As soon as healthcare reform passed through Congress, talk about how to pay for it began immediately. Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer said that he thought President Obama would propose a VAT (value-added tax) after the fall elections. The pretense … Continue reading
Economics & Political Systems
The VAT-Man Cometh?
Recently, progressives have made noise about introducing a value-added tax (VAT) in the United States. The VAT is an indirect tax—that is, Americans wouldn’t pay the tax directly to government, but would pay it to businesses as part of the … Continue reading
Buchenwald and the Totalitarian Century
Editor’s note: A longer version of this article first appeared at The American Spectator at the original time of publication. This spring 2010 marks some sordid anniversaries: 65 years since the discovery of the Nazi concentration camps that facilitated the … Continue reading
God Gets His Healthcare Bill
The most frustrating thing I’ve dealt with in professional life was eight years of outrageous, baseless charges against President George W. Bush on matters of faith. Even when Bush was simply asked about his faith, and responded with utterly benign … Continue reading
V&V Q&A: God, Socialism, and the Free Market
Editor’s Note: The “V&V Q&A” is an e-publication from The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. This latest edition of “V&V Q&A” is an intriguing look at the biblical basis for the free-market economy, dispelling the popular notion among … Continue reading
Grampa Bunning’s Fight for His Kids
Seventy-eight-year-old Jim Bunning has nine children and 40 grandchildren. Last week, Daily Kos, a progressive blog, made the Hall of Fame pitcher and U.S. senator a poster boy for the “The Party of Mean” because he asked Congress to pay … Continue reading
The Governing Elite vs. the Rest of Us
The truly revolutionary American idea of government as the servant of the people may be fading away. Many of today’s so-called “civil servants” are a protected, privileged class. While Middle America struggles through a difficult recession, a lot of government … Continue reading
The Student Loan Problem
You may have seen the recent story about the 41-year-old doctor who graduated from medical school in 2003 with student-loan indebtedness of $250,000 that has since swelled to more than $555,000. She is now scheduled to pay $990 per month … Continue reading
CPAC and Glenn Beck
This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference was unique. The Tea Party movement burst forth in August 2009 and the tension that this leaderless juggernaut generates among establishment conservatives was palpable at the nation’s largest annual gathering of grassroots conservatives and … Continue reading
V&V Q&A: Outrageous Public Debt
Editor’s Note: The “V&V Q&A” is an e-publication from The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. In this latest Q&A, Dr. Paul Kengor, executive director of the Center, interviews Dr. Guido Hülsmann, chairman of the economics department … Continue reading
“Econoclasts:” A Book Review
“Econoclasts: The Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity” By Brian Domitrovic | ISI Books (August 2009) | 368 pp. Brian Domitrovic, assistant professor of history at Sam Houston State University, has written an important book.Econoclasts is … Continue reading
The Relevance of Scott Brown
Republicans have greeted Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts with the sort of relief expressed by Winston Churchill when he learned that Pearl Harbor had prompted America to finally enter the war; for the first time in years, he “slept the … Continue reading
A Moment of Illumination
We’ve all had those sudden epiphanies where the proverbial light bulb clicks on and understanding comes into clear focus. I had one of those moments over the Christmas holiday season. In this case, the light bulb experience was literal as … Continue reading
Pennsylvania’s Green Eco-Slumber
As a poster child for liberal energy policies throughout the country, Pennsylvania’s Governor Ed Rendell has issued the edict to grow the state’s energy resources greener. Huge sums of taxpayer-supplied subsidy and stimulus have been funneled into the greening of … Continue reading
Obama’s Anti-jobs Policy
High and/or rising unemployment is always a political liability for a president, and so Barack Obama has taken the offensive in trying to persuade the American people that his team can get Americans back to work. In November, Obama took … Continue reading
Climategate, Copenhagen and Cap & Trade
2009 ended with a flurry of important events on the climate-change front. In November, the Climategate scandal broke. An anonymous whistle-blower released over 1,000 e-mails from key scientists (both British and American) in the alarmist climate-change camp. The e-mails revealed … Continue reading
Where is Your Treasure?
The sticker on the front page of Saturday’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune screamed “BERNIE MADOFF AUCTION, SUNDAY DECEMBER 27, THE RITZ-CARLTON, SARASOTA, FL.” The fine print clarified that it wasn’t the convicted Ponzi scheme operator’s property that was being sold off, but that of … Continue reading
Combating Recessions: The Search for the Right Macroeconomic Policy
What should governments do to combat recessions’ In the United States, before the Great Depression of the 1930s, the answer was “very little.” Of course, the federal government was much smaller then compared to the size of the private sector, … Continue reading
Jawboning the Bankers
When presidents want to persuade an opponent they often resort to verbal intimidation or “jawboning.” President Obama recently jawboned American bankers hoping they would start lending money to small and medium-sized businesses. He may slay his own political reputation if … Continue reading
Jefferson’s Warnings About Money and Banks
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy hosted a dinner for 49 Nobel laureates. The occasion provided the opportunity for JFK to display his keen wit in the memorable quote, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of … Continue reading