
News
Recent posts and articles from IGEG fellows, advisers, experts and scholars.
Reparations and Statutes of Limitations: We Have to Live Life Moving Forward
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss is being accused of deliberately letting the statute of limitations run out on Hunter Biden’s failure to pay his full taxes for 2014 and 2015. If this is true, it is further evidence of substantial corruption in the Justice...
Long-Run Debasement of the U.S. Dollar Likely to Get Much Worse
The good news is that inflation is slowing, largely because of the reduction in money growth over the last year or so. The bad news is that the unemployment rate will increase. (It already has but is disguised by the reduction in the labor force participation rate.)...
Money and Regulatory Tyrants: Shutting Down the Cryptocurrency Business
Imagine you have an entirely legal business in your home state, but certain politicians and powerful government bureaucrats do not like your business for personal or political reasons and are determined to shut you down. One of the easiest ways for government tyrants...
End of Affirmative Action Provides a Level Playing Field
This past Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that all Americans are entitled to “equal protection of the laws,” as stated in the 14th Amendment. The case was about colleges discriminating against some students because of their race or ethnic background — e.g., “No...
Effects of Government Corruption on Democratic Republics
A functioning democracy and civil society depend on most people having a high level of honesty and a low tolerance for corruption by those in government. The U.S. in the past was justifiably known for its adherence to the rule of law and high level of civic honesty....
Out-of-Touch Executives are Forgetting Their Core Responsibilities to Stockholders
Too many senior executives of publicly owned companies seem to have forgotten that they have a fiduciary and moral responsibility to maximize long-term profits for the benefit of their stockholders. It is not their job to save the planet from climate change, end...
Lockdown Disaster: Pandemic Made Great Excuse for Many in Government to Seize More Power
“Most likely, lockdowns represent the biggest policy mistake of modern times.” This past week, the most comprehensive study to date — a 220-page book — of the effect of lockdowns (written by Lars Jonung, professor emeritus at Sweden’s Lund University, Jonas Herby of...
Those Who Argue There Are No Inherent Differences between Men and Women Are in Denial
If women, on average, are as intelligent or perhaps more so than men (which they are), why did women most often obtain the right to vote decades after men? The only country that had granted women the right to vote before 1900 was New Zealand. The U.S. granted the...
2024 Election will Have More to Do with Oil Prices than Supply and Demand
How tall are you? How much do you weigh? What is the net value of your assets? The answers to all of these questions change over time — they are variables. Your height changes over the years — as you grow from an infant and then into middle age, you begin to shrink —...
Three Untruths from the Political Class, Including the Media
Take a look at the nearest food package. Notice there is a list of ingredients that tells you how many calories and other useful information. Most of us assume that the information is largely accurate because we know the manufacturer can be sued for misleading us. Do...
Should Money Laundering Laws Be Abolished?
If you are reading a news article about someone being charged with armed robbery, a visual image of a fellow with a gun holding up a store or bank probably comes to mind. But if the article says someone has been arrested on a money laundering charge, no particular...
Even Minor Actions by Government Can Cause Economic Drag
TEASPOONS OR POWER SHOVELS? Why are we substituting labor for capital? The Department of Labor reported last week that “labor productivity decreased 0.9 percent” in the first quarter of 2023. “The 0.9 percent productivity decline is the first time the four-quarter...
U.S. Government Destroying the Dollar’s Value through Inflation
Assume that the U.S. government announces it is going to issue enough money in the next three days to pay off the federal debt of $31 trillion. Yes, the debt would disappear, but the dollar would lose almost its entire value. What do you think most people would do if...
Biden’s Impending Watergate
Assume you have been a high-ranking government official and are called to testify before Congress. You have knowledge of unethical or worse behavior by some of your former colleagues, most of whom are still friends. If you reveal what you know, this could result in...
History of Destructive Capital Gains Taxes and Inflation
What do you think the worst tax is? The capital gains tax is a good candidate. Capital gains are considered income by the IRS, even though they merely reflect a change in the price level — and most capital gains taxes are a tax on inflation. Inflation is caused by...
More Accountability and Transparency Needed in the Age of ‘Woke’ Prosecutors and Judges
Aircraft technicians and mechanics must fill out detailed paperwork for any work performed on a plane or engine, including repair, replacement of parts, or changing fluids — and then sign the work-performed document, noting they were responsible. The reason for the...
How to Destroy the U.S. Dollar
Countries hostile to the U.S. and others, including China, Russia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa, have been meeting with another to devise ways to dethrone the U.S. dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency. These and other countries are in...
Amid Manufacturing Loss and ‘Woke’ Universities, America Still Benefits from Technology
Even in bad times, good things still happen. Question: If you were born 200 years before you were, what is the likelihood that you would have reached your present age — given the state of medical knowledge at the time — and would have survived all the illnesses and...