Thursday items: Manhattan Institute posts SSE conference video; Lehrman discusses gold; Domitrovic on floating currency and manufacturing.

At Reuters, James Pethokoukis gives this blog a shout out. Thanks James!

The Manhattan Institute posts video of Tuesday’s supply-side convocation (part 2 here, part 3 here).

On CNBC’s Closing Bell, Lewis Lehrman discusses Reaganomics and the gold standard (h/t: Ralph Benko):



At TGSN, Brian Domitrovic makes the crucial point that the dollar standard has wrecked U.S. manufacturing.

Economics21 examines the dollar’s decline.

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman debates the dollar’s future:



Bloomberg’s Caroline Baum suggests Japan’s crisis may worsen world inflation.

From Forbes, Steve Forbes advocates a flat tax to help Japan recover quickly.

At Forbes, Louis Woodhill recommends selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when its ratio to gold creates an arbitrage opportunity.

Tuesday update: Domitrovic on SSE; Benko predicts the Fed will cost Obama his job; Goldman is bullish on Japan.

From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic exposes a flawed academic treatment of supply-side economics.

Also at Forbes, Ralph Benko predicts Federal Reserve tightening in the next 18 months will doom the President’s reelection.

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman sounds bullish on Japan:



At The WSJ, George Melloan explains that rebuilding Japan’s destruction will not be economically stimulative.

From Forbes, Charles Kadlec links high oil prices to Federal Reserve policy.

In The Journal, Joel Kotkin notes that low tax, pro-oil North Dakota is booming:

The biggest impetus for the good times lies with energy development. Around 650 wells were drilled last year in North Dakota, and the state Department of Mineral Resources envisions another 5,500 new wells over the next two decades. Between 2005 and 2009, oil industry revenues have tripled to $12.7 billion from $4.2 billion, creating more than 13,000 jobs.

Already fourth in oil production behind Texas, Alaska and California, the state is positioned to advance on its competitors. Drilling in both Alaska and the Gulf, for example, is currently being restrained by Washington-imposed regulations. And progressives in California—which sits on its own prodigious oil supplies—abhor drilling, promising green jobs while suffering double-digit unemployment, higher utility rates and the prospect of mind-numbing new regulations that are designed to combat global warming and are all but certain to depress future growth. In North Dakota, by contrast, even the state's Democrats—such as Sen. Kent Conrad and former Sen. Byron Dorgan—tend to be pro-oil. The industry services the old-fashioned liberal goal of making middle-class constituents wealthier.

On Lew Rockwell, Andrey Dashkov notes rising interest in gold-backed money.

At AEI’s The American, Jay Weiser critiques gold-backed money:

Bullion-based systems have two major problems. First, supply is ordinarily fixed in the short term, creating deflationary pressure when economic activity expands: there is not enough coin to go around. As far back as the Middle Ages, bullion stocks were insufficient for commerce, not to mention costly to transport and safeguard. Before central banking, this led to currency debasement. As Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have documented, over centuries, the proportion of silver (the original European monetary base) in coinage inexorably dropped to a small fraction; by the 19th century it was quasi-fiat money….

Bullion production was uneven, creating a second major problem: huge swings in the monetary base unrelated to the rate of economic growth and the size of economies. Large discoveries triggered massive expansion and inflation, but when mines played out, sudden production drop-offs caused contractions—the opposite of Milton Friedman's prescription for a constant rate of monetary base growth. Early modern Spain is the poster boy: after its conquest of South America, the giant Potosí silver mountain fuelled inflation and imperial overstretch in a series of Reformation-era wars, followed by multiple bankruptcies when production decelerated around 1590, then declined in the 17th century. Similarly, the silver supply surge created by the mid-19th century discovery of Nevada's Comstock Lode generated Japanese inflation that helped topple the Tokugawa Shogunate.

On US News, Robert Schlesinger reports that Republican budget cuts would impact tsunami warning.

At The Washington Times, Richard Rahn advises the GOP to avoid the Washington Monument Ploy when reducing spending.

From House Republicans, a JEC report argues lower spending will help the economy.

Weekend update.

In The Financial Times, World Bank President Robert Zoelick advocates a Bretton Woods-style international currency arrangement based on gold.

On The Jim Bohannon Show, Brian Domitrovic provides a terrific discussion of supply-side economics.

On Fox News Sunday, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) firmly opposes the Federal Reserve’s planned quantitative easing, but doesn’t say what the Republican House will do about it.




On the same show, U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (VA) repeatedly insists Republicans want to maintain the status quo on tax rates, not cut them. My question is, why not push the debate -- and go for real growth -- by proposing significant new cuts to the corporate tax and capital gains tax, to help investors and businesses recapitalize? Surely the electorate will reward pro-growth proposals.

At Classic Capital, Wayne Jett decries the Fed’s QE plan.

