Free Republic

The right kind of tax reform can help people directly and indirectly. They benefit directly if reform reduces their tax burden and gives them more take-home income.They benefit indirectly if reform increases growth and leads to additional pre-tax income. For what it’s worth, I think the indirect impact is most important for family finances, and I discussed the potential benefits of faster growth in this recent interview on Fox Business. Dan Mitchell Explaining Why Uncompetitive States Should Lower Tax RatesBut for today’s column, I want to focus on the final portion of the interview, when I pontificated on how limiting...

Many longtime residents of the neighborhood previously told the (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun they believed the trees were planted for racist reasons in the 1960s, and remained a lasting remnant of the history of segregation in the city. Residents said the invasive tamarisks, which block views of the Tahquitz Creek Golf Course and San Jacinto mountains, have artificially depressed property values and prevented black families from accumulating wealth in their property over the past half century.

214876 Blog/Climate Posted Dec 20, 2017 by Martin Armstrong The danger from the Global Warming crowd is that they are misleading the entire world and preventing us from seeing what is dangerously unfolding that sparks the rapid decline in civilization – GLOBAL COOLING. I previously warned that this is not my opinion, but simply our computer. If it were really conscious it would be running to store to buy heating pads. This year will be much colder for Europe than the last three. It will also be cold in the USA. We are in a global cooling period and all...

When Ronald Reagan slashed tax rates in America in the 1980s, the obvious direct effect was more prosperity in America.But the under-appreciated indirect effect of Reaganomics was that it helped generate more prosperity elsewhere in the world.Not because Americans had higher income and could buy more products from home and abroad (though that is a nice fringe benefit), but rather because the Reagan tax cuts triggered a virtuous cycle of tax competition. Politicians in other countries had to lower their tax rates because of concerns that jobs and investment were migrating to America (Margaret Thatcher also deserves some credit since...

Laura Pekarik bakes cupcakes and sells them from a food truck. Her truck provided a great opportunity, letting her open a business without having to spend big to hire a staff and rent space in a building. "Instead of renting a whole brick and mortar and managing a team of people, it was just me and one baker," she explains. But increased regulations, such as new rules that forbid trucks to park near established restaurants, make life hard for people like Pekarik. "It became ever more difficult to find parking locations when we went to the city (Chicago) to try...

According to a report from the Tax Foundation, Americans spent $409 billion (2.2 percent of GDP) on tax compliance in 2016. This works out to 8.9 billion man-hours wasted preparing tax returns, which is the equivalent of roughly 4 million full time jobs. The Tax Foundation’s figure includes time spent by individuals preparing and filing their taxes, and money spent by individuals and corporations on tax services provided by accountants and lawyers. Essentially, it is wasted money. The billion dollar question: why does America waste so much money doing taxes? Because of complexity. The US Tax Code is so inordinately...

As the hysteria over global warming heats up, carbon taxes have become the “cool” option. Environmentalists love them. So do politicians, who are more than happy to raise taxes while scoring political points. Carbon taxes, or other analogous pricing schemes, are now prevalent in Western Europe, and are making headway in North America. For example, California recently joined forces with the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec to create an integrated cap-and-trade carbon market. On top of this, many well-known economists support carbon taxes, thinking they’re the best way to mitigate man’s contribution to climate change. A new report written...

A 2011 report published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that the agriculture industry was one of America’s most profitable sectors, and could easily afford to pay its workers 20-30 percent more without significantly impacting profits. Furthermore, research conducted by Philip Martin, a leading expert on farm labor and migration issues, found that labor costs are negligible compared to the retail cost of produce. In 2006 Martin found that only 5-6 cents of every dollar spent on produce is due to labor costs. Therefore, if illegal aliens were removed from the labor force entirely, and labor costs rose...

Looking for something to be thankful for? Try this. You have it better than billionaire John Rockefeller (1839-1937) ever did. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Co. and became one of the richest men in American history. When he died, he had a fortune worth around $1.4 billion, or $25 billion in today’s dollars. He had more money. You have better stuff. How many lights did you turn on today? Thomas Edison didn’t patent the incandescent light bulb until Rockefeller was in his 40s. There wasn’t an electrical grid, so small generators powered the first light bulbs. Today, electricity is an...

