Wednesday round up: Breen critiques Romney's tax plan; China won't revalue its currency; IBD refutes Krugman on Reagan's Keynesian record.

At Supply-Side Forum, Ed Breen critiques the Romney tax plan.

The WSJ notes the Fed is weighing sterilized bond purchases (h/t: Larry Kudlow).

Reuters reports China refuses to bow to US pressure to appreciate the yuan (h/t: Bretton Woods Research).

On The Kudlow Report, former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie suggests Obamacare should be central to the 2012 campaign:



IBD rebuts Paul Krugman's claim that President Reagan was a better Keynesian than President Obama.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury highlights the French proposal to raise the top tax rate to 75%.

In IBD, James Carter and Jason Fichtner advocate the corporate tax becoming a major campaign issue.

At CNBC, John Carney contrasts Austrian economics with Modern Monetary Theory.

In Forbes, Richard Salsman advocates positive financial reforms.

At TGSN, Ralph Benko notes the monetary difficulties following abolition of the First National Bank.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform argues against legal immigration. H/t Bruce Bartlett: “As I have long said, those that are opposed to illegal immigration are really opposed to legal immigration as well.”



Businessweek reports cigarettes are the most stable international currency.

On Modeled Behavior, Karl Smith agrees with Paul Krugman that opponents of demand-side solutions to the 2008 financial crisis destructively undermined a helpful consensus.

Tuesday items: Benko chides Santorum on gold; Kadlec on the dollar and oil; Cantor rolls out the GOP jobs plan.

In Forbes, Ralph Benko chides Rick Santorum for opposing the gold standard.

From Bloomberg, Ramesh Ponnuru explains small business opposition to the President’s corporate tax reform plan.

At Forbes, Charles Kadlec links the falling dollar to the rising oil price.

On The Kudlow Report, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA) discusses the Republican jobs act:



In The CSM, Stefan Karlsson warns against a Greek devaluation.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury doubts a stock market correction.

In The Washington Times, Richard Rahn argues for Federal Reserve reform but stops short of supporting gold.

At CNBC, John Carney suggests Reagan and Thatcher’s economic programs worked.

USA Today reports the President will create a trade enforcement bureau.

From Reason, James Pethokoukis discusses anti-growth government policies.



At The American, Pethokoukis quotes Bruce Bartlett on the mainstreaming of supply-side economics.

In The NYT, Bartlett analyzes corporate tax reform.

At Modeled Behavior, Karl Smith suggests work incentives are altered until tax rates hit 70%.

Holiday week round up: Gingrich adopts a strong supply-side agenda and Laffer endorses; Ferrara on the President's Osawatomie, KS speech; Domitrovic on the Fed's third mandate.

From The WSJ, Newt Gingrich outlines his supply-side agenda including monetary reform:

Second, the dollar needs to be stabilized by establishing a price rule for the Federal Reserve to follow in its conduct of monetary policy. This will help stabilize international exchange rates, resolve the ongoing cycles of global financial crises and investment bubbles, short-circuit the run-up in gas and food prices, and unlock the frozen credit system.

On The Kudlow Report, Gingrich discusses his plan:



Human Events reports Art Laffer and Michael Reagan endorsing Newt Gingrich’s supply-side plan.

At Forbes, Steve Forbes argues President Obama will be a one-term president.

From Forbes, Peter Ferrara critiques the President’s attack on supply-side economics.

On Fox News, Laffer discusses his support for Gingrich:

 

From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic suggests the Federal Reserve has a third, secret mandate to fund the government’s debt.

On CNBC, John Carney cites Jude Wanniski’s Two-Santa Theory to criticize Republican handling of the payroll tax holiday.

At IBD, Walter Williams rebuts China bashers.

From Human Events, Larry Kudlow profiles US Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) as man of the year.

At Forbes, Bret Swanson critiques the Obama Administration’s focus on increasing consumption.

On Kudlow, Steve Forbes discusses the GOP race:



From TGSN, Larry White explains how to transition to a gold-linked dollar.

In The WSJ, Robert Guest outlines the positive contribution high-skill immigrants make to the US economy.

On Forbes, Louis Woodhill suggests the payroll tax holiday is bad for the economy.

At TGSN, Ralph Benko quotes Isabel Patterson on Isaac Newton’s role in defining the British pound as a weight of gold.

On The Larry Parks Show, The American Principles Project’s Sean Feiler discusses the weak dollar’s role in workers’ declining wages.

From Bloomberg, Robert Mundell applauds the ECB’s recent monetary expansion:


The WSJ profiles Gov. Romney, noting possible support for a Value Added Tax.

At TGSN, Ralph Benko wishes the Federal Reserve happy birthday.

In The WSJ, Stanford’s John Taylor argues for tax rate stability.

Wednesday round up: Stoll, Bolduc and Costa on Gingrich; Jenkins on Romney; CNN reports the euro falling below $1.30.

