1. Dr. Gerard Lameiro: Why Is Unemployment So High This Labor Day?
2. Ronald Kessler: Half of Your Taxes Will Go for Interest Under Obama
3. Dave Bego: SEIU’s Persuasion of Power
Why Is Unemployment So High This Labor Day?
In a detailed op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal this week, Robert Barro shows why he believes unemployment would be significantly lower if unemployment benefits had not been extended from the standard 26 weeks to 99 weeks. His calculations indicate that unemployment might be under 7% right now if only the unemployment benefits had not been extended to 99 weeks. Is he right? Why is unemployment so high this Labor Day? In economics, we know that when we tax something, we get less of it. We also know that when we subsidize something, we get more of it. It’s just common sense. Taxing something like cigarettes discourages smoking because the price goes up for smokers. Similarly, if we subsidize something, we encourage it because we create an economic incentive for that activity. Incidentally, that’s why we shouldn’t tax income, savings and investment because that is essentially taxing economic growth. We want more economic growth and prosperity, not less. [more...]
Half of Your Taxes Will Go for Interest Under Obama
Congressional Budget Office forecasts of government deficits and debt are supposed to be authoritative. But Congress forces the CBO to make unrealistic assumptions when issuing those estimates. The latest assumptions include that the alternative minimum tax will not be adjusted annually for inflation and that discretionary spending unrelated to war will increase no faster than inflation. Brian M. Riedl of the Heritage Foundation has stripped out these and other assumptions to come up with a more realistic look at the government’s spending and debt. Based on realistic assumptions… [more...]
SEIU’s Persuasion of Power
By Dave Bego
It appears the SEIU is up to its old tricks again. Impatient with the President’s inability to ram through the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a/k/a. card check, the SEIU is once again taking to the streets. This time outside a prestigious retail and office building in Los Angeles and utilizing its infamous “corporate campaign” mode to protect membership dues amid declining membership in California and other areas, the SEIU protested against the firing of 16 janitors at the adjacent Century Plaza building, a building owned by J.P. Morgan Chase. [more...]
