Politics

We simply can’t spend our way into prosperity.

Calling this a “Tea Party downgrade” might be true in one sense. There weren’t enough members of the Tea Party to overcome the stubbornness of those refusing to make real spending cuts.

The legendary PBS TV series “Free to Choose” (1980) by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman is now available on Google Video for free (by courtesy of the Palmer R. Chitester Fund).

Our country’s debt and deficit is difficult to understand in the abstract. Translating it to the numbers on each taxpayer’s credit card can help us see how our country’s spendthrift ways have debilitated economic productivity.

Federal revenue has been relatively constant while federal spending has grown out of control.

The Obama administration has been claiming that failure to raise the debt ceiling would be the end of the world. We are all tired of failed apocalyptic predictions. Perhaps all that will end is politics as usual.

To solve the deficit reduction riddle, Obama reportedly is embracing an idea that purports to raise tax revenue without a tax hike and claims to cut Social Security outlays without cutting benefits. Better check your wallet.

On Tuesday, July 12, 2011 from noon-1pm, David John Marotta was interviewed on radio 1070 WINA’s Rob Schilling Show. The topic was the battle between Amazon.com and the state of California over taxation.

Last month the Obama administration announced it would release 30 million barrels of oil, the largest ever, from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Only those without an understanding of basic economics would applaud such a move.

Understanding how Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) works uncovers some of the complex cause and effect between Social Security adjustments and the real cost of living with higher gasoline prices.

If the American family hopes to emerge from this debt crisis, the American people must recover the productive zeal that fueled our country’s growth in the past.

The United States has three sectors of the economy suffering under regulatory red tape: financial services, energy and now health care. I’m certain the financial services regulations have caused more harm than good.

Some first-time workers are not worth minimum wage. But without being hired, they can’t learn job-related skills.

David Marotta and David Swanson discuss a minimum wage.

David Marota discusses how liberals get basic economics wrong.

The authors of the Zogby study suggested their own explanation. “We think that, for many respondents, economic understanding takes a vacation when economic enlightenment conflicts with establishment political sensibilities.”

Politicians are giving us no incentive to take care of ourselves. They are ensuring that government will need to save us.

Perhaps dire predictions are correct and we are headed to Armageddon. If you want liquid assets in such a catastrophic situation, try buying cases of Jack Daniels. It is cheaper, keeps just as well and will fetch more in trading value.

Only if you swear by the genius of Caesar, trust in his altruism and believe in his divinity is this bill a cause for celebration.

David Marotta & George Marotta discuss financial reform, specifically the Dodd-Frank bill and its implications on the economy.

Government assistance has taken what might have been a simple recession and turned it into a more lingering malaise.

A few months ago Bill Gross, co-founder of PIMCO and the country’s most prominent bond expert, singled out those countries heaping significant deficits on their mountain of debt and called them “The Ring of Fire.” We recommend that you reduce your investments in these countries.

In just three short years we’ve added more to the deficit as a percentage of GDP than in the three decades before.

In 1977 economist Milton Friedman wrote an article “The Line We Dare Not Cross: The Fragility of Freedom at ‘60%.'” We are in danger of crossing that line.

David Marotta discusses how to shield your personal assets from the corrosive influence of government policies.

Everyone in our risk pool will order filet mignon. First the costs will skyrocket. And then the meat will be rotten.

George Marotta is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution pursuing research on international finance.

America is officially no longer free.

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” As early as 1938, this phrase was touted as “economics in nine words.”

If you’re not an economist, you may vastly underestimate the negative impact of taxes on the U.S. economy.

David Marotta discusses how the tax burden causes an incentive to earn less money.

Public policy to increase choices for healthcare coverage.

You may have to jail a few rebels for health insurance evasion.

We need a safety net, not a hammock.

Some doctors start the year $250,000 in debt.

Half of the country are political Vikings who pay their taxes by raiding and pillaging the productive.

A country can’t prosper destroying perfectly good used cars.

David Marotta discusses the politics of “Cash for Clunkers.”

The government is not intervening out of a sense of altruism.

David Marotta discusses the politics of congressional earmarks.

The various congressional bailouts have been touted as essential to the nation’s economic security. So long as the notion of economic security remains vague and abstract, it has wide support. But anyone who examines the details should realize this so-called security threatens our freedom and stability.

Free markets are under assault in America. We have seen much hyperbole and slander in these past two years of political polarization. But the idea of capitalism and free markets has received more negative campaigning and vicious attack than both candidates combined.

Privatization eliminates benefits for those who can do better with 5% of their payroll taxes than the government does with the entire 12.4%.

All this toil to maintain an average benefit of about $12,000 a year!

David Marotta discusses how Social Security could offer more benefit for less cost.

Regulation and centralized planning have caused financial instability and failing institutions. If this is the root cause, then many of the proposed solutions will only make matters worse.

David Marotta discusses how politics affect us.

You can hedge your assets against underreported inflation and protect your retirement goals.

Inflation at this rate causes serious harm to our nation’s economy and its citizens.

Officially, inflation today is calculated about 4%. Unofficially, it is over 7%.