Posts belonging to Category Economy
Popular opinion demonizes the U.S. for importing more goods than it exports, or running a “trade deficit.” This view maintains that the trade deficit is costing jobs and slowing economic growth. “The $600 billion annual deficit is the most significant barrier to achieving a robust economic recovery and creating jobs,” charges a recent column. Yet this popular understanding, which is based on an incomplete assessment of the trade equation, is wrong. The prevailing view assumes that exchangingU.S.currency for foreign goods leaks money out of circulation. The reason for this confusion … More
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For some professions, it makes a lot of sense to have some high standards before you’re allowed to work — doctors, pharmacists, pilots, you get the picture. But did you know that some states have some serious hurdles for jobs like makeup artists, tree trimmers, animal trainers and massage therapists? It’s true, and a series of new reports reveals how rules like these are making it harder for lower-income workers and entrepreneurs to earn a living. The Institute for Justice (IJ) finds that “occupational licenses” — essentially permission slips from … More
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Last weekend, the people of France took a sharp turn to the left, and the rest of Europe may be on the brink of rebuking its recent tack toward fiscal responsibility. With Sunday’s election of French Socialist leader Francois Hollande, France has leapt backward toward the policies that have helped sink the continent in a sovereign debt crisis. Disturbingly, the big government platform Hollande campaigned on is all too familiar to the American people, and if the United States is not careful, it could suffer the same fate as its … More
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On Friday, Americans woke up to the news that the labor market in April 2012 continued its plodding path of mediocrity. A mere 115,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate remained above 8 percent. But one of the most troubling indicators of the economy’s poor climate is the declining labor force participation rate — that is, the number of people actively employed or seeking employment. As this infographic shows, that rate dropped from 63.8 percent to 63.6 percent, the lowest level since December 1981. In a new paper, Heritage’s … More
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Her name is “Julia,” and if you haven’t seen her, she’s a colorful cartoon character invented by the Obama campaign to help spread the message of how women will “benefit” under the president’s policies. What it shows instead, though, is the president’s vision of America — that individuals need the federal government at each stage of their life, and that he deserves credit for making our lives even better. In Julia’s story, as depicted in a cartoon slideshow, a faceless young American woman grows from birth to old age with … More
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Voters in five European countries—France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Serbia—go to the polls on May 6. Election outcomes, particularly in France and Greece, are likely to ratchet up uncertainty about the future of the European Union. In a somber, warning tone, a group of concerned French economists penned a public appeal for an informed decision on the country’s critical Sunday election. Making a strong case that France “should know better than to elect François Hollande,” they remind voters: Socialism has never succeeded in its extreme form, communism. As the past … More
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This is the third of our four-part series on Occupy Wall Street, transcribed from a recent Heritage Foundation event on the movement. In part three, Ben Domenech, research fellow at the Heartland Institute and editor of The Transom, reflects on his own interaction with Occupiers and explains why he’s not ready to write them off. He argues that supporters of capitalism need to find a way to reach those who have become disillusioned. Part 3: The Untrained Grasshopper I wanted to talk about the response from the right to Occupy … More
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If you ask the American people, they don’t have much good to say about the U.S. economy. According to a new poll by Quinnipiac University, most say they are worse off financially than they were four years ago, and they don’t expect it to get better anytime soon: The surge of economic optimism may have stalled as American voters say 41 – 35 percent they are worse off financially than four years ago, and 51 percent don’t expect their personal financial situation to change in the next 12 months, while … More
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New research suggests that legislators should cut spending and enact growth-inducing policies. The reasoning? According to the study, spending cuts can positively affect economic growth and are the only historically reliable way to lower deficits and debt. The authors of the study, Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi, write that “spending-based consolidations [spending cuts] accompanied by the right polices tend to be less recessionary or even have a positive impact on growth.” (emphasis added) These findings confirm what was certainly true in past U.S. recessions. Alesina and Giavazzi also add that … More
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What do you do when you’re losing a debate? Change the subject. That’s really all you need to know to understand President Obama’s resuscitation of his infamous “Buffett Rule” that would impose a minimum 30 percent effective tax rate on businesses and families earning $1 million. The Supreme Court gave Obamacare a nasty audition two weeks ago, leaving even staunch defenders of the law grasping for straws while the former constitutional law professor now in the White House outrageously flailed the court for doing exactly what the Constitution intends. So … More
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