Another Tax Day has come and gone, and most Americans believe they pay too much. One recent poll revealed that 56% say they pay more than their fair share. Unfortunately, I fear this is just the beginning considering the insane level of debt Washington policymakers have accumulated over the years. With this in mind, here are some important facts about…

If you pay New York state taxes, you're paying top dollar and getting bupkis. Nothing in the budget deal announced in Albany on Tuesday changes that. State tax money is supposed to provide services and improve the state's economic outlook. But a report released last week shows the state's economic prospects plunging to dead last among the 50 states…

In 1992, Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton famously answered a voter question about how the national debt affected him personally. Clinton's response was often paraphrased as, "I feel your pain." Whether Bill was for once being sincere or not, his words resonated. Now President Joe Biden is running for reelection with the opposite…

Do wealthy Americans pay their “fair share” of income taxes?   If “fair” is defined as a reasonable equilibrium between someone’s share of income earned and their share of income taxes paid, then wealthier Americans actually pay more than their fair share.   That might surprise many people, but it…

The economy is growing, unemployment is low, wages are up, and inflation is down. However, the American people remain grumpy about the state of the economy. This puzzle was just investigated by four economists. They found that people often know that something is wrong even if statistics don't reflect the problem. In this case, people are perceiving…

I am often asked if President Joe Biden is intentionally trying to dismantle the American economy with his imbecilic energy, climate change, crime, border, inflation and debt policies. But I've always believed these policies are driven by a badly mistaken ideology – not malice. Then I watched Biden's State of the Union speech. When…

In the latest volley of policy proposals that seem more rooted in populist rhetoric than economic knowledge, President Joe Biden's budget plan to hike the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 28% strikes me as particularly misguided. This move, ostensibly aimed at ensuring a "fair share" of contributions from corporate America, is a glaring…

It's a good thing President Joe Biden wasn't strapped to a polygraph while giving his State of the Union speech on Thursday, because his results would have come back about as clean as O.J. Simpson's. That was especially true when he recited a lot of tall tales – and some whoppers – while touting his administration's…

The interrelationship between economic freedom and societal prosperity across the expanse of human history remains self-evident to reasonable minds.   It’s nevertheless invaluable to possess a tool to objectively measure economic freedom and quantify its causal relationship with societal prosperity.   That’s precisely…

The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee made news recently by announcing that if his party is serious about changing the fiscal path we are on, they'll have to consider raising taxes. Politics is about compromise, so the chairman is right. Every side must give a little. However, "putting taxes on the table" is not as simple…

America is celebrated for its economic dynamism and ample and generously paid employment opportunities. It's a nation that attracts immigrants from around the world. Yet Americans are bummed, and have been for a while. They believe that life was better 40 years ago. And maybe it was on some fronts, but not economically. Surveys repeatedly demonstrate…

President Joe Biden is boasting about the recent stock market rally. He's right that stocks have been on a tear for the last 14 months. The S&P 500 hit 5,000 for the first time in history. That's up from 500 some 30 years ago.  Even with all our problems, the United States is the unrivaled alpha male nation. The dollar is the only currency…

Over the years, I've offered many explanations about why the trajectory of the national debt is deeply troubling. At this point, though, my worry isn't rooted in a dogmatic adherence to the principles of a balanced budget. Nor does it come from my desire for a smaller government. Instead, I'm alarmed by politicians' unwillingness to look at the numbers…

“Most Homes for Sale in 2023 Were Not Affordable for a Typical U.S. Household.”   That was a Christmas Eve headline from none other than National Public Radio (NPR).   As 2023 ended, the Biden Administration’s peculiar effort to gaslight American voters into believing that economic conditions were flourishing…

Repeat after me, class: Growth does NOT cause inflation. Write it on the blackboard 100 times. For decades, the economics profession has been trying to tell us all just the opposite. They keep shoveling out the dumbest economic concept of all time: the Phillips Curve. This was the lame-brained "theory" by neo-Keynesian economists of the…

