Tuesday round up: Reynolds on high tax rates; Bhide defends the euro; Domitrovic on GM.

From The WSJ, Alan Reynolds demolishes arguments for 70% tax rates on the rich (full text from Cato).

In The WSJ, Amar Bhide provides an excellent defense of the euro:

But here's the catch. Devaluation works its magic to the extent it doesn't trigger demands for wage hikes, even though a depreciating currency increases the price of imports and reduces the purchasing power of workers' incomes.

Now, individual employees might be susceptible to a money illusion and worry only about their nominal wages. But it isn't the demands of individual workers that make labor markets excessively rigid—it's unions and other such institutionalized players. Unions that won't negotiate pay cuts with employers are unlikely to allow devaluations to erode real wages through the back door. Indeed union contracts often contain protections against inflation....

Worse, devaluations clip the real incomes of those least able to afford the loss—the elderly who depend on their meager savings and pensions, low-wage employees who aren't unionized and lack valuable skills, and small businesses scraping along that don't get even a temporary boost to profit margins because they ply a purely local trade.

At Forbes, Brian Domitrovic explains the folly of investing in GM.

In Human Events, John Hayward suggests a shift in the Left’s view of the Laffer Curve.

On The Kudlow Report, US Rep. Ron Paul (TX) discusses the dollar and the economy:



At International Liberty, Dan Mitchell argues European austerity hasn’t been as severe as Paul Krugman suggests.

The NY Sun rebuts Berkshire Hathaway’s Charles Munger on gold.

In The Washington Times, Richard Rahn argues spending in Europe still increased during the recent debt crisis.

From Alhambra Partners, Joe Calhoun sees some positive trends in the economy.

On Fox Business News, Stephen Moore discusses state tax rates:



In The American Interest, Barry Eichengreen foresees declining use of the dollar in world commerce.

From The WSJ, Justin Lahart suggests unemployment would be down to 7.1% without government spending cuts.

At The NYT, Bruce Bartlett doubts rich people will relocate from the US if taxes go up.

Weekend edition: Laffer and Moore on state taxes; Forbes on Romney; Spitznagel on the Fed.

From The WSJ, Art Laffer and Stephen Moore argue states without income taxes are economically healthier.

At Forbes, Steve Forbes urges Mitt Romney to defend free markets vigorously.

In The WSJ, Mark Spitznagel explains how the Fed enriches the top 1%.

On The Kudlow Report, David Malpass analyzes the slow recovery:



At Forbes, Peter Ferrara analyzes progressive economic fallacies.

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports a Florida Tea Party dust up.

From The Manhattan Institute, Diana Furchtgott-Roth explains that raising investment taxes will result in less investment and push capital overseas.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow highlights the slow 2.5% growth rate.

The NY Sun applauds the Shadow Open Market Committee.

At The Mises Institute, Frank Shostak doubts that Ben Bernanke saved the economy from another depression.

From The Peterson Institute, C. Fred Bergsten argues for a lower dollar, tax increases (though not on businesses or incomes), and trade barriers on China unless it raises the yuan. Around 1:06, he suggests President Nixon’s 1971 import surcharge to “rebalance” world exchange rates was a success:



The Examiner reports US Rep. Eric Cantor (VA) citing supply-side economics in support of his small business tax cut bill.

At The American, Steve Hayward doubts the instability of the oil-to-gold ratio.

Tuesday items: Kudlow, Luskin and Moore on Romney; Boaz and DeMint on Paul; IBD says the Fed is readying QE3.

From NRO, Larry Kudlow suggests Mitt Romney should downsize the US government to turnaround America, Inc.

In The WSJ, Don Luskin advises Romney to defend his work at Bain.

From Cato, David Boaz defends US Rep. Ron Paul’s (TX) analysis of the financial crisis.

On The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore discusses Romney's taxes:



In The Washington Post, Bill Knapp suggests the middle class is not stagnating.

IBD reports the Federal Reserve is preparing QE3.

The NY Sun opposes release of Fed transcripts.

In Forbes, Charles Kadlec argues declining freedom is the root of the economy’s problems.

At Powerline, Steven Hayward advocates a Laffer Curve for regulation.

On CNN, Sen. Jim DeMint (SC) applauds Ron Paul’s Federal Reserve criticism:



On Bloomberg, Virginia Postrel pans the new Margaret Thatcher movie.

In The Washington Times, Richard Rahn compares the economies of Cayman and Belize.

Tuesday summary: Domitrovic on Mexico buying gold; Kudlow on Boehner's speech; Goldman on China.

From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic remembers the Soviet Union’s pursuit of gold to keep itself going.

At TGSN, Domitrovic notes that Mexico is buying gold to get away from the weak dollar.

On NRO, Larry Kudlow applauds Speaker Boehner’s tough debt ceiling speech.

The Financial Times reports Speaker Boehner linked the falling dollar to high commodities in his speech (h/t/: Bretton Woods Research):

In his speech, Mr Boehner took an implicit swipe at the Federal Reserve, blaming it and the Obama administration for high petrol prices. “There’s a clear connection between high gas prices and the weak dollar that some in Washington have quietly welcomed over the past couple of years. It’s well known that when you print tons of money, the dollar sinks, and the price of food and energy rises significantly.”

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman discusses U.S. negotiations with China:




At Human Events, John Hayward explains that a weak dollar means strong oil.

On New World Economics, Nathan Lewis measures commodity values against gold.

From Alhambra Investments, Joe Calhoun assesses last week’s dollar spike/commodity dip.

In The NYT, Mark Weisbrot recommends Greece withdraw from the euro and devalue its new currency.

From the Laffer Center archive, Art Laffer argues for a return to dollar convertability.

At NRO, Burt Fulsom suggests spending cuts caused the economic expansions of the 1920s and ‘40s, while spending increases caused the 1970s stagflation.

Thursday update: NPR links Ryan's budget to supply-side; Luskin critiques the ECB; Benko defends the classical gold standard.

NPR’s Marketplace suggests Paul Ryan’s budget plan is based on rosy assumptions rooted in supply-side economics.

Businessweek reports the European Central Bank’s rate hike.

On The Kudlow Report, Don Luskin critiques the ECB:



At TGSN, Ralph Benko defends the classical gold standard.

On Forbes, Richard Salsman recounts gold’s history in the 20th century.

In The Financial Times, Martin Wolf excludes the dollar standard from a discussion of global imbalances.

At The WSJ, Allan Meltzer debunks some monetary policy myths but repeats others.

Furthermore, the Fed treats gasoline and oil price increases as a transitory blip. That's almost certainly correct about the effect of Arab unrest or the Japanese tsunami. But much of the rise in oil prices came before these events and was in response to the strengthening world economy. Prices will likely continue to rise as the world economy grows. Meanwhile, world grain prices have been driven up by the foolish U.S. ethanol program. When ethanol raises corn prices, prices for substitutes like wheat and rice rise also. There is no sign that Congress will repeal the ethanol program.

On New Economic Perspectives, Bill Black critiques Stephen Moore’s recent article on makers versus takers.

At NRO’s Corner, Steven Hayward notes that rolling back the Bush tax cuts will hit the middle class most.

On Fox News, Dan Gainor reports George Soros is funding efforts to reform the international currency system starting with a meeting in Bretton Woods, NH.