FreedomTalks

As the Democratic Presidential Primary winds down in Pennsylvania, to no surprise, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama has provided the voters of Pennsylvania with a real proposal for saving Social Security.
It’s funny, the pundits say that the Democratic candidates have been able to draw young people into their campaigns, but when it comes to [...]

I missed this item last month, but it is a significant story:
The U.S. economy lost the title of “world’s biggest” to the euro zone this week as the value of the dollar slumped in currency markets.
Taking the gross domestic product of both economies in 2007, the combined GDP of the 15 countries which use the [...]

Cato’s Michael Tanner sees some hope in the fact that neither Obama nor McCain are proposing to mandate the purchase of health insurance.
Overall, McCain has the better proposal. Obama’s plan, with its heavy reliance on government, leads to the same problems that bedevil universal healthcare systems all over the world: limited patient choices and rationed [...]

I’m in the American Spectator this morning with a piece speculating on the motivations behind Bush’s global warming speech yesterday. One thing I didn’t note was that McCain’s people are probably frustrated by this. While Bush didn’t go all the way in endorsing cap and trade, as McCain has, he did substantially [...]

Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, yesterday said he will pressure the Federal Reserve to intervene in student loan markets.
Dodd announced his intention to send letters in the coming days asking Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke to use existing tools to avert a breakdown in the [...]

The dramatic loosening of monetary policy is spiking dollar-based commodity prices worldwide. While there are many factors driving higher commodity prices, including U.S. biofuels mandates, I believe Fed policy is a major cause. Banks and homeowners and some exporters are helped by the Fed’s actions, but consumers are taking it on the chin. [...]

Monday’s Washington Times had a story indicating that President Bush would give a major speech on global warming today — and that it would likely include a significant shift in climate change policy.
Details are still scarce, but over at NRO, my former colleague Iain Murray says this about what’s rumored:
We are hearing some very bad [...]

The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday described the profound risks Congress, the Bush Administration, and the Federal Reserve are creating by expanding the role of the GSE’s and through expanded Fed lending to financial institutions.    Reuters reports:
In a deep and prolonged recession, the maximum potential cost of assisting the GSEs, together with loans [...]

How is the IRS broken?  Let me count the ways. 
Or, no, let’s just forget the counting (though if you really want, try the Tax Foundation’s page on tax compliance costs) and look at this one story from the Washington Post. Basically, the IRS employs private debt collectors to pick up the easy tabs that they claim they [...]

Dan Mitchell discusses the current tax code and offers solutions for fundamental tax reform.