Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Economic Cycles

Economic Cycles Even with the rebound in second quarter growth, first half growth was still under 2%. Moreover, newly revised real GDP data reports even slower growth over the past few years. For some five years the consensus has forecast stronger growth right around the corner, despite the fact that it has consistently been too […]

Libertarianism Simplified: the Three Proper Powers of Government

In your basic Austrian style Libertarianism Government only has three proper functions: External Defense, Internal Policing, and Enforcement of Contracts. Or we could simplify all that as: Protection of Private Property, Protection of Private Property, and Protection of Private Property. It really is that simple, at least once you define private beliefs and personal freedom […]

CBO Aug 7, 2015: Monthly Budget Review for July

Monthly Budget Review for July 2015 Bolding mine: The federal government’s budget deficit amounted to $463 billion for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2015, CBO estimates. That deficit was $2 billion larger than the one recorded during the same period last year. If not for shifts in the timing of certain payments (which […]

Hiroshima and the Elided Moral Question

Today is the 70th anniversary of the first deployment of a nuclear weapon against humans. Something that was followed three days later by the second and so far last such deployment. Which raises any number of moral questions. One is there something particularly immoral about nuclear warfare that does not apply to other methods, for […]

Swedish Privatization of Education Fails

This is important. Amazingly, socialist Sweden attempted radical partial privatization of its schools with about one fourth of students now attending publicly financed privately managed schools (roughly charter schools). This daring reform was followed by a dramatic decline in scores on the PISA international standardized test including the largest decline in math scores of all […]