Agitated by the predictable consequences of their tax and regulatory agenda, liberals and the Obama Administration condemn the "economic patriotism" of "corporate deserters" who seek refuge by relocating operations beyond U.S. borders.  This week, Burger King became just the latest target of their misplaced wrath, after announcing…

"That's irresponsible.  It's unpatriotic!"  So said Barack Obama on July 3, 2008, referring to the $4 trillion in cumulative new debt under George W. Bush:  "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving…

It may come as a surprise to many, but the United States imposes the developed world's highest corporate tax rate, with a combined federal and state average of 39.1%.  Exacerbating matters, our corporate tax code is a hopelessly complex and convoluted one.  Among other defects, the U.S. code taxes not only domestic earnings, but overseas…

Rather than address a labor market increasingly characterized by low-wage jobs, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are trying to distract voters by highlighting a series of issues that will do almost nothing to improve economic opportunity.  Those issues include votes in the U.S. Senate to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour…

There’s a famous quote — one of those too good for anyone to have definitively sourced — in which Mahatma Gandhi, upon being asked what he thought of western civilization, supposedly responded, “I think it would be a good idea.” The aphorism may be little more than the stuff of legend, but the same principle could apply…

After four years of proposing ideas to slim down the federal budget, Paul Ryan may get an opportunity to write them into law – perhaps as soon as next January. On the same day that Ryan (R-WI), the House Budget Committee chairman, proposed his fourth annual “Path to Prosperity” funding bill, Dave Camp (R-MI), the House Ways and Means…

While his foreign policy disasters accumulate, Barack Obama should be eager to seek domestic compromise to salvage his disastrous presidency.  Recall that Bill Clinton strived to rescue his presidency, which was otherwise distinguished by early incompetence and the fact that he’s one of only two presidents to be impeached, via compromise…

Cyclical recessions and recoveries come and go.  That’s the nature of a market economy.  Unfortunately, the current recovery under the Obama presidency is distinguished for its status as the most sluggish in recorded U.S. history.  That’s not by coincidence, but rather the consequence of his growth-killing bigger-government…

It’s no secret that America’s economy has continued to stagnate throughout Barack Obama’s tenure.  Despite the fact that the last recession officially ended almost five years ago in June 2009, U.S. economic growth has averaged just 2.1% since that time.  That’s substantially below the 70-year postwar average of 3.…

When fighting budget-related battles during Fiscal Year 2014, can conservatives have any hopes that the third time is the charm? Yes, but only if they are willing to play “small ball.” The “third time,” in this case, will involve the next confrontation with the federal debt ceiling, expected in early February. Budget Committee…

With his namesake ObamaCare in catastrophic slow-motion disintegration and his public approval numbers plummeting below his supposedly incompetent predecessor, Barack Obama is increasingly desperate to change the subject.  Cue his reliable class warfare cowbell.  This week, Obama preposterously labeled income redistribution “the defining…

Familiar is the parable of the boy who murders his parents, then seeks leniency because he is suddenly an orphan.  When it comes to budget deficits, Barack Obama is more like the boy who knocks off his parents, then brags that he drove them to the morgue.  While his public approval rating plummeted this week to a new low of 37%, here was…

Barack Obama, in case you haven’t heard, is pretty worked up about inequality. It’s a constant theme of the president’s speeches, with regular references like the one in his second inaugural address to a country where “a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it." In the abstract, this is comfortable…

Three long years ago this week, on August 2, 2010, former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced unambiguously in The New York Times, “Welcome to the Recovery.”  That was during the second of the Obama Administration’s so-called “Recovery Summers.”  Now into our fifth such summer, Americans still await…

Four wearisome years ago this month, June 2009, the last recession officially ended.  To put that into perspective, the first iPad didn’t appear on shelves for another year.   That four-year anniversary will come as a surprise to most Americans, because what we’re enduring isn’t much of a recovery.  To wit, an…

Should states be empowered to begin taxing businesses far beyond their individual borders?  Should online businesses be forced to assume the role of tax collector for states in which they don’t even maintain a physical presence?  Believe it or not, there’s an effort underway to allow just that.  Along the way, it would…

The findings of a recent Gallup poll show that one-in-five American workers are now employed part-time, the result of a steady three-year increase.  The results signal not just a shift in the labor market, but the combined effects of several bad Obama policies that distort job growth. Overall, Gallup’s survey found that part-time workers…

In 2007, the federal government took in an all-time record $2.6 trillion in revenues.  That year’s deficit was merely $161 billion – quaint in retrospect.  This year, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), incoming federal revenues will break that 2007 record and reach a new all-time high of $2.7 trillion…

Conservatives have become so accustomed to blasting Republican congressional leaders that sometimes we don’t realize we’re winning some victories. Such is now happening with the ongoing spending battles, during which, by trial and many errors, Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have somehow accomplished more…

Last April, our total corporate tax rate became the world’s highest after Japan reduced its rate several points to 36.8%.  Two years from now, Japan’s rate is scheduled to decline even further, to 34.5%.  Other nations have similarly recognized the destructive economic effect of high corporate taxes, and conversely the beneficial…

With thirty governorships in Republican hands, some GOP executives are trying to swap their states’ income tax for a broad-based sales tax.  Success could set up an alternative to the income-centric debate in Washington, D.C.  Currently, seven states – Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming &ndash…

This week, The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation released their annual Index of Economic Freedom.  Alarmingly, the United States has regressed for a fifth consecutive year.  Using a 0 – 100 scale, the Index cumulatively measures four categories:  respect for rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency…

If they want to succeed in policy and politics any time soon, conservatives/Republicans must adopt significant new strategies and tactics. But the first legislative step they can take in the House, one worthwhile both in substance and in terms of setting themselves up tactically for coming battles, is so remarkably easy that it can be accomplished…

“I just wanted to thank so many on the other side after all these years, for finally acknowledging publicly that ninety-eight percent of the Bush tax cuts helped the middle class.”  ~Representative Louis Gohmert (R-Texas)  Even in the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election, events vindicate the man whom he distastefully…

Conservative doomsayers should chill out. This week’s installment of a budget deal is definitely not the utter disaster that many enraged conservatives are portraying. While it might be a bitter pill, the deal actually gives conservatives some leverage moving forward, while leaving tax rates at levels that by historical standards aren’…

One reason the substance of the “Fiscal Cliff” negotiations has been so unsatisfactory is that the very format of the negotiations has been misguided. The Obama-Boehner talks favor the White House and disfavor the twin values of transparency and public understanding. As is usually the case, bad process is likely to produce bad policies.…

Negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff are understandably focusing on whether to cut or raise taxes and spending.  But those issues are secondary.  The real problem facing the federal budget is the unsustainable cost of entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  If structural reforms aren’t made soon, the…

With all the attention centered on the fallout in the federal budget should President Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans fail to cut a deal that avoids the fiscal cliff, it’s easy to forget that the budgets of most state governments will be heavily impacted as well. To recap, Congress and the President are facing two separate yet related…

For decades now, Republicans have championed the vague idea of budget savings while fearfully shying away from efforts to “sell” the cuts as anything other than a necessary discipline. Their lack of courage and creativity is pathetic. In “fiscal cliff” negotiations and in all similar budgetary imbroglios in the next few years…

An urgent alert atop the official White House website announces the following:  “If Congress fails to act before the end of the year, every American family’s taxes will automatically go up. A typical middle-class family of four would see its taxes rise by $2,200 starting in 2013.”  So what’s the problem?  Aren…