Wednesday summary: Benko on GOP platforms and gold; Mitchell on Keynesianism; Wesbury doubts QE3.

From TGSN, Ralph Benko recounts the history of Republican presidential platforms that included a gold money plank and wonders about 2012.

At International Liberty, Dan Mitchell debates Robert Reich on Keynesianism.

On The Kudlow Report, David Goldman analyzes market volatility:

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports declining support for California’s tax hikes.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury doubts the Fed will initiate QE3.

In The WSJ, Gerald O’Driscoll predicts the breakup of the euro.

On Asia Times, Cedrick Mohammed examines China’s activity in Africa.

In The WSJ, Yukon Huang advises China to liberalize its economy.

On CNN, Stephen Moore debates Norm Ornstein on Washington gridlock:

In The Financial Times, Bruce Bartlett advises the President to focus his economic message on government works and loose money.

At The Daily Beast, David Frum suggests bad monetary policy is like arsenic.

Wednesday summary: Domitrovic reviews Lehrman; Mundell on currency instability; Paul on the Fed.

From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic reviews Lew Lehrman’s The True Gold Standard.

At TGSN, Ralph Benko notes The Royal Institute of International Affairs interest in the gold standard.

The People’s Daily (China) reports on a speech about currency instability and exchange rates by supply-side economics founder Robert Mundell.

On The Kudlow Report, US Rep. Ron Paul (TX) argues the Fed is still engaged in quantitative easing:

 

At The Weekly Standard, Charles Wolf, Jr. suggests the Keynesian model is wrong in theory.

From First Trust, Brian Wesbury examines the positive parts of the economy.

In The WSJ, Gerald P. O’Driscoll notes the financial links between the US and EU.

At The Washington Times, US Rep. Steve Stivers recommends reform of Dodd-Frank.

On Kudlow, US Reps. Jim Jordan (OH) and Charlie Rangel (NY) debate the economy and taxes:

 

From reader S. Rao:

I listened through Herman Cain and Rich Lowrie's presentations at AEI earlier this week and wanted to point out some Jude Wanniski influences in Lowrie's presentation. Video of the AEI Panel including Lowrie, here: (click on "A Panel Discussion . . .")

(at 26:35): Lowrie distinguishes the incidence and burden of a tax. Wanniski noted the same but in the capital gains context.

(at 32:54): Lowrie notes that the capital gains tax is a wall between those who have ideas and those with money. See the Wanniski-Laffer wedge model, here.

(at 33:29): Lowrie notes that productivity depends on the ratio of capital to labor. Wanniski used the analogy of a thick soup "Think of a pot of soup that has mixed in it labor and capital. If we add more capital, and stir it up, the soup becomes thicker, with a higher capital/labor ratio."

(at 36:24): In the context of the poverty portion of the 9-9-9 plan, Lowrie says it is obvious that to have general growth we "can't leave anyone behind"; and, in reverse, to address poverty, we must address general growth. A comparable point was made by Wanniski about Reagan in 1980. As President Reagan said in the "Good Shepherd" television commercial: "Those who have the least will gain the most. If we put incentives back into society, everyone will gain. We have to move ahead. But we can't leave anyone behind."

Weekend edition: Metzler on Keynesianism; Lewis and Forbes on Perry; Mitchell's coins his golden rule.

From The WSJ, Allan Metzler dissects the Keynesian model’s flaws.

Cato Journal features several good articles on monetary policy, including from David Malpass, Steve Hanke, and Gerald P. O’Driscoll. This one on flexible exchange rates is interesting.

At Forbes, Nathan Lewis applauds Rick Perry’s flat tax plan and wonders if he’ll adopt a strong dollar next.

In South Carolina’s The State, Steve Forbes predicts Perry will win the GOP nomination.

On Fox News, Perry provides a generally strong explanation of his economic plan:



At The WSJ, Steven Landsburg argues the death tax hurts the poor.

On International Liberty, Dan Mitchell coins Mitchell’s Golden Rule, "The private sector should grow faster than the government."

From Forbes, Peter Ferrara contrasts the Republican jobs plan with the President’s.

At Fox News, Herman Cain cites Jude Wanniski and Art Laffer among his tax plan’s influences.

On The Kudlow Report, Herman Cain advisor Rich Lowrie discusses the 9-9-9 plan:

 

At The American, Stephen Moore remembers economist William Niskanen.

The WSJ notes the immigration crackdown has led to labor shortages.

The NY Sun advocates pro-immigration policies.

Weekend edition: Lewis and The WSJ on the euro; Kudlow on the President's populism; O'Driscoll on financial bubbles.

