Free Republic

The majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics believe that the federal deficit should be reduced only or primarily through spending cuts. The survey out Monday found that 56 percent of the NABE members surveyed felt that way, while 37 percent said they favor equal parts spending cuts and tax increases. The remaining 7 percent believe it should be done only or mostly through tax increases. As for how to reduce the deficit, nearly 40 percent said the best way would be to contain Medicare and Medicaid costs. Nearly a quarter recommended overhauling the tax system...

Will increasing tax rates on the rich increase revenues, or hold back the economy? Mr. Hauser uncovered the means to answer these questions definitively. On this page in 1993, he stated that "No matter what the tax rates have been, in postwar America tax revenues have remained at about 19.5% of GDP." What a pity that his discovery has not been more widely disseminated. The chart nearby, updating the evidence to 2007, confirms Hauser's Law. The federal tax "yield" (revenues divided by GDP) has remained close to 19.5%, even as the top tax bracket was brought down from 91% to...

The parents of a 13 year old Minnesota boy, Daniel Hauser, who with their support refused chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, have now told Judge John Rodenberg that they will agree to the treatment. Previously, they had missed a court date and fled the state in order to avoid judicially imposed chemotherapy. Their recent reversal came after they were given a choice; agree to chemotherapy for their son or lose custody of him. This immediately brought to my mind the movie Sophie's Choice, in which the main character, a Nazi era Jewish mother of two played by Meryl Streep, revealed her...

A Minnesota judge has ruled a 13-year-old boy with a highly treatable form of cancer must seek medical treatment over his parents' objections. Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg ruled Friday that Daniel Hauser of Sleepy Eye has been "medically neglected" and is in need of child protection services. Rodenberg said Daniel will stay in the custody of his parents, but Colleen and Anthony Hauser have until May 19 to get an updated chest X-ray for their son and select an oncologist. Doctors have said Daniel's Hodgkin's lymphoma had up to a 90 percent chance of being cured with chemotherapy...

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minnesota judge is expected to decide whether a family can refuse chemotherapy for a 13-year-boy's cancer and treat him with natural medicine, even though doctors say it's effectively a death sentence. With chemotherapy, Daniel Hauser has a 90 percent chance of surviving his Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to his cancer doctor. And without it? "It is almost certain that he will die," said Dr. Bruce Bostrom, a pediatric oncologist at Children's Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota. Bostrom, who diagnosed the disease, is an ally of the legal effort in southwestern Minnesota's Brown County to make Hauser submit to...

Kurt Hauser is a San Francisco investment economist who, 15 years ago, published fresh and eye-opening data about the federal tax system. His findings imply that there are draconian constraints on the ability of tax-rate increases to generate fresh revenues. I think his discovery deserves to be called Hauser's Law Like science, economics advances as verifiable patterns are recognized and codified. On this page in 1993, he stated that "No matter what the tax rates have been, in postwar America tax revenues have remained at about 19.5% of GDP." The chart nearby, updating the evidence to 2007, confirms Hauser's Law....

The Obama campaign's conference call yesterday on Republicans who back the presidential bid of the Democrat from Illinois showcased quite a crew. There was Rita Hauser, the PLO apologist whose law firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, racked up millions of dollars in legal fees over the years as a registered foreign agent of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Ms. Hauser met with Mr. Arafat as early as 1988, when America still considered him a terrorist and refused even to allow him access to the United Nations headquarters in New York. Though the meeting may have had the tacit approval of...

Secrets, Donors and the Edward Said Chair Columbia University’s newly established Edward Said Chair in Middle East Studies is noteworthy for several reasons. The position is named for the recently deceased professor best known for his defense of Palestinian “resistence.” And Rashid Khalidi, an overt supporter of Palestinian violence and – according to a just-published biography of Yasir Arafat from Oxford University Press – a former PLO press spokesman[i], has joined Columbia to fill the post. But there is something even more objectionable about this chair: It is anonymously endowed and Columbia University – perhaps against the law – refuses...

From the man who brought us "The Passion of the Christ" comes "Paparazzi," a cheeseball revenge thriller with an alarmingly twisted moral. According to this Mel Gibson-produced late-summer offering, released without screening for critics, it's OK to murder celebrity photographers because they're amoral bottom-feeders. Forget about turning the other cheek; these unshaven, bourbon-swigging "parasites" — who, in the view of "Paparazzi," all look and behave like dirty buccaneers — apparently deserve to die. The "Death Wish" premise is almost as extreme as the acting. Squandering a chance to thoughtfully examine the repercussions of society's obsession with Hollywood lives, first-time feature...