According to a Poll Position survey conducted in late October, 45 percent of Americans said �No� when asked whether the U.S. government should stop helping to fund NPR; 39 percent said �Yes.� Only those respondents identifying themselves as Republicans favored, by a 54 percent to 28 percent margin, ending taxpayer support for NPR. Given…
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On Monday’s Freedom Watch on Fox Business Channel, Judge Andrew Napolitano asks Steve Forbes about regime uncertainty created by Congress and the changing tax system. Independent Institute Research Fellow Benjamin Powell advocates deep spending cuts and making the temporary tax cuts permanent. Then, in the next segment, Judge Napolitano and Dr. Powell critique the…
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The Associated Press’ Martin Crutsinger reports: The federal budget deficit rose to $150.4 billion last month, the largest November imbalance on record….. The Treasury Department says the November budget deficit was 25 percent higher than the $120.3 billion deficit in November 2009. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office: offered this comment on the previous fiscal…
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In a stunning decision released today, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond, Virginia, has ruled that Obama’s health-care law passed earlier this year is unconstitutional. The Obama administration now plans to appeal the case to the U. S. Supreme Court, and here is a report from Bloomberg: The Obama administration�s requirement that…
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According to Michael Munger, the recent proposals by the deficit commission are DAFT. DAFT is short for “deficits are future taxes” and is a useful analogy to counter the political myths about debt and taxation. “With a total debt of more than $13 trillion, our government is in the midst of forcing the largest…
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In the Wall Street Journal, Jeff Bater reports in “U.S. Posts $150.4 Billion November Budget Deficit,” that federal red ink is reaching an all-time record: The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November amid wrangling over a package that would extend big tax cuts to Americans trying to recover from…
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Could the answer to this question be the just announced tax deal and the so-called “doc fix“? Here are the arguments that might be made for why these two separate actions by the lame duck 111th U.S. Congress might have succeeded in spiking the job market in 2011. First, we’ll consider the tax bill…
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The Federal Times reports in “Federal pay freeze plan wouldn’t stop raises” that President Obama’s claimed, 2-year “pay freeze” does nothing of the sort, but instead will result in 1.1 million employees receiving from 2.6 to 3.3 percent increases in wages or more than $2.5 billion in pay raises. (Military and legislative branch personnel…
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In a new article in the Wall Street Journal, “Why the Spending Stimulus Failed: New economic research shows why lower tax rates do far more to spur growth,” Stanford University economist Michael Boskin examines how and why the U.S.’s $814 billion economic stimulus has failed. For many years now, Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert…
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The Washington Post reports that the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has come up with a plan to address the nation’s fiscal house of cards. The major points of the plan include: Deficit reductions by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade Large reductions in discretionary spending Tax code reform He hits…
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