The Spirit of Enterprise
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on December 3rd, 2011 5:31 am by HL
The Spirit of Enterprise
David Brooks, New York Times
Why are nations like Germany and the U.S. rich? It’s not primarily because they possess natural resources — many nations have those. It’s primarily because of habits, values and social capital.It’s because many people in these countries, as Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute has noted, believe in a simple moral formula: effort should lead to reward as often as possible.
Our Deeply Daunting Jobs Hole
William Galston, The New Republic
As the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a fall in the unemployment rate from 9.0 to 8.6 percent, it noted that a contraction of the labor force accounted for more than half the reduction in the number of unemployed. As the following table shows, this represents the continuation of long-standing trends (December 2007 represents the start of the Great Recession; Barack Obama took office in January 2009; November 2011 is the latest report, out December 2): Three points are worthy of note.First: Despite the growth of the working-age population over the past four years, the labor…
The Scorecard: Mitt vs. Newt
Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
It’s Iowa minus 32 days, and barring yet another resurrection (or event of similar improbability), it’s Mitt Romney vs. Newt Gingrich. In a match race, here’s the scorecard:Romney has managed to weather the debates unscathed. However, the brittleness he showed when confronted with the kind of informed follow-up questions that Bret Baier tossed his way Tuesday on Fox’s “Special Report” — the kind of scrutiny one doesn’t get in multiplayer debates — suggests that Romney may become increasingly vulnerable…
The Roots of Voter Anger Go Back to 1954
Pat Buchanan, Pittsburgh TR
Sixty-nine percent of voters nationwide are angry with the policies of the federal government.To understand why, it's important to remember that most voters believe tax cuts and government spending cuts are good for the economy. Collectively, voters have voted for politicians who promised spending cuts and tax cuts in just about every election over the past four decades.Barack Obama promised tax cuts for 95 percent of all Americans. George W. Bush's across-the-board tax cuts were the centerpiece of his domestic policy. Bill Clinton promised tax cuts for the middle class. The first…
Mall Rats Can’t Bring about Wealth of Nations
Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
Illustration by Hieronymus Caroline Baum, a columnist for Bloomberg News since 1998, is the author of “Just What I Said: Bloomberg Economics Columnist Takes on Bonds, Banks, Budgets and Bubbles.”The spectacle of hordes of shoppersschlepping through the mall at midnight with children in tow,stuffing their carts after stuffing their bellies, was a sightto behold. And apparently one to cheer. U.S. stocks soared on Monday following reports of a bang-upstart to the holiday shopping season. Black Friday sales rose6.6 percent from last year to a record $11.4 billion while”retail foot…