Shoe manufacturers and retailers are lobbying Congress to repeal a seventy year old tariff that has outlived it’s usefulness: WASHINGTON – Footwear manufacturers and retailers are trying to end a Depression-era federal shoe tax, a move they say could save American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars annually and kick-start relatively flat footwear sales. Trade [...]

Now, I know this is a question that most people will answer with a resounding “YES!” After all, exports are the sign of a strong economy, right? And the reason that we’re so pissed off at China is because they keep sending us goods and we’re not sending them nearly as much in return, right? [...]

David Brooks argues in the New York Times that the nativist, anti-free trade, anti-immigrant message of Lou Dobbs is winning the battle for hearts and minds: Once there was a majority in favor of liberal immigration policies, but apparently that’s not true anymore, at least if you judge by campaign rhetoric. Once there was a [...]

However, Mr. Duke, you are right in claiming that your views are far more closely aligned with those of the founding fathers than mine. Some, like Benjamin Franklin, were even more hardcore than you, with his opposition to permitting “ruddy-complexioned” Germans from immigrating to the U.S. This is not to their or your credit. Where the principles of the Declaration of Independence were betrayed, the motivation was generally a racist one. In past generations, white Americans were quite willing to betray or give up the freedoms hard-won by their ancestors rather than extend them to black people, Chinese people, Mexicans or Filipinos.

….it’s absolutely false. What’s the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)? The precursor to the NAU, umm…no. The SPP does exist, and its tri-national task forces continue to meet, but its members consider it a way for the United States, Canada, and Mexico to collaborate on issues such as customs, environmental and safety regulations, narcotics smuggling, [...]

If you purchased a newspaper in the past week or so, you might have noticed a bunch of circulars advertising post-Thanksgiving sales. The stores publicize these sale prices in an attempt to attract customers for what is known as “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving which, by custom, is one of the largest shopping days [...]

In a stunning example of a stopped clock being right, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad assails the dollar, suggesting OPEC should break the petrodollar link: “They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper,” Ahmadinejad told reporters after the close of the summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. He blamed President Bush’s policies [...]

Just over one year ago, the world lost perhaps the greatest economist of his generation. Milton Friedman had the ability to explain complex economic theories to the average person. I just recently watched his 1980 (and updated 1990) PBS series Free to Choose (based on a book Friedman had published with the same title). I [...]

The big news for those interested in libertarianism and monetary systems over the last day has been the fed’s seizure of materials and metals related to the sale, production, marketing, and other business activities of the Liberty Dollar. Last night co-contributor tarran posted a very interesting piece related to the government’s tactics and rationale for [...]

In the end, it is quite clear to me that it is the hostility of these law-enforcement officers which is the problem. Confusing suspicion of the state with criminal intent, they are convinced that these institutions that have criminals as customers are in fact conspiring with the criminals. So they shut them down, ruining the guilty and the innocent indiscriminately. There is nothing precluding the FBI from reviewing e-gold or Norfed’s records while the firms continue to do business. Shutting them down is as absurd as shutting down the Motel 6 down the road, because it was the preferred resting place of mobsters visiting town.

Below, please enjoy a guest article by Clayton Slade. Clayton is in the information technology field by trade, but has been an economics/finance buff for most of his life, as well as a believer in liberty and the free market. Clayton’s article succinctly explains a rather complex concept rarely discussed, the effect of inflation as [...]

The Cato Institute’s Daniel Griswold puts to rest some myths about international trade that just won’t seem to go away: Trade has helped America transform itself into a middle-class service economy. Yes, the country’s lost a net 3.3 million manufacturing jobs in the past decade – but it’s added a net 11.6 million jobs in [...]

The Club for Growth paper on Ron Paul has generated some discussion over pragmatism vs radicalism. The Club for Growth, while overall praising Ron Paul, took exception over some stances that they believed as too unrealistic. This post will take a look at the actual paper and evaluate which who’s right on any particular issue, [...]

Hat Tip: Cato on Campus

The steel makers were successful in persuading the International Trade Commission to keep steel tariffs: In a victory for U.S. steel makers, the federal government agreed Wednesday to continue tariffs on imports of certain steel products from China, India and four other nations. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. Chrysler and other steel consumers had [...]

Well this is an entirely disturbing development: WASHINGTON — By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president. he sign of broadening resistance to globalization came in a [...]

I’ve said this many times before: economics isn’t the study of money; it’s the study of incentives, choices, and consequences. In this video from the TED conference, economist Emily Oster performs an economic analysis of the spread of AIDS in Africa and shows once again, it’s about the economics (which means it’s about peoples choices [...]

Imagine you have an alcoholic brother who lives with your parents because he has trouble holding down a job when he lives alone. So your parents keep an eye on him, limit his access to alcohol etc. One day, you come home, and you find your dad calmly stacking cans of Milwaukee’s Best into the [...]

John Stossel is one of the few journalists in the MSM who really understands how and why capitalism works and why socialism does not. In this speech at this Fair Tax rally held on May 15, 2007, Stossel asks the question: “Why is America prosperous?” His answer: economic liberty. Even if you are not a [...]

It is always depressing to see a political battle erupt where you know, no matter who wins, the average citizen will be screwed. One such slow motion train wreck is taking place in Massachusetts as we speak. I became aware of it when one of the groups put an ad on TV that was so [...]