This month’s issue of Info Tech & Telecom News contains an article by yours truly on certain states’ attempts to collect sales taxes from out-of-state businesses. Key point:
Economists have known for a long time that when you tax something, you get less of it. Apparently some state legislators want less commerce in their states.
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Posted in Economics, Publications, Taxation, Uncategorized
Tagged amazon, amazon tax, sales tax, sales taxes, taxes
If you’re planning on hunting migratory birds this year, be sure to read all 14 subparts and 61 sections in Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations pertaining to migratory bird hunting. Lots of rules to follow.
You should also read pages 41,008-41,031 of the 2009 Federal Register for the latest changes.
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Posted in Regulation of the Day, Uncategorized
On Monday, postage rates will go up from 42 to 44 cents. Thanks to the forever stamp, most of us won’t have to bother with those infernal 2-cent stamps this time around.
As so often happens, this convenience has a trade-off. Lowering the transaction costs associated with rate increases means there will be more of them, at least in theory. Sure enough, for the first time in history, rates have gone up four years in a row.
Forever stamps make price hikes so painless that many people probably won’t even notice for months to come. Monday’s increase has barely made a dent in the news.
The forever stamp is a great idea. But frequent rate increases are a serious drawback. This is especially dangerous given the monopoly status USPS enjoys; competition is the only reliable form of price control. Unfortunately, an anti-trust investigation remains less than likely.
(Cross-posted at Open Market)
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The economist Hernando de Soto, writing about his native Peru in 1989, makes a point that holds true twenty years later and a continent away. Echoes of F.A. Hayek:
“Those who expect things to change simply because rulers with greater determination and executive skills are elected are guilty of a tremendous conceptual error.”
–The Other Path, p. 237.
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Posted in Executive Power, Great Thinkers, International, Political Animals, Uncategorized
Tagged hernando de soto
It’s official.
I wish him well.
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The New York Times ominously reports that “G.D.P. Grows at Tepid 1.9% Pace Despite Stimulus.”
A more accurate wording would be “G.D.P. Grows at Tepid 1.9% Pace Due in Part to Stimulus.”
CEI’s Wayne Crews shows why the stimulus package was doomed to fail in a recent CEI Issue Analysis, “Still Stimulating Like It’s 1999.” Worth reading.
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Posted in Uncategorized
A noble gesture, but I have to ask: above or below sea level?
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Senator Tom Coburn offered several amendments to an appropriations bill yesterday. The most notable of these would have saved $454 million by cutting two dubious pork projects in Alaska. The fury Coburn aroused in his colleagues bordered on the absurd. Senator Patty Murray of Washington made threats to Coburn and anyone who voted with him. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska actually threatened to resign on the Senate floor.
Keep in mind that, from the current $2.5 trillion federal budget, you need four decimal places before that $454 million even shows up.
The amendment failed by 15-82, a margin of 67 votes. The Senate can’t even bear to cut 0.02% of the federal budget without someone threatening to resign. Is it really that hard?
Grow up, children.
Excellent coverage of the whole fiasco is at The Club for Growth, The Daily Kos, and at National Journal.
Comments Off on Legislative Inertia
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged club for growth, daily kos, Earmarks, national journal, patty murray, pork, senate, spending cuts, tom coburn
Inertia Wins! 