Lessons from Puerto Rico Bankruptcy

A couple of weeks ago, Puerto Rico (PR) effectively declared bankruptcy. Although I am no expert on the PR economy, based on my limited research, the mess down there seems to illustrate how too much government causes problems for an economy. We can all learn some lessons from this. What are the problems? Over the …

How Bad Are Trade Deficits?

Trade deficits have been in the news because President Trump has talked about international trade quite a bit. He and others think that a trade deficit is a very terrible thing. I mostly disagree. The heart of free-market capitalism is economic freedom. Freedom is usually beneficial for society, and that includes freedom to trade. Free …

Freedom 1, Nanny State 0

Last week, voters in Santa Fe voted down a new tax on soda and other sugary beverages that would have added 24 cents to the cost of a can of soda. The vote failed 58% to 42%. Score it as freedom one, nanny state zero. By itself, not a major issue, but symbolic of the …

Why Corporate Tax Cut Makes Sense

Last week President Trump’s team proposed to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. Tax reform that cuts the tax rate and also closes loopholes is an excellent idea that would benefit all of us. Popularity of corporate taxes Taxing corporations is popular. Gallup and Pew Research surveys both show that more than …