Talking with NPR, Campbell Harvey, a financial economist at Duke University, contends that Bitcoin is 10 times more volatile than the changes in the price of gold and 20 times more volatile than holding U.S. dollars. But just as the fluctuation can take you from rags to riches, bitcoin transactions can also go downhill for merchants. […]
Entrepreneurial Federalism Vs. Union Cronyism
It is commonly but erroneously stated that the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry. But truth be known, the Obama administration bailed out only two of the three auto companies. Those two companies were in one of the two U.S. auto industries—the UAW-organized one. The other industry—the one not saddled with the industry-ruining UAW—was […]
“Work Is the Best Form of Welfare”
Here Cato’s Michael Tanner explains how in the United States welfare spending has grown faster than in any country in Europe except Ireland, Spain and Portugal. The welfare-centric Obama administration could learn a lot from Australia. How bad have things become? The British newspaper the Telegraph recently looked at the growth in welfare spending in industrialized nations and […]
Scientific Errors Gone Wild
Dick and I recently attended another Cato event, this one in Naples, Florida, Ritz Carlton. If you’ve not been to one of these events, you need to. They are extremely well run, entertaining and informative. The featured speaker this year was John Stossel, host of Stossel, Fox Business Network, whose low-key, fireside-chat manner gave the […]
Flawed, Untested, Inept…
Oh, and untruthful. Here’s what O’Care navigators are advising desperate citizens whose health insurance policies have been cancelled: Buy the higher priced policy with higher deductible plan and appeal later. Just one little problem, Mr. Obama. There’s no appeal process in place. The government cannot yet fix the errors. Read here about the 22,000 or […]
Lawlessness in the White House
President Obama simply ignores laws he doesn’t like, even ones he has signed. Here as Paul Ryan explains to George Stephanopoulos, “We have an increasingly lawless presidency where he (Obama) is actually doing the job of Congress, writing new policies and new laws without going through Congress. Presidents don’t write laws, Congress does.” Mr. Ryan goes […]
Perhaps Osama bin Laden Did Win
TSA—the $60 Billion Union Monster Since 2002, taxpayers have forked over more than $60 billion for TSA. With 65,000 employees, TSA is now larger than the combined forces at Departments of State, Labor, Energy, Education, and Housing and Urban Development. Furthermore, air travelers are still obliged to go through the loathed full-body scanners, which, at […]
The Doctor Is Out
Dr. Tom Coburn, the junior senator from Oklahoma, has had enough of the self-interest and careerism of Washington politics. A proponent of term-limits, Dr. Coburn believes that Washington cannot fix Washington. Parochial interests will always trump the best interests of the nation. Only America can change Washington. What is needed are new limits on federal […]
Rubbing America’s Face in Ideological BS
In today’s WSJ, Peggy Noonan laments the emotional and tangible distance between Washington and the rest of America, between the federal government and the people. Washington has become an alien and hostile power. The IRS is going to be investigated, not by the FBI, but by a department lawyer who is a campaign contributor to the […]
State of the Union Memes
Reactions to this year’s address and the state of the Obama presidency courtesy of NRO.com. [SlideDeck2 id=18920 iframe=1]