It's fashionable to claim that the free-market ideas of Nobel-laureate economist Milton Friedman have failed the country, and that it's time for new policies. Campaigning in 2020, Joe Biden declared that "Milton Friedman isn't running the show anymore." More recently, New York Times columnist David Leonhardt noted that people like Friedman…

There's a political cartoon going around that shows John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy sitting on a couch watching a speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The two hold their palms to their heads and moan that their legacy is being twisted and ruined.  This has the situation completely backward. It isn't RFK Jr. who is rejecting the Kennedy brothers…

Let's face it. Anyone who works in, or just visits, the Wall Street area of Manhattan can't deny the aura of power and money isn't what it was 20, 30 or 50 years ago.  The vibrancy, the financial dominance, the gusto seems to have gone missing – so have many of the Gordon Gekko high rollers. Today, Wall Street is less crowded.…

In a world where economic decisions are mostly driven by short-term goals and political pressures, the need for a long-term, evidence-based approach is more pressing than at any time in memory. Enter the Copenhagen Consensus – a beacon of analytical clarity conceived by Danish intellectual Bjorn Lomborg. It aims to reshape global discourse…

The government announced Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index rose 3.2% in October from the same time last year. That is less than the 3.7% prices rose in September, leading to a lot of commentary about "good news" on inflation. "Today we saw more progress bringing down inflation while maintaining one of the strongest job markets in…

There's much talk today about the need for a fiscal commission. The House Budget Committee held a hearing about it a few weeks ago. Pundits are Substacking about whether using the approach to put federal finances on a sustainable path is a good or a bad idea. And according to a recent polling, voters support the idea of a commission. Great. But that…

As Joe Biden’s perplexed supporters struggle to grasp his increasingly grim reelection prospects, they should digest a new Federal Reserve report exposing how Biden’s policies have disproportionately punished a core constituency:  minority voters.   As it is, Biden possesses no margin for electoral error.  In the 2020…

It’s official:  Joe Biden is the new deficit king.   When even CNN and The New York Times lead with headlines of “Federal Deficit Effectively Doubled in 2023,” it’s obvious that Biden’s 2024 reelection prospects just entered more treacherous waters.   Throughout his presidency, Biden has relished…

In the grand ballroom of American politics, Democrats have long waltzed to the melody of progressivism while ridiculing Republicans' preference for outdated tax-cut tunes. Ironically, they don't want to pay for their style of big government with higher taxes on ordinary Americans, which their expansionary ambitions would require. Instead, they loudly…

After spending $6 trillion on social welfare and a Green New Deal spending spree and running our national debt up to $33 trillion, President Joe Biden is asking to whip out the federal credit card yet again for $100 billion more in military assistance for Ukraine and Israel and "humanitarian" aid. Yes, it certainly is a dangerous world,…

Countless financial soothsayers and Wall Street wizards were once members of a curious cult. Their doctrine? The unshakable belief that interest rates had managed to find something resembling the fabled Fountain of Youth, leaving their numbers eternally low and never rising. The "Forever Low" brigade dismissed those of us who argued that…

As election season approaches, Democrats are touting the economic results of Biden administration policies aimed at improving the lives of working Americans and creating a more equitable economy. But ordinary Americans aren't feeling the so-called success of "Bidenomics." Superficially, the economy looks solid. As measured by real GDP, it…

What's worse? When politicians shut down the government, or when they lock down businesses, stores, schools, churches and restaurants – and nearly all private commerce in America? If you haven't heard, the media and congressional Democrats are near cardiac arrest over the prospect of a government shutdown later this year. They may…

China's economy is struggling post-COVID-19. Growth is slower than expected, demographic trends are negative, youth unemployment is high, overbuilding has created a housing crisis and government indebtedness is ballooning. These are only a few of the symptoms ailing the country, and things could get worse. Did any of the Americans who not long ago…

Joe Biden regularly insists that “Bidenomics” means building an economy “from the bottom up and the middle out.”   In a cruel irony, however, it’s actually high inflation and now rising interest rates that are hitting Americans from the bottom up and the middle out.   To understand why, consider the…