Intro by John Baden It is the exception that probes, not proves, the rule. I know of no logical system in which an exception to a general rule can “prove” the verity of that proposition, generality, principle, or rule. In this week’s FREE Insights, economist Michael Munger of Duke University describes an […]
Read MoreIntroduction by Dr. John Baden, Chairman, FREE Most contentious issues of public policy are nuanced and highly complex while carrying heavy emotional baggage. These ingredients foster error and acrimony. Intelligent people of good will, even those sharing similar values, can strongly disagree on policy prescriptions. This situation produces strong temptations to discredit and denigrate policy opponents. These characteristics are […]
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This article appeared in New York Post on December 3, 2012. Washington is consumed with wrangling over how to deal with the specter of big automatic tax hikes that will hit Jan. 1 when the Bush tax cuts expire. It’s also the day that the sequester kicks in, which is the budget-wonk term for an automatic process […]
Read MoreI’m writing this column on the night before the presidential election of 2012. Surely the attention of readers will be on the election tomorrow—and probably for some time thereafter. I’m praying for an early and decisive ending of this grotesque demonstration of avarice, deception, and manipulation of fears. In the weeks prior to the election, […]
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“It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today, and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates…. [A]n economy constrained by high tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance the budget, just as […]
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Prohibition and legalization aren’t our only choices when it comes to drugs. Proven programs can greatly reduce the harm caused by hard-core users—and reduce our prison population, too.
Read MoreHere’s a sketch of America’s economic prospects. Essentially, we’re seeing the consequences of 50 plus years of near libertarian tax rates and socialist benefits. Federal taxes were 17.8 percent of GNP in 1960. By 2007 they had risen less than one percent to 18.5 percent. However, there was a great deal of fraud and abuse […]
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Twice a week, John Goodman, president and founder of NCPA in Dallas, writes a blog. Most are on health care, but a few are wider issues. John uses a finely polished economic lens to help us see through complex and often disguised or misrepresented governmental programs. Here is a slightly abridged version of his recent […]
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I can’t think of any single act of government that creates more inequality than the lottery—at least per dollar raised and spent. Think about it. Thousands of (mostly below-average income) people buy tickets and, after the drawing, one of them becomes immensely wealthy. As far as I can tell, the single largest winner in the […]
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Many concerned and informed people feel guilty over their carbon footprint. Buying carbon offsets lets them assuage this guilt, but this is a misguided perspective. Instead, I suggest we promote climate stewardship with policies that steadily encourage energy conservation and low CO2 production, e.g., carbon taxes. Individuals atone for their “excessive” carbon consumption, i.e., twenty […]
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