Pay Equity Errors by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1999 President Clinton has pledged to step up enforcement of the Equal Pay Act. The promised $14 million to fight wage discrimination was on his list of bribes to the American people, otherwise known as the State of the Union address. The president's Council of Economic Advisers says women make only 75 cents ...
Patriotism along the Southern Border, Part 3 by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In 1910, Mexico celebrated the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war for Mexican independence from Spain. The political climate in Mexico was peaceful and orderly. It would not last. In 1867, Mexican forces had defeated the French occupation army and had captured and executed Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, whom ...
Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 26: Milton Friedman and the Monetary “Rule” for Economic Stability by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 ...
Tax-Cut Fallacies by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1999 The Republican collapse on taxes is as about as surprising as an elephant's fleeing a mouse, which, come to think of it, may be exactly what's happened. It looked as though the congressional Republicans were going to make a 10 percent across-the-board unconditional tax-rate cut the centerpiece of their agenda. ...
A 10 Percent Tax Cut? Repeal the 16th Amendment Instead by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1999 In 1913, the 16th Amendment - the income tax amendment - was added to the U.S. Constitution. It was a watershed event in American history, for it fundamentally transformed the relationship between the American people and the federal government. For approximately 125 years, the American people had lived without a federal income ...
A-Scalping We van Gogh by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1999 One of the most reviled characters in urban America is the scalper. He's the guy who buys tickets to an event, not for his own use, but to sell to others on the street. He is indeed reviled — until a person realizes that he's the only source of a coveted ticket. Then he's a lifesaver. After the event, the ...
The Failure of the Republican Revolution by James Bovard February 1, 1999 In a 1996 presidential debate, Republican nominee Bob Dole declared, "The president wants to increase spending 20 percent over the next six years. I want to increase spending 14 percent. That's how simple it is.... We're talking about six points over six years." This was the pathetic choice the Republicans ...
Putting the Taxpayers at Risk, Part 2 by Doug Bandow February 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The World Bank has also long promoted development at any cost. Bank loans underwrote Julius Nyerere's coercive "ujamaa" program and Indonesia's forced transmigration project. Millions of farmers have been forced off their land without compensation by Bank-backed dams. Bank lending long subsidized the destruction of Brazil's rain forest. To blunt such criticisms, ...
Book Review: Say’s Law and the Keynesian Revolution by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1999 Say's Law and the Keynesian Revolution: How Macroeconomic Theory Lost Its Way by Steven Kates (Northhampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, 1998); 252 pages; $85. John Maynard Keynes ended his famous 1936 book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, by pointing out, "The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, ...
A Better State of the Union Address by Jacob G. Hornberger January 2, 1999 "My fellow Americans, I, William Jefferson Clinton, am pleased to report on the state of the union on the eve of the millennium and to propose a different direction for our country. "For most of the 20th century, the primary role of the federal government has been to take care of its citizens. Welfare. Social ...
The Hot Air Emanates from Washington by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1999 The billions of new tax dollars President Clinton wishes to spend in the new fiscal year include $4 billion to stem global warming. The Associated Press reports that Mr. Clinton wants an "aggressive, common-sense" strategy to save the planet from the man-made "greenhouse effect." The strategy calls for big ...
Patriotism along the Southern Border, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In February 1846, the independent nation of Texas was annexed as a state in the United States of America. The citizens of Texas were now American citizens. However, there was one major glitch. Mexico still considered the Texas territory to be part of Mexico. It threatened war over the annexation ...