Recently, a government corporation established as “Federal Prison Industries, Inc” (more commonly known as UNICOR), has gained attention in the public eye. Although UNICOR has been in existence since 1934, I first learned of its existence just last week while watching The Colbert Report. On October 7th, the Huffington Post ran this article criticizing UNICOR…
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Sources (and Distortions) of Government Revenue
After my post on The Truth About Austerity and hearing some great feedback from Peter in the comments, I deemed it necessary to dedicate a post to explaining the basics of public finance. We at Hans try to make basic economics accessible to all readers, so I will aim to keep it simple and limit…
The Government “Safety Net” is a Fleeting Fantasy
Writing about the record number of Americans purportedly living in poverty, Think Progress blogger Travis Waldron makes a huge economic error when considering the effects of government “safety net programs”. See his quote below:
“The number of workers in poverty would be even higher were it not for government safety net programs that have reduced…
To Aid or Not to Aid: The Harms of Federal Disaster Relief
It is easy to deride recent claims by certain economists that the federal government has no business offering aid to the victims of last month’s Midwestern tornado outbreak. As pictures of destroyed homes and devastated families flood the media, it is hard to imagine a person who is unwilling to offer whatever government aid is…
‘Tax cuts have never extinguished a fire’ and other such nonsense
Sometimes anti-government rhetoric can go too far, as Katrina vanden Huevel points out at The Nation. While it may be endearing and folksy to accuse the government of getting in the way of business and job creation, Huevel thinks it is dead wrong.
And common sense seems to be on her side. Look at all…
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Reality TV Inventor Loses Big to ‘Buy American’ Fallacy
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Unlearning Economics
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MIT Economist, Former IMF Chief Engages Ron Paul on Banking and Makes an Interventionist Mistake
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The Monopoly Bogeyman
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How My Naïve Perception of the Economics Profession Eventually Changed
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Tenets of Economic Faith
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Economics as Religion: The Paradox of Self-Interest
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Waging War on Work
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The Dark Side of Monetary Inflation
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In Praise of Speculators
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Chris A: With due respect Nicholas, I think is has zero int...
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Nicholas Freiling: Chris, What effect do you think economic inter-...
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David: Doesn't the Fed increase the money supply by purc...
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