Archive for Sheldon Richman
Sheldon Richman is the editor of The Freeman and a contributor to The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
Obama Administration Wants Kids to Have Better Lunches
“The Obama administration will ask Congress to improve childhood nutrition by ridding school vending machines of sugary snacks and drinks and giving school lunch and breakfast to more students.” (Washington Times, Tuesday)
Is nothing beyond the central government’s reach?
FEE Timely Classic
“Designing Dependence” by Charlotte A. Twight
Fed’s Next Moves Under Close Watch
“When you’ve flooded the economy with trillions of dollars, mopping up is no easy task. That’s the reality the Federal Reserve is confronting as it starts to explain how it will undo the aggressive growth-supporting steps that were put in place when the economy was in its deep dive — and begins to be clearer [...]
9Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedClimate Scientist Finds Reputation Tarnished
“Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist’s version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the United Nations’ climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel, sharing the honor with former Vice President Al Gore. But Dr. Pachauri and the Intergovernmental Panel [...]
9Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedCensus Bureau Will Create Temporary Jobs
“While Washington legislators debate what role the government should play in job creation this year, the government itself is poised to go on a major hiring spree this spring. That is because of the granddaddy of all government programs — the census, a house-by-house head count of the population conducted every 10 years since 1790. [...]
8Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedObama Wants Bipartisan Health Care Summit
“President Obama said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse.” (New York Times, Monday)
Why does he pretend that no alternatives have been [...]
FBI Steps Up Vigilance on Foreign Bribery
“Federal authorities want companies to know that the cost of paying bribes to win overseas contracts is growing steeper by the day. …[T]he Foreign Corrupt Practices Act … bars companies from bribing government officials to win lucrative contracts and other favorable treatment.” (Washington Post, Monday)
What business is this of the U.S. government?
FEE Timely Classic
“Is Anyone [...]
Going Broke
Barack Obama says “no one ought to go broke when they get sick in the richest nation on Earth.” He also says “no one should go broke because they chose to go to college.”
Question: Does “no one” include the government or society as a whole? I only ask because of the trillion-dollar deficits that stretch [...]
TGIF: Obama and the Public
Broken or not, government at the moment is not inspiring confidence in the majority of people. That’s good news for those who look to government for neither inspiration nor solutions (to problems it itself has created). There’s no more urgent task that to fan the flames of political cynicism, emphasizing that what’s wrong with health [...]
5Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedJob Loss Was Underestimated
“Job losses during the Great Recession have been huge, and a government report Friday is expected to show the number is bigger than existing estimates. When the Labor Department releases the January unemployment report Friday, it will also update its estimate of jobs lost in the year that ended in March 2009. The number is [...]
5Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedMarkets Skittish about Economy
“Fears about financial crises in the wobbling economies of southern Europe and an unexpected increase in U.S. jobless claims sent global stock markets reeling Thursday, posing new challenges for the European Union and the U.S. economic recovery.” (Washington Post, Friday)
Reality bites.
FEE Timely Classic
“Economic Recovery” by Brian Summers
Obama and the Public
Broken or not, government at the moment is not inspiring confidence in the majority of people. That’s good news for those who look to government for neither inspiration nor solutions.
5Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 7 comments | ContinuedSnafus Prompt Reassessment of Border Wall
“An ambitious, $6.7 billion government project to secure nearly the entire Mexican border with a virtual fence’ of cameras, ground sensors and radar is in jeopardy after a string of technical glitches and delays. Having spent $672 million so far with little to show for it, Washington has ordered a reassessment of the whole idea. [...]
4Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedExport Doubling to Come through Trade-Pact Enforcement
“Tough enforcement of trade agreements will help the United States meet President Barack Obama’s goal of doubling exports during the next five years, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Thursday.” (Reuters, Thursday)
“Free-trade” imperialism.
FEE Timely Classic
“GATT and the Alternative of Unilateral Free Trade” by Pierre Lemieux
Ethanol Gets New Boost from Obama
“The nation’s farmers got a big boost Wednesday when the Obama administration issued new biofuels guidelines that could open the way for large increases in the production of corn-based ethanol.” (Washington Post, Thursday)
Sticking with a loser.
FEE Timely Classic
“Ethanol versus the Poor” by P. Gardner Goldsmith
Defenders of Government Spending Spring into Action
“Even as they faulted President Obama for not cutting deeply enough in the budget he sent to Congress this week, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill laid the groundwork Tuesday for all-out fights to try to add back more spending on defense and domestic priorities — and the administration already is warning of vetoes if [...]
3Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedBudget Rests on Gloomy Forecast
“President Obama’s proposed budget rests on a series of gloomy economic projections, which suggest that the administration does not foresee a quick leap out of the deepest downturn in generations.” (Washington Post, Wednesday)
And what if the Fed can’t prevent the Big Inflation?
FEE Timely Classic
“Inflation and Unemployment” by Hans F. Sennholz
Green Jobs Getting New Emphasis by Obama
“Obama planned to announce on Wednesday new steps to increase the role of biofuels in powering the nation and to release a report detailing how Washington could increase investments in green technologies, an administration official said. The president was also expected to discuss so-called clean coal technologies, said the official, who spoke ahead of the [...]
3Feb2010 | Sheldon Richman | 2 comments | Continued-
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