Tuesday items: Kadlec on Europe's tax hike failures; Benko on Rueff; Forbes on Ron Paul.

From Forbes, Charles Kadlec notes the failure of Europe’s tax-increase austerity.

At TGSN, Ralph Benko highlights Jacques Rueff’s critique of the post-war gold exchange standard.

On C-SPAN, Steve Forbes supports US Rep. Ron Paul (TX) for Fed Chairman:



At The American, Alex Brill examines tax fairness.

In The Washington Times, Richard Rahn lambasts the Obama Administration’s new foreign reporting requirement for US banks.

From Alhambra Partners, Joe Calhoun investors stay in cash.

On NRO, Larry Kudlow analyzes the weak recovery.

At The WSJ, James Swanson discusses Bill Clinton’s claim that President Obama is ahead of the curve pulling the US out of the financial crisis:



In The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports a congressional debate over highway spending.

From The Washington Post, Ezra Klein notes the return of many GW Bush economists on the Romney campaign.

At The WSJ, Cass Sunstein highlights an executive order to harmonize US and foreign regulation.

On Salon, Michael Lind argues the era of globalization is over.

The coal industry highlights the financial strain of rising energy costs:



In The NYT, Bruce Bartlett argues current tax rates aren’t blocking economic growth.

From Bloomberg, Rich Miller argues higher tax rates won’t discourage the wealthy from working harder.

Tuesday round up: Klein compares Obama and Romney tax plans; Kudlow and Forbes on the President's budget; Melloan on the gold standard.

In The Washington Post, Ezra Klein compares tax rates under Obama vs. Romney. One smart observer writes, “Obama got to the right of Romney for the first 60 percent of income levels. Brilliant. And again shows how Romney's timidity and weakness on taxes is provocative.”



The Daily Beast reports anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist arguing that Mitt Romney is acceptable because he will sign conservative legislation.

In Forbes, Ralph Benko likens US Rep. Ron Paul (TX) to Thomas Jefferson.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury argues the economic recovery is real.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow highlights the many tax increases in the President’s budget proposal.

On The Kudlow Report, Steve Forbes discusses the President’s tax plan:



In The American Spectator, George Melloan advocates the gold standard.

At United Liberty, Jeremy Kolassa assesses CPAC’s gold standard panel.

In The Economist, a confused columnist suggests gold is too volatile to serve as a monetary standard.

The NYT quizzically reports the rise of interest in gold-linked currency.

From US Rep. Walter Jones (NC), a chart on assets held by the US Federal Reserve:

At Salon, David Wolman cites Benn Steil making Robert Mundell’s case for a single world currency.

At RCM, John Tamny explains that on housing, the prudent bailout out the imprudent.

The WSJ roots Greece’s problems in its failure to go for economic growth.

On Kudlow, US Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) offers the Republican alternative to the President’s budget:




From Politico, Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing calls for tough action to force China to appreciate its currency (as the US did to Japan in the late 1980s, resulting in long-term deflation and stagnation).

In The NYT, Bruce Bartlett analyzes income’s definition in tax policy.

Weekend edition: Moore mocks Keynsians; DeGaulle on gold and the dollar; The NY Sun says Lehrman is Rueff's heir.

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore mocks Keynesian economics.

At COAL, Paul Krugman responds.

On YouTube, Charles DeGaulle foresees debt problems and monetary instability stemming from the dollar standard (h/t: TGSN):




The NY Sun suggests Lew Lehrman is the intellectual heir to DeGaulle advisor Jacques Rueff.

On Gold Money, French journalist Pierre Jovanovic discusses DeGaulle, Bretton Woods and gold.

Scotland’s Herald weighs the pros and cons of the gold standard.

At The American, Alex Pollock notes the dollar’s weakness against gold and other currencies since the 1971 Nixon Shock.

On RCM, John Tamny defends Gov. Rick Perry’s (TX) Fed comments.

The WSJ defends Perry’s job creation record.

In RCM, Robert Tracinski suggests Nixon, not Rick Perry, is responsible for politicizing the Fed.

On Fox Business News, Steve Forbes discusses banks, Warren Buffett, and the dollar:




At Forbes, Peter Ferrara rebuts Buffett’s tax-hike advocacy.