From The NY Sun, Ira Stoll suggests Newt Gingrich has surged in part because his tax policies are superior to Mitt Romney’s.

In The WSJ, Holman Jenkins Jr. argues the nation needs a problem solver like Romney.

At NRO, Brian Bolduc reports that Gingrich saw supply-side economics' political potential early, but wasn’t deeply interested in the economic details.

On The Kudlow Report, Robert Costa discusses US Rep. Paul Ryan's (WI) critique of Gingrich for not edorsing unpopular entitlement reforms:



CNN notes the euro falling below $1.30.

The WSJ highlights the rise of regulation under the current administration.

At Forbes, Bill Flax argues pending tax increases and regulation are strangling business.

In IBD, Jim Gilmore proposes interesting pro-growth ideas but omits dollar stability.

On CNBC, John Carney cites Jude Wanniski’s view that budget deficits should be considered relative to the total size of the economy.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein see the economy improving and doubt the Fed will enact QE3.

On CNN, Stephen Moore argues unemployment benefits go on too long:



At The Freeman, the late great Julian Simon supports immigration.

In The Washington Post, Charles Lane highlights conservative Keynesian Martin Feldstein’s long-standing opposition to the euro.

From the archive, Feldstein advocates dollar “competitiveness” via a lower exchange rate.

Monday round up: Feldstein advocates a weak dollar; Kadlec sees monetary reform taking shape; Ben Stein blames supply-side economics for deficits.

From The WSJ, conservative Keynesian Martin Feldstein of Harvard argues the weak dollar is helping the US economy.

On Forbes, Charles Kadlec reports the beginning of global monetary reform is taking shape.

Also at Forbes, Ralph Benko sees the political landscape turning back towards free markets.

On CBS News, commentator Ben Stein blames supply-side economics for the deficit. (Ben’s father, Herb, was Nixon’s chief economist when the US left the gold standard.)




At Forbes, John Tamny hammers conservatives for not cutting government more.

On CNBC, John Carney suggests President Obama may have won the larger strategic contest behind the debt ceiling debate.

From Australia’s Brisbane Times, Peter Hartcher suggests the US dollar’s reserve status is responsible for the debt crisis.

In The San Antonio Express-News, T.R. Fehrenbach notes the importance of sound money (h/t: Benko).

Bloomberg reports George Soros predicting a financial crisis that will partially disband the eurozone (h/t: Free Banking):



In The NYT, Harvard’s Greg Mankiw, an advisor to Mitt Romney, defends Ben Bernanke’s monetary record.

On TGSN, Ralph Benko notes Adam Smith’s support for fractional reserve banking.

From COAL, Paul Krugman uses median family income to downplay the Reagan record.

Tuesday update: Domitrovic on past gold standard errors; Benko on the euro and gold; Asness on bad policy.

On Forbes, Brian Domitrovic outlines ten mistakes to avoid under a gold standard.

At Forbes, Ralph Benko proposes a fusion of Robert Mundell and John Tamny to save the euro with a link to gold.

In The WSJ, Clifford Asness argues bad policy, not uncertainty, is the root of the economy’s trouble.

From the Gold Money Foundation, American Principles Project Chairman Sean Feiler discusses the group’s gold standard project:



On Forbes, Charles Kadlec chides NRO’s Kevin Williamson for his growth skepticism but applauds House Republicans and Tim Pawlenty.

At The Freedomist, William Collier, Jr. bashes Williamson for prioritizing deficits over growth.

On NRO, Williamson makes a positive contribution on inflation.

From Bloomberg, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru proposes middle class tax reform featuring a big increase in the child tax credit while reducing deductions and lowering the floor on the top tax bracket.

On Dick Morris TV, Morris provides an interesting assessment of the GOP debate. Most disappointing, Pawlenty was seen widely to have been timid and uncertain:




At Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal doubts Bill Gross’s warnings on Treasuries.

On CNBC, John Carney cites a Federal Reserve analysis that uses the Taylor Rule to indicate that for peripheral European nations, the euro’s interest rates are too high.

Wednesday round up: Woodhill notes the weak recovery; Feldstein cites obstacles to recovery; The WSJ applauds Pawlenty.

From Forbes, Louis Woodhill contrasts the current recovery with the Reagan Boom and notes the weak dollar as a factor.

In The WSJ, Martin Feldstein argues the President’s proposed tax cuts and incoherent dollar policy, along with deficit, is holding back the economy. For the record, Feldstein has long supported a lower dollar.

The WSJ applauds Tim Pawlenty’s call for higher growth via flatter tax rates and a stable dollar, but is concerned by his support for a balanced budget.

On The Kudlow Report, John Carney discusses J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s critique of federal policy towards the financial industry:




At Forbes, Brink Lindsey notes the difficulty of measuring economic growth.

On Commentary, John Podhoretz rebuts claims that the stimulus spending package was too small.

In The WSJ, Seth Lipsky suggests a constitutional scholar would be a positive addition to the Federal Reserve board.

