From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic highlights Herman Cain’s
sound money advocacy. On TGSN, Lew Lehrman advocates a modern gold standard. In The WSJ, Austan Goolsbee argues without flexible exchange
rates to adjust balance of payments, the Eurozone must rely on fiscal transfers
or immigration. At The Daily Beast, Bruce Bartlett applauds President
Reagan’s tax and monetary achievements but argues today’s problems require
different remedies:
In The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports Ted Cruz’s run-off
chances in the Senate GOP primary.
From Alhambra Partners, Joe Calhoun highlights worrisome
market conditions. In The Washington Post, Robert Samuelson wonders why
Greece hasn’t experienced a bank run yet. At National Review, Kevin Williamson doubts that tax
rates drives state to state migration.
From Forbes, Louis Woodhill makes a compelling case that the Fed paying interest on reserves has killed M1 velocity and the monetary multiplier, neutralizing the effect of quantitative easing.
Bloomberg reports a technical analysis predicting the euro to fall to $1.20 in the next three months, per Robert Mundell’s prediction.
Human Eventsnotes Art Laffer endorsing Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan.
1. The New York Timesprofiles Cain's sole economic advisor and notes that he looked to Wanniski in devising 9-9-9.
"Mr. Lowrie said he had been inspired by two well-known proponents of supply-side thinking: Arthur Laffer, often considered the father of the concept that lower tax rates help pay for themselves by generating additional economic growth, and Jude Wanniski, who promoted the idea among politicians."
2. During Tuesday's debate, Cain again repeated the Wanniski wedge-model for the capital gains tax:
"But also, get rid of the capital gains tax. That's a big wall between people with ideas and people with money."
Politicoreports on Gary Robbins’ analysis of Cain’s plan.
CNBC describes Gov. Rick Perry’s energy production plan.
On NRO, Kevin Williamson slams Warren Buffett’s tax analysis.
At Politico, Josh Boak reports on last week’s Heritage conference on a stable dollar.
From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic reports that JFK advisor Walter Heller predicted the Reagan tax cuts would pay for themselves.
On NRO, Christopher Papagianis explains the role of slow growth on the federal deficit.
At RCM, John Tamny argues against buying equities in the current environment.
On Fox News, Steve Forbes suggests inflation is killing US jobs:
At Forbes, Ralph Benko sees gold-linked money as part of the current political realignment.
On the BBC, Forbes says England’s Tory government is making a huge mistake by not cutting taxes.
The WSJregrets US Rep. Paul Ryan’s (WI) decision not to run for president.
A House Member not running for President would usually be among the bottom stories of the day, except the Ryan boomlet reflects the larger discontent with the current Republican field. Among the current crop of candidates, none has managed to articulate free-market principles and policies with Mr. Ryan's fluency or conviction. Neither do they seem to be attempting to appeal to the independent voters who decide elections with an optimistic pro-growth vision.
At NRO, Kevin Williamson suggests Republicans risk losing politically by opposing the payroll tax cut extension.
From Project Syndicate, Martin Feldstein predicts a rise in China’s currency.
On YouTube, Forbes discusses the dollar and tax reform:
From last month, Bruce Bartlett testifies in Congress on tax reform.
In The NYT, Bartlett advocates higher taxes on the wealthy, ignoring Art Laffer’s point that the rich have the most flexibility in how and where they are paid and will simply shelter their income from substantially higher tax rates.
In The NYT, Jeff Sommer quotes Jeff Bell and Lew Lehrman on rising interest in the gold standard, but commits the error of discounting gold’s price for inflation:
The last apex of the back-to-gold movement was perhaps in 1980. It may have been a signal that the price of gold was about to peak. Could we be approaching a turning point now? “You could make that argument,” Mr. Bell says. “The big question is whether the government and the Federal Reserve will be able to get the economy under control without a return to gold.”
In Forbes, Steve Forbes advises the President to heed two important dates.
Also at Forbes, Nathan Lewis explains that gold is stable, not deflationary.
On The Kudlow Report, US Rep. Eric Cantor recounts that debt-ceiling negotiations broke down because the President insisted on tax increases:
At Forbes, Peter Ferrara notes the expected tax increases in 2013 and elimination of the Fed’s duel mandate.
On Forbes, Reuven Brenner suggests the Federal Reserve is mispricing credit.
This week’s winner of the Kevin Williamson Shooting-Inside-the-Foxhole Award goes to fractional reserve banking opponent Gary North at lewrockwell.com, for his harsh attack on sound money advocates Robert Mundell and Ralph Benko.
Speaking of Williamson, last week the National Review author once again muddied the waters by rebuking pro-growth advocates including fellow NR columnist Larry Kudlow.
