By Bill Wirtz, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center The incoming European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs has only about one thing in common with yours truly: he’s Luxembourgish. Nicolas Schmit is a lifelong socialist and has been Minister of Labor in Luxembourg for as far as I can remember. Bureaucrat-made-politician, Schmit […]
Tag: unintended consequences
Rent controls in London would backfire, like they always do
“Rent controls in London could bring ‘immense economic costs’ and increase ‘social segregation’, finds new report” Courtesy of the IEA Calls from politicians, including the Mayor of London, to introduce rent caps are misguided and would impose immense economic and social costs on the capital, according to a new report from Swedish think […]
Lower Health Care Costs Act: Good Intentions, Bad Idea
By Andy Blom, TES Contributor When setting policy that affects millions of Americans every day, Congressional leaders should create a policy that is well-intentioned without producing unintended consequences. Unfortunately, that appears too much to ask for when it comes to the Lower Health Care Costs Act (LHCC) currently being proposed by Senator […]
Price Controls Consistently Fail Consumers: Why does Congress keep hoping that next time they will work?
By George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom Government mandated price controls do not work. The intentions of Members of Congress when passing such government mandated price controls may or may not be good, but intentions are not the issue. Even if their intentions are good, the results will not be. That is the bottom […]
Why a wealth tax would fall flat in the U.S., as elsewhere
“Wealth Tax Revenues” By Chris Edwards, courtesy of the Cato Institute Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have each proposed an annual wealth tax on the richest Americans. There are so many flaws with such a tax that it probably would not pass Congress. If it did pass, it would likely be […]
High tariffs benefit a few high flyers – and that’s it
“Higher Tariffs Benefit Certain CEOs, But Almost Nobody Else” By Daniel Griswold, courtesy of the Mercatus Center A big reason why tariffs are so tempting to politicians is that the costs they impose on the economy are diffused. These costs are spread across millions of households and thousands of businesses, forcing them to […]
Trump tariffs are HURTING – not helping – U.S. steelmakers
There’s sublime irony and then there’s just shooting yourself in the damn foot. The impact of the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on foreign steel comes closer to the second category, considering that they are directly harming the very U.S. […]