Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:33:07 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Bruce Bartlett :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Bruce+Bartlett istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/republicans-and-the-racial-minefield/73089/ Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Republicans are deeply concerned about how to run against Barack Obama this fall should he be the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, and they are right to be apprehensive. If John McCain were to belittle the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as Mrs. Clinton did, it would be deemed proof positive of deep-seated Republican racism, not written-off as mere campaign clumsiness. No white politician of this age has been more widely received by African Americans than Mrs... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/bushs-plan-to-keep-seniors-in-workforce/11682/ Tue, 5 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST It is clear that President Bush's Social Security plan is not getting traction politically - even many Republicans on Capitol Hill think it is on life support. One reason is that he has failed to make some arguments for reform that would buttress his case, such as the increase in economic growth from an expanded labor supply that would come from personal accounts. Possibly the biggest macroeconomic problem with the current Social Security system is that it encourages workers to retire too early... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/by-the-numbers/11368/ Wed, 30 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST As people work on their tax returns, they would do well to spend a couple of minutes before they finish calculating their tax rates. This is important information that may surprise many taxpayers and could affect routine decisions they make about their investments and lifestyles. The first calculation is simply the mean or average tax rate. This is the tax you owe on line 62 of the 1040 form divided by the income figure on line 22. (To be more accurate, you should also add income for tax-exempt... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/end-of-free-lunch/10589/ Tue, 15 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Growing nervousness in the bond market may be signaling an end to the free lunch Americans have enjoyed for the last three years, where foreigners have essentially financed our budget deficit. This has kept interest rates low, fueling a boom in the housing market, and allowed politicians to believe that there are no economic consequences to massive budget deficits. But should foreigners even slow down their purchases of Treasury bonds, this bubble could burst very suddenly, leading to sharply... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/vat-could-work-for-america/10227/ Tue, 8 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's comments last week before the tax reform commission, regarding the desirability of a consumption-based tax system, are fueling new interest in the value-added tax, or VAT, a type of consumption tax used in virtually every major country except the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas has also hinted that the time may have come for serious debate on this topic. The VAT was invented in Europe mainly to facilitate trade. It needed a tax... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/flat-tax-for-human-freedom/9952/ Wed, 2 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST On his trip to Slovakia last week, President Bush praised Prime Minister Dzurinda for the flat tax system he instituted last year. Mr. Bush noted that the new tax regime simplified tax collection, attracted foreign capital, and created economic vitality and growth. Three years ago, Mr. Bush made a point of congratulating President Putin of Russia for his country's flat tax, which took effect on January 1, 2001. On that occasion, Mr. Bush particularly noted the fairness of the Russian system... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/behind-the-blandness/9661/ Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Last week, the White House released the Economic Report of the President, an annual publication produced by the Council of Economic Advisers that surveys economic conditions and discusses key economic policy issues. In years past, the economic report has been an important document. Because members of the CEA are well-respected economists in their fields, their thinking is always worth hearing. However, this year, the CEA seems to have gone out of its way to avoid saying anything remotely... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/nitty-gritty/8893/ Tue, 8 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST At long last, we are finally starting to get some meaningful details about President Bush's Social Security reform proposal. Inevitably, this is already starting to change the debate on this issue. Up until now, all we have heard is that Mr. Bush wants to establish some sort of private accounts as part of Social Security. But we have heard nothing about how such accounts do anything to solve Social Security's long-term financing problems. Obviously, private accounts per se accomplish nothing... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/tax-riddle-cloaked-in-enigma/7880/ Tue, 18 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Regardless of what proposal President Bush's tax reform commission comes up with, the principal debate about it inevitably will be how much more or less will each income class pay relative to current law. While a valid consideration, the overwhelming emphasis on distributional effects tends to push other important tax issues off the table. To begin with, there are two different concepts of distributional equity: horizontal and vertical. But only the latter ever really comes up in congressional... