My son learned fractions and decimals when he was in the first grade. He learned them from me as I drove him to school on the Los Angeles freeways, where he became curious about the signs that said things like "Wilshire Boulevard 2 1/4 miles." At the private school he...
In a recent column, I defended supply-side economics from an attack by Princeton economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times Magazine. One of the rare civil criticisms I got came from my friends at TAPPED, the web log of the liberal American Prospect magazine. Their...
Last month, the WSJ had an opinion piece written by Howard Dean, the Democrat presidential contender. One paragraph exhibited the fundamental fallacy of bad economics: the belief that consumption, not production, is the key to wealth. "As president, my economic...
Suppose you want to deal with me but I don't want to deal with you. Should I be forced to? You might ask, "What are you talking about?" Here's a short list. Suppose you want to marry me, but I don't want to marry you. Or, suppose you want to play tennis with me, but I...
Everyone knows that black students in general do not perform as well in school as white students, much less Asian American students. But few realize how painfully large the gap is. Even fewer know that there are particular black schools, even in low-income...
Most people realize that there is something deeply wrong in California's current political fiasco. Critics of the recall are right, this election is wrong, but not for the reasons they have given. Far from being anti-democratic, the recall is democracy in action, and...
President Bush acknowledges that Yasser Arafat has "failed as a leader" and recognizes that his promises to fight terrorism are nothing but empty lies. So why does his administration oppose Arafat's elimination? If Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein were holed up in a...
In Seattle, there is a popular restaurant called the 5 Spot. Its signature dish is a huge, calorie-laden dessert called The Bulge. Access to it, however, is restricted to those patrons willing to sign a waiver agreeing not to sue the restaurant for making them fat....
The Congressional Budget Office's latest budget projections should serve as a wake-up call to fiscal conservatives in Congress and the White House. Unless they restrain spending, they'll see budget deficits jeopardize the tax-relief agenda and imperil much of the...
If I tell you, "The check's in the mail" you probably won't look for it any time soon--if at all. But if I tell you I've sent the check via FedEx, you'll probably plan a trip to the bank. We know we can count on private services such as FedEx and United Parcel Service...
In most cases, though, the assistance hasn’t helped. Why? Largely because recipients have failed to address the main causes of their economic ruin — corruption, repressed economies, weak judicial systems and excessive state ownership of key enterprises.
Ten years later, it is embarrassing to recall the elation and soaring expectations. President Bill Clinton lauded it as a "great occasion of history." Secretary of State Warren Christopher ruminated on how "the impossible is within our reach." Yasser Arafat called it...
To get an idea of what it's like to tangle with the IRS, imagine having to fight Mike Tyson -- with both hands tied behind your back. The IRS is the most feared government agency, and with good reason. Americans who run afoul of this bureaucratic behemoth have little...
Don't give a starving man a fish, give him a fishing rod. That used to be the mantra in foreign aid circles. The message that came out of the collapsed World Trade Organization negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, last week took the metaphor one step further; Don't let him...
Our lack of moral clarity is keeping us from winning the war.
In Washington D.C. right now, there's a huge debate going on about school vouchers. Here's the debate boiled down to its bare -- and honest -- essentials. The opponents of school vouchers resent the fact that some kids will end up in superior schools and some will end...
The War we are in didn't begin on Sept. 11, 2001. It began 22 years earlier. On Nov. 4, 1979, Islamist radicals stormed the US embassy in Tehran and, with the support of the Ayatollah Khomeini, proceeded to hold 52 Americans hostage for the next 15 months. The Carter...
There is good reason to remember the attacks of Black Tuesday, to give that day a solemn acknowledgment.
One year ago Jack Welch, who as CEO of General Electric created $400 billion in stockholder wealth, faced a storm of public protest over his retirement benefits, which were worth a modest $2.5 million a year. Welch caved in and renounced the benefits. Now Richard...
Ask a journalist about the Patriot Act, and the response may strike you as overly suspicious or even paranoid. But those who have submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to a federal agency know better.Consider FOIA requestor Robert Todd, who recently asked the...
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is an angry man. If he were a cartoon character, he would probably look like Donald Duck during one of his famous tirades, with steam pouring out of his ears every time he hears someone say "tax cuts" or "George W. Bush" or...
You can't open the financial pages without hearing about our "jobless recovery." There's no end to the hand-wringing about how gross domestic product, corporate profits and consumer spending are all moving up smartly -- yet the economy seems steadily to have fewer and...
Recent advocacy of free trade in this column has caused considerable reader apoplexy and anxiety, not to mention accusations of unconcern with worker plight. Readers have protested loss of good paying jobs to low-wage countries such as India, China and other Asian...
Maybe it is just local pride on my part, but I think California is the purest example of liberal fundamentalism. New York and Massachusetts have their claims on that title, but California is not called the Left Coast for nothing. Some recent examples: After an...
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