From Forbes, Nathan Lewis defends the euro but suggests incompetence threatens the entire enterprise.

The WSJ argues the euro is still a good idea:

The Greek crisis hasn't proved that the euro was a mistake. But the political reaction to it has placed the experiment in serious danger by abandoning the no-bailout principle and replacing it with a doctrine that sovereign default in a currency zone is unthinkable. This policy makes no more sense than saying that bankruptcy should be impossible, because no one will lend to a company if it might go bust. What's worse is that Europe's leadership has adopted this view for the sake of defending the Greek government from the consequences of its irresponsibility on spending and mendacity about its true level of deficit and debt.

From Heritage, Derek Scissors explains the likely futility of exchange rate manipulation on China’s trade surplus.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow suggests the President’s populist tactics demoralize the economy.

On The Kudlow Report, James Pethokoukis discusses the President’s populist turn: 



At The American Spectator, Ross Kaminsky debunks the China currency debate. 

From Cato, Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr. links currency instability to financial bubbles.

At The Frum Forum, Noah Kristula-Green reports on last week’s Heritage sound money conference.

On The Kudlow Report, Don Luskin analyzes the economy:


In The American Spectator, Stephen Moore argues Keynesianism is dead.

At NRO, Michael Potemra notes Steve Jobs’ supply-side brilliance.

On TGSN, Ralph Benko reports gold standard support from Hippy icon Ralph Metzner.

The Sound Money Center features an interview with Charles Kadlec.

From The WSJ, Robert Frank discusses the rising zero-sum mentality concerning tax hikes:

 

On Asia Times, Reuven Brenner suggests demographic challenges make Greek’s future bleak.

The WSJ argues Herman Cain’s plan to add a federal sales tax on top of the income tax is bad policy.

At COAL, Paul Krugman claims commodities indicate a reflation to 2007 levels, not a major inflation.

Tuesday update: Frum argues the debt ceiling debate was a strategic error; Calhoun sees global contraction; Kudlow links the President's tax hike talk to the market dive.

From CNN, David Frum argues Republicans have made a strategic error focusing on debt rather than growth and jobs

On Alhambra Investment, Joe Calhoun reports contractionary pressures across the world.

At Asia Times, David Goldman suggests declining consumer confidence is behind the market sell off.

On The Kudlow Report, Larry Kudlow links the President’s return to tax hikes today to the market dive:




MarketWatch notes that corporate profits are at record levels while family incomes are falling (h/t: David Goldman).

At last week’s WSJ, Gerald O’Driscoll suggests the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending provision has made it an unelected player in fiscal policy.

From The Washington Times, Richard Rahn worries about growth of government.

On The Daily Caller, Brian Wesbury defends the Tea Party from The Wall Street Journal’s criticism.

On Kudlow, David Goldman argues stocks are cheap:




On International Liberty, Dan Mitchell explains that raising taxes will be on the table in the fall’s second debt debate.

From Project Syndicate, Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff advocates inflation to fix the economy.

At COAL, Paul Krugman notes low inflation numbers.

Thursday items: Woodhill rebuts inequality claims; Moore sees higher tax rates; Cantor on the GOP's growth agenda.

From Forbes, Louis Woodhill rebuts income inequality rhetoric.

At The WSJ, Stephen Moore sees top tax rates combining state and federal taxes climbing to 62 percent.

On The Kudlow Report, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor (VA) discusses the GOP’s jobs and growth agenda, including good ideas on tax rates, but he doesn’t mention stabilizing the dollar:




Bloomberg reports new Sen. Rob Portman (OH) is the leading Republican on economic issues, stressing growth and jobs over spending cuts.

At COAL, Paul Krugman counsels calm on the deficit.

The Washington Post reports the President’s plan to reduce or streamline regulations.

On Kudlow, businessman and tax reform advocate Herman Cain discusses his rise to second place in the Republican presidential primary:




ABC News features U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) standing by his Medicare plan.

On Bloomberg, supply-side guru Robert Mundell suggests Europe will benefit from a lower euro and speaks highly of IMF front-runner Christine Lagarde.

At The Freeman, Gerald O’Driscoll examines the falling dollar’s impact.

The Onion mocks private currency advocates. (Warning: coarse language.)

Monday round up.

From the Freeman, Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr. summarizes the Fed’s impact on world inflation levels.

In The WSJ, Robert Barro suggests unions are bad for economic growth.

On The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore debates Mark Zandi on the economic impact of spending cuts:



At The NY Times, Christina Romer explains the Keynesian case for more aggressive quantitative easing, an advantage of which, she says, would be a lower dollar.

