By Caroline Wang, American Consumer Institute President Biden has focused his efforts on making broadband internet access more affordable to Americans. It is a part of the American Jobs Plan he announced late March, a wide-ranging stimulus plan that forms a key component of the Administration’s post-Covid recovery efforts. The plan, […]
Tag: debt
Less taxes, less laws, less poverty: three successful European countries
By Eben McDonald, Contrepoints As Luxembourg, Switzerland and Ireland show, it is not necessarily social spending and redistribution that raises the level of the poorest. The Social Democrats often praise the Nordic countries as examples of the success of progressive taxes, generous welfare states and powerful unions. Free trade advocates […]
Biden’s Programs Would Fail for Many Reasons
By Chris Edwards, Cato President Biden is proposing to expand federal intervention in many areas that are the responsibility of state and local governments and the private sector. His $2.3 trillion jobs plan would subsidize broadband, automobiles, the electric grid, manufacturing, highways, transit, water systems, and much else. His $1.8 trillion families plan […]
Yes, the public debt still matters — now more than ever
“Masking the Dangers of Debt” By Jack Salmon, courtesy of the Mercatus Center In these early days of the Biden administration, some monetary policy decision-makers seem excited about pushing our national debt to record levels and beyond. Only four years ago, then Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen said that our debt trajectory should “keep […]
EU should sell “safe” and “junior” bonds based on risk
“An option for the EU: blow up debt inside a bunker” By Sergio Baggiani, courtesy of IREF Debt mutualisation is an option to manage the expected rise of sovereign debt and the need for a greater supply of low-risk bonds. Yet, this option could run into political difficulties. European Bonds (details here, 2016) are […]
Time to start worrying about 2021 deficits
“Don’t worry about today’s borrowing numbers. It’s next year’s that should worry us” By Carl Emmerson, Benjamin Nabarro, and Isabel Stockton, courtesy of the IFS The ONS will release its latest monthly public finance estimates at 7 a.m. on Friday 19 June. They will show that across April and May government borrowing ran […]
Emergency COVID-19 Stimulus Programs Are a Short-Term Solution
By Thomas Hoenig, courtesy of the Mercatus Center The federal government and the Federal Reserve have implemented unprecedented spending and monetary policies to combat the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These policies, while necessary in the short term, place an ever larger mortgage against the nation’s future income; and extending them […]
EU should cancel African debt to push back on Chinese influence
“Why the EU should take the lead in canceling Africa’s debt” By Loes Debuysere, courtesy of CEPS If the EU wants to live up to its recent ‘partnership of equals’ commitment to Africa, it should take the lead and urge the international community to cancel a part of Africa’s bilateral, multilateral and private debt […]
The G20 is a big deal again
“The revived centrality of the G20” By Suman Bery and Sybrand Brekelmans, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute A series of summits of governments and international financial institutions took place in April. Much was expected of these. They were seen as the opportunity for global financial leaders to provide authoritative guidance on the global response […]
Beware the COVID-19 Corporate Zombies!
“The Rise of Zombies in the Wake of COVID-19″ Gerard Lucyshyn, courtesy of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy We are spending double the amount of time on our streaming platforms compared to last year, close to 45.4 billion minutes spent on Netflix alone in the first few weeks of March 2020. Movie titles such as: 28 Weeks Later (2007), Quarantine (2008), Carriers (2009), […]