Back in March, when Chairman Bernanke testified before the House Financial Services Committee, Congressman Ron Paul asked him for his definition of the dollar. Mr. Bernanke made no mention of the Constitution or any law passed by Congress. Instead he replied that his definition of a dollar was what it will buy.

That isn't how the Founders thought about the dollar. They thought about it as a measure of value. They gave Congress the coinage power in the same sentence in which they also gave it the power to fix the standard of weights and measures. When they twice used the word "dollars" in the Constitution, they had something specific in mind—371¼ grains of silver. They made reference not only to silver but to gold.

My guess is that the Founders would agree with Mr. Diamond when he writes that "[w]e need to preserve the independence of the Fed from efforts to politicize monetary policy." This is why they defined money in terms of silver and gold, the latter in particular being the measure of value that is hardest to politicize. Wouldn't it be nice to have among the governors of the Fed someone who thinks about money not in terms of theories but in the constitutional terms in which the Founders thought?

The Washington Times notes that QE2’s end may mean higher interest rates.

At Fox News, Charles Krauthammer explains the economy’s weakness and confirms the 2012 election will center on economic stewardship:




Pew Research reports more Americans blame the deficit on war than on tax cuts or domestic spending.

The NY Sun notes the debt limit debate puts Republicans in an unwinnable political position.

Reuters reports a Chinese official speculating about further dollar weakening.

Wednesday round up.

In response to yesterday’s large Republican electoral gains, John Tamny argues for sound money as key to political success:

Despite the undeniable good that will result from the Tea Party movement hopefully forcing the political class to show spending discipline wrought by strict constitutional limits, there’s seemingly a big hole in the platform. Specifically, it’s hard to discern any interest in stabilizing the value of the dollar.

This is important, and it’s also a constitutional issue. Indeed, the Constitution empowers Congress “to coin money, regulate the value of”, and this line in the document if properly read says that Congress must legislate the issuance of dollars that hold a specific value today, tomorrow, and ten years from now.

In short, the Tea Parties, to be successful, must demand that the political class get serious about redefining the dollar in terms of gold. If not, all their spending, tax, pro-Constitution and anti-bailout protests won’t mean a whole lot, and the economy’s full recovery will remain a distant object.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow makes a similar point:

The GOP needs a King Dollar policy, preferably one backed by gold. A depreciating dollar will drain cash from the U.S. and send it overseas; foreign investment into the U.S. will be stunted by a chronically weak dollar. And the inflationary consequences of the devaluing dollar will ultimately outweigh any low-tax-rate incentives.

As the dollar kept falling during the Bush years, it blunted the pro-growth effects of the 2003 tax cuts. There is a crucial lesson to be learned here: A strong and stable dollar is an essential complement to low tax rates.

Regarding Team Obama, it now appears that Tim Geithner’s protest that no country can devalue its way into prosperity was a lot of smoke-blowing. His credibility is going to suffer.

On The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore analyzes the electoral results:



At CNBC, John Carney predicts Treasury Sec. Geithner is a goner.

On Bloomberg, supply-side guru Robert Mundell raises alarm bells that the falling dollar will create deflationary pressures in Europe:

In an earlier speech at a forum run by Bank of America- Merrill Lynch, Mundell, 78, said the Fed’s quantitative easing was “terrorizing” the world economy. In the interview, he drew parallels between a quantitative easing-induced dollar devaluation and the “inflation tax” of the 1970s, where depreciation caused by rising U.S. prices reduced the value of dollar holdings of governments and investors around the world.

“Dollars were depreciating in value, dollars were the major reserve, this was a tax on dollars held outside” the U.S., Mundell said.

On CNBC, David Stockman claims the U.S. Fed has destabilized the world economy and forces emerging markets to buy U.S. bonds:



At Politico, Cato’s David Boaz advocates Republicans focus on the economy, but makes no mention of the dollar.

On CNBC, Professor Mundell answers five questions about himself.

Monday items.

Larry Kudlow endorses Art Laffer’s view on a downturn in 2011.

Don Luskin thinks the oil spill is hurting stocks.

John Tamny suggests education does not necessarily lead to business success.

CNBC’s John Carney says lawmakers should invest in companies they regulate.

The WSJ editorial board opposes efforts to politicize Federal Reserve lending.

Fortune features an analysis of Keynesianism.

The House GOP Whip argues the party should focus on spending.

Bruce Bartlett warns of a possible debt default.

Heritage has a video on federal spending.

Paul Krugman cites the Mundell-Flemming model as he warns against austerity.

And according to that model... fiscal contraction in one country under floating exchange rates is in fact contractionary for the world as a whole. The reason is that fiscal contraction leads to lower interest rates, which leads to currency depreciation, which improves the trade balance of the contracting country — partly offsetting the fiscal contraction, but also imposing a contraction on the rest of the world. (Rudi Dornbusch’s 1976 Brookings Paper went through all this.)