If the average person wanted to understand an economic issue better 40 years ago, all he had to do was subscribe to Newsweek. One week, MIT economist Paul Samuelson – a Keynesian, Democrat and 1970 Nobel Prize winner – would…
Sovereign immunity issues are ripe for reform
True sovereign immunity – the idea that the king can do no wrong – no longer exists for government, but the conditions under which those hurt by government action can be compensated often seem patchwork and capricious. Consider two recent…
Why can’t U.S. grow at 5 percent or more? Good question
Developing economies regularly grow at 5, 7 or even 10 percent a year. So why can’t our country do the same? That is the good question former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty raised in the recent Republican presidential candidates’ debate in…
A smoldering Europe threatens to burn the U.S.
Are we living in a new age of Nero? The Roman emperor, of course, is infamous for fiddling while Rome burned. Historian Barbara Tuchman used the phrase “Neroism is in the air” to describe German attitudes prior to World War…