The rich of tomorrow will happily be quite a bit richer than today’s rich. That’s because the proliferation of AI meant to do and think for us will unearth superhuman qualities in a growing number of us. Even better about a rising wealth gap is that as it grows, the lifestyle gap between rich and “poor” […]
Rising Inequality Is Great. Its Downside Is Bigger Government Read More »
“And on the tax front, it’s time for rich people like me to pay more.” As some may know, but exponentially fewer than he surely hoped, that’s what 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrote recently in the New York Times. Romney seemingly missed that “Rich Republican apostasy on taxes” is nothing new. Paraphrasing
Please Mitt Romney, Do Not Pay More In Taxes Read More »
Money buys nothing, while products always and everywhere buy products. Which means governments that produce nothing can only spend insofar as they have taxable access to private sector production, not an active printing press. Without the former, they have no spending power. None. The obvious requires stating firstly because Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is having
If the U.S. Treasury Employed Fraudulent “MMT,” It Would Have No Debt Read More »
While agreeing with Javier Milei’s reforms, this opinion piece asks if he got the order wrong. Up front, what’s not to like about Milei firing tens of thousands of government workers, his shuttering of 9 out of 18 government ministries, and his freezing of various government projects? Milei did right because government is an
Javier Milei’s Policies Are Right, But the Order Was Wrong Read More »
“Washington’s spiraling debt trends are simply unsustainable.” Those are the words of Manhattan Institute budget expert Jessica Riedl in the Washington Post. But unless Riedl knows something that the deepest markets in the world don’t know, what she describes as unsustainable is quite sustainable. The $37 trillion (and rising fast) worth of federal debt
$37 Trillion Debt Vivifies the Perils of Future Budgetary Balance Read More »
$37 trillion in total debt is a loud, bullish sign that the U.S. is the world’s richest country…by far. But don’t misread what you’ve just read. The total debt run up by the U.S. Treasury isn’t powering economic growth, rather it’s a consequence of it. This is a crucial distinction. Government debt is an
$37T In Debt Doesn’t Fuel Prosperity, It’s An Overwhelming Sign of It Read More »
It’s August 19, 2025. On August 19, 2035, yields on U.S. Treasuries from the shortest to longest maturities will be lower relative to today. I’ll gladly welcome $1,000 bets in a shameless attempt to mimic the late Julian Simon. Simon famously placed a bet in 1980 with catastrophist Paul Ehrlich about a number of
Julian Simon Redux: Treasury Rates Across the Curve Are Going Down Read More »
“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, regardless of available revenues.” What you’ve just read comes to us from Cato Institute vice president Scott Lincicome. He could perhaps be persuaded that it’s
The Fatal Conceit of National Debt “Hawkery” Read More »
Money is ruthless. The genius of compounding confirms the previous truth. This rates mention as economists Yeva Nersisyan and L. Randall Wray promote the fiction that U.S. “cannot default on debt denominated in dollars.” In their defense, they’re far from the first academics to assert what’s false about dollars and debt, and surely not the last.
If the U.S. Ever Needs the ‘Printing Press,’ It Will Have No Debt Read More »
“Balanced budgets” have nothing to do with limited government. Neither does a budget surplus. As with most notions crafted by economists and the budgetary scolds they’ve long enabled, the notion of balanced budgets as inhibitors of big government is a massive fraud. Yet the idea persists. See a recent Wall Street Journal news account about how we
“Balanced Budgets”: One of the Most Fraudulent Notions In Economics Read More »
