Category Archives: General
Tyler Cowen Answers Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman, won the Nobel in Economics several years ago for his work mainly in international trade. He is an economics professor both at Princeton and at the London Scho0l of Economics, as well as a noted New York Times op-ed columnist. Here, Krugman asks why there is no real little political clamor for tariffs [...]
Growing the economy the easy way, change the way things are counted
On Monday, we had Dr. Steven Sheffrin here to talk about our national government’s debt and our annual deficits that add to that debt. He mentioned that other countries seem to get in trouble with creditors when their debt to GDP ratio gets to about 90%. Well, after listening to this little story on NPR’s [...]
Sheffrin, Ryan and Richardson question the governor’s income and sales tax swap
As you know, Monday, Steve Sheffrin will talk to the class about “Deficits and Debt.” Take a look at this April 10th Times-Picayune op-ed article on Jindahl’s plan to eliminate the income tax and replace it with a sales tax. Sheffrin co-wrote the piece with Tim Ryan, Economics Professor and former Chancellor of UNO, and [...]
A St. Patrick’s Day Farewell to Intrade
This past November, 26th, I posted the following short piece to this blog. For several years, I and others have pointed to Intrade.com as a premier forecasting tool, a betting market or prediction market. Take a look at this blog’s archives in the category “Prediction Markets.” Intrade has been far more accurate at predicting elections [...]
Cigarette taxes revenues and elasticity of demand
A few weeks ago the Nicholls Worth ran this article about Jindal’s plan to change the structure of taxation in Louisiana, moving away from income taxes and toward sales taxes. More recently, more details of the governor’s tax proposals have been released, as we see in this article from the Baton Rouge Advocate. In particular, [...]
Who is Paul Robeson?
February is over, and so is Black History Month. Too bad. I think all of you should know who Paul Robeson was. Have you ever heard the song, “Old Man River?” On first hearing, you might think that such song by a Black man is somewhat a betrayal to African Americans and the Civil Rights [...]
Obama’s own former adviser gives thumbs down on pushing up the minimum wage
Here is a thoughtful critique of the President’s minimum wage proposal, and this is from his former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer that appeared in the New York Times on 3-2-13. Of course, a few days ago, I posted this piece on the minimum wage here on Bastiat’s Bastions. So, [...]
Chicago can’t get away from smuggling
During Prohibition of the twenties and thirties, Al Capone made Chicago the center of booze smuggling, as he brought in so much whiskey from Canada, because he could sell it for a higher price in the U.S. where it was prohibited, than he paid for it in Canada. Now, Chicago is once again becoming a [...]
President’s proposal to raise the minimum wage sounds good, but could there be unintended consequences?
A few weeks ago, while many in south Louisiana were celebrating Mardi Gras, President Obama delivered his State of the Union address to the Congress and to the nation. In it, he not only remarked about where he thought we were as a nation, but also, where he wanted to lead us in several areas. [...]
Argentina freezes grocery prices to curb inflation: Curing the disease by controlling the symptom?
This past week, I was a little under the weather with a cold. A few weeks before, my son got very sick when his cold transformed into some infection that sent his temperature soaring. So, I made sure to monitor my own temperature closely, and thank goodness, it never really crept above 98.6 F. What [...]