In The Financial Times, Chris Caldwell analyzes Buffett’s argument.

On CNS News, Matt Cover notes Buffett’s tax solution won’t solve the deficit
(h/t: Ralph Benko).

From The American, Tino Sanandaji and Arvid Malm debunk soak-the-rich claims.

The WSJ discounts the incentive effect of the President’s one-year payroll tax cut extension.

The biggest problem with Mr. Obama's payroll tax cut is that it's temporary. Employers hire workers based on their business needs and the costs of each new employee. They aren't likely to add workers based on lower tax costs if they know those costs are going to rise in a year. That's especially true when employers also know that ObamaCare is going to raise their cost of hiring in 2013.

Mr. Obama's payroll break is also only an indirect hiring incentive because it goes to the worker, not the employer who does the hiring. The President's Keynesians see the tax cut mainly as one more stimulus to boost consumer spending, and thus economic demand. As the President recently explained, the idea is to "put $1,000 in the pockets of American workers."

At Fiscal Times, Bruce Bartlett explains that in addition to marginal tax rates, income thresholds for high tax rates matters too.

On Larry Kudlow’s radio show, Sen. Jim DeMint (SC) discusses extension of the one-year payroll tax cut (around 39 minutes). Also, Larry notes the 22:1 oil-to-gold ratio and suggests gold may be overpriced; if the Fed doesn’t initiate QE3 at this week’s Aspen conference, look for it to drop.

In The WSJ, Allysia Finley notes Gov. Mitt Romney’s (MA) opposition to tax cuts for the rich.

At The Washington Times, Nita Ghei suggests the world has learned from the Smoot-Hawley mistake.

On Forbes, Bill Flax critiques Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz’s Keynesian prescriptions.

From AP, Tom Raum explains that recession is the deficit’s main cause.

From The Washington Post, Ezra Klein suggests today’s sound money advocates are equivalent to 1937 opponents of monetary easing.

On TNR, Jonathan Chait critiques Jude Wanniski’s analysis of how WW II started.

Tuesday items: Kadlec says gold will restore confidence; The LAT reports a possible debt and tax reform deal; Kudlow, Lowry and The WSJ oppose the Balanced Budget Amendment.

From Forbes, Charles Kadlec argues the gold standard is vital to restoring economic confidence.

The LA Times reports the Senate’s Gang of Six proposal to cut spending, eliminate tax expenditures, and reduce tax rates. One major problem: it would raise the capital gains tax from 15% to 20%.

On RCM, John Tamny reviews Peter Ferrara’s America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb.

On The Kudlow Report, Larry Kudlow notes supply-siders’ objections to the Balanced Budget Amendment:




The WSJ editorializes against the Balanced Budget Amendment; NRO editor Rich Lowry also opposes it.

At The Washington Times, Richard Rahn argues regulation is stifling innovation.

IBD features Thomas Sowell’s Senate testimony on taxes.

On Hardball, Chris Matthews loses his cool over Grover Norquist’s refusal to accept tax hikes:




Canada’s Business News Network features an interesting debate with John Mueller and Professor Robert Barsky on the gold standard.

At The Washington Post, Ezra Klein defends Keynesianism.

In The New Yorker, George Packer highlights the problem of cutting social programs during high unemployment:

Representative Paul Ryan’s ten-year budget plan, which remains his party’s blueprint for the future, would impose a fifty-per-cent cut on programs like food stamps and Supplemental Security Income, which, as long as Danny Hartzell remains jobless, represent the Hartzells’ only income. By the last day of June, the Hartzells had twenty-nine dollars to their name.

Thursday items: Reynolds on tax rates; Woodhill on Keynesian claims; Tamny on Zandi.

In a must-read from The WSJ, Alan Reynolds demolishes tax increase arguments.

At Forbes, Louis Woodhill responds to Keynesian claims.

On The Kudlow Report, Dan Mitchell debates high tax rates:



At RCM, John Tamny challenges Mark Zandi’s weak dollar/tax rebate strategy for growth.

On Money News, Steve Forbes promotes the gold standard.

The WSJ Asia suggests that China raise the yuan’s exchange rate.

