Nations Competing with Tax Cuts, Not Increases
(Steven Malanga, Real Clear Markets) Barack Obama’s election has elicited debate about whether he will drive America toward a European-style economy, one that is heavily regulated and relies on high taxation of the rich to redistribute income and finance generous government programs. How ironic, then, that Europe itself is moving away from European-style taxation as part of a broader trend by developed and developing countries to compete more extensively for capital and talent.
It's Not Taxpayers, But Tax Takers Who Aren't Doing Their Fair Share
(J.T.Young, Investor's Business Daily) The top 50% of income tax filers paid 97% of all income taxes. The top 5% paid 60%, and the top 1% paid 40% of all collected federal income taxes. ... 'Sacrifice' is evidently not lacking on the tax side of the federal fiscal equation. The spending side is a different story, however...
The Age of Prosperity is Over
(Arthur B. Laffer, Wall Street Journal) ...unfortunately in this world there is no tooth fairy. And the government doesn't create anything; it just redistributes. ... These issues aren't Republican or Democrat, left or right, liberal or conservative. They are simply economics, and wish as you might, bad economics will sink any economy no matter how much they believe this time things are different. They aren't...
Why the Mortgage Crisis Happened
(M. Jay Wells, Investor's Business Daily) Though IBD has run many articles and editorials on the so-called mortgage meltdown, one of the most complete timelines of the debacle was written by an independent scholar and published this week by the Web magazine American Thinker. Because the issue is so important, we are running this 7,300-word history in its entirety...
Taxing Times
(Thomas Sowell, Townhall) Chief Justice John Marshall said it all in one sentence: "The power to tax is the power to destroy." It is not the money that is taxed away that is destroyed. What is destroyed is the wealth that does not get produced in the first place, because high taxes make its production not worthwhile...
(Video) Saving Our Economy: What'$ Next?
(Fox Business News Special) It's the economic crisis of the century; our entire nation is at risk. Who's to blame and how do we fix it?
Five Ways to Wreck a Recovery
(Amity Shlaes, Washington Post) Perverse monetary policy was the greatest cause of the Great Depression. But five non-monetary missteps were important in making the Depression great, and the same missteps damaged the global economy as well. While many are thinking about the Depression, few seem concerned about replicating these Foolish Five today ...
Tragedy Averted
(IBD) Seven months. That's all it took before Hawaii concluded that the only state universal child medical coverage program in the country is unsustainable. Give officials credit for heading off a disaster...
Women make some of their most important economic decisions between the ages of 18 and 34. One of the most comprehensive, practical websites we've found to help women of all age groups shape their financial future is Kiplinger.com.
Below are links to a few of the many career and personal money management tools available at the site:
The Basics of Money
How to Choose the Right Job
What Not to Say at a Job Interview
How to Create a Budget
Calculator: Create Your Budget
How to Handle Debt
Calculator: Should I Pay Off Debt or Invest in Savings?
20 Small Ways to Save Big
10 Questions to Ask Before Saying 'I Do'
Secrets to Marital and Money Bliss
Tax Planning for Life's Major Events
Home Buyer's Survival Kit
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by Karol Boudreaux, Senior Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
How do everyday choices of shampoo, shoes, magazines, and electronics make the capitalist free-market economic system work? What are the economics of choice, and why is consumer choice a fundamental indicator of individual liberty and democratic societies?
Author Karol Boudreaux explains in this report. "The endless variety of choices Americans enjoy is extraordinary," says Boudreaux, "and yet so common it can be easily taken for granted."
by Nonie Darwish, author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror.
Most Americans think of Islam as just a religion. Islam is much more; it is a one party state with a very elaborate legal system, called Sharia law, that can put you to death if you leave it. The lives of women living under Sharia law and those living under democratic law are a world - and centuries - apart.
Ms. Darwish describes the danger America faces from Sharia advocates who claim that Sharia Islamic law is a religious right compatible with democracy and suggests that American women can stand together against the spread of radical Islam and its discrimination against women in the Western world.
by Barry R. Chiswick, Ph.D., Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago
Current immigration laws and policies are not serving the best economic interests of the United States. What changes in border and interior enforcement policies would help stem the flow of illegal immigrants? What reforms in U.S. immigration law would encourage more highly-skilled legal immigrants and increase the economic benefits of immigration for the American public?
Professor Chiswick addresses these questions and suggests how the tide in immigration can be turned.
by Elizabeth Kantor, Ph.D., author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature.
Classic Western literature has traditionally played a large role in sustaining "Western culture." If Western culture has, on balance, been a benefactor of the human race, then the abandonment of its great literature by college literature professors is a very great loss, both to students and to the long-term health of Western civilization.
Dr. Kantor argues that universities today should be teaching the classic literature of our culture to their students.
by Miriam Grossman, MD, UCLA psychiatrist and author of Unprotected
A college freshman - I call her Heather - came to me for help with her mood: every so often she had episodes of feeling down, crying easily, and hating herself. Normally, she was social and outgoing; these days she was spending hours alone in her room. Heather didn't know where this was coming from. Everything seemed to be going so well: she liked school, had plenty of friends, and got along well with her family.
She paused at one question: did you recently begin or end any relationship? Well, yes ... I can think of one thing. I recently got a "friend with benefits," and actually ... I'm confused, because it seems to me like he's getting the benefits, but I'm not getting the friendship. ...
by Ryan Lynch, Deputy Director of Students for Saving Social Security.
Social Security is the largest investment most of us will make in our entire lives, and it will likely be one of our worst. Some working women are particularly hard hit, and today's young workers can expect a one to two percent rate or return on investment - a deal worse than the local bank.
At what cost will we continue paying into a system that has repeatedly raised taxes and cut benefits since its inception? At what point will we demand that Social Security stop undermining the retirement security of future generations?
by Roy W. Spencer, PhD, Principal Research Scientist at the University of Alabama's Earth System Science Center.
Global warming is in the news nearly every day now. Calls for action to reduce mankind's greenhouse gas emissions are being made by scientists, environmentalists, politicians, movie stars, and op-ed columnists. Some view the threat to be greater than that from terrorism. But just how real is the threat? And even if global warming becomes dangerous, what can be done about it?
You might have heard that "all reputable scientists" agree on global warming -- that there is a "consensus," and that the science is "settled." But there is only one aspect of the problem that scientists agree on: that global warming has occurred in the last century. What is not agreed upon is the degree to which mankind is responsible for that warming ...
by Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute
American health care stands at a critical crossroad. National policymakers are debating two very different courses: one toward expanded government-directed health care; the other toward free-market, consumer-directed health care.
Americans of all ages have a stake in this public debate, for the policy outcome will shape the cost, care, coverage, and control of their health care services for decades to come.
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