Real Action to Reduce Unemployment: Eliminating Minimum Wages and Suspending Payroll Taxes

Americans’ top concerns these days are unemployment, deficits and debt. The rate of unemployment seems stuck at a level economically and ethically unacceptable, and efforts to bring it down appear ineffective and extremely expensive, especially in the context of runaway deficits and debt. It’s time to re-evaluate government policies. A good place to start is minimum-wage laws, with payroll taxes a logical second. Alone, wage floors create more problems than they solve, and all of these unintended consequences are compounded by the extra burden of payroll taxes, which raise employer costs even further while also reducing employee take-home pay.

MINIMUM WAGES In May of 2007, during the Bush ...

National Debt IV: Making Seniors More Secure

Early Record-Keeping for Social Security

On February 18, shortly after submitting a $3.8 trillion budget with a $1.6 trillion deficit for 2010, President Obama officially created the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Co-Chairs of the commission are Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson. “Everything,” President Obama said, “is on the table.” Nothing is apparently out of bounds – not even increasing taxes, tackling and taming entitlements.

Here’s what Mr. Simpson had to say about Social Security: “[Y]ou have two choices with Social Security. You either – you either raise the payroll tax or ...

Addressing National Debt by Reforming Social Security

FDR Signing Social Security Act August 14, 1935

Government deficits and debt have reached alarming levels today, and the unfunded liabilities of tomorrow are even more staggering. The key to attaining fiscal sobriety is entitlement reform, and Social Security is as good a place to start as any.

Established in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, Social Security was FDR’s strong response to the difficulties experienced by the elderly, ...

Additional Economic Stimulus – Another Thought

Guest Contributor Wayne Nelson

Much is being made of the unwillingness of the financial industry to lend money in this current environment of uncertainty. For those of us who were around during the S&L debacle of the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, this comes as no surprise. It became very clear that lessons not learned were destined to be repeated. The major distinctions between then and now were (1) financial institutions were not too big to fail back then, and many did; and (2) there are more financial products that nobody understands out there now than there were back then.

It is clear that lending is still being ...

Plain Dealing in Ohio: Obama Goes to Battle in Elyria

“Hello, Ohio!” Barack Obama began his speech in Elyria on January 22. “Everybody, please,uh, please, uh, please relax. We’re going to be here for a little bit…”

The content and tone of this speech were not, however, designed to relax. The intent was rather to go populist, go angry, and “pivot” policy attention away from Massachusetts and to the Midwest and the Main Street issue of jobs — or lack thereof. Orator Obama went into warrior mode almost immediately. And there he stayed.

Combatants included the usual villains — Big Banks, Insurance and Pharma. Nothing new here. But Obama also took some folksy ...