On Kudlow, my old roommate Tim Carney debates the debt ceiling:
In The WSJ, author Margaret Hoover suggests a “jobs, jobs, jobs” agenda will win the GOP young voters.
Reagan brought an entire generation to the Republican Party in 1980, and in 1984 he won the youth vote by 20%. The GOP needs this kind of revolution again if it hopes to recapture the White House and create a sustained majority.
The Washington Postcontinues the media’s fascination with anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist.
In Business Week, David J. Lynch reports that Republicans embrace Art Laffer’s tax ideas.
The WSJnotes GOP candidate Michelle Bachmann suggesting lower income workers should pay higher taxes.
From Forbes, Ralph Benko makes a strong case against Kevin Williamson’s growth agnosticism.
On Forbes, Steve Forbes criticizes the IMF and praises Brian Domitrovic’s Econoclasts.
In The Washington Post, Matthew Continetti cites Jude Wanniski’s “Mundell-Laffer Hypothesis” and suggests Sam’s Club Republicans aren’t being served by supply-siders like Tim Pawlenty.
On The Kudlow Report, Larry Kudlow links negative economic data to QE2:
At USA Today, former Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ) makes a good case for growth vs. deficits, arguing for employment subsidies.
On Forbes, Lawrence Hunter proposes questions to ask about any budget deal.
The NY Sunpromotes its anthology of gold standard editorials.
At Econlog, Arnold Kling calls Sen. Richard Shelby (AL) a New Keynesian for endorsing inflation targeting.
Bloomberg reports George Soros predicting an exit from the euro for the weaker economies.
At Forbes, John Tamny likes sports recruiting to business and investing.
From Forbes, Brian Domitrovic recommends supply-side measures to counter the current stagflation.
At RCM, John Tamny rebuts the claim that Wall Street loves easy money.
On The Kudlow Report, WSJ columnist Brett Arends proposes raising CPI to 5% to devalue the debt and bolster the economy:
The Atlanticreports Newt Gingrich will give a speech Wednesday on the dollar and the Fed.
At NRO, Larry Kudlow cheers the Supreme Court’s decision on Walmart.
From Bloomberg, Amity Schlaes suggests Paul Volcker’s sky-high interest rates are what we need now.
On Fox News, Steve Forbes argues the weak dollar is behind the weak economy:
In The NYT, Bruce Bartlett expands his argument that taxes are low.
On Kudlow, James Pethokoukis discusses the slow economy and Bruce Bartlett’s tax analysis:
On NRO, Kevin Williamson continues to respond to critics of his growth agnosticism.
In The WSJ, Keynesian Alan Blinder argues spending cuts will hurt the economy.
On MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Bruce Bartlett appears to refute Republican “lies” about tax cuts, but then confirms some parts of their claims:
At Bloomberg, UVA’s Joseph Thorndyke dredges up arguments that the Reagan Boom starting in 1982 was due to Fed loosening and deficit spending.
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 Asiasuggests 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 rebutsThe 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 challengesThe 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.
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.
From Forbes, Nathan Lewis has an astounding account of how hyperinflationary Germany relinked its currency to gold.
At IBD, Alan Reynolds counters Paul Krugman’s claim that spending austerity damaged Ireland.
In Forbes, Reuven Brenner argues the policy debate should focus on incentives for growth and investment rather than government debt.
At The WSJ, Stephen Moore profiles U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN) who says she is an Art Laffer fan and favors sound currency.
On This Week with Christiane Amanpour, George Will credits Tim Pawlenty with avoiding the austerity trap, as Ronald Reagan did:
At NRO, Larry Kudlow applauds Tim Pawlenty for focusing on 5 percent annual growth.
At Slate, David Weigel, of Journolist fame, celebratesNational Review’s Kevin Williamson for ridiculing fast economic growth “magic unicorns.”
Taking a page from Williamson, Washington Post progressive columnist Ruth Marcus critiques Pawlenty’s “magical thinking” on economic growth.
On Bloomberg, National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru doubts Republican tax cut plans will do much to help the middle-class.
On The Kudlow Report, David Malpass sees slow growth continuing:
In The Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer predicts Republicans will focus on stewardship of the economy rather than ideology in 2012.
On NRO, Rich Lowry highlights the unemployment crisis.
From Forbes, Jerry Bowyer analyzes the roots of Keynes’ thinking.
At The WSJ, Stephen Moore notes Republican efforts to ensure against default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
Also on This Week, Sen. Richard Shelby (AL) debates supply- vs. demand-side economics, but doesn’t mention the unstable dollar and refers to World War II spending ending the Great Depression:
From Fiscal Times, Bruce Bartlett argues cutting long-term deficits, not lowering tax rates, will increase growth.
On Slate, Annie Lowrey argues the Bush tax cuts were a failure.
From Yahoo Finance, Jeff Macke sees dollar strength causing market and commodity sell offs.
