War and the Economy

What’s worrying the stock market? War. Sure, investors are disappointed that corporate profits have not rebounded vigorously and that the economy grew, just 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. But those problems, too, are linked to the imminent...

Bad Economics in One Lesson

On Tuesday, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning Washington think tank, published a full-page ad in The New York Times condemning the proposed Bush tax cuts. This pro-tax statement is signed by more than 400 economists, including 10 Nobel laureates...

Money, Wealth, and the Corruption of Government

It was hardly the end of an era, but the opening of the 108th Congress on January 07, 2003, brought the curtain down on the short tenure of Minnesota Senator Dean Barkley, a longtime ally of now-former Governor Jesse Ventura who obtained his Senate post two months ago...

The Mystical, Magical “Economy”

Many speak of “the economy” as if it were some mystical god we exist to serve: Tax cuts for the rich won’t help “the economy.” Will that plan boost “the economy?” A nation’s economy is not a cause but an effect: the...

Investing in Utilities

If President Bush gets his way, investors will soon be receiving their dividends tax-free. You’d figure that one sector to benefit would be gas and electric utilities, which through the years have offered consistently high dividends. Right now, the average yield...

High Noon with Iraq

In his address before the United Nations Security Council, US Secretary of State Colin Powell made it absolutely clear: instead of dismantling its weapons of mass destruction in plain sight of the world, Iraq has engaged in a deliberate program of deceit and...

The Unjust Discrimination of Central Planning

Johnnie Cochran’s wife, Dale Mason Cochran, hit the jackpot as a member of a victim group in 1996, the year after O.J. was found not guilty of murder. Victimhood can be rewarding.Under a program designed to help companies owned by disadvantaged women or...