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/facing-the-medicare-challenge/7169/ Tue, 4 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST President Bush has declared that Social Security reform is his principal domestic priority this year. Press reports indicate that the White House has persuaded private groups to spend millions of dollars promoting its plan, even though we have yet to hear any of the specifics. It is not clear what is driving the urgency of Social Security reform. It is desirable, to be sure, but nothing will happen to anyone's benefits for some time to come if nothing is done. By contrast, the Medicare system... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/my-favorites-of-the-blogs-for-2004/6915/ Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST Two years ago, I wrote a column about "blogs" (Web logs) because they were the most interesting new Internet phenomenon I had come across. Essentially, they are personal Web sites that offer people daily (even hourly) commentary on current events or whatever they feel like writing about. Last year at this time, I wrote another column on this topic, so I guess it has become something of a tradition for me. This is my latest discussion of the blog phenomenon. In my first commentary, I noted that... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/is-it-a-stealth-tax-increase-on-the-rich/6814/ Fri, 24 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST Although President Bush has said that he would not increase Social Security taxes to pay for private accounts, some of his aides are floating the idea of a stealth tax increase on the wealthy, nevertheless. On December 19, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Treasury Secretary Snow were asked on different Sunday talk shows whether the administration would support an increase in the Social Security wage cap and both pointedly refused to rule it out. Since the Social Security system was... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/retirement-follies/6614/ Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST At the recent White House economic conference, there was considerable discussion of the need to reform Social Security. The primary reasons given were to improve fairness for younger workers and put the system on a sound financial footing. As important as these things are, however, I think there is an even more important reason to reform Social Security, and that is to keep older workers in the labor force. The problem is that the first baby boomers turn 62 in 2008. At this age, one becomes... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/business/feds-rate-raises-may-pop-the-housing-bubble/6408/ Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST As the Federal Reserve moves to raise short-term interest rates once again, flags are being raised about the impact on housing prices. With housing being the largest household asset - and one that has risen sharply over the last several years - a downturn in housing prices akin to the fall in stock prices since 2000 would be devastating to families and the economy. According to the latest Federal Reserve data, American households owned $16.6 trillion in real estate in the third quarter of 2004... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ecoterrorists-stepping-up-attacks/6198/ Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST The nation obviously has been focused very heavily on terrorism for the last three years. Unfortunately, the overwhelming attention paid to foreign terrorist threats has tended to make people complacent about homegrown, domestic terrorism. Those living in the Washington, D.C., area got a wake-up call on this last week, when an apparent group of environmental terrorists torched a housing development under construction in nearby Charles County, Md. Law enforcement officials have not yet... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/wanted-intellectual-diversity/5960/ Wed, 8 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST Although conservatives complain loudly and often about liberal bias in the mass media, the truth is that one is far more likely to read a conservative perspective in the New York Times than hear it from a college professor. At least the Times publishes an occasional conservative on its op-ed page. At many universities, just finding a Republican anywhere on the faculty is problematic. Two recent studies by Santa Clara University economist Daniel B. Klein prove my point. In one study, he looked... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/dollar-in-danger/5537/ Tue, 30 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST For more than a year, I have been predicting - not advocating, just predicting - a significant tax increase to deal with the budget deficit. My hypothesis has been that sooner or later financial markets would put pressure on Congress to act on the budget deficit, and that the magnitude of the problem would be too great to deal with on the spending side alone. I was unsure where, when, or how this financial market pressure would arise. But it now seems clear that it will come through the foreign... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/here-comes-tax-reform-2004-11-23/5267/ Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST According to press reports, President Bush is considering elimination of the deduction for state and local taxes as part of tax reform. While defensible tax policy, I don't think he realizes just how extraordinarily difficult such an action will be. Unless it is combined with something incredibly popular that Congress is forced to accept as a package deal, I see little likelihood of this measure being enacted. In 1984, President Reagan asked the Treasury Department to study tax reform. It... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/pbs-airs-a-hit-piece-on-wal-mart/5105/ Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST On Tuesday, the Public Broadcasting Service ran a scathing attack on Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, on its "Frontline" series. The title of the program was, "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" Although never stated explicitly, it is clear from the overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the company that the answer clearly is "no." I watched this program with special interest. In fact, it was the first PBS program I'd seen in some time. I'd stopped watching shows like "Frontline" long ago... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/europe-starts-tax-cuttingtoo/4949/ Wed, 17 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST President Bush's tax cuts over the last four years were strongly opposed by liberals, and even many moderates saw them as controversial at least. So it is interesting to discover, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, that governments of the left in Europe have been doing pretty much the same thing as President Bush has done here. First of all, there have been a number of major tax cuts in Europe that have lowered taxes as a share of the gross... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/d-day-on-personnel-front/4587/ Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST Last week, President Bush said that he would start thinking about Cabinet and staff changes over the weekend. The decisions he makes in this area will be our first real indication of what his second term will be like. Even if Mr. Bush doesn't actually fire anyone, it is inevitable that there are going to be a lot of staff changes. An unusually large number of people have been with him throughout his entire term and many go back years earlier to his campaign. No doubt, a considerable number are... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/fear-of-judicial-fiat/4368/ Fri, 5 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST An extremely important debate is going on within both parties today that will have a very important impact on our nation's future political direction. The basic question is: Why did President Bush win and why did Senator Kerry lose? There are many different ways this question can be answered. Many will look at it in purely geographical terms. Why did Mr. Kerry lose states that Vice President Gore won? Others will look at it in organizational terms. Why was Mr. Bush better able to turn out his... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/democrats-are-party-of-elite/4206/ Wed, 3 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST Since 1980, Democrats have tended to blame their losing candidates for not being tough enough. They somehow believe that their attacks on Republicans were not sufficiently sharp and that Republicans are more focused on winning and more willing to do whatever it takes to win. I think this is nonsense generally, but especially so this year. There is no question that on the shrillness meter, Democrats have won hands down. Democrat friends of mine maintain that President Bush drives them to it and... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/gridlock-factor/4074/ Mon, 1 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST One of the things pundits are having a hard time figuring out is why the electorate seems to have come to a point where almost exactly half of people support the Democratic presidential candidate and half support the Republican. A reason why they are having so much trouble, I believe, is that the answer lies outside the presidential realm and results primarily from changes in Congress. Poll after poll has consistently shown that the American people like gridlock. They don't trust either party... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/landmark-election-in-ukraine/3929/ Thu, 28 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST America isn't the only country having a presidential election in the next few days. There is also an important vote coming up in Ukraine on October 31. The election there will be far more momentous for that country than ours will be for us. Whoever wins here, our basic policies will not change fundamentally. In Ukraine, by contrast, the election could be revolutionary. Like many of the former republics of the old Soviet Union, Ukraine has struggled, politically and economically. It has no... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/baiting-the-rich/3646/ Fri, 22 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST Last week, the Internal Revenue Service released data on distribution of the income tax burden in 2002. They put a lie to Senator Kerry's contention that the rich are not paying their fair share and should be taxed more. The IRS data divides taxpayers into percentiles according to their adjusted gross incomes. Following is the share of aggregate income taxes paid by each group: The data also reveals that despite the Bush tax cuts, the income tax is still highly progressive - taking more from... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/productivity-is-overtaking-outsourcing/3140/ Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST Outsourcing of American jobs to foreign countries has been a major theme of the Kerry/Edwards campaign. During his debate with Vice President Cheney, Senator Edwards repeated the standard Democrat line: "The administration says over and over that the outsourcing of millions of American jobs is good. We're against it." A search of Senator Kerry's campaign Web site turned up 176 separate statements on the evils of outsourcing. What you won't find on the Kerry Web site are any references to... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ghost-senator/2785/ Wed, 6 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST One of the biggest problems that Senator Kerry has is that he is still an enigma to most people. We all know more than we want to about his service in Vietnam, but very little about what he has done between then and now. In particular, his 20-year Senate career is a blank. For this reason, I found of great interest the new book by former Senate staffer Winslow T. Wheeler, "The Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages U.S. Security" (U.S. Naval Institute). He spent 31 years working on... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/poll-itics/2354/ Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST For most of American history, when a politician wanted to know what voters were thinking, he would call or write to local political leaders to find out what they were hearing at the grass roots. Journalists would go out into the streets, to community events, or perhaps just to a local watering hole and actually talk to average people about what they were thinking. Oftentimes, it was impossible to figure out what people thought about specific issues. They might be highly technical, complicated... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/without-a-plan/2024/ Tue, 21 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST Quick question: What is Senator Kerry's economic plan? Can anyone reading this column name even one key element of it? With the economy a central issue in the election, one would think that any reasonably well-informed voter could easily answer these questions. But in fact, I doubt that more than a tiny handful of professional economists or economic journalists could do so. The reason is pretty simple - there really is no plan. Mr. Kerry has policies, of course - lots of them. The problem is... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/suggestions-for-the-tax-commission/1551/ Fri, 10 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST In his convention speech on September 2, President Bush said that one of his key second-term goals is creating a simpler, fairer, pro-growth tax system. In a White House fact sheet, he said that he would issue an executive order creating a bipartisan panel that will report to the Treasury secretary early next year on options for tax reform. As a long-time supporter of tax reform, I am reluctant to throw cold water on this effort, but I am pessimistic that anything meaningful will be... Bruce Bartlett http://www.nysun.com/opinion/rules-of-the-game/1285/ Fri, 3 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST Having now sat through both the Republican and Democratic conventions, I have come to two conclusions. 1. The order of the conventions should be changed. Historically, it has been considered an advantage for a political party to hold its presidential convention first. Up until recent years, parties usually did not know who their candidate would be until the convention and they needed extra time for him to organize a campaign and introduce himself to the American people. For this reason, the... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/agenda-for-bushs-next-term/859/ Thu, 26 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST As the Republican National Convention approaches, pressure is building on President Bush to lay out a second term agenda. With Senator Kerry running no worse than even in most polls, many Republicans believe that Mr. Bush needs a big idea of some kind to galvanize his supporters. I think they are probably going to be disappointed. The fact is that very few presidents ever have a meaningful second-term agenda. First of all, they don't need one to get re-elected because they cannot run for a... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/electoral-college-football/506/ Thu, 19 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Still stung by President Bush's victory over Al Gore in the Electoral College four years ago, Democrats in Colorado have found a way to give Senator Kerry at least four electoral votes even if he loses the state's popular vote. Had this new voting system been in place in 2000, it would have been just enough to push Mr. Gore over the top. As almost everyone knows, presidents are not elected by popular vote in this country. Technically, electors voting in the Electoral College elect them. This... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/sales-tax-advocates-get-over-it/366/ Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST It's a sign of how issueless the presidential campaign has been that voters and reporters alike pounce upon the slightest sign of a new idea from either candidate. Thus, a seemingly offhand remark by President Bush at a Florida campaign rally last week about a national retail sales tax set off two days of fireworks before the White House disowned it. But is the idea really dead? At first glance, it appears that Mr. Bush was not saying anything significant about tax reform at a rally at... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/running-on-empty/292/ Fri, 13 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Cassandra was a creature from Greek mythology that was given the gift of prophecy, but cursed by never being believed, even though her predictions were always correct. The closest thing we have to a living Cassandra is financier Peter Peterson, who has been warning for decades about an impending fiscal calamity from unchecked entitlement spending. His latest book on the subject, "Running on Empty," has just been published. Mr. Peterson points out that our long-term fiscal situation was dire... BRUCE BARTLETT http://www.nysun.com/opinion/subverting-conservatism/43773/ Tue, 24 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST One of the biggest beefs that liberals have with conservatives is that the latter are reflexively pro-business. That is, whatever the business community wants, conservatives will bend over backward to give them. This is untrue for principled conservatives. However, sadly, the Bush administration and the Republican Congress keep giving liberals ample reason to believe that the stereotype is fact. Principled conservatives believe in the free market. While this may seem to equate with a...