On C-SPAN’s Morning Journal, Ralph Benko provides a terrific argument for the gold standard. At TGSN, Benko recounts the history of the Continental Congress’s disastrous experiment with paper money.
In The WSJ, Art Laffer explains that tax compliance adds an additional 30% to the cost of federal taxes and advocates a flat tax to reduce complexity.
At NRO, Kevin Williamson reports that repealing the Bush tax cuts for higher earners would raise $80 billion per year, in the context of a $1.6 trillion annual deficit.
The Journaleditorializes that raising taxes on the rich will have a modest impact on the budget.
Consider the Internal Revenue Service's income tax statistics for 2008, the latest year for which data are available. The top 1% of taxpayers—those with salaries, dividends and capital gains roughly above about $380,000—paid 38% of taxes. But assume that tax policy confiscated all the taxable income of all the "millionaires and billionaires" Mr. Obama singled out. That yields merely about $938 billion, which is sand on the beach amid the $4 trillion White House budget, a $1.65 trillion deficit, and spending at 25% as a share of the economy, a post-World War II record.
On TNR, Jonathan Chait counters Laffer with the claim that lower tax rates are not necessary to lower compliance costs.
From The WSJ, James Taranto skewers Walter Mondale’s call for higher tax rates.
Cato’s Alan Reynolds discusses tax rates on the Tara Servatius radio show.
At Econlog, David Henderson critiques one aspect of David Cay Johnston’s recent attack on supply-side economics.
But if he wanted to inform the reader without misleading, he would have presented the data on the percent of all federal taxes paid by the top 1 percent. In their book, Public Finance, 9th edition, Harvey S. Rosen and Ted Gayer, give a table showing that in 2005 [and things haven't changed much since then] the top one percent paid 27.6 percent of all federal taxes.
At COAL, Paul Krugman suggests the US can comfortably handle tax rates that absorb 23 percent of GDP, up from the historical 18.3 percent average.
On RCM, Joe Calhoun wonders if commodities have reached their top.
At Asia Times, David Goldman suggests the economy may lapse back to deflation. More on the theme, here.
Reprinted at Lew Rockwell, the excellent James Grant recounts the regrets of a Federal Reserve founder. From Forbes, John Tamny suggests bankruptcy is better than bailouts for damaged companies.
On The Kudlow Report, Larry discusses the dollar’s weakness, commodity price inflation, and slower growth:
The NY Sunnotes the irony of punishing a gold coin seller while monetary authorities enjoy prominence and prestige.
At Forbes, Steve Forbes explains that government policy distorts the housing market.
From RCM, Joe Calhoun reviewsEnd Game by John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper on the debt crisis.
Cato’s Dan Mitchell highlights a Center for Freedom and Prosperity video on the Federal Reserve’s historical failures:
In The WSJ, Andy Kessler argues for a stronger dollar by weakening the economy with higher interest rates.
In The Journal, Stephen Moore examines the administration’s budget position.
On NRO, Kevin Williamson notes that increased consumption has China running a trade deficit.
At Institutional Investor, Steve Rosenbush reports the euro’s rise to $1.41. As followers of supply-side guru and Nobel Laureate Robert Mundell will note, he believes if the euro rises significantly it will push the continent back into recession.
The progressive Think Progress blames speculators for high oil prices but omits the falling dollar from its analysis.
Courtesy of Ralph Benko, The Lehrman Institute introduces its new website, The Gold Standard Now. Sign up for free updates on the main page.
On Forbes, Econoclasts author Brian Domitrovic offers a terrific assessment of China’s currency position.
At The Kudlow Report, Steve Forbes cites John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton as models for President Obama:
On NRO, Larry Kudlow predicts the new Republican House will pull Washington in a supply-side direction.
At TAS, W. James Antle, III advocates fusionism between spending hawks and supply-siders.
Cato’s Dan Mitchell draws five lessons from Ireland’s economic crisis.
At Kudlow, David Goldman sees good news in gold’s decline and has been buying equities:
However, Goldman remains pessimistic on employment.
On Bloomberg, Caroline Baum scoffs at the Keynesian notion that economic overheating could lead to inflation.
At NRO, Kevin Williamson notes rising prices and the falling dollar, and makes the crucial point that, “CPI jumps are not inflation, they are a reaction to inflation.”
On Reuters, James Pethokoukis reports Dan Clifton’s analysis that income growth is key to the next election.
At Forbes, Richard Salsman correctly ties gold’s 400% rise since 2001 to the stock market’s flat performance, but offers a confused analysis of why. A better explanation is here.
On TNR, liberal Ruy Teixeira applauds President Obama’s tax cut deal, citing job growth as vital to his reelection hopes.
In The Washington Times, Richard Rahn applauds think tanks for improving market literacy.
