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Writing by John Tamny and Parkview contributors, from the latest commentary to the collected archive.
1299 essays · Newest first
“I want you to know what the risks are, because I still want to come home for Thanksgiving if this doesn’t work.” That’s what Jeff Bezos said to Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos when they invested a little…
“High-skilled immigration is key to America’s success.” That’s what Richard Hanania writes at the Cato Institute’s excellent Human Progress page. Hanania is not alone in making what he might agree is…
Growing up, I don’t remember anything I learned in school that I hadn’t already learned—or could have easily learned—from my parents. My mother taught me to read…
Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane turns 81 today, which is a good time to talk about him and how he has helped to shape how we think, view policy, and ideally how we will vote in the future. There’s…
It’s a wealth-losing shame of enormous proportions that Social Security will never go insolvent. It will cost the typical American millions in retirement wealth. Yes, the absurdity of the notion that…
How to get rich? The single best way is to live a long time, ideally working much of that time while amassing savings that compound, and compound some more. The vast majority of Warren Buffett’s…
The federal debt will soar in the coming decades. The previous truth can be found in the monolithic nature of the proposed debt solutions. Harvard’s Greg Mankiw is hardly alone in saying posssible…
Dear Reader, by now you know I’ve never been wr…, wrr…, wrrrro… damn, my keyboard won’t even type that word! However, although I’ve never been wr _ _…
The difference between what economists believe and what’s true is Pacific Ocean vast. Think the popular view that the Federal Reserve, by paying banks to park reserves at the central bank, is…
“Recession” is a relative concept. For instance, when the U.S. economy contracts such that Americans merely tighten their belts, hundreds of millions around the world face starvation. If you doubt…
Of course the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) is wrong about levels of employment or lack thereof. How could it be right? Precisely because employment figures are valuable within the broad…
Taxes are routinely awful, and annually unearth dread in all of us as we cower before Congress’s outsourced tax collector (the IRS). We do so while trying to grasp the meaning of a tax code that…
Kevin Warsh is married to the daughter of Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire. Warsh himself earns enormous sums on the speaking circuit, he’s got a top designation at one of the world’s most…
Human beings are inputs, but birthrates don’t matter. The latter is evidence that two seemingly opposing ideas can be true at the same time. Economists and politicians fear falling birthrates. Near…
The Fed’s mandates are rooted in endless fallacy, most prominently the discredited Phillips Curve which says economic growth causes prices to rise. Please keep this in mind as monetary policy…
“We are living in a moment of existential dread and alienation caused by the savagery of social media, the ugliness of our politics, the AI takeover, our melting planet, a winner-take-all economy…”…
I left Richmond headed up I-95 to New England. Final destination: Newport, Rhode Island. I’m an old-school radio dial guy. No SiriusXM or podcasts for me. I’m constantly…
I was living at 537 W. Deming in the Lincoln Park section of Chicago in the summer of 1995. The address and city rate mention because that summer Chicago suffered one of those brutal and nationally…
GDP is a worthless calculation. It goes down as imports increase, it goes up as government spending does, and it increases not due to productivity, but if production of any kind has happened. In…
Silicon Valley VC legend Don Valentine purchased a 33% stake in Cisco decades ago for $2.5 million. Cisco is one of the many great investments made by the VCs at Sequoia Capital, and it’s worth…
Responding to me, Duke professor Michael Munger writes that, “If the real hawks like John Tamny get their way [full SALT deduction], with the cap going up to $100,000 or more, the loss in tax revenue…
“First, and most obviously, the U.S. government’s fiscal situation is very bad, getting worse, and driven mainly by unsustainable entitlement programs that grow faster than the economy and inflation,…
Americans don’t require their government to secure them investment. The world lines up to invest in U.S. genius not because presidents or Commerce Departments enter deals with other countries, but…
Fed officials don’t grasp what inflation is. If they understood what it is, they wouldn’t be so worried about the Fed’s so-called independence. For background, contemplate a recent New York Times…
