Weekend edition: Kudlow on Romney; Newt names Lehrman and Grant to Gold Commission; Santorum bashes gold.

Newt Gingrich’s campaign names Lew Lehrman and James Grant to its Gold Commission.

From Newt.org, Lehrman and Grant accept Gingrich’s offer.

CBS News reports Rick Santorum bashing Gingrich for his Gold Commission proposal:

"One is, well, a little radioactive in the sense of you just don't know what he's going to do or what he's going to say," Santorum said, citing Gingrich's comments earlier in the day that he'd like to reexamine the gold standard.

On The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore responds to Paul Krugman on the tax rate paid by millionaires such as Romney:




On NRO, Larry Kudlow applauds Mitt Romney’s attack on crony capitalism.

In The NYT, David Leonhardt notes that most US taxpayers pay less than Romney’s 15%.

The WSJ breaks down taxes paid by income groups.

On Fiscal Times, Bruce Bartlett examines Romney’s tax arrangements.

At Forbes, Nathan Lewis explains gold’s role in establishing a stable currency.

In The NYT, former Obama car czar Steven Rattner chides progressives for minimizing deficits, comparing them to “fiscally irresponsible” supply-siders.

At The WSJ, Steve Hanke notes the positive property tax treatment in growing football playoff cities New York, San Francisco, and Boston versus Baltimore, which is stuck with high tax rates and a low population:





In The WSJ, Edward Lazear explains that despite the lower unemployment rate, it’s not any easier to get a job.


On RCP, John Tamny defends investment banking from Occupy Wall Street criticism.

At TWS, Matthew Continetti reviews Jeff Bell’s new book on social conservatism, The Case for Polarized Politics.

Wednesday update.

On TGSN, Ralph Benko explains the gold-standard works best because it relies on the wisdom of crowds rather than a small group of bankers.

At RCM, John Tamny argues letting banks fail will correct bad behavior more effectively than new regulations.

On The Kudlow Report, Dan Mitchell suggests a government shutdown might be a victory for spending restraint:



In The WSJ, Alan Reynolds challenges the claim that business is hoarding $2 trillion (reprinted by The Cato Institute).

At Alhambra Investments, Joe Calhoun worries about the long run unless there is budget and tax reform and a stabilized dollar.

From The WSJ, George Melloan links the low dollar to world inflation and unrest.

About the only one failing to acknowledge a problem seems to be the man most responsible, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. In a recent question-and-answer session at the National Press Club in Washington, the chairman said it was "unfair" to accuse the Fed of exporting inflation. Other nations, he said, have the same tools the Fed has for controlling inflation.

Well, not quite. Consider, for example, that much of world trade, particularly in basic commodities like food grains and oil, is denominated in U.S. dollars. When the Fed floods the world with dollars, the dollar price of commodities goes up, and this affects market prices generally, particularly in poor countries that are heavily import-dependent. Export-dependent nations like China try to maintain exchange-rate stability by inflating their own currencies to buy up dollars.

Mr. Bernanke has made it clear that his policy is to inflate the money supply. His second round of quantitative easing—the controversial QE2 policy to systematically purchase $600 billion in Treasury securities with newly created money—serves that aim. But even for the U.S. it is uncertain that Mr. Bernanke can hold to his 2% inflation target. Oil is going up. Foodstuffs are going up. And when the Fed sneezes money, the weak economies of the world, and the poor masses who are highly vulnerable to price rises in the necessities of life, catch pneumonia.

At The NYT, David Leonhardt argues Keynesian spending has made the U.S. recession lighter than in austerity-focused nations.

On Capital Gains and Games, Bruce Bartlett recounts the taxes Ronald Reagan raised as governor and president.

From the archives, Bartlett revels in the success of supply-side economics.

Wednesday update.

On Forbes, Steve Forbes suggests budget deficits create an opportunity to downsize and reform government.

RCM reprints David Malpass’s statement to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee.

On The Kudlow Report, Larry suggests CPI statistics are unreliable:




At Business Insider, Jack Barnes advocates a new Louvre Accord to end competitive devaluations.

On Fox Business News, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (TX) argues for less intervention in the economy.

At Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman dismisses concerns about commodity prices, while unwittingly confirming that the Great Depression and the current malaise featured highly unstable dollars:




From last month at Just Facts Radio, Judy Shelton provides a superb overview of the dollar and gold.

At The American, Scott Shane explains that small businesses oppose Obamacare because it doesn’t make health coverage cheaper.

Heritage’s Ed Feulner recalls Reagan’s economic legacy.

The fable of the Left (the hard Left, anyway -- many others are coming around) is that this was all smoke and mirrors. But the facts tell a different story. Starting from the "stagflation" mess his predecessor handed him, Reagan created a genuine economic miracle. After a three-stage tax cut and a reduction in government growth, our economy began to expand -- by 31 percent from 1983 to 1989 in real terms. Americans of every class -- rich, middle-class and poor -- saw their wealth increase.

It was our nation's longest peacetime expansion in a long and prosperous history. By decade's end, we had added the economic equivalent of a new Germany to our gross national product. Inflation was cut by two-thirds, interest rates by half. Unemployment dropped to the lowest level in 15 years.

At The NYT, David Leonhardt makes the case for corporate tax reform.

On Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux refutes a manufacturing doomsayer.

Thursday items.

David Malpass’s Growpac initiates a petition against the Fed’s quantitative easing.

At First Things, David Goldman responds to NRO’s Ramesh Ponnuru on QE2.

On The Kudlow Report, Malpass assesses the market:




On Louisiana radio, John Tamny discusses government barriers to economic recovery.

At Politico, David Boaz recommends Republican emphasize not raising taxes in a recession.

On The NYT, David Leonhardt illustrates that growth was sub-par in the GW Bush years and suggests tax cuts don’t lead to growth:




Dallas’s D Magazine reports Steve Forbes blames the weak dollar for the financial meltdown.

At Commentary, John Steele Gordon mocks Leonhardt for discovering that strong growth would help solve the deficit.

On NRO, Stephen Spruiell argues Keynesian stimulus spending as deficit reduction is a bad idea.

Our friends at Bankrupting America summarize the non-monetary uncertainties government is creating for businesses:

Wednesday items.

At CNBC, Larry Kudlow writes that dollar decline doesn’t help the economy.

On Gordon Liddy’s radio program, John Tamny discusses gold and the falling dollar.

From China’s CCTV, Robert Mundell opposes raising the yuan.

The NY Times’ David Leonhardt explains several reasons why a higher yuan won’t help the US, but supports doing it anyway. He omits that a significant yuan rise will push down Chinese prices, cancelling out the impact on global trade.

In The LA Times, Peter Navarro – who, oddly, calls himself a supply-sider – urges Congress to punish China for its yuan/dollar peg.

On Kudlow, David Goldman debates Fed policy:



At Asia Times, Goldman comments further.

On Forbes, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) suggests easy Fed policy enables government debt.

At CNBC, David Malpass analyzes his Senate campaign and the state of the economy:



Bloomberg’s Amity Schlaes estimates total top tax rates will rise above 50 percent if the President’s tax proposal takes effect.

At NRO, Kevin Williamson distinguishes between Keynesian tax rebates and long-term supply side tax cuts.

Also on Kudlow, Allen Sinai discusses his study on cutting capital gains taxes:



On The Frum Forum, Scott Winship argues income inequality arguments are overstated.