The battle has gotten louder.  Some Republican Governors have finally said “no” to government workers’ unions.  The unions protest, saying the governors have waged war against American “labor.” But unions don’t really represent American labor... continue reading »

Why doesn’t Bill get it?  On tonight’s show, he’s going to rant about federal spending.  He wants cuts.  Good. But then he wants to have me on so he can tell me why Ron Paul is wrong, and odd, and shouldn’t be running for President -- and Donald Trump is right. I don’t know where to begin. We hold elections because we don't know who's going to win. Ron Paul might win. Who thought Jimmy Carter could win? Or Barack Obama?  A black, ultra-liberal, freshman Senator?  Or Abe Lincoln?  Lincoln was a dark horse... continue reading »

It’s natural to assume that life needs to be planned – that without planning, we would have chaos. But there’s a difference between the plans individuals make for our own lives and central planning by government.  In my column this week, I steal an idea from economist Dan Klein, and use the example of a skating rink:

You are our Ruler... continue reading »

President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night had some nice rhetoric about freezing spending.  But not most spending—just 12% of the budget.  What good is that? The president did at least acknowledge that America is in debt trouble that that in the future we must cut defense and entitlements, but he didn’t propose any such cuts.  Most of his speech was about new things the government should do. Bad idea. So I gave my own speech about the real State of the Union... continue reading »

Tonight, President Obama will propose a five year budget freeze. Yippee.  Except that it won’t affect Medicare. Or Social Security. Or the military. And current levels of spending are the highest ever. I don’t want to freeze spending.  The feds plan to spend 3.8 trillion dollars this year.  That’s nuts.  I want to cut! So on my show tonight, I’ll list some of the departments and programs that government should eliminate. Just one example is Amtrak, which has lost money every year since it was created in 1971. Let the free market work. It’s worked for freight rail... continue reading »

Some pundits claim that the Democrats lost seats Tuesday because they haven't done a good job explaining their wonderful new laws.  In USA Today, Ross Baker alleges that there was  "an enduring Democratic blunder: talking over the heads of the American people" ("Why the Democrats were hammered," Nov. 3). I like Don Boudreau's response to that:

"Ummm.  No.

... continue reading »

On my FBN show tonight, I will confront New York Times reporter Kate Zernike about an article she wrote for the Times that said Tea Party activists read "once-obscure texts by dead writers." Despite her employment at the Times, her coverage of the Tea Party has been largely fair. But I was bothered by her saying that:

... hen it comes to ideology, it has reached back to dusty bookshelves for long-dormant ideas... continue reading »

I'm not thrilled with the election results.  Good ballot measures went down to defeat.  I mourn Proposition 19, that would have legalized marijuana in California, Proposition B that would have made San Francisco bureaucrats pay a little more for their healthcare benefits and Question 3 that would have lowered the sales tax in Massachusetts.  Why don’t voters understand that those things are good for them?! But David Harsanyi cheers me with his column that points out that exit polls show the voters' general anger was not about

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Yesterday, Congress voted 60 to 40 to extend unemployment benefits through November. Unemployment benefits are popular with the public, so I understand why even Republicans say they support this handout “if it’s paid for.”  But this is not good policy. Unemployment checks lead people to delay seeking work.  I’m told that  it’s cruel to say that, but it’s just true. When you subsidize something, you get more of it... continue reading »

My producer Patrick McMenamin is from Cleveland, and a die-hard Cleveland sports fan. He is  agonizing over the decision that LeBron James will make later tonight. (David Asman has a one hour special on "The Business of LeBron" tonight, after “Stossel” at 9pm ET)... continue reading »