Author Archive

House torpedoes bailout plan

Monday, September 29th, 2008 by Rossputin

The House of Representatives defeated the Administration’s proposed bailout/buyout plan by 205-228.
In the few minutes after the vote, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 700 points. After attempting a recovery, it fell again in the last hour and closed on the biggest closing downticks (i.e. the size of the drop between the next to the [...]

Joe Biden says socialism is patriotic

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 by Rossputin

In a brazen display of a 1950’s style Communist leader, Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate announced this week that it is the patriotic duty of successful Americans to pay more taxes in order to “take money and put it back in the pocket of middle class people.”
In this video clip of an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning [...]

Surveys make you wonder why anyone believes government is good for the economy

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 by Rossputin

Two Rasmussen Reports surveys released today cause me to wonder (as I often do) why so many people believe that government is the solution rather than the problem.
First, as TKeeley mentioned in an earlier posting on these pages, the Congressional Performance survey in which “Congressional approval fell to single digits for the first time ever.
“This [...]

Starvation only the latest good argument against ethanol

Friday, May 9th, 2008 by Rossputin

For various reasons, people on both sides of the political aisle, though more Democrats than Republicans, have supported America’s ethanol policy…a policy which is not just silly but also dangerous.
There’s been a lot of press lately about food shortages in the third world caused in part by America and Europe’s ethanol policy, but that’s only [...]

The Obama Spendorama

Friday, March 14th, 2008 by Rossputin

On Wednesday afternoon, Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) introduced an amendment to the Senate Budget Bill. The amendment, which he called “The Obama Spendorama” went down to defeat, with Allard himself voting against it, but it brought an important point to the forefront of the budget debate.
You can read my entire discussion of the amendment [...]

Beware an SCHIP “compromise”

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 by Rossputin

As the President and Congress aim for a “compromise” about SCHIP, I encourage you to remember than any likely deal will not be a good outcome for the taxpayer, the health care system, or our constitution.It’s much like two burglars getting to your house at the same time. One of them only wants the jewelry. [...]

Milton Friedman’s version of “I, Pencil”

Sunday, October 21st, 2007 by Rossputin

Here’s a 2-minute video of one of history’s greatest economists explaining the basics of capitalism in a way that few people ever could…in plain English.

The video is based on the classic economics essay, “I, Pencil”, by Leonard Read, published in 1958. You can read the essay as well as some short comments by Milton [...]

Urging my congressman to sustain the SCHIP veto

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 by Rossputin

I just received an email from the Mark Udall campaign asking me to write a note to Congressman Udall (my representative) urging him to vote to override President Bush’s veto of the SCHIP expansion. The campaign web site was even kind enough to provide me with a form letter and some writing tips. Needless to [...]

Politics of SCHIP not entirely obvious

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 by Rossputin

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday suggests that the SCHIP veto may not be the public relations victory that advocates of socialized medicine and the president’s political rivals were hoping for.
While the poll showed greater confidence in Democrats than in President Bush to deal with health care as an issue, other aspects of the poll [...]