TAX POLITIX
The Politics of Taxes
Here’s Why the Aetna-Obamacare Change is Significant
Aetna's decision to withdraw from 11 out of 15 state exchanges is a big deal; it follows the paths of UnitedHealth Group and Humana, both large insurance companies who have also chosen to cut ties with Obamacare. (Incidentally, the DoJ is trying to block a Aetna-Humana merger; are they worried about competition?) A short analysis by Market Watch provides some insight into the decision and the current state of Obamacare: **Aetna explained the decision as a way to “limit our financial exposure...
Trading Cattle, Trading Stories
I recently posted an article from the National Review, which was an update from a previous article written 20 years ago -- in 1995 -- on the same subject: Hillary Clinton's too-good-to-be-true commodity trading luck. The article provides an excellent analysis on all the things inconsistent with Hillary's trade activity from the 1970s, documented the inconsistencies with Hillary’s explanations of how she seemingly got lucky, defied the odds, and made large sums of money. Here’s a primer on...
With Obama, Debt and Taxes are Inevitable
I always like to periodically check in on what's going on in the world of federal debt and federal tax collections. The good folks over at CNS News consistently report the figures that come out of the U.S. Treasury so we can periodically see how our federal finances are doing. Here's the latest snapshot: During the 90 full months President Barack Obama has completed serving in the White House—February 2009 through July 2016--the U.S. Treasury collected approximately $19,966,110,000,000 in tax...
Hillary’s Trading
A must read, food-for-thought from National Review: Herd Instincts Is Hillary Clinton a better commodities trader than George Soros, or did she just get really, really lucky? Both explanations leave something to be desired. By Caroline Baum & Victor Niederhoffer — June 1, 2016 Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared in the February 20, 1995, issue of National Review. When Newt Gingrich told a Republican audience recently that his lucrative book deal paled in comparison...
DNC Chair Resigns in Disgrace, Goes to Work for Hillary
After the embarrassing Democratic National Committee (DNC) Wikileaks dump, Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned earlier today from her position as Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Wasting no time, Hillary Clinton immediately brought Debbie onto her campaign in several key capacities. You can read the text of the press release below. It's also available on Hillary Clinton's campaign website.
This Bureaucrat Is Wrong About the Federal Debt
I just read a recent Letter to the Editor in the Wall Street Journal from a Francis X. Cavanaugh, “founding chief executive of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.” I guess his title allows him the ability to be an ignorant elitist, mocking the alarm of the ordinary American with the current amount of crushing US debt. Mr. Cavanaugh writes that the “concern that ‘we have borrowed so heavily from future generations’ is baseless.” Baseless. Really Mr. Cavanaugh? As if anyone concerned...
An Open Letter to Speaker Ryan About Puerto Rico
Dear Speaker Ryan, I write to you today to ask about why the Jones Act amendment proposed by Rep. Gary Palmer and the reasonable minimum wage exceptions were left out of the Puerto Rican assistance act (PROMESA). If the purpose of the fiscal rescue bill was to aid the Puerto Ricans suffering from a fledgling economy and corrupt government, these two items would have greatly helped the Puerto Rican people. The Jones Act, as you know, requires that all cargo shipped between U.S. ports be carried...
Boudreaux: The Inefficiency of Rent Control
Don Boudreaux over at Cafe Hayek does a nice piece a few weeks ago, outlining the inefficiency of rent control. As his comments on the subject were part of a larger discussion, I have summarized his points below. If you want to go back to the original, you can go here. Brian, Boudreaux notes that "the assumption of a perfectly inelastic supply of rental housing is not realistic." But at the same time, he wagers it is incorrect to say that, were this assumption to hold in reality, rent control...
To Greg Ip, “Economist”: It’s the Government, Stupid!
Here’s another ridiculous article by “economist” Grep Ip, wondering aloud once again why the economy isn’t doing any better. ("Why Aren't Low Rates Working? Blame Dividends!" WSJ, June 5). Either he’s truly incompetent as an economist not to see the detrimental effects of government policies on businesses and the economy, or he’s playing dumb to give political cover to the Obama Administration by pretending their policies aren’t harmful and looking the other way in his analysis. Ip writes,...
Mencken on Democracy
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