There are hints that a debate is ongoing in Beijing about how to alter course before these distortions grow bigger. The reformers have been hamstrung by the export lobby's desire to keep the yuan's value low. But the costs of intervening to do so are rising. Sustaining China's growth will require banks to make market-oriented lending decisions, which won't happen as long as its central bank can't use interest rates as a tool of financial management. The sooner Beijing decides to stop sterilizing, the easier will be the transition to a better financial system.

Freedomist continues to critique NRO’s Kevin Williamson (more here).

At Bloomberg, progressive Ezra Klein calls Tim Pawlenty’s growth strategy fantasyland but acknowledges it is smart politics.

From earlier this week in The WSJ, Bill McGurn rebuts The NYT’s Thomas Friedman for Friedman’s view that the world is full. Like Friedman, McGurn overlooks the unstable and declining dollar:

All around us we see its manifestation in the revival of floppy hats, platform shoes and maxi dresses. We can, however, also detect this same retro fashion sense on the op-ed page of the New York Times. There last week Tom Friedman's column carried one of the sentiments most in vogue in the 1970s: "The Earth Is Full."

Mr. Friedman invokes the usual grim specters so beloved of a certain kind of intellectual: natural disasters (tornadoes, floods and droughts); rising prices (food and energy); the threat to stability; and of course the kicker—that there are just too many darn people around these days.

It's a familiar meme, and it comes bearing the familiar scientific credentials. In this case the authority is, Mr. Friedman tells us, "an alliance of scientists" called the Global Footprint Network, "which calculates how many 'planet Earths' we need to sustain our growth rates." Right now they say it is 1.5. Which can mean only one thing unless we cut way, way back: We're doomed.

At Forbes, Jerry Bowyer continues to examine the psyche of John Maynard Keynes.

On TNR, Jonathan Chait challenges The WSJ’s critique of the President's economic policy.

From this week’s Republican candidate debate, Newt Gingrich had a terrific answer on tax rates:

KING: Mr. Speaker, if you look at a poll in the Boston Globe just the other day, 54 percent of Republican voters in this state say they're willing to have higher taxes on the wealthy to help bring down the deficit. Are they wrong?

GINGRICH: Well, the question is, would it, in fact, increase jobs or kill jobs? The Reagan recovery, which I participated in passing, in seven years created for this current economy the equivalent of 25 million new jobs, raised federal revenue by $800 billion a year in terms of the current economy, and clearly it worked. It's a historic fact.

The Obama administration is an anti-jobs, anti-business, anti- American energy destructive force. And we shouldn't talk about what we do in 2013. The Congress this year, this next week ought to repeal the Dodd-Frank bill, they ought to repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, they ought to start creating jobs right now, because for those 14 million Americans, this is a depression now.

The Club for Growth lists its key priorities but doesn’t mention the dollar.

Thursday round up: Tarapore, Forbes and Kudlow on gold; Ferrara on the dollar's role in the mortgage crisis; Malpass on the IMF.

From The Hindu Business Line, S.S. Tarapore suggests the world is moving back to gold as money.

At Forbes, Steve Forbes advises the GOP presidential candidates to highlight the need to relink the dollar to gold.

From NRO, Larry Kudlow suggests the IMF focus on increasing world growth, including gold-backed money.

On The Kudlow Report, David Malpass discusses the IMF:




At Forbes, Louis Woodhill argues Paul Ryan’s budget proposal is flawed and that a new plan for fast growth should be adopted instead.

On Forbes, Peter Ferrara notes the weak dollar’s role in the subprime and financial crises.

The AEI Political Report highlights negative poll numbers on the economy.

In The Washington Post, Ezra Klein suggests higher taxes wouldn’t retard economic growth.

At The Orlando Advocate Online, Paul Evans argues supply-side economics has been discredited.

Tuesday summary: Domitrovic on inflation; Benko on the GOP candidates; Quigley on Lehrman as a presidential candidate.

From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic explains that unless arrested, today’s commodity inflation will lead to tomorrow’s general inflation.

On Forbes, Ralph Benko calls out the GOP presidential candidates on the dollar and growth.

In The Hill, Bernie Quigley floats Lew Lehrman for President as the “thinking man’s Ron Paul.”

On The Kudlow Report, NRO’s Kevin Williamson, of Goodbye Supply Side fame, calls five percent economic growth a "magic unicorn":




On NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, Lew Lehrman discusses the gold standard.

