Outside the Beltway

Is our problem that the very rich have too much money? Or that the rest of us don’t have enough?

Bryan Caplan argues that the fact so many kids in the developing world don’t go to school proves that education isn’t very valuable.

Responding the near-collapse of the Greek economy, forestalled only by a massive bailout from their brethren, the EU’s finance ministers agreed this morning to submit the outlines of their budget plans for approval by the European Commission.

According to Paul Krugman’s latest column, the massive destruction of World War Two was actually good for the U.S. economy. Sadly, there are people who consider him an expert.

The August jobs numbers may be “better than expected,” but they still aren’t all that great.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has proclaimed, “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” Is he right?

FOX reports that the entire combat phase of the Iraq War will cost less than President Obama’s stimulus. That’s not a useful comparison.

After several months of bad housing sales, politicians in Washington are starting to talk about bringing back one of the worst public policy programs of the last two years.

For many reasons, the housing market is unlikely to fully recover for the foreseeable future.

The housing market that existed from the late 1990s until 2007/08 was an historical anomaly, and anyone expecting a return to those days is fooling themselves.

Despite raking in billions of dollars in television, ticket, and licensing revenues, all but 14 of the 106 schools in the NCAA’s top athletic division lost money in 2009. The median loss was over $10 million.

Another set of bad economic numbers are out today, and one wonders when we’ll start getting the good news.

A combination of news and some lunchtime satire.

House Minority John Boehner is getting a lot of attention for calling for mass firings at the White House. The real news, though, is that his speech is shifting the focus of the political conversation back to the economy. Which is just what the GOP needs.

Take a good look at that dollar coin, because you’re unlikely to see it circulation any time soon.

What do the critics mean when they say that the United States should be more like Germany?

Career fields dominated by women tend to pay less than those dominated by men. But gender discrimination isn’t the main reason.

Yet another sign that the America of my youth is dead: whole wheat bread is outselling white bread.

Free parking is a very inefficient use of land resources that wouldn’t exist without government mandates and subsidies. Is it time to end the practice?

A year ago, President Obama was emphatically against raising taxes during the recession — even on the rich.

The average federal government employee earns twice as much as the average private sector worker. An outrage? Not so much.

Attractive women face discrimination when applying for “masculine” jobs. The benefit from their attractiveness in all other jobs, however.

For-profit universities are defrauding their students. Indeed, it’s their business model.

Lenders and Borrowers seem poised to make the same mistakes that brought about the last Housing Bubble all over again.

Paul Krugman’s Medicare projections don’t line up with what the actuaries are telling us.

Another bad jobs report demonstrates that the “recovery” is an illusion for many people.

Council of Economic Advisors chair Christina Romer becomes the latest senior official to leave the Obama White House.

If you needed more proof that our tax system is far too complicated, consider the case of Alex Rodriguez’ 600th home run ball.

Congress has been wrestling with the net neutrality issue for years. Two major players may force a decision soon.

If lawyers and MBAs don’t understand their mortgage documents, what chance do the rest of us have?

The Democrats are pulling a trick from the Reagan playbook for the fall campaign. They might want to rethink that.

In arguing against lifting liability caps on offshore drilling, the Wall Street Journal is arguing against both moral responsibility and the free market.

Twenty-five years after retiring as President Reagan’s Budget Director, David Stockman is back with a scathing indictment of Republican fiscal policies over the past four decades.

General Motors, and Barack Obama, are betting the future on a car that may be nothing more than an electric lemon.

The latest GDP numbers are nothing but bad news for Democrats.

The concentration of policy wonks in the Washington-New York-Boston corridor produces skewed analysis.