From Bloomberg, Caroline Baum asks Fed Chairman Bernanke a few questions.

On David Letterman, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (KY) defends tax cuts and lower spending.



The Daily Caller reports a poll that suggests voters would blame Democrats for a government shutdown.

On his blog, conservative Keynesian John Taylor disputes Goldman Sachs’s economic analysis.

Monday update.

Tax Cut Victory

Tonight’s big news is that the President and congressional Republicans have agreed to a plan that extends all Bush tax rates for two years, cuts payroll taxes, expands business deductions, and prevents reversion of the estate tax to the previous level.

This accord – a significant capitulation by the President – plus the new Korea free trade agreement, amounts to a significant pair of supply-side policy victories. For the first time in 18 months, I think President Obama might have a shot at re-election.

The x factor will be the dollar. If the dollar continues to fluctuate against the euro and gold, a strong recovery will undermined, damaging the President’s prospects.

--------------------------------

On 60 Minutes, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recommits to lowering interest rates to raise employment, but denies he is increasing the money supply. He says the Fed can reverse course and tighten money in “15 minutes” if inflation arises.

On a side note, Scott Pelley’s narrative, bolstered by Bernanke, is completely stuck in the Phillips Curve framework – growth causes inflation, recession causes deflation. And, in recounting the Fed’s extraordinary 2008 measures to stop the financial meltdown, Bernanke and Pelley overlook the Fed’s policy errors that led to the subprime bust and liquidity crisis.

At Economics21, David Malpass critiques Bernanke’s analysis.

On The Kudlow Report, Kudlow is enthusiastic about the tax agreement:




On Forbes, John Tamny makes the crucial point that fixing the dollar’s price – not general price stability – is key to repairing the economy.

The WSJ worries about rising estate tax rates.

Also in The Journal, Robert M. Kimmitt and Matthew J. Slaughter support multinationals insourcing to the U.S.:

To boost the hiring prospects of insourcing companies (and of many others as well), policy makers should focus on three issues quite distinct from macroeconomic tools like quantitative easing and federal stimulus spending.

First, taxes. Insourcing CFOs reported to the Organization for International Investment that taxation is the single most important policy area that shapes their companies' investment decisions. In turn, their top concern is the U.S. corporate tax rate, which, at 35%, is one of the world's highest.

America's high corporate tax rate inhibits hiring and investment in all U.S. firms, big and small alike. All the recent proposals by prominent deficit-reduction panels have recommended cutting the statutory rate and simplifying the corporate tax code. Policy makers should act on these proposals as quickly as possible to reduce the uncertainty that is inhibiting businesses' hiring and investment.

Second, trade. The global production and distribution networks of insourcing companies foster lots of exports and related jobs. So does trade liberalization. The more U.S. policy makers enact free-trade agreements with other nations, the more insourcing companies will be able to expand their exports and related jobs. Insourcing companies owned by South Korean parents exported $10.5 billion in goods in 2008; this would likely grow if America could ratify the pending free trade agreement with South Korea.

Third, tone. A worrisome 72.2% of insourcing CFOs say that the environment for doing business in America deteriorated over the last year. Contributing to this deterioration were the "Buy American" provisions of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This protectionist tone belies the reality that America today is in a new era of global competition to attract the dynamic operations of global companies.

On CTV, Reuven Brenner defends gold-backed currency.

Last week in The WSJ, Gerald O’Driscoll wonders why we have a central bank (reprinted at the Atlas Sound Money Project).

From the BBC, Han Rosling illustrates the great progress in global health and wealth since 1810 (hat tip: Cafe Hayek):




On his blog, Dan Mitchell answers the claim that supply-side economics, specifically low tax rates, blew up Ireland’s economy.

Monday update.

Alan Reynolds responds to Paul Krugman's claim that revenue to government was low under Reagan.

John Tamny doesn’t see the U.S. succumbing to a Japanese style deflation.

From winter 2009, here’s a similar item.

In 2001, Jude Wanniski distinguished between falling prices due to contraction versus monetary deflation in which the dollar’s value is rising.

At New World Economics, Nathan Lewis discusses This Time is Different by Reinhart & Rogoff.

Joe Weisenthal at www.businessinsider.com charts CPI's progress since the dissolution of the gold standard:

In The WSJ, Cato's Gerald P. O'Driscoll explains why loose money from the Fed won't help.

While O'Driscoll's piece is good, he falls into the trap of blaming low short term interest rates, rather than the dollar's lower quality as measured against gold, for the recent asset boom.