Scot Wick Blog

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    Why Government Is the Problem | Hoover Institution The more taxes the more the deadweight loss in the economy. Deadweight loss is the amount of reduction of benefits to suppliers and consumers above the amount collected in taxes. Before tax suppliers get $10 benefit, consumers get $10 benefit, and government gets $0 tax revenue. After tax suppliers get $7 benefit, consumers get $7 benefit, and government gets $2 tax revenue, with $4 deadweight loss. Increased benefits to suppliers = more and higher paying jobs. Increased benefits to consumers = lower prices When in doubt Republicans want smaller government with lower taxes and less deadweight loss. When in doubt Democrats want bigger government with higher taxes and more deadweight loss. Since this is common knowledge must be much enjoyment of sadism and masochism going on.

From article The Case for Free Trade Remains Strong. Scott Lincicome and Alfredo Carrillo Obregon, Cato. April 19, 2022. Whether it’s China and industrial policy, supply chain “resiliency” proposals, “Buy American” mandates, or basically anything else trade‐related coming out of Washington these days, it’s increasingly clear THE LONGSTANDING BIPARTISAN CONSENSUS IN FAVOR OF FREE TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES HAS UNRAVELED. … The United States’ inward turn is misguided. The economic, geopolitical, and moral case for free trade remains as strong today as when Adam Smith penned The Wealth of Nations almost 250 years ago. Trade’s consumer benefits are far more significant than a few cents on the proverbial cheap t‑shirt. Studies find Americans save billions of dollars each year due to U.S. free trade agreements, and TRADE WITH CHINA ALONE SAVES THE AVERAGE AMERICAN FAMILY ABOUT A $1000 PER YEAR. These consumer benefits are particularly tilted toward poor and the middle‐class Americans, who s

Mostly summarized from Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, 5th Ed. PART 6 The Economics of Labor Markets Chapter 18 of 36 The Markets for the Factors of Production Section 8 of 24 … The Luddite Revolt Over history, technological progress has been the worker's friend. It has increased productivity, labor demand, and wages. Yet workers sometimes see technological progress as a threat. One famous example occurred in England in the early 19th century. Skilled knitters saw their jobs threatened and eliminated by the invention and spread of weaving machines that could produce textiles using fewer skilled workers with much lower cost. The displaced workers organized violent revolts against the new technology. They smashed the weaving machines used in wool and cotton mills and set fire to the homes of some of the mill owners. Because the workers were inspired by a mythical character “Ned Ludd” they were called Luddites. The Luddites wanted the British government to save their jobs by

From article Biden's agenda raised prices on everything for everyone. Steve Scalise. April 19, 2022. Our country’s economy has spun out of control. Across America, millions of families are struggling to pay for food at the grocery store, fill their cars up with gas, and cover the cost of their electric and heating bills. Yet President Joe Biden is refusing to take any responsibility for the skyrocketing prices, and he’s doubled down on the radical Green agenda that caused this problem . … In July 2021, Biden stated, "Our experts believe and our data shows most of the price increases we’ve seen were expected and expected to be temporary." As time would show, President Biden could not have been more wrong. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Consumer Price Index surged to a 40-year high of 8.5 percent . … Inflation forces families to borrow from their future to stay afloat today. By spending more money to put food on the table, keep the lights on

From article Barack Obama Calls for More Censorship: First Amendment ‘Does Not Apply to Facebook and Twitter.’ Charlie Spiering. April 21, 2022. Former President Barack Obama in a major speech on Thursday called for more regulation of social media content, to diminish “disinformation.” The former president delivered a speech on the issue at Stanford University after spending months studying the subject. He described himself as “pretty close to a First Amendment absolutist” but immediately clarified it did not apply to social media companies. … “The First Amendment is a check on the power of the state. It doesn’t apply to private companies like Facebook and Twitter,” he said, calling for more “value judgements” on content moderation and censorship on social media. “While content moderation can limit the distribution of clearly dangerous content, it doesn’t go far enough ,” Obama added. … The former president complained current content models for social media platforms

Mostly summarized from Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, 5th Ed. PART 6 The Economics of Labor Markets Chapter 18 of 36 – The Markets for the Factors of Production Section 7 of 24 … Table 1 here … Figure 3 here … Figure 3 – The Value of the Marginal Product of Labor This figure shows how, using Table 1 data · the value of the marginal product, vertical axis of Figure 3, from column 4 data of Table 1 · depends on the number of workers, horizontal axis, column 1 The curve slopes downward because of diminishing marginal product. For a competitive, profit-maximizing firm · the value of marginal product curve · is also the firm 's labor demand curve … How many workers will the apple company hire? In this case the market wage for apple pickers is $500 per week. Per Table 1, hiring the first three workers is profitable · the first worker yields $1,000 in revenue, and $500 in profit · the second worker yields $800 in additional revenue, and $300 in profit · the third worker yields

  From article Biden's executive order makes a mockery of the infrastructure bill. Larry Kudlow. April 20, 2022. Kudlow slams the president's war against fossil fuels. There they go again! The "they" is Team Biden. The "again" is another round of massive regulatory increases that will cost millions of hard-hat blue collar jobs and prevent any new energy pipelines, probably new utilities and WILL VIRTUALLY STOP THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW OR EXTENDED BRIDGES, HIGHWAYS AND TUNNELS. … The move will significantly raise environmental reviews of all these infrastructure type projects, COMPLETELY REVERSING ONE OF DONALD TRUMP'S BEST POLICIES WHICH STREAMLINED NEPA (NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY ACT) PERMITS AND TIMETABLES. This issue is dear to my heart because President Trump's infrastructure reforms were developed in our National Economic Council, where I worked closely with Andrew Olmem and Francis Brooke. … Before Trump it took 7, 10, even 15 years to get a