Jason Clemens
Business & Economics
Choices hint at move to middle
Many conservative pundits have predicted a radical shift in U.S. economic policy and serious, prolonged economic stagnation under the incoming Obama administration. In many ways their analysis is correct, but things could turn out quite differently if President Obama pulls a Clinton – meaning he shifts quickly to pragmatic, workable ...
Business & Economics
Assessing Obama’s Economic Team
Conservatives are understandably depressed these days, but they now have something to smile about in President-elect Obama’s picks for key economic posts, such as Tim Geithner for Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Geithner, currently president of the New York Federal Reserve, boasts an intimate knowledge of international economics. During his ...
Business & Economics
Does labor need Employee Free Choice Act?
AS THE election dust settles, attention turns to President-elect Obama’s governing agenda. If he prioritizes the labor-law changes he favored as a senator and candidate, he will inflict serious, lasting costs on American workers and the economy. The size of the federal deficit will constrain the taxing and spending initiatives ...
Business & Economics
Beware shift in balance of power
Labor laws are intended to balance power between employers and employees — actually unions who represent employees. Changes to labor laws that tilt the balance too far in either direction impose serious costs on workers and our economy. Big Labor and members of the Democratic Party are demanding passage of ...
Business & Economics
Scapegoating corporations is bad economics
Sen. Barack Obama has consistently exhibited a pronounced hostility to corporations. Such rhetoric, while politically useful, raises questions about his understanding of economics and his ability to lead on serious economic issues. Obama railed against Senator McCain’s plan to reduce corporate income tax rates. The Illinois senator deployed all the ...
Business & Economics
My View: State budget mess: We can learn from Canada
California’s new budget deal is a short-term fix that leaves the Golden State without a long-term solution to its financial woes. More often than not, lessons from our neighbors to the north concern what not to do. However, in the case of budgets, there is much to gain by replicating ...
Business & Economics
The Canadianization of America
Here comes ‘no-vote’ unionism In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me the United States could become Canadianized until I moved here, in an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas at ...
Business & Economics
Card-check depends on union arm twists
Now that the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate is official, a little-known bill that he co-sponsored and running mate Joe Biden vigorously supported is rightly gaining more attention. The Orwellian-named “Employee Free Choice Act,” which passed the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate, ...
Commentary
Understanding the Tax Implications of Single-Payer Health Care
Many studies have examined the costs and benefits of replacing the current health care financing model with a single-payer system fully funded by taxpayers. Most of these studies, including the most prominent, ignore a key component: the significant economic costs of taxes, which would be necessary to pay for government- ...
Agriculture
Why McCain needs to read Goldwater
Those who aspire to elected office, and all those who hold office, would do well to heed the advice of Barry Goldwater, former Arizona senator and presidential candidate. None would benefit more than presidential nominee John McCain, Goldwater’s Arizona successor in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater’s ideas, and the principles upon ...
Choices hint at move to middle
Many conservative pundits have predicted a radical shift in U.S. economic policy and serious, prolonged economic stagnation under the incoming Obama administration. In many ways their analysis is correct, but things could turn out quite differently if President Obama pulls a Clinton – meaning he shifts quickly to pragmatic, workable ...
Assessing Obama’s Economic Team
Conservatives are understandably depressed these days, but they now have something to smile about in President-elect Obama’s picks for key economic posts, such as Tim Geithner for Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Geithner, currently president of the New York Federal Reserve, boasts an intimate knowledge of international economics. During his ...
Does labor need Employee Free Choice Act?
AS THE election dust settles, attention turns to President-elect Obama’s governing agenda. If he prioritizes the labor-law changes he favored as a senator and candidate, he will inflict serious, lasting costs on American workers and the economy. The size of the federal deficit will constrain the taxing and spending initiatives ...
Beware shift in balance of power
Labor laws are intended to balance power between employers and employees — actually unions who represent employees. Changes to labor laws that tilt the balance too far in either direction impose serious costs on workers and our economy. Big Labor and members of the Democratic Party are demanding passage of ...
Scapegoating corporations is bad economics
Sen. Barack Obama has consistently exhibited a pronounced hostility to corporations. Such rhetoric, while politically useful, raises questions about his understanding of economics and his ability to lead on serious economic issues. Obama railed against Senator McCain’s plan to reduce corporate income tax rates. The Illinois senator deployed all the ...
My View: State budget mess: We can learn from Canada
California’s new budget deal is a short-term fix that leaves the Golden State without a long-term solution to its financial woes. More often than not, lessons from our neighbors to the north concern what not to do. However, in the case of budgets, there is much to gain by replicating ...
The Canadianization of America
Here comes ‘no-vote’ unionism In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me the United States could become Canadianized until I moved here, in an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas at ...
Card-check depends on union arm twists
Now that the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate is official, a little-known bill that he co-sponsored and running mate Joe Biden vigorously supported is rightly gaining more attention. The Orwellian-named “Employee Free Choice Act,” which passed the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate, ...
Understanding the Tax Implications of Single-Payer Health Care
Many studies have examined the costs and benefits of replacing the current health care financing model with a single-payer system fully funded by taxpayers. Most of these studies, including the most prominent, ignore a key component: the significant economic costs of taxes, which would be necessary to pay for government- ...
Why McCain needs to read Goldwater
Those who aspire to elected office, and all those who hold office, would do well to heed the advice of Barry Goldwater, former Arizona senator and presidential candidate. None would benefit more than presidential nominee John McCain, Goldwater’s Arizona successor in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater’s ideas, and the principles upon ...