We took a look at Macron’s character; does he mean what he says?... What kind of a leader will he be? We analyzed many of his speeches, including his recent 2-hour address to the parliament on opening day, and we’ve found his rhetoric to be similar to that of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Now, all politicians give great speeches. What’s notable about Macron’s is his brazen criticism of the state and its socialist policies; his gentle admonitions to his countrymen about the poor state of affairs that they’ve allowed their country to end up in. Here’s a sample of his...

The year 2017 is a milestone in both economic history and the history of economics. The Marx-inspired Red October coupe d’état took place in Russia one century ago. The 1st volume of Marx’s Capital, a Critique of Political Economy was published 150 years ago. David Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and Taxation was published 200 years ago. Death Blow to Mercantilism The bicentennial of Ricardo’s book is worth commemorating because this book finished a crucial debate over the merits of international trade. 18th Century Mercantilists believed that a nation could become wealthier through trade surpluses- by having exports greater than...

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Market doomsayer Marc "Dr. Doom" Faber has launched a racially charged diatribe in his latest newsletter, alleging that the U.S. is great primarily because it is ruled by white people. The eccentric Gloom, Boom & Doom report author, who often speaks on CNBC and other financial media, generally forecasting some type of market downturn, focused his latest comments on the racial conflicts happening around the country. (A CNBC spokesperson said it will not book him in the future.) "And thank God white people populated America, and not the blacks. Otherwise, the US would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look...

snip According to an interview in Bloomberg Businessweek, Steve Bannon and Henry Kissinger have had several meetings and are preparing a project to sound the alarm about what Bannon views as the primary economic threat to America: If we don’t get our situation sorted with China, we’ll be destroyed economically. The forced technology transfer of American innovation to China is the single biggest economic and business issue of our time. Until we sort that out, they will continue to appropriate our innovation to their own system and leave us as a colony — our Jamestown to their Great Britain, a...

n this city, a petri dish of progressivism, a prevailing theory is that when you raise the price of something, people will buy less of it, except when they do not. A related theory is that constitutional and statutory texts should be construed in the spirit of Friedrich Nietzsche: There are no facts, only interpretations. The city council has voted to impose a tax, effective next year, on sugary soft drinks, raising the price of a 2-liter bottle of soda about $1.18. Presented as a public health measure to combat obesity, the tax is projected to generate about $15 million...

FINDING THE PATTERNS   Tax breaks worth $3 billion draw a giant Foxconn plant for up to 13,000 workers to make display screens. But economists question the math of an arms race for jobs, and say it advantages big firms at the expense of startups. If all goes to plan, a giant Taiwanese-owned electronics factory will break ground next year in southeastern Wisconsin. The $10 billion plant is supersized: at 20 million square feet, it would be five times the size of Boeing’s main plant in Everett, Wash., and would employ up to 13,000 workers to make screens for devices...

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) 2017 report, illegal immigrants, and their children, cost American taxpayers $135 billion annually—the most in this nation’s history. These costs are only partially offset by taxes, which total a mere $19 billion. Therefore, the next cost of illegal immigrants to taxpayers is $116 billion annually. This estimate is similar to those found by the National Economics Editorial.

With our national debt passing the $20 trillion threshold this week, let’s look at some figures that will help us wrap our mind around this unfathomable amount of money. To make 20 trillion one dollar bills, it would require commandeering every cotton field in the United States for 19 years (the dollar is actually 75 percent cotton) and 30 years for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to stamp out the notes. The price tag for printing this vast quantity of bills would cost taxpayers another $2 trillion. Our mountain of 20 trillion George Washingtons would weigh in at a...

Phil Keating reported that in Miami-Dade County people are rushing to get gas for their vehicles and generators, but many gas stations are out.

Beijing (China) is attempting to “trigger” President Trump’s internal neo-con and militaristic opposition. Stay frosty, avoid emotional reports demanding military engagement, and remain steady with a high altitude perspective. Multiple reports now confirming that North Korea has conducted a missile test. The flight path escalates the issues by crossing over part of Northern Japan. In essence, Beijing China just threw an elbow at President Trump. [The likely “Why” follows breaking report] "TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea fired a missile that passed over northern Japan early on Tuesday, the Japanese government said. The government’s J-Alert warning system advised people in the...