from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
You Can't Fight Extremism through Government Force
When the government tries to squash ideas, the results are often destructive of American ideals. In the wake of the protest in Charlottesville by white supremacists, many people are demanding a crackdown on dangerous right-wing extremists. The federal government has previously carried out similar campaigns against with disastrous results. Rather than intellectually purifying the nation, such efforts are far more likely to turn nitwits into martyrs and to ravage Washington’s credibility. Prior federal law enforcement efforts to take down “bad ideas” quickly spiraled out of control.
Unions Are the Worst Labor Day Deal
Every Labor Day, unions repeat assertions of advancing the interests of all workers. But those claims are false. Unions harm most American workers.
Let's Ditch One-Size-Fits-All Schooling
Formal curricula are fine, but we need to recognize that they consist of one group’s guess at what people will need to know a decade from now and what, of that, they will likely retain when needed. It just isn’t likely that there really is one list of stuff that everyone should be forced to know.
You Don't Have to Buy American to Buy The "American Way"
President Trump may have uttered more protectionist rhetoric since he began running for office than any of the past US presidents, promising huge payoffs that fly in the face of both logic and history. One big part has been his support for “Buy American” policies, such as those on his renegotiating-NAFTA shopping list.
Representative Government Suffers from the Principal-Agent Problem
As a rule, candidates for election to public office make vague promises, hardly any of which are subject to straightforward monitoring or quantitative measurement. In general, it is impossible for principals in the electorate to identify precisely how their office-holding agents have succeeded or failed.
from The Hill
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, newspaper in Washington, D.C.
Ryan-Brady tax plan the right way to reduce federal revenues
Zero does not equal minus three. This is incontrovertibly true. But many involved in the tax reform debate are acting as if zero (revenue neutrality) does equal minus three trillion, the approximate amount by which taxes will be cut relative to baseline by the tax reform proposals they support. The Ryan-Brady Better Way tax reform plan has been estimated to reduce federal revenues by $2.4 (Tax Foundation) to $3.1 trillion (Urban Institute-Brookings) over 10 years before taking economic growth effects into account. Since the border tax adjustment (BTA) is no longer part of the plan, those figures would now be approximately $1 trillion higher, or $3.4 to $4.1 trillion. The Better Way plan would dramatically improve the economy. The Tax Foundation estimated the original plan to be almost revenue neutral (down $200 billion) over 10 years because it found that the plan’s dramatically improved tax treatment of investment and substantially lower marginal tax rates would expand the tax base by increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 9.1 percent.
Obama Gutted Work Requirements for Welfare. Why Trump Is Right to Restore Them.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday reversed an Obama administration policy that undermined one of the most successful domestic policy reforms in the last half-century. In doing so, Trump took strong steps to preserve the original intent of the 1996 welfare reform law: to weaken the cycle of poverty by reducing dependence and promoting self-sufficiency through work and marriage.
As Houston Reels from Harvey, Here’s Where Relief Funding Stands
As remnants of Hurricane Harvey move northeastward, the U.S. gulf coast continues to be drenched. Harvey, which made landfall last Friday night as a Category 4 storm, is the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in over a decade, with winds exceeding 130 mph in some areas. But beyond the extreme winds and storm surge, Harvey has crippled southeast Texas with widespread flooding. The storm stalled just south of Houston and is only now moving toward the northeast. Parts of Houston were hit with more than 40 inches of rain. With the end of the fiscal year approaching, Congress will soon have a debate over how the government will cover its commitments. Disasters of this magnitude are clear cases in which the federal government needs to be able to help, and we all want to help suffering Americans.
How Trump Can Keep the Economy at 3% Growth
Americans received good news this week: The economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), grew at a 3 percent rate in the second quarter of 2017. President Donald Trump has made sustained 3 percent economic growth the key target of “MAGAnomics.” To be a success, that initiative will have to improve the economy enough that 3 percent growth becomes a typical quarterly growth rate, not a better than average one. While many news outlets have focused on the role of consumption in driving quarterly GDP growth, policy makers should look further upstream. When Trump and congressional leaders huddle on tax reform in the coming weeks, they should focus the conversation on restoring investment incentives. That’s where they’ll pick up serious yardage.
Evidence Suggests Charter Schools in New York City Succeeding With Less Funding
In July, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made a deal with state legislators: The mayor would retain control of city schools for two more years in exchange for a commitment to increase the number of charter schools. Low-income students in New York City charter schools are out-performing affluent students city-wide. New York City parents should be ready to hold the mayor to his commitment to stop interfering with charter school growth so that children can have more opportunities.
Trump’s Reversal of Obama Pay Gap Rule Is Good News for Women, Minorities
The Trump administration put a stop this week to an Obama-era rule that would have hurt the wage and employment prospects of all workers, and would have harmed women and minorities the most. The rule would have required companies with 100 or more workers to report detailed salary information to government bureaucrats by sex, race, job category, and other factors. As innocuous as additional reporting requirements may sound, the way in which the Department of Labor and lawyers would have used this information would have backfired on those workers that were the policies’ targets.
In Hurricane Harvey Response, Congress Must Avoid the Mistakes of Sandy
As the floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey begin to recede, focus will shift to the costs of cleanup and recovery. There are already rumblings that Congress will look to pass a “Superstorm Sandy” type emergency funding package that could provide billions of dollars in federal aid to affected communities. Anytime a natural disaster or unforeseen crisis occurs, there is pressure on lawmakers to help. Ensuring the health and safety of those directly impacted by the storm is a top national priority. However, Congress must learn from mistakes of the past and carefully prioritize any additional funding provided for relief and recovery, and take steps to mitigate the costs of future disasters within current budget constraints.
Taxes: Some Cutting Remarks
Job No. 1 for Congress is repealing ObamaCare. But cutting taxes is a close second. Of course, the whole system needs an overhaul. We want to unleash economic growth and prosperity. Tax cuts are a crucial first step toward that, but we need full reform to get us across the finish line. U.S. tax rates, simply put, are too high. Combined marginal rates for some individuals and capital investments can exceed 50 percent, tax experts Romina Boccia and Adam Michel note in a recent paper.
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from The Liberty Review
[Information from this site may be unreliable.]
12 Venn Diagrams that Show the Intellectual Inconsistency of the Left·
“Thanks to John Venn, I now have a part-time job as a Venn diagram graphic artist/specialist – they are a very effective way to illustrate graphically the intellectual inconsistencies that are widespread and commonplace among the public, especially with our left-leaning friends.”
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from Medium
Learning from the past is not erasing history!
Apparently this needs to be spelled out for people. States and cities across the country are reevaluating their Confederate monuments and considering how to best contextualize them: with plaques, in museums, spray painting smiley faces on them, etc. While statues get the spotlight, “monuments” include more than bronzed idols, but also school names, street names, and any areas in which public celebrations of the Confederacy — a failed attempt to cement the chains of slavery for perpetuity — remain a part of everyday life.
