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The Regulatory State Grew to Record Levels in 2015, and the Red-Tape Burden...
For those of us worried (with good reason!) about excessive regulation and red tape, 2015 was not a good year. As you can see from the headline of this story in the Washington Examiner, federal...
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The White House Swings (and Misses) on Gun Control…for the Umpteenth Time
In my analysis of the best and worst developments of 2015, I suggested that growing resistance to gun control is something we should celebrate. Particularly since we have a President who is relentless...
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Bill Clinton vs Barack Obama
I wouldn’t be completely distraught to have Clinton in the White House in 2017. But before concluding that I’ve lost my mind, I’m thinking of Bill Clinton, not his far more statist (though similarly...
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Obama’s Legacy? Dismal and Declining Labor Force Participation
I normally enjoy working for the Cato Institute since it’s a principled and effective organization. But every so often, my job requires an unpleasant task, and watching the State-of-the-Union Address...
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Obama, Redistribution, and Jobs: Always Wrong, Never in Doubt
Let’s dig into the issue of whether the United States should become more like France. In a 2014 study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Stanford University’s Robert Hall wrote about...
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New Obama Budget: The Usual Reckless Spending Hikes…and a Big New Tax on...
We have good news and bad news. The good news is that President Obama has unveiled his final budget. The bad news is that it’s a roadmap for an ever-growing burden of government spending. Here are the...
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Are Young People too Stupid to Vote?
Which group has suffered the most because of Obamanomics? That’s hard to answer. We know that the average family has less income today than when Obama took office. If we want to narrow things down, we...
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Mr. President, the only Thing We Can Learn from Communism Is that It Doesn’t...
Over the years, Barack Obama has made some statements that indicate a very statist worldview. In my video on class warfare, I noted that Obama said in 2008 that – for reasons of “fairness” – he wanted...
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One Strike, Two Strikes, Three Strikes (and Many More Strikes) for Obamacare
The ongoing cluster-you-know-what of Obamacare is a source of unhappy satisfaction. Part of me is glad the law is such a failure, but it’s tragic that millions of people are suffering adverse...
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Obama’s Miserable Economic Legacy
Let’s take a look at President Obama’s economic legacy. The Washington Examiner opines on President Obama’s remarkable claim that he saved the world economy. President Obama…wants to be remembered...
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The “Race to the Bottom” and Global Minimum Corporate Taxes
Imagine if you had the chance to play basketball against a superstar from the NBA like Stephen Curry. No matter how hard you practiced beforehand, you surely would lose. For most people, that would be...
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A Grim Final Year for Obamanomics
What’s the most important economic statistic to gauge a society’s prosperity? I often use per-capita economic output when comparing nations. But for ordinary people, what probably matters most is...
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Trump’s Accurate Indictment of Hillarynomics
It’s no secret that I’m very leery of Donald Trump. Simply stated, I don’t sense any genuine commitment to smaller government and free markets. In addition to fretting about his overall approach on the...
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The Obama Administration’s Assault on the Rule of Law
What’s the worst development in economic policy of the Obama years? The faux stimulus scheme? The Obamacare boondoggle? The fiscal cliff tax hike? The Dodd-Frank bailout bill? Those are all good...
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Obama Dismal but Forgettable Legacy
President Obama gave his farewell speech last night, orating for more than 50 minutes. As noted by the Washington Examiner, his remarks were “longer than the good-bye speeches of Ronald Reagan, Bill...
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Cronyism, Corruption, and the Obama White House
One of the points I repeatedly make is that big government breeds corruption for the simple reason that politicians have more power to reward friends and punish enemies. It’s especially nauseating when...
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Reagan vs. Obama, America vs. Europe
Every time I’ve gone overseas in the past six months, I’ve been peppered with questions about Donald Trump. It doesn’t matter whether my speech was about tax reform, entitlements, fiscal crisis, or tax...
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The Fraud-Riddled Obamaphone Boondoggle
Time for another trip down Memory Lane to the early years of the Obama Administration. Two days ago, I wrote about the market-wrecking price controls in Obamacare. And yesterday, I shared a new study...
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The Much-Deserved End of Obama’s Operation Choke Point
Trump has been President for more than 200 days and those of us who want more economic liberty don’t have many reasons to be happy. Obamacare hasn’t been repealed, the tax code hasn’t been reformed,...
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Why Is the Trump Administration AWOL on the IRS?
Whether I like what’s happening (getting rid of Operation Choke Point) or don’t like what’s happening (expanding civil asset forfeiture), it appears that the Justice Department under Attorney General...
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Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Obama Definitely Was Not the Biggest Spender of All
I’ve learned that it’s more important to pay attention to hard numbers rather than political rhetoric. Republicans, for instance, love to beat their chests about spending restraint, but I never believe...
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Ranking Presidents on Economic Policy: The Predictably Bad Record of Barack...
When I gave speeches during Obama’s time in office, especially to audiences with a lot of Republicans, I sometimes asked a rhetorical question about whether they approved of presidents who increased...
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Trump and the Economy
In a recent interview, I got a chance to pontificate about the recipe for growth and prosperity. Free market capitalism revolutionized the western world, creating prosperity where there used to be...
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Should We Upgrade Our Assessment of Obama’s Economic Record?
President Trump and former President Obama are arguing over who deserves credit for the economy’s performance. Given the less-than-ideal numbers for labor force participation, I’m not convinced we...
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The Trump Economy v. the Obama Economy
During his final days in office, I gave a thumbs-down assessment of Barack Obama’s presidency. Simply stated, he increased the burden of government during his tenure, and that led to anemic economic...
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Obama, Brazil, and Guns
I have a confession. I miss Obama. On the issue of guns, at least. He was so wrong, yet so ineffective, that it was almost funny. Heck, it was funny. Fortunately, he’s decided to make an encore...
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New Job Numbers and the Trump Economy Vs Obama Economy
When comparing the Obama economy and the Reagan economy, I often used a database from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve that compared jobs and growth data during business cycles. That made sense since...
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Which Party Does Better on the Economy?
The best feature of libertarians is that we are very principled and look at everything through the lens of the non-aggression principle. By contrast, the worst feature of politics, as explained by the...
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New Research on the Link between Government and Corruption
Government breeds corruption by giving sleazy people a way of obtaining unearned wealth. Politicians and special interests are the winners and workers, consumers, and taxpayers are the losers. It’s...
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The Three Stooges of Big Government
The 21st century has been bad news for America’s taxpayers. Every president (George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden) has been a big spender. We obviously can’t give Biden a final...
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