Taxes and Spending

No state regime is a business and it doesn't have a business model. Real businesses rely on free voluntary exchange with customers. States rely on violence and coercion. 

In the wake of the financial meltdown fifteen years ago, some countries placed strict limits on piling on public debt. Despite cries that this harms investment opportunities, the ”debt brakes” have worked well.

Joe Salerno joins Bob to discuss the mainstream's focus on "rules vs. discretion" in monetary policy.

Federal spending is not the only out-of-control government spending in the US. A number of states have been overspending and now face declining revenues. Will bankruptcies follow?

The president wants to appear as a “scourge” of the ultrawealthy. But he has only been a scourge of the productive wealthy while remaining a dear ally of unproductive cronies.

There is a lack of buyers for US Treasury debt. Rating agencies have recently downgraded the US debt, and entitlement benefits’ “trust funds” will go into the red in a few years. The classical economists offer few answers to the depth of this problem. 

Economist Peter St. Onge summarizes some of the major financial and government news stories of the day.

President Biden declared in his recent budget speech that his administration was proposing a "fiscally responsible" budget. Welcome to Wonderland.

Government employees generally have sweeter pension plans compared to private-sector employees, but government pensions are purposely underfunded. No worries for government employees: taxpayers will pick up the slack.

Bob goes solo to discuss a recent Twitter controversy, in which opponents of a proposed tax argued that unrealized capital gains couldn't possibly be a form of income.