reality is not optional

Krugman on the Attac

Here’s a letter that I just sent to the New York Times: Paul Krugman supports a “Tobin tax” as a means of reducing speculation (”Taxing the Speculators,” Nov. 27). Bad...

Hold the Pork on that Ham Sandwich

Reading this editorial in today’s Baltimore Sun makes me realize that the world is full of people who believe in square circles, mighty hurricanes whose strongest winds are but gentle breezes,...

Fools on the Hill

Writing recently in the Christain Science Monitor, University of Missouri – St. Louis economist David Rose explains why creating the much-touted “health-care cooperatives” —...

Bad Credit

Uncle Sam legislates, allegedly to help users of credit cards.  Consequence: harm to users of credit cards. Reality is not optional — not even if the U.S. government pretends that it is.

Prices Are Signals — And the Truth of the Message Isn’t Changed by Distorting the Signal

Here’s Division of Labour’s Art Carden, writing at Forbes.com, on the minimum-wage.

Stossel on the Minimum-Wage

A few months ago I posted a link to a wonderful John Stossel video on the minimum-wage.  But now that Stossel is no longer with ABC, that link no longer works. So here’s the YouTube...

The Downside of Minimum-Wage Legislation

Energized by the now-(in?-)famous study of minimum-wage legislation by David Card and Alan Krueger, many proponents of minimum-wage legislation insist that economists’ traditional prediction...

Politicians Guilty of Gouging the Public

In this op-ed, published in yesterday’s edition of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, I argue against government’s nasty habit of punishing sellers who raise prices to levels that some...

“Here, Bear this Extra Burden, You Low-Skilled Worker. It Will Help You!”

Plenty of politicians, pundits, and preachers are applauding today's hike in the national minimum-wage from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. Too few pause to ponder the fact that this hike means...

The Income Effects of Substitution Effects

Here's a letter that I sent today, in response to Paul Krugman's current column, to the New York Times.