Government shields its employees and beneficiaries, but not ordinary workers, from higher prices. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon Aug. 11, 2021 6:14 pm ET The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices have risen in the past year by 5.4%. Prices have risen at an annualized rate of 7.1% in 2021 and...
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Category Archives: Fiscal Policy
WSJ-How the Fed Is Hedging Its Inflation Bet
Though few have noticed, the central bank is already slowing the growth of the money supply. By Phil Gramm and Thomas R. Saving Aug. 1, 2021 5:03 pm ET Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell last month told the House Banking Committee “it would be a mistake” to tighten monetary policy “at a time when virtually...
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WSJ-Biden’s Plans Are Already Hurting the Recovery
As anti-production policies take hold, supply and worker shortages appear and inflation looms. By Phil Gramm and Rick Scott May 19, 2021 12:49 pm ET The April Consumer Price Index rose by 0.8%, or 9.6% on an annualized basis. On an annual basis the inflation rate for the past three months has been...
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WSJ-The Biden Tax Mirage
Marginal rates have been a lot higher, but the actual share the top 1% pay stays remarkably constant. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon May 12, 2021 12:39 pm ET With deficits at levels not seen since World War II, the March $1.9 trillion stimulus only beginning to spend out, and President Biden...
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WSJ-Biden Aims at Profit, Hits Workers
The 2017 corporate tax cuts triggered the blue-collar wage boom. Higher rates would reverse it. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon April 6, 2021 6:18 pm ET The Biden administration has proposed an array of corporate tax increases with a goal of raising some $1.33 trillion over the next 10 years. That’s three...
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WSJ: The Risks of Too Much ‘Stimulus’
Disposable real per capita income rose 5.5% in 2020, the highest rate since 1984, due largely to transfer payments. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon Feb. 2, 2021 6:17 pm ET Even among economists who strongly support President Biden, a consensus is growing that the economy emerged from last year set for a...
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WSJ: Voters’ Choice: Growth or Stagnation
Before the shutdown, the economy was booming. Credit Trump’s policies, not Obama and Biden’s. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon July 8, 2020 1:10 pm ET The year began with a recovery that belied every negative cliché about the Trump tax cuts and regulatory reform. Tax cuts demagogued as giveaways to the rich...
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WSJ: Why the Fed May Not Duck Inflation This Time
Banks’ excess reserves limited the money supply after 2008, but looser rules today might give way. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon May 28, 2020 7:08 pm ET Is there any limit to the power Congress is willing to give to the Federal Reserve? Since 2008 lawmakers have granted the Fed the ability...
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WSJ: More ‘Stimulus’ Would Crush the Recovery
Federal borrowing this year is set to pass 20% of GDP. That will raise costs across the private economy. By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon April 14, 2020 12:44 pm ET A democracy’s greatest challenge arises when it confronts a major crisis during an election, since the critical need for serious...
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WSJ: The Plot to Politicize Banking
Liberal lawmakers and activists want banks to lend to favored groups and deny the ‘undesirables.’ By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon Jan. 14, 2020 6:59 pm ET To resist President Trump’s campaign of economic reform and deregulation, his critics usually attempt to portray long-overdue, common-sense policies as assaults on the poor....
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