All Posts Tagged With: "budget deficit"
The Evil of Government Debt
In this day of trillion-dollar-plus federal deficits, Destutt de Tracy’s critique of government debt is especially relevant.
19Mar2010 | Sheldon Richman | 4 comments | ContinuedGoing 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 [...]
The Balance-of-Payments Deficit: Not to Worry
Quick. What’s the trade deficit between California and the rest of the world? Don’t try Googling it because you won’t find an answer. No government agency—or private entity—computes the dollar value of goods that people in the rest of the world sell to or buy from Californians. Why not? Because it doesn’t matter.
Yet governments do [...]
Now That's Leverage!
The government is borrowing nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends. (But it will protect us from overleveraged financial companies.)
12May2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedBudget Deficits and Stimuli
It’s an article of faith that running budget deficits during the New Deal helped end the Great Depression. This myth has been demolished countless times, but it hasn’t penetrated to the pundits and pop economists who host cable news-talk shows. In fact, FDR did not run extraordinarily large budget deficits, and J.M. Keynes actually criticized [...]
28Nov2008 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedOur Presidents and the National Debt
Burton Folsom, Jr. is the Charles Kline Professor in History and Management at Hillsdale College. His book The Myth of the Robber Barons is in its fourth edition.
During the last 75 years the United States has failed to balance its annual budget over 90 percent of the time. What’s worse, the government has spent money so [...]
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The Evil of Government Debt
As we’ve seen in the last two TGIFs, Destutt de Tracy, writing (pdf) in early nineteenth-century France,... Read More
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way?
Many aphorisms and common expressions take on a different meaning when seen through the lens of economics. One... Read More
Will Medical “Reform” Cut Real Costs?
It seems that the so-called health care “reform” bill will become law soon enough. (President Barack... Read More
The Welfare State Kills Children
On February 22 a court in suburban Washington, D.C., passed judgment in one of the most horrendous cases... Read More
Government as Consumer
Destutt de Tracy, as I discussed last week, was a French economist whom Thomas Jefferson did his utmost... Read More
