Because the concept of opportunity cost is fundamental to all of economics, it is covered in the first chapter of every principles-of-economics textbook. Opportunity cost tells us what we give up when make decisions on consumption and production. There are no free lunches. In spite of the universal agreement on the importance of opportunity cost, […]
In a recent speech in Kansas, President Obama launched a diatribe against “trickle-down” economic policies. Not only did President Obama mischaracterize conservative tax policy, but facts rebut his claim that these policies have been a failure. The President began by invoking his understanding of conservative economic philosophy: “If the winners do really well, then jobs […]
The bloody drug war in Mexico shows no sign of relenting. Neither do calls for tighter border security from the Whitehouse amid rising fears of spillover violence and drugs. This hardly seems a time the U.S. would be willing to allow people to cross the border legally from Mexico without a customs officer in sight. […]
A Syrian living in Turkey shouts slogans during a protest against the government of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad Syria remains a holdout in the Middle East against the forces of popular discontent. The regime of Bashar al-Assad has so far stayed in power throughout the Arab uprisings where the autocrats of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya […]
President Obama and Republicans in Congress continue to wage war over an extension of the payroll tax cut. But missing from the debate is any discussion of comprehensive tax reform that would eliminate payroll taxes altogether. Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes are the second-largest source of federal revenue, surpassed only by personal income taxes. […]
Rhetoric and material strength go hand-in-hand to form the core of any coherent foreign policy. Drawing on his vast wealth of experience as a career Foreign Service officer under President Ronald Reagan, Charles Hill recently discussed the importance of having a comprehensive grand strategy. According to Hill, “rhetoric is important, but it has to be […]
Peter Schweizer doesn’t have many friends on Capitol Hill these days. So few, in fact, that he was told not to even show his face at a congressional hearing on insider trading — even though that hearing was the direct result of his new book, “Throw Them All Out.” Schweizer, a fellow at the Hoover […]
What explains such passionate philosophical disagreement between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Tea Party? The seemingly insurmountable divide between left and right is perhaps most clearly understood by their respective concepts of human nature. As understood by our Founders, human nature is innate. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, individuals are […]
The Washington Examiner recently reported that the two states bordering the nation’s capital are two of the five worst states for food stamp fraud. The above table shows the inverse relationship between the number of food stamp recipients and the percentage of cases investigated for fraud in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. While […]
Iranian state television broadcast images this morning of what they purport to be a downed U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone. The host of the program in the video below stated the Iranian Army’s electronic warfare unit “hacked into the signal” and landed the drone, which explains why it looks to be in pristine condition. Certainly if […]
