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 ...
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 ...
Scroll to Top