Category:Politics & Policy
Reddit AMA with Professor Ilya Somin of George Mason University
September 12, 2017 | Post
Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation.
Why Government Agencies Grow Year After Year
July 17, 2017 | Video
Prof. Abby Hall explains why government agencies have an “incentive to expand.” Dave Rubin asks if we can roll them back.
We should DO something!
December 7, 2015 | Post
Shamans knew they could bend the credulous to their will (and make a boatload of money) if the shaman could predict something like a storm, or an eclipse. “This very evening, the Night Wolf will devour the Moon Virgin! But if you pay me many coins of silver, I will force Night Wolf to cough […]
Greece Should Default
November 2, 2015 | Post
Newly reelected Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras expects that by early 2017 Greece will be able to access bond markets, from which it has been virtually cut off since it lost investor confidence in 2010. If it is unable to meet this timeline, it will be forced to rely on further bailouts or go bankrupt. […]
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: The Immigration Debate
November 2, 2015 | Post
With presidential contenders like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders making a fuss about foreign laborers coming to the country and depressing wages or murdering our women and children immigration reform has once again moved to the front lines of presidential politics. Have you ever wanted to cut through the demagoguery and fear-mongering and get plain […]
‘Loonie’ Canadians Elect Spendthrift Regime Despite Success with Cutting Spending
November 2, 2015 | Post
Last week, Canada elected a new Liberal Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who has vowed to massively boost public spending and run several years of deficits, arguing that the “infrastructure deficit” is bigger than the fiscal deficit. He claims that such stimulus spending will spur economic growth. But in the video below, economist Stephen Davies looks […]
Republican Debate: More of the Same?
October 29, 2015 | Post
Last night’s Republican debate was two hours of 10 candidates doing their best to distinguish themselves from the many people hoping to win the 2016 presidential election. While there were some generally agreed-upon winners (Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz) and losers (Jeb Bush, and for some the CNBC moderators), the debate itself was underwhelming. Was […]
New York Times’ Solution to Fiscal Problems: Eat the Rich
October 28, 2015 | Post
The New York Times came out with an article last weekend claiming how much good raising taxes on the country’s wealthiest could do: [W]hat could a tax-the-rich plan actually achieve? As it turns out, quite a lot… the government could raise large amounts of revenue exclusively from this small group, while still allowing them to […]
Deficit Day
October 27, 2015 | Post
What happens when the government spends all of the tax revenue it collects? In 2013, the U.S. budget deficit was $680 billion dollars! Who eventually pays for this difference in tax revenue and government spending? Professor of Economics at Duquesne University Antony Davies explains in the following video on the worst fiscal milestone of every […]
Leave Maternity Leave Alone!
October 23, 2015 | Post
Washington D.C. council members introduced legislation that would provide 16 weeks of paid parental leave to almost all employees in the District — paid for by a new tax on private D.C. employers. The proposal has been greeted positively by the media, which frequently point out that the U.S. is one of the only countries […]
Bureaucratic vs business management in health care
October 19, 2015 | Post
The health care debate has been long on hysterics and short on useful analysis. Incendiary and counterproductive rhetoric about socialism, Nazis, and death panels from some corners notwithstanding, critics of socialized medicine raise an important question with uncomfortable answers: in the absence of profits, losses, and prices, how will decisions about the production and allocation […]
My Path to Open Borders
October 15, 2015 | Post
This excellent post by Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at George Mason University, was originally featured at OpenBorders in January of 2013. Below is an excerpt. I changed my mind about proper immigration policy in my senior year of high school. The impetus, as usual for me, was not first-hand experience, but abstract argument. After […]
Death Penalty: Justice, or Just Too Far?
April 14, 2015 | Video
The death penalty has been a topic of fierce debate for decades. From basic pros and cons lists to statistics supported cost analysis, the different arguments for or against capital punishment are well documented. But what happens when an innocent person is convicted and sentenced to die for a crime they did not commit? Even […]