So let’s test this claim with a close look at the last 50 years. We go all the way back to 1974, and the Presidential Administration of Gerald Ford. During the 50 years from then until now, Republicans occupied the Oval Office for 27 years, and Democrats for 23. The Republicans, and the total years of their presidencies were: Ford (3), Reagan (8), Bush I (4), Bush II (8), and Trump (4). The Democrats were Carter (4), Clinton (8), Obama…
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Larry Malone
Jobs are plentiful and workers are scarce, and not because people are sitting home living off of handouts from the government. At the end of my last column, I promised a solution to solving our worker shortage. The fix comes from a charged-up word we’ve heard on a daily basis for the past few years—immigration.…
The introduction of a minimum wage at the end of the Great Depression was largely a success, but the verdict in more recent times is more mixed. Let’s look at some of the key developments concerning today’s minimum wage.…
What exactly is this presumably very bad thing called the trade deficit? It’s the difference between the dollar value of imported items (coming into the U.S. from businesses operating in other countries) and exported items (departing the U.S. from businesses operating in our 50 states).…
Both Biden and Trump are trade protectionists, which means they are willing to put tariffs—taxes, essentially—on imported items. Tariffs make imported items more expensive, which is supposed to create more reasons to produce those things in the United States. Do tariffs produce such magic? To answer, it’s important to first understand how international trade works.…
The easiest way to debunk this myth is to ask a simple question: Why would any sitting president want to increase the price of gasoline? After all, a meaningful percentage of the voting population casts their ballots according to what has happened to the price of a gallon.…
Last time, we saw how our National Debt ballooned to $33 trillion from the $6 trillion spent by the Trump Administration and $3 trillion by the Biden Administration for the COVID rescue. The unprecedented spending definitely helped create an inflationary economy.…
Our National Debt dates from the earliest days of the American Republic. When we fought the Revolution, we borrowed (from France) to pay for the weapons needed to take the fight to the British.…
We take up federal government spending in this column, but we’ll stay away from what it buys. Our myth busting will instead clarify the relationship between federal spending and budget deficits, and show where the deficits came from.…
I promise to communicate economics in a clear fashion. I will also strive to stay apolitical, which was the standard I held myself to as a college professor for 37 years. That’s consistent with my being an active voter and a registered Independent.…