Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
Government spending is out of control. In March 2021, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that federal government spending in fiscal year 2021 (which began on October 1, 2020) will come to at least $5.8 trillion, with tax revenues of $3.5 trillion, and a resulting budget deficit of over $2.3 trillion. The total federal accumulated … Read more
The Budget Control Act of 1974 is the most misnamed congressional act in American history. Far from “controlling” anything, its passage caused the federal budget process to spin out of control. In the six years preceding the act, with the Vietnam War raging, annual deficits averaged $11.3 billion. In the first six years after the … Read more
In 1975, I heard second-hand about an informal session where Robert Solow spoke with a group of MIT economics grad students. One of the students, apparently feeling guilty about his fellowship from the National Science Foundation, asked, “Why does society pay me to go to graduate school in economics, given all the benefit that I … Read more
The expression, “unintended consequences,” is a charitable dodge. It is what old-fashioned, polite, civic-minded people say about the fallout from progressive social policies. It implies that their authors have overlooked something, or made some innocent mistake. For unfortunately, the policies do the exact opposite of what was promised. Surely the “reformers” didn’t mean to force … Read more
Tom here identifies yet another danger posed by state obstruction of peaceful activities. People are not pawns on a chessboard which, when moved from here to there by the visible hand, remain obediently in place until moved again by the visible hand. Instead, each of us has desires that we wish to fulfill and, when … Read more
When I write an everything-you-need-to-know column, I’m inevitably guilty of hyperbole. All that I’m really doing is highlighting a very compelling example of how politicians make a mess of just about anything they touch. That’s even true in the rare cases when they’re trying to enact policies I prefer. The crux of the problem is … Read more
Today, capitalism seems unattractive to the young because it is stacked against them. America’s current outsiders will have far better lives in a free system, however, than in any new socialism, which would invariably privilege connected apparatchiks (among the other failings it would bring). The cause of freedom will need to present itself as a … Read more
Washington Metro says it will have to end weekend train service, close 19 rail stations, and reduce bus service by 45 percent if Congress doesn’t give the transit industry $32 billion (on top of normal federal funding of $13 billion) in 2021. In order to keep from making similar cuts, San Jose’s Valley Transportation Authority … Read more
I have a running theory that government officials, and the policies they support, are often disconnected from reality. Politicians on both sides of the aisle tend to do what they always do, no matter the current state of the world. They use the same policy tools, whether appropriate or not. They use every opportunity and … Read more
Back in 2017, I compared the welfare state vision of “positive rights” with the classical liberal vision of “negative rights.” To elaborate, here’s a video from Learn Liberty that compares these visions. Libertarianism, Explained: Positive Rights vs. Negative Rights For what it’s worth, I don’t like the terms “positive rights” and “negative rights” … Read more
Other People’s Money – OPM Any competently taught course in principles of economics should give each student the thrilling sense that he or she is being fitted with an almost miraculous pair of eyeglasses. This special ocular device, however, is worn not on the nose but in the mind. And the fact that it is … Read more
When politicians give handouts to big business, they are simply creating the illusion of wealth by bribing corporations to make sweeping promises about job creation that rarely, if ever, materialize. . . . It’s important to understand why corporate welfare is doomed to fail. When politicians give big business handouts, they aren’t actually creating wealth. … Read more
We also seem to see overspending in medicine, law, school, investment analysis, campaign spending, and much else. A consistent pattern I think I see is overspending in areas where spending lets one associate with prestigious folks. So I suggest that much of this overspending is better explained via motives to gain prestige via association. Re … Read more
Remy: All My Loving (Beatles Parody) OPM = Other People’s Money Related PostsUsed Cars Are Now Selling For More Than New Cars How Donald Trump and Elon Musk Could Cut $2 Trillion in Government Spending Money printing and manias Other People’s Money in DC Stop Calling Trump’s New York Caper a ‘No Harm’ … Read more