economics

The Truth About the Wisconsin Jobs Picture

Calvin Freiburger conservatism, economics, economy, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, jobs, liberalism, Scott Walker, Wisconsin
At National Review, Christian Schneider has an informative piece on why Wisconsin’s job numbers have yet to reach Scott Walker’s promised 250,000 new jobs during his first term, and the truth should challenge the assumptions of Walker’s liberal haters. In particular, he notes that Wisconsin still has the fifth worst business climate in America, thanks to high personal and corporate income taxes. In other words, Walker and the legislature haven’t gone far enough in the direction that liberals blame for our woes…not that they’ll adjust either their positions or their invective accordingly.

However, that’s not to say there isn’t criticism Walker deserves. For one thing, this is why politicians should be very wary of pledging to deliver certain numbers by a particular date. It doesn’t matter if some wonk worked it all out on paper for you; there are always variables you can’t foresee and intentions that won’t pan out. Aren’t conservatives supposed to be the ones with the Hayekian appreciation that economies are too dynamic for total centralized comprehension?

For another, this is also why if Walker thinks he can gain anything by moderating, as he’s been signaling, he’s dangerously mistaken. Not only have his foes not given Walker any credit for not being as hard-right on taxes as he could be, now he also has moderation’s negative policy fallout to deal with.

New Prager University Video: The President Who Shrank Government

Calvin Freiburger Coolidge, debt, economics, history, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Prager, Prager University, taxes, video

New from Prager University:

In terms of reducing the size of the Federal government, which 20th century President most advanced the cause? Most people today would probably answer, “Ronald Reagan.” Well, they would be wrong. In fact, it was a little-known President…one with a very “cool” name.


Calvin Coolidge was the single most effective politician in 20th century America at shrinking government and enlarging liberty and thus prosperity. Watch our newest free 5-minute video course to find out how he did it. With his famous Coolidgism, ““It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones,” Silent Cal was courageous, refusing in most instances to give handouts and subsidies, and rightly trusting that people left to their own devices were the best guarantors of wealth creation.

Understanding Redistribution and Class Warfare in One Chart

Calvin Freiburger class warfare, conservatism, dishonesty, economics, economy, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, income, politics, redistribution, RNC, romney, taxes
David French includes the above chart in his excellent post on America’s dependency problem. It illustrates the true breakdown of federal income taxes by income level more intuitively than anything I’ve seen in recent memory. Everyone should spread it on their social networks and save a copy to their computers, phones, iPods, Kindles, etc. to keep on hand for sharing with friends who don’t know the facts. Because apparently the RNC and the Romney Campaign – the guys with money and ad space – can’t be bothered to produce something so useful themselves and get it out there…

New at NewsReal – Personal Income As a "National Resource": A Look at Michael Moore’s Brave New Collectivist World

Calvin Freiburger capitalism, class warfare, conservatism, economics, economy, freedom, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, James Madison, Left, liberalism, Michael Moore, money, NewsReal, property, redistribution, taxes

My latest NewsRealBlog post:

Sure, we’re all a little spooked about the huge debt our government is accumulating, but everybody can relax now; our favorite anti-American, far-left propagandist, Michael Moore, has the solution. Admittedly, it’ll take some minor changes in the way we think about wealth, which some of you might like, but you’ll get used to it—after all, you’re not greedy, are you?

Moore recently had this to say about the rich:

“They’re sitting on the money, they’re using it for their own — they’re putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We’ve allowed them to take that. That’s not theirs, that’s a national resource, that’s ours. We all have this — we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it,” Michael Moore told Laura Flanders of GRITtv.
“I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates. They need to — we need to see these jobs as something we some, that we collectively own as Americans and you can’t just steal our jobs and take them someplace else,” Moore concluded.

Much has been made about how Moore himself won’t return his own generous share of this “national resource,” but even if he were more magnanimous, his argument wouldn’t be any less outrageous. For one thing, it ignores the fact that the rich already pay a disproportionately high share of the tax burden individually, and US corporate taxes are among the highest in the world, too. For another, we’ve run this experiment several times in American history, and the verdict is in: if you want to raise government revenue and increase prosperity for all Americans, then the direction you want taxes to go is down, not up. As a businessman, you’d think Moore would understand that when businessmen pursue their own interests, it actually does tend to have the effect of “helping you with your life, with that money,” by creating new jobs for the purpose of creating goods and service that people want.

Read the rest at NewsRealBlog.

Democrat Tax-Cut Propaganda Obliterated

Calvin Freiburger Barack Obama, big government, blogosphere, Bush, Carter, Democrats, economics, economy, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, JFK, Michael Eden, Reagan, Republican Party

Michael Eden at Start Thinking Right has a must-read article destroying the Democrats’ lies on tax cuts. Be sure to take the time to read the whole thing to learn all sorts of good stuff, not the least of which being the discovery of which radical right-wing corporate stooge said the following:

“Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate.”

Science: Krugman Full of It

Calvin Freiburger dishonesty, economics, hypocrisy, liberalism, Paul Krugman

From all the Left’s caterwauling about climate science, I gather that this “peer-review” thing is pretty darn important. That’s good to know – otherwise, I might not have known what to make of a recent study from the peer-reviewed Econ Journal Watch, which “examined statements from 17 economists from 1981 through 2009, and gauged the consistency of their stances on deficit spending and reduction during Republican and Democratic administrations.”

Shockingly, they found that our good buddy Paul Krugman was the only economist to “significantly” change his tune depending on which party was in power. Well, sounds to me like the science is settled…

Science: Krugman Full of It

Calvin Freiburger Democrats, economics, hypocrisy, Paul Krugman

From all the Left’s caterwauling about climate science, I gather that this “peer-review” thing is pretty darn important.  That’s good to know – otherwise, I might not have known what to make of a recent study from the peer-reviewed Econ Journal Watch, which “examined statements from 17 economists from 1981 through 2009, and gauged the consistency of their stances on deficit spending and reduction during Republican and Democratic administrations.”

Shockingly, they found that our good buddy Paul Krugman was the only economist to “significantly” change his tune depending on which party was in power.  Well, sounds to me like the science is settled…