Virgin Galactic's Latest

by Paul Jacob It seems like only yesterday that Burt Rutan flew SpaceShip One into near-orbit and received the Ansari X-Prize for piloting the first manned private craft into space. But it's been five years. Things have happened in the... | Comments (2)

Bizarre Spending Habits

by Ron Paul Last week I had the opportunity to bring up spending and transparency in two important hearings. On Wednesday I questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on some highly questionable uses of funds at the Federal Reserve, and... | Comments (0)

Tax Favors for Government Employees?

Privileges for Some or Rights for All? by Fred E. Foldvary There should be no tax favors for the employees of governments. Tax breaks for “public service” amounts to a tax-free increase in their wages, which does not show up... | Comments (2)

Neither Left Nor Right

by Paul Jacob Sometimes you just have to scratch your head. Nathan Koppel, in an article at the Wall Street Journal's online site, finds it odd that a former Bush administration attorney is now in private practice arguing against a... | Comments (1)

Government Stimulus, One Year Later

by Ron Paul Last week marked the one year anniversary of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, or the stimulus bill, passing into law. While the debate over its success has been focused on whether or not it is stimulating... | Comments (0)

Taxing Stock Trades

If taxed, will day-traders trade at night? by Fred E. Foldvary With the federal budget deficit in the trillions for years to come, and with unemployment remaining high, Congress is seeking to spend money on a jobs program and pay... | Comments (1)

Derailed

by Paul Jacob You gotta love trains. You gotta, you might say, since we all pay for them. In taxes, subsidies. The federal government's Amtrak system loses $32 for every passenger -- averaging all the routes. According to a recent... | Comments (0)

Are US Taxpayers Bailing Out Greece?

by Ron Paul Last week we were reminded that ours is not the only country suffering from severe economic turmoil. The Greek government is the latest to come close to default on their massive public debt. Greece has insufficient funds... | Comments (0)

To Kill a Constitution

Special Interests Threaten More Than Signature Gatherers by Fred E. Foldvary The forces of the status quo are preventing Californians from changing their constitution. Although most Californians recognize that the state’s political system is kaput, the legal means to change... | Comments (0)

Not Robbed Until Proven Guilty

by Paul Jacob You are "innocent until proven guilty" in America, with one big exception: Under civil forfeiture laws, police don't have to prove that a crime has actually been committed in order to seize your property. And once your... | Comments (0)

More Spending is Always the Answer

by Ron Paul Last week, the House approved another increase in the national debt ceiling. This means the government can borrow $1.9 trillion more to stay afloat and avoid default. It has been little more than a year since the... | Comments (0)

What Else Can Waiterese Mean?

Are You Still Working on That? by Fred E. Foldvary I don’t know where waiters go to get trained, but wherever it is, they are teaching waiters bad economics. Waiters end up confusing consumption with production. Consumption means the using... | Comments (2)

Enemies Lists

by Paul Jacob Courtesy of the Obama administration, we're experiencing more and more Nixonian moments. Take medical reform. The health insurers started out in Obama's camp. But a shuffling of policies and a few insurance companies began making obvious points... | Comments (1)

Spending Freeze Not Likely

by Ron Paul Last week politicians in Washington made a few things clear about how they really feel about the state of the union. First, they are beginning to hear the growing discontent with the size and scope of government... | Comments (0)

Have We Turned the Corner?

US GDP Fourth Quarter 2009 by Fred E. Foldvary The US GDP, measuring the output of the economy, was reported at $14.463 trillion as of January 31, 2010. In the fourth quarter of 2009 (October, November, December), the annualized growth... | Comments (0)

Robbing Words of Meaning

by Paul Jacob Words change over time, in meaning as well as sound. Since much of this comes from misuse, ignorance, laziness, and even wordplay, the more you know and the less fun-loving you are, the more a scold about... | Comments (0)

Legalize Competing Currencies

by Ron Paul Much has been made recently about the supposed economic recovery. A few blips in a few statistics and many believe our troubles are all over. Of course, they have to redefine recovery as “jobless” to account for... | Comments (0)