At New World Economics, Nathan Lewis diagnoses Japan’s economic weakness.

On Friday’s Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore debates tax rates:




In The WSJ, Robert Frank reports on why the Washington state initiative to raise taxes on the rich failed.

On Café Hayek, Don Boudreaux worries about the President’s mercantilist perspective.

Supply-side foe Peter Peterson’s foundation will launch a new ad campaign on the deficit.

Thursday items.

On RCM, Charles Kadlec explains that higher tax rates on the rich are equivalent to domestic tariffs on doing business with high-income individuals and small businesses.

The NY Sun editorializes on the history of JFK, Nixon and gold.

On The Kudlow Report, Larry discusses the weak dollar’s impact on the oil price:



In Foreign Policy, Keynesian Barry Eichengreen analyzes the present currency war.

From 2004, Jude Wanniski and Eichengreen correspond on currency and gold.

Larry Kudlow wonders if this week’s Gallup poll led to the market rally.

At WSJ video, Stephen Moore examines job losses:



At The Journal, Tadashi Nakamae suggests the U.S. is repeating Japan’s monetary errors.

From 2009, Alan Reynolds debunks Keynesian analysis of Japan’s deflation.

On CNBC’s Netnet, Ash Bennington analyzes Art Laffer’s recent WSJ piece.

At Intermex Financial, Ricardo Valuenzuela posts a 2005 Wanniski book review on American entrepreneurship in Jude’s memory.

Thursday items.

The NY Sun rolls its eyes at Alan Greenspan's recent remarks that gold is the canary in the currency coal mine.

At Investor's Business Daily, Cato's Alan Reynolds analyzes Keynesian spending vs supply-side tax cuts.

The WSJ's Dan Henninger sees spending as the election's main issue.

At The Kudlow Report, Larry examines Japan's currency fluctuations.

At The WSJ, a collection of conservative Keynesians and monetarists offer a mixed agenda for economic growth (cutting spending and entitlements, freezing regulations, and maintaining current tax rates). Most problematic is the fifth point, which calls for a Taylor Rule-style monetary policy rather than a commodity price rule.

The WSJ reports on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's call for a higher yuan at a House hearing.

At The Money Illusion, Scott Sumner points out that currency revaluations don't necessarily improve trade deficits.

Steve Forbes discusses successful investment strategies of the past decade.

A note on David Malpass's Senate race: Earlier this week, supply-sider Malpass lost his Republican primary bid for the U.S. Senate in New York. While I followed the campaign from afar, I can't help but note that Malpass seemed to cast himself most clearly as a spending hawk, rather than focusing his campaign on tax cutting, sound money and economic growth. Running as a budget cutter, Malpass was one of the crowd rather than a standout candidate for growth; an odd strategy.

Monday items.

Editor's note: Last week due to work/travel we fell behind with updates, but as of tonight we're caught up. Thanks for your patience.

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At Fox News, Phil Kerpen argues President Obama is coming around to supply-side economics.

On Asia Times, David Goldman sees good economic news, though mostly not in the US.

At Investors Business Daily, Paul Whitfield revisits President Reagan's success:

Cato's Dan Mitchell notes Fidel Castro's recent critique of the Cuban system and notes the reaction of some liberal writers.

At The WSJ, Paul Ryan and Arthur Brooks posit that Americans want a smaller government.

Historian and Econoclasts author Brian Domitrovic comments on the role of tax cuts on eras of economic growth:

On Hayek Center, Greg Ransom suggests supply-side economics is premised on debt accumulation.

At Reason, Tim Cavanaugh considers Paul Krugman's Japan analysis.

Robert Samuelson revisits the financial crisis and the failure of Lehman Brothers.

Thursday round up.

At his blog, historian Brian Domitrovic offers a great explanation of how floating currencies caused Japan's Lost Decade, and today threatens China.

Cato's Dan Mitchell responds to Ezra Klein's recent discussion of the Laffer Curve.

On The Kudlow Report, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank supports ending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

David Frum's website interviews Art Laffer regarding tax increases for the rich.

Art Laffer disputes the President’s view that Social Security does not face a crisis.

In The WSJ, the Council on Foreign Relation's Benn Steil and Paul Swartz suggest current monetary tactics will force the Federal Reserve to float interest rates (full text here).

From the archive, Jude Wanniski advocates the Fed float interest rates in favor of a dollar price rule versus gold.

Robert Reich opposes Mitt Romney's supply-side proposals, saying low demand is the problem.

Swiss America Trading’s CEO explains why businesses and investors are sitting on their money.

Say what you will about Reich’s economics, he does have a good sense of humor:

At AEI's The American, Mark J. Perry explains why trade deficit statistics are unreliable.

At Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux rebuts The NYT's claim that a rising trade deficit is harmful.