There are two types of people in this world, good and bad.
The good sleep better,
but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.
Woody Allen
Chart of the Day: Financial Regulations Run Amok
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| Via Mercatus Center |
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| Noncompetitive Business Property Taxes Via Cato Institute |
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| Via Being Classically Liberal |
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| Via | Darren Ladner |
Hong Kong students demand political liberalization.
Military Advice To the Police on Crowd Control
Facebook Corner
(IPI). From Forbes: Much of the political spotlight across the country is focused on the economies of two Midwestern states – Illinois and Kansas.
Kansas has cut income tax rates on workers and small businesses, while Illinois has raised the personal income tax and corporate tax.
But which model has worked better?
It's amazing what "progressives" leave out in cherrypicked comparisons between, e.g., Kansas and California. You would never know that Kansas has a 4.9% unemployment rate and a labor force participation rate well above the national average. Brownback has worked at lowering the tax burden; it's an absolutely correct long-term strategy. The problem is that unpopular state spending cuts haven't kept pace.
Illinois problem is the cronyism not one party or the other. Add to that the lack of leadership willing to make the big decisions and we are in a constant swirling spiral in the economic toilet.
For a state dominated by Democrats over the past decade-plus, you seem quite anxious to co-opt the blame with Republicans. You cannot blame the monopoly the Democrats have held in Chicago and more recently in Springfield on the GOP. You cannot blame the escalating pension crisis and abysmal bond ratings on them because the GOP has not been supported by the crony unions and in fact has had negligible control, if that over the state or city budgets. Cronyism is an artifact of Big Government, doling out tax and regulatory favors, and the GOP is not a champion of Big Government. PS I'm not a GOP shill; I'm more of a libertarian-conservative.
(IPI). follow-up exchange on a pension post
SS is not the problem.
Defined Benefit Pensions are.
Social security is definitely both a problem and a variation of a defined benefit pension. (There's a disability component, some redistributive aspects, reserve restrictions, universal eligibility, and pay-go funding to social security.) What particularly makes social security bad (beyond things like questionable controls on disability and actuarial assumptions) is the "assets" are Treasury notes.
Private defined-benefit plans cannot operate on a pay-go basis and ideally are fully funded, adjusting for business cyclic factors. Obviously the profitability/earnings of investments relative to obligations can mitigate any additional employer obligations. Private plans typically assume a lower expected investment return (e.g., 4%), which translates to higher employer contributions.
If you look at Illinois vs. other states, while few are fully funded even given recent stock market gains, Illinois is at the rear and one major market correction from disaster.
(We the Individuals). There are no defensible arguments against the Austrian School of Economics.
Austrian School economics ignores hehavioral economics at its own risk and relevance.
Political Humor
Proposals
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy via Libertarian Republic |
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall |
Barry Manilow, "Lonely Together"
