Economy

On the Fox Business Network on Tuesday, Happening Now host Melissa Francis would not let her Democratic Party guest get away with refusing to answer her question about tax reform. Eventually, she goaded former Clinton adviser Simon Rosenberg into acknowledging that he was refusing to answer her question (then why did he appear in what he knew was a discussion segment?); when she wouldn't move on…

Liberals have little chance of converting conservatives on climate change, but eventually righties will get swept to the left on the issue whether they like it or not, believes David Roberts. In a Friday piece, Roberts maintained that “the weather is only getting worse, young people are only getting more engaged, and clean energy is only getting cheaper” and therefore “climate change and clean…

One of the most challenging and important jobs for an economics professor is to teach students how little we know and can possibly know. My longtime friend and colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell says, "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." Nobel laureate Friedrich August von Hayek admonished, "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little…

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level in seventeen years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October jobs report. The report also showed 261,000 jobs added, but ABC didn’t bother covering the good economic news on Nov. 3. World News Tonight ignored the report, but found time to cover a study blaming fossil fuels for “man-made” global warming.

At CNN, disgraceful journalism has become so routine that we now expect it to be the rule rather the exception. Even in that context, Daniel Shane's claim at the networks CNNMoney website, manufactured with selective editing, that President Donald Trump doesn't know that Japanese companies already build cars in the U.S., is especially risible.

On Friday, ABC’s Good Morning America touted a new ABC News/Washington Post poll claiming that a majority of Americans oppose the Republican tax plan that was announced on Thursday. The only problem was that the survey was conducted October 29 through November 1, meaning that any questions about tax reform were asked before the GOP actually released the legislative proposal.

The U.S. economy maintained strong growth according to the latest government estimates in the latest example of good economic news. The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced on Oct. 27, that the first estimate of third quarter growth was 3 percent. There are two revisions to come before the end of 2017. But it remained positive news, especially since the BEA also confirmed that second quarter…

On Sunday's Fareed Zakaria GPS show, the host peddled the long-discredited mythology that the Reagan and Bush 43 supply-side tax cuts caused annual budget deficits to explode. Zakaria interviewed former Treasury Secretary and Obama economic adviser Larry Summers and current Trump administration Council of Economic Advisers head Kevin Hassett, but he did so separately, thus teeing up Summers to go…

The most recent cover of Time Magazine — or I should say what's left of it, given its parent company's recent decision "reducing ... circulation and frequency" of the formerly iconic publication — calls President Donald Trump's cabinet "The Wrecking Crew" on a mission of "dismantling government as we know it." Separate reports singled out EPA Director Scott Pruitt, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos…

It would be hard to find an example of a story covering an aspect of business and the economy more pathetic than Jordan Yadoo's report on the government's biennial 10-year employment growth projections published at Bloomberg News on Tuesday. 

Federal income tax was first introduced under the Revenue Act of 1861 to help defray war costs. Congress repealed the tax in 1871 when the need for government revenue declined, only to restore it in 1894 as part of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act. The public policy debate surrounding the constitutionality of income tax has been going on ever since.

Last week, Anthony Crupi at AdAge.com was either willfully ignorant or deliberately deceptive when he claimed that the size of the National Football League's TV ratings decline is inconsequential. Crupi also appears to be quite wrong in contending that actual game attendance — not reported attendance, but "turnstile" attendance — during the 2017 season is only barely down compared to last year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to more new records on Oct. 17 and 18, crossing 23,000 points for the first time during a trading day then closing above 23K for the very first time the next day.

Politicians exploit public ignorance. Few areas of public ignorance provide as many opportunities for political demagoguery as taxation. Today some politicians argue that the rich must pay their fair share and label the proposed changes in tax law as tax cuts for the rich. Let's look at who pays what, with an eye toward attempting to answer this question: Are the rich paying their fair share?