Ever since the U.S. economy began to tremble, Republicans and Democrats have been been trying to goose the consumer with temporary tax cuts, alongside an assortment of deficit-spending schemes. Even if temporary tax cuts do work and are regarded by consumers as found money to be spent quickly, the deficit spending tells the citizen that taxes will go up in the future, so that it’s advisable to save any found money. The tax cut also makes Social Security less self-supporting and more of a welfare program supported by general revenue. The $112 billion not raised by the Social Security tax is to be “offset” by injecting Treasury bonds into the Social Security Trust Fund, which promises higher taxes in the future. If consumers are capable of telling the difference between found money and fool’s gold, Congress should try a different kind of stimulus.

In Europe, the story of 2012 will still come down to debt repudiation/writedown or ECB money printing or in other words, deep recession but lower debt levels ultimately or inflation/currency debasement and a better economy nominally/temporarily.

One of the great achievements of commercial society is its capacity to channel human effort into the creation and satisfaction of “fake needs” such as those for literature, science, and (yes) fashion, and away from the gratification of many destructive primal urges such as those for bloody revenge, male dominance over women, and the plundering of strangers.

It is possible today to become President without having any idea how to set up effective processes for making and implementing decisions. That does not mean that a President will necessarily lack those skills. It seems to me that President Clinton maintained effective processes. He used his economic team well enough. But I expected the current President to be roughly similar, and I was wrong.

When I have a right it implies a duty of my fellow citizens. My right to speak includes the duty of others not to prohibit my speaking when I do so in a way that respects others’ rights. It doesn’t, however, obligate others to listen to me, to facilitate my speaking, to allow me to speak (or camp out out) on private property without permission, to obstruct public right-of-ways or in any other manner restrict the rights of others. Many OWS folks have been to college but failed to learn anything in the process about rights—even as they are screaming about them.

…politicians and pundits who repeatedly demand that China dramatically appreciate its currency, or that the United States impose tariffs on Chinese imports until they do, are really advocating higher prices for the many American families and businesses that purchase such goods.

Suppose a 50-year-old couple with two teenage kids and with household income of $60,000 experiences a year of out-of-pocket medical expenses substantially higher than normal. Fortunately, everything is cured. And fortunately they have savings to draw on, they forego their vacation that year and temporarily suspend their HBO subscription to pay their medical bills. If the expenses are large enough, this family is now considered living in poverty.