No matter the result of next month's election, President Joe Biden will soon leave the White House. That makes it a good time for a nearly final assessment of his and Vice President Kamala Harris' first-term legacy on federal spending and debt – a tragedy of epic proportion. Unfortunately, neither Harris nor her rival on the campaign…

During his campaign, former President Donald Trump has proposed his share of bad policy ideas, such as a 20% tariff across the board. But tasking Elon Musk with heading a commission to make the government more efficient is one worth considering. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Trump said this commission will conduct "a complete financial…

In 1982 the federal budget deficit rose above $100 billion for the first time (those were the good old days!), and then-President Ronald Reagan agreed to an infamous budget deal with then-House Speaker Tip O'Neill. Democrats would agree to $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increases. Reagan foolishly agreed to the deal. The taxes went up. The…

In the history of American literature, no family personalized the hardscrabble struggles of everyday Americans more poignantly and prominently than the Joad family of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.”   That novel and subsequent film classic captured the Great Depression plight of the Joads, who migrated westward…

Democrats and the media are in a quandary to explain why Americans so underappreciate all that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have done for the economy. Or, should I say, TO the economy. They act as if these are the salad days for American families, with inflation falling and jobs aplenty. For now. So why are Americans so dour…

In the ongoing debate over America's trade policy, politicians and pundits often claim that the public supports tariffs and other protectionist measures, such as those given to us by the Trump and Biden administrations. A new Cato Institute poll, however, reveals a more complex picture: Americans might like the idea of tariffs and "Buy American…

On Wednesday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release inflation figures for July. Whatever the numbers turn out to be, this will remain true: Prices are far higher than they were when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office.  Even as the rate of inflation has gone down from its peak in 2022, Americans have learned an unhappy lesson…

The United States is full steam ahead into uncharted fiscal waters, with rapidly growing federal debt promising a choppy economic future. Candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump have added trillions to the national debt during their recent presidential administrations, leaving America at a critical juncture that demands urgent, bipartisan action. If…

Among his litany of other bizarre fictions, Joe Biden continues to insist that he’s some sort of deficit disciplinarian.   Biden’s deficit falsehoods, however, have become so untenable that even notoriously left-leaning pundits have started calling him out on it.   The issue was brought into new and bolder relief last…

Three years ago this month, unmistakable signs emerged that inflation was ascending out of control.   The Biden administration, however, imperiously dismissed growing concerns and even insisted that everything was heading in the “right direction.”   Consumer prices that month surged at a 5.4% annual rate, the highest…

Congressional Budget Office projections provide valuable insights into how a big chunk of your income is being spent and reveal the long-term consequences of our government's current fiscal policies – you may endure them, and your children most certainly will. Yet, like most other projections looking into our future, these numbers should…

No issue defines the diametrically opposite economic philosophies of Joe Biden and Donald Trump than their position on the Trump tax cuts. Trump wants to make those tax cuts permanent; Biden has repeatedly promised to tax America back to prosperity by repealing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But there are so many factual errors swirling around regarding…

With more tariffs on electric vehicles and an election featuring two pro-tariff presidential candidates on the way, the debate about how best to support and strengthen the U.S. manufacturing sector is back. Some argue, mistakenly, that the key to protecting American industries and manufacturing jobs is a set of tariffs on industrial imports. This approach…

Prices are threads stitching together the fabric of our economy. They guide countless producers, here and abroad, to meet the most urgent demands of countless consumers. Prices enable the economic coordination of millions of individuals – each with his or her own unique preferences, skills and resources – with no need…

If the economy is so good, why do small business leaders feel so bad? The latest Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business could hardly be more depressing. It finds that the men and women who run our 33 million small businesses and hire more than half of American workers are in a somber mood. The survey finds…

Another Tax Day has come and gone, and most Americans believe they pay too much. One recent poll revealed that 56% say they pay more than their fair share. Unfortunately, I fear this is just the beginning considering the insane level of debt Washington policymakers have accumulated over the years. With this in mind, here are some important facts about…

If you pay New York state taxes, you're paying top dollar and getting bupkis. Nothing in the budget deal announced in Albany on Tuesday changes that. State tax money is supposed to provide services and improve the state's economic outlook. But a report released last week shows the state's economic prospects plunging to dead last among the 50 states…

In 1992, Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton famously answered a voter question about how the national debt affected him personally. Clinton's response was often paraphrased as, "I feel your pain." Whether Bill was for once being sincere or not, his words resonated. Now President Joe Biden is running for reelection with the opposite…

Do wealthy Americans pay their “fair share” of income taxes?   If “fair” is defined as a reasonable equilibrium between someone’s share of income earned and their share of income taxes paid, then wealthier Americans actually pay more than their fair share.   That might surprise many people, but it…

The economy is growing, unemployment is low, wages are up, and inflation is down. However, the American people remain grumpy about the state of the economy. This puzzle was just investigated by four economists. They found that people often know that something is wrong even if statistics don't reflect the problem. In this case, people are perceiving…

I am often asked if President Joe Biden is intentionally trying to dismantle the American economy with his imbecilic energy, climate change, crime, border, inflation and debt policies. But I've always believed these policies are driven by a badly mistaken ideology – not malice. Then I watched Biden's State of the Union speech. When…

In the latest volley of policy proposals that seem more rooted in populist rhetoric than economic knowledge, President Joe Biden's budget plan to hike the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 28% strikes me as particularly misguided. This move, ostensibly aimed at ensuring a "fair share" of contributions from corporate America, is a glaring…

It's a good thing President Joe Biden wasn't strapped to a polygraph while giving his State of the Union speech on Thursday, because his results would have come back about as clean as O.J. Simpson's. That was especially true when he recited a lot of tall tales – and some whoppers – while touting his administration's…

The interrelationship between economic freedom and societal prosperity across the expanse of human history remains self-evident to reasonable minds.   It’s nevertheless invaluable to possess a tool to objectively measure economic freedom and quantify its causal relationship with societal prosperity.   That’s precisely…

The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee made news recently by announcing that if his party is serious about changing the fiscal path we are on, they'll have to consider raising taxes. Politics is about compromise, so the chairman is right. Every side must give a little. However, "putting taxes on the table" is not as simple…

America is celebrated for its economic dynamism and ample and generously paid employment opportunities. It's a nation that attracts immigrants from around the world. Yet Americans are bummed, and have been for a while. They believe that life was better 40 years ago. And maybe it was on some fronts, but not economically. Surveys repeatedly demonstrate…

President Joe Biden is boasting about the recent stock market rally. He's right that stocks have been on a tear for the last 14 months. The S&P 500 hit 5,000 for the first time in history. That's up from 500 some 30 years ago.  Even with all our problems, the United States is the unrivaled alpha male nation. The dollar is the only currency…

Over the years, I've offered many explanations about why the trajectory of the national debt is deeply troubling. At this point, though, my worry isn't rooted in a dogmatic adherence to the principles of a balanced budget. Nor does it come from my desire for a smaller government. Instead, I'm alarmed by politicians' unwillingness to look at the numbers…

“Most Homes for Sale in 2023 Were Not Affordable for a Typical U.S. Household.”   That was a Christmas Eve headline from none other than National Public Radio (NPR).   As 2023 ended, the Biden Administration’s peculiar effort to gaslight American voters into believing that economic conditions were flourishing…

Repeat after me, class: Growth does NOT cause inflation. Write it on the blackboard 100 times. For decades, the economics profession has been trying to tell us all just the opposite. They keep shoveling out the dumbest economic concept of all time: the Phillips Curve. This was the lame-brained "theory" by neo-Keynesian economists of the…