In The NY Sun, Ira Stoll critiques the President’s blaming high oil prices on speculators.

At RCM, John Tamny opposes extending the debt limit.

At Alhambra Investments, Joseph Calhoun sees continued economic sluggishness.

ABC News reports on rising interest in the gold standard among conservative economists and in the states:




At The American, Alex Pollock identifies the Fed’s additional mandates beyond price stability and employment.

The NY Sun reports the debate over selling the U.S. gold supply.

Fox News features Newt Gingrich backtracking from his comments on U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal.

On Forbes, Charles Kadlec suggests governments are the greatest source of systemic risk.

In The WSJ, Bill McGurn argues the President’s budget requires raising taxes on the middle class.

The NYT notes that increased revenues have cut California’s deficit.

In The Washington Post, Ezra Klein suggests a weak dollar is good for economic recovery.

Thursday items: Benko, Calhoun and Woodhill on gold; Kudlow on the dollar; Tamny reviews When Money Dies.

From Daily Caller, Ralph Benko argues the gold standard is necessary to rejuvenate the economy.

At RCM, Joe Calhoun explains how stabilizing the dollar against gold would cause a rush of capital out of commodities into the productive economy.

On Forbes, Louis Woodhill suggests the true value of gold today is $218.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow links commodity volatility to the seesawing dollar.

On The Kudlow Report, a panel handicaps the GOP presidential candidates and agrees none of the contenders has a strong pro-growth message:




From RCM, John Tamny reviews Adam Fergusson’s When Money Dies, about Weimar Germany’s catastrophic devaluation.

Politico reports Republican attempts to reframe the Medicare debate.

On The Washington Post, progressive Ezra Klein attempts to show that tax rate increases wouldn’t retard economic growth.

At The WSJ, Daniel Rosen and Thilo Hanemann note rising Chinese investment in the U.S., but warn of political obstacles.

The shift of China's growth model toward domestic consumption and increasingly intense competition at home forces Chinese firms to upgrade their technology; capture the higher levels of the value chain they traditionally conceded to foreign partners; and augment their managerial skills and staff base to remain globally competitive. Investments abroad are a way to do all this.

China's gain could also be America's gain, as demonstrated by an earlier round of Asian investments. Japanese firms had a difficult start in the U.S. in the 1980s, as they were greeted with skepticism and fear. Today, Japanese firms employ almost 700,000 Americans with an annual payroll of nearly $50 billion.

Yet, as with Japan, the high growth of Chinese investment—albeit from a tiny base—is already sparking a political firestorm in the U.S. Recent controversies have flared around various investments by telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei, as well as steelmaker Anshan in a Mississippi rebar plant, and the acquisition of small aircraft maker Cirrus by a Chinese state-owned company.

From Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal notes the Government Accountability Office has ruled the Treasury can prioritize interest payments over other spending.

In The FT, Axel Merck reports on the euro’s recent strength relative to the weak dollar.

The Hartford Courant notes Steve Forbes advocates a stronger dollar as key to recovery.

Monday items: Tamny on loose money; Indiviglio on low interest rates; Goldman sees continued malaise.

From Forbes, John Tamny argues the Fed’s low interest rate policy discourages saving and makes credit tight.

In The Atlantic, David Indiviglio explains the problems with extremely low interest rates.

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman debates the economy’s direction:



At NRO, David Beckworth argues Federal Reserve policy should target nominal GDP growth.

In Forbes, Steve Forbes interviews John Mauldin about his new book on the debt crisis.

On COAL, Paul Krugman advocates independent scoring of Paul Ryan’s tax cuts.

At The WSJ, ATR President Grover Norquist discusses the spending battle:



On NRO, Kevin Williamson notes income mobility to refute Robert Reich’s attacks on the wealthy.

At The NYT Economix blog, MIT’s Nancy Folbre advocates Democratic initiatives to address the deficit with tax increases.

In The Washington Examiner, Philip Klein posts a Democratic strategy memo on their tax increase plan.

Thursday items: Kudlow on the market dip; Norquist opposes a deficit grand bargain; Utah's Senate passes the gold-as-legal-tender bill.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow examines the factors behind today’s market dip.

