The state of Pennsylvania, as well as many other states, faces a pension crisis. The state has not set aside enough money each year to pay the pensions it is legally obligated to pay state workers and public school employees. … Continue reading
Now that Donald Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, we can look more closely at his policy proposals. In April, when the two candidates were still battling for the Republican nomination, I compared Donald Trump’s tax plan to Ted Cruz’s … Continue reading
As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz battle to become the Republican nominee for president, it is time to closely consider their policies. Although both propose cutting taxes, the details of their plans are very different. Ted Cruz is proposing a … Continue reading
Arguing that no full-time worker should be paid so little as to live in poverty, Bernie Sanders supports increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020. This is part of his plan for reducing income inequality in the United … Continue reading
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has finally announced that he will allow the budget passed by the legislature for the 2015-16 fiscal year to become law. It is now time for the legislature to consider the 2016-17 budget proposal, since the … Continue reading
The first two weeks of January 2016 were the worst beginning of a year ever for the stock market. If the month had not ended with a big market rebound, it would have been even worse. Some people blame the … Continue reading
Yesterday my wife paid $1.99 per gallon for gasoline, a price lower than almost anyone expected a few years ago. From 2010 to early 2014, oil prices were fairly steady at close to $100 per barrel. Beginning in June 2014, … Continue reading
After much debate and considerable delay, the House of Representatives has finally passed a highway funding bill. A big question that delayed the bill’s passage was whether the federal fuel tax would be increased to fully cover planned spending from … Continue reading
The Bureau of Economic Analysis has reported that in the first quarter of this year the U.S. economy declined at a 0.7 percent annual rate. Although growth may be higher for the rest of the year, this is another reminder … Continue reading
Recently, many economists and politicians have expressed concern about stagnant wages and rising income and wealth inequality. Such concerns prompted 20 states and the District of Columbia to raise the minimum wage this year. Some economists, such as former treasury … Continue reading
Unemployment has been falling but the number of Americans not working—or working fewer hours—has remained stubbornly high since 2008. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” is part of the reason for this. By requiring businesses with more … Continue reading
Many Americans are upset by the decision of President Obama to issue an executive order to reform immigration policy. The executive order effectively grants undocumented immigrants the legal right to remain in the United States if they have been here … Continue reading
As the governor’s race heats up in Pennsylvania, one of the central issues is whether to enact a severance tax on natural gas. Democrat candidate Tom Wolf has emphasized the fact that Pennsylvania is the only state in the country without … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This article first appeared The Daily Caller. In spite of the claims by President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors regarding his administration’s economic accomplishments, the U.S. economy has grown very slowly in the years since the Great Recession … Continue reading
Dr. Gary Becker, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992, died Saturday at the age of 83. I was privileged to be a student of Gary Becker at the University of Chicago in the 1980s. He is well … Continue reading
Recently, some commentators have been promoting the idea of a government guaranteed income, where the government would pay a monthly cash payment to every American, regardless of need or merit. A similar idea, the negative income tax, has been discussed … Continue reading
The problems with the healthcare.gov website offer a glimpse of the way the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is likely to fail at accomplishing its most important goals: providing affordable, high-quality health care to all Americans, without increasing the deficit. The … Continue reading
The U.S. House and Senate are considering an immigration reform bill. Critics of the legislation say that it will not do enough to secure our borders and that it grants amnesty to illegal immigrants. The bigger issue, which has been … Continue reading
Recently the debate about “death panels” has been heating up as Republican Congressional leaders express their opposition to implementing the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) by refusing to appoint members to serve on it. The IPAB, which was referred to … Continue reading
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com.Everyone is talking about the “fiscal cliff”—the likely impact of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the planned cuts in government spending that are part of Budget Control Act … Continue reading
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