I Hate Federal Holidays Like Labor Day, and Their Collective Mentality
Labor Day. I hate federal holidays. They are emblematic of what’s wrong with the Leviathan we call the federal government and the corrupting influence it has over American…
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Essays
Writing by John Tamny and Parkview contributors, from the latest commentary to the collected archive.
1348 essays · Newest first
The Discredited Phillips Curve Cannot Be Discredited Enough
Talking to the New York Times recently, AEI’s lead economist in Michael Strain observed that “good news” for the Fed would be a recession. Since the credentialed near unanimously believe that job…
All Decisions Are ‘Business Decisions’: College Football Made a Bad One
In reality, all decisions are business decisions, which means all business decisions are “about the money.” The bigger question not being asked is if the business decision was a correct one in light…
“Cheap Labor” Is the Most Expensive Labor of All
The left-leaning imagine against all reason that businesses are out to exploit workers with low wages. The right-leaning disagree with the left rhetorically, all the while making the left’s case for…
A Lesson From Hong Kong For Those Who Worry China Hides Bad News
According to Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell, “The Chinese economy has hit a rough patch.” On their face, comments like these always rate a raised eyebrow: I can’t measure the economy of…
Savers and Financiers Are the Economy’s Lifeblood, So Treat Them Well
In his memoirs about the remarkable rise of The Home Depot, the great Bernie Marcus oh-so-thankfully went against the grain of seemingly all modern thought in writing that “bankers put their careers…
Economists, and Their Comical Search For a Higher ‘Inflation Target’
To say that Harvard’s Jason Furman believes mass unemployment and bankruptcy is the answer to inflation is a waste of words.
‘Low-Birthrate’ Pessimism Will Soon Embarrass the Pessimists
The birthrate alarmism that has infected the various economic religions won’t age well. Nothing against procreation, but lower birthrates don’t in any way signal country decline.
The Russians Have Stolen Our ‘Whip Inflation Now’ Buttons
The story on Russia these days is that the economy is booming, with inflation breaking out as a consequence of all the government spending that is said to be stimulating the economy.
Biden’s Chinese Investment Crackdown Vandalizes Foreign and Economic Policy
President Biden’s recent move to ban U.S. investment in “sensitive” Chinese companies will not work. As is, U.S. investment funds all sorts of Chinese innovations despite all manner of rules in China…
Mark-to-Market is Not as Simple For Banks as is Assumed
Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane and I have been discussing mark-to-market accounting for banks in the aftermath of SVB’s troubles. Crane is not seeking force on the matter, but does think…
The Best Education Of All For Your Children Doesn't Cost a Dime
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.” Patrick Henry. My mailbox was…
About the Future of AI, Dismiss the Pessimistic Creators of It
What machines and automated minds can do for us doesn’t replace us as much as it frees us to pursue all manner of new advances.
The Unbearable Nothingness of Yield Curve Inversion
The simple truth is that if the Fed were as powerful as the various religions want it to be, the U.S. economy would always be in decline. Yield-curve obsession is powerful on the score of nothingness.
Michael Parkinson’s Father Promised To Beat Him If He Showed Up at the Mines
Parkinson was spared becoming a 3rd generation miner by progress, which is what global trade embodies.
Country of Contrasts: A Review of Michael Reid’s ‘Spain’
The late Jude Wanniski once observed about Spain that its headline rate of unemployment had little to do with actual unemployment. Wanniski’s point was that the 20% official rate was merely a sign of…
The Superfluous Conceit of Mandatory Bank ‘Stress Tests’
In the technology sector, poorly-run businesses don’t last long. They fail quickly only for their assets to be acquired by better stewards. The paradoxical truth is that the technology sector gains…
Let Me Help You Understand 'Rich Men North of Richmond'
How does it make you feel when you read Love’s Philosophy by British poet Percy Bysshe Shelly? What images run through your mind? “And the moonbeams kiss the sea.” Does…
Keep California and New York Out of Washington: Expand the SALT Deduction
Every dollar the federal government taxes or borrows away is an extra dollar of control that Congress has over the economy. This is why Republicans should cheer any uncapping of the SALT deduction.…
The Obnoxious Conceit of the Consumer Price Index
Senator Schumer thinks orange juice costs too much, while Senator McConnell thinks chocolate milk has become too pricey. Jerome Powell fears the cost of eggs. All of the above is hypothetical, but…
Government Sucks, the 'Dancing Chicken,' and Other Rules for Life
The happiest time of my life was raising my children. Before my children came along, I was a crazy workaholic, obsessed with “deals” and making money and fueling my oversized…
The Global Warming Hoax Is a Rerun of a Plot As Old As Mankind
What were the Redneck’s last words before he died? Answer: watch this fellas! Men are conquerors, if this were not true, America would’ve never been discovered. Our…
Ben Bernanke Was the Crisis
In the early 1920s, radios were the pricey, must-have gadgets of the day. And as all transformative market goods are, they started out expensive only for RCA (the Apple of its time) to render common…
The Experts Were the Whole Problem
That’s the case because “the thing that matters most to any man” is “the saving of his own skin.” That this needs to even be said speaks to how wrongheaded the Post’s editorial board’s approach to…