From The Washington Post, Ezra Klein interviews conservative activist Grover Norquist on his efforts to prevent a grand bargain on the deficit that would include tax increases. (H/t: Future of Capitalism.)

On CNBC, Dan Mitchell debates inflation debate in the U.S. and Europe:



At Forbes, Jerry Bowyer suggests it is troubling that more U.S. production occurs overseas.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the Utah Senate has passed the bill making gold legal tender bill in the state. (H/t: Rich Danker).

On The American Interest, Walter Russell Mead challenges Paul Krugman’s solutions to labor market uncertainty.

We have our naysayers and prophets of doom in the US, and many of our intellectuals are so caught up in and so well paid by the blue social model that they literally cannot conceive that the radical changes shaking their world should be embraced rather than resisted. But one of the great secrets of America’s historical success is that the voices of nostalgia are weaker here than in other places.

Krugman and many of his colleagues at the Times are, I think, blinded by how good things once were. This is understandable; I felt that way for many years myself and it was only slowly and painfully that I gave up on the blue social model that once looked so good. But the country and the times we live in demand more than angry and ultimately despairing nostalgia from our thinkers and opinion leaders. Let us hope that it comes.

From Project Syndicate, Barry Eichengreen notes that China’s growth may be slowing.

Former FDIC Chairman William Isaac ties the high price of farmland to the undervalued dollar. (H/t: Vlad Signorelli.)

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.

Thursday items.

The WSJ editorial page rebuts Paul Krugman's attack on U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan's policy road map.

At Asia Times, David Goldman considers the Treasury market.

At businessinsider.com, Joe Weisenthal comments on David Goldman's latest Kudlow Report appearance.

At NRO, Kevin Williamson analyzes money supply's impact on capital flows.

In The WSJ, monetarist Allan Meltzer suggests Europe's economy has improved because of spending cuts. As a reminder, Robert Mundell predicted Europe would recover due to the euro's drop against the dollar to below $1.30.

From 2000, Mundell discusses the euro, the dollar and gold (starting on page 23).

At The American, Austrian Arnold Kling examines Keynesianism and bailouts.

In The Washington Post, Keynesian Ezra Klein compares the Bush and Obama tax cuts.

Tuesday round up.

In The Washington Post, Ezra Klein solicits experts on what top tax rate maximizes revenue. As several commenters note, there's a difference -- at least in the short run -- between the rate that maximizes government revenue and the rate that maximizes growth.

Richard Rahn expands his argument that supply-side economics yields superior results to demand-side spending.

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman discusses Federal Reserve policy:

Goldman also considers today's disappointing productivity numbers.

John Tamny explains that credit is tight because the quality of money is poor.

On Fox Business News, Tamny discusses auto bailouts:

Amity Schlaes rebuts the claim that tax hikes will improve confidence and lower the deficit.

In The Wall Street Journal, Glenn Hubbard defends lower tax rates on capital.

Also in The Journal, Henry Olsen argues unemployment is higher than conventional estimates, and must be countered with pro-growth policies.

Friday items.

Historian and Econoclasts author Brian Domitrovic responds to yesterday's Reihan Salam column.

In The WSJ, Peter Ferrara suggests tax reform followed by lower spending is best to lower deficits.

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman diagnoses the weak economy.

Also on Kudlow, Kevin Williamson debates taxes and deficits.

On Fox, David Malpass discusses deficits and taxes.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) makes good points in an interview with Ezra Klein, though he leaves out the unstable dollar.

Don Luskin explains why the market recently improved.

At Forbes, Michael Pento argues that deflation isn't the problem.

The WSJ examines what happens if the Bush tax cuts expire.

Reuters reports China has become the world's second largest economy.

Weekend round up.

The WSJ's Stephen Moore reports on the House Republican budget plan.

David Goldman is bearish on financial stocks.

At Seeking Alpha, Dian L. Chu rebuts Paul Kruman's Keyneisan success story in Iceland.

Don Luskin is holding onto his gold.

Paul Craig Roberts suggests libertarians should appreciate supply-side economics more.

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation defends free trade.

Ezra Klein suggests Democrats may extend some Bush tax cuts.

NRO's Reihan Salam validates deficit worries.

The NY Post debunks claims of stimulus success.