Good Point

If a rising trade deficit is responsible for "shipping jobs overseas", how do the critics of trade explain the fact that unemployment rises when the trade deficit shrinks and falls when it expands?

As usual, read more for the details.

Eminent Domain

The Institute for Justice has a lawsuit that's challenging eminent domain abuse and it's going all the way to the Supreme Court. Good luck you guys!

VAT

Generally speaking, I'm supportive of the idea of reforming our tax system. I would especially want to see a system that's simpler and doesn't penalize savings, but there's one system that I don't think I would support. A VAT, or value added tax, wouldn't be such a good idea. For details see here.

WTF?

Conservatives sure do pretend like they're free-marketeers, but read this:

"The idea of giving any job to any willing worker is absolutely unacceptable,"

This is in response to the idea of open immigration. I'm not sure one can be for free-markets and trade and, at the same time, be a nativist.

Link via Order from Chaos

National ID Cards

The Gun Owners of America has info about the recent move to bring drivers licenses under federal control. This, in effect, creates a national ID card.

Redistricting

The Center for Voting and Democracy analyzes Governor Schwarzenegger's plan for non-partisan redistricting.

Awesome

I found a post with a flash movie about why it's a bad idea for the government to subsidize a good.

Social Security Reform

George Reisman has a good article up at the Mises Institute about a free-market alternative for Social Security Reform.

Regulation

There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has its costs, including regulation. See here.

Link via Dissecting Leftism

Merit Pay

Here's a Cato Institute article that discusses Governor Schwarzenegger's plan to pay teachers based on merit as opposed to tenure.

Kyoto

The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified for those who signed in. Thankfully, the US is out. If you want to see the economic costs of Kyoto you can see here.

Link via Freedom and Whiskey

Hilarious!

Kyoto protest beaten back by inflamed petrol traders

When 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail.

What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement.

Breaking News!

Communist country enacts bad economic policy.

California Taxes

The Heartland Institute discusses tax hike proposals in California for the 2005-06 session. Some proposals include:

* Raising personal income taxes. Assembly Bill 6 by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) is a redo of her failed 2003-04 legislation. It would add 10 percent and 11 percent tax brackets, starting at more than $100,000 (single) and more than $200,000 (single). The highest bracket is now 9.3 percent. Passage of Proposition 63 in November 2004 already added a 1 percent tax on income over $1 million.

* Making tax hikes easier to approve. Assemblyman Joe Nation (D-San Rafael) has introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7, which would reduce from two-thirds to 55 percent the margin needed to pass special taxes on local ballots.

* Increasing taxes on business property. Senate Bill 17 by Senator Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) would create a “split roll” property tax system by reassessing property owned by corporations when 50 percent of the stock is transferred.

* Limiting tax credits. SB 27 (sponsored by Escutia) would limit aggregate amounts of all tax credits with carry-forward provisions to 50 percent of the net tax.

* Reducing research and development credits. Last session’s SB 1501 (Escutia) sought to reduce the R&D tax credit from 15 percent to 10 percent, and the basic research tax credit from 24 percent to 20 percent. That would have represented a tax increase of $150 million.

* Splitting the tax roll. Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) wrote the proposed Assembly Constitutional Amendment 16, instituting a split-roll property tax by assessing most non-residential property each year at fair market value--constituting a tax increase of up to $3.3 billion. Non-residential property is now reassessed only when it is sold.

* Increasing the vehicle license fee, a property tax-like levy on cars and trucks that Schwarzenegger rolled back soon after winning office in the Fall 2003 special election.

* Granting local authority to impose income taxes.

* New taxes on oil refineries, toxic chemicals, and railroad operations, and a recycling tax on fluorescent lamps.

Licensing

Here is a good article about Occupational Licensing and some of its problems.