Politics & Rights

A tax break is not a subsidy. As I’ve written, a tax break lets someone keep more of his own wealth, while a subsidy takes money from one person and gives it to someone else. Thus, when the “fiscal cliff” compromise gave tax breaks to Nascar, Starkist, “algae-based fuel,” and…

As Michigan lawmakers moved toward enacting “Right-to-Work” legislation earlier this month, President Obama swept into the state to defend employees’ “right to bargain for better wages." Governor Rick Snyder subsequently signed the measures into law. Of course, when Obama speaks of the “right to bargain,” he does not mean the…

Fox Business reports that executives from more than 800 companies and medical-groups are demanding a repeal to the medical-device tax. Here are some excerpts from their letter to the senate demanding its repeal and elucidating why the tax will “adversely impact patient care and innovation, and will substantially increase the…

Congress avoided the so-called “fiscal cliff” only by passing tax hikes and leaving out-of-control federal spending practically untouched. But, to those with friends in political places, Congress rewarded special tax breaks. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Congress rewarded various special tax breaks in the “fiscal cliff” legislation, including the…

Although weather forecasters brilliantly predicted Superstorm Sandy's impact days in advance—thereby saving many lives—in the near future forecasters could see their science take "a significant step back." The New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Stephen Stirling reports: Satellites critical to the ability of meteorologists to build accurate long-term forecasts are expected to fail…

Rather than reduce federal spending more than a token amount (let alone enough to balance the budget now and in the long term), Congress has decided to continue its profligate spending, to ignore the “entitlement” crisis, and to “solve” the financial crisis by raising taxes. Stephen Ohlemacher writes for the…

Peter Schiff discusses in this video why the mob doesn’t have a right to steal his money, and he warns Americans about the continuing assault on the wealthy. I have no doubt that the mob has the means to steal my money, the government has given them the means, we…

Piers Morgan is a citizen of the United Kingdom currently working in the United States on a green card as a CNN television host. After Morgan advocated stricter gun laws and called Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America “an unbelievably stupid man,” more than 44,000 Americans signed petitions calling…

“In an unprecedented fall, the US drops out of the top ten of the 2012 Legatum Prosperity Index,” reports the London’s Legatum Institute. We’re now twelfth in this ranking. But what does that mean? There’s good reason to be skeptical of the index’s rankings. Much of the data derives from…

French actor Gérard Depardieu justly condemned his nation’s 75 percent marginal tax rate, explaining that, in France, “success, creation, talent—difference, in fact—must be punished.” Depardieu renounced his French citizenship and moved to Belgium, where taxes are lower. Although various French politicians and commentators have harshly criticized Depardieu, the actor deserves…