products and services. Witness this story about fifty-cent microscopes. Private sector innovators have developed microscopes that can be sold for less than the price of …
Mar 05
A new study of the financial condition of America’s workers finds that federal employees are far better off financially than average American workers. Federal workers are not just paid better. They have far better benefits than most workers, more days off per year and more vacation time. Other studies have found that federal workers work …
Mar 05
The Institute For Justice reports a bizarre case of government licensing overreach. The State of North Carolina sought to shut down the blog and Facebook page of a man who shared advice on losing weight with a “paleo” diet (heavy on nuts, fruits and meats, light on grains and breads). The State claimed that Steve …
Mar 02
The great economist Robert Higgs has recently pointed out the importance of “real disposable income per capita” as a measure for economic health. Arguably the best single, currently available measure of the entire public’s payoff from economic activity is real disposable income per capita. This is the average amount per annum that Americans receive in …
Feb 28
We often hear of “American exceptionalism.” America has been—since its inception—the world’s flagship of freedom, property rights, invention and capitalism. Hard work and ingenuity has fueled thousands of economic miracles, and produced a nation of unparalleled abundance and prosperity. The poor in modern America live better than the kings and queens of Europe a hundred …
Feb 24
Statistically, a federal worker is now more likely to die than to quit. Federal employees are so overpaid that there are multiple books on the shelves of most bookstores on the topic of how to get a federal job. Those who work in the federal government have hit the lottery. As the American middle class …
Feb 20
Medicare was pitched in 1965 as being economically responsible. Its promoters in Congress estimated that the Medicare bill would cost $1.1 billion for the following two years. The day after the bill was signed into law, its costs were widely estimated to be $6.5 billion over a decade. The House Ways and Means Committee said …
Feb 15
In February 2014, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an overlooked report on the “Labor Market Effects of the Affordable Care Act.” The Report provided updates of earlier estimates, and by February 2014 the CBO was able to draw on more accurate data than the CBO had cited in its earlier reports. CBO estimates that …
