Showing posts with label standard of living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label standard of living. Show all posts

Ed Butowsky: Calculating The True Cost Of Living

It's much higher than we're told/sold.   Over the past decade, we've been told that inflation has been tame -- actually below the target the Federal Reserve would like to see. But if that's true, then why does the average household find it harder and harder to get by? The ugly reality is that the true annual cost of living is far outpacing the       ... MORE

Socialism At Work: Venezuela Has Run Out Of Food

by Frances Martel.    Venezuela’s opposition legislature has declared a “nutritional emergency,” proclaiming that the country simply does not have enough food to feed its population. The move comes after years of socialist rationing and shortages that forced millions to wait on lines lasting as long as six hours for a pint of milk, a bag of flour,    ... MORE

John Tamny: Why All Americans Should Support TPP

Rich countries open their borders to trade.        Quick question: could you manufacture all by yourself the computer on which you’re reading this opinion piece? Could you source and create the thousands of inputs that go into what on its face is fairly simple? If so, you’re in possession of superhuman mechanical skills. At the same time,    ... MORE

How Long Could The U.S. Go Without Electricity?

by A. Barton Hinkle.      The power is still out, and things are getting scary. The house is so cold you can see your own breath. Some of the food in the refrigerator is good, but there's no way to cook it. The water is still running, barely, but it smells bad and tastes worse. The grocery store is open, but it's only taking cash—which you can't get, because the   ... MORE

Tami Luhby: No One Stays In The Top 1% For Long

Up and down the income ladder.      Made it into the Top 1%? Congrats! Just don't expect to stay there for very long. The Top 1% is often considered an exclusive, monolithic group, but folks actually rise up into it and fall out of it quite often. That's because their incomes can vary widely year to year. Some 11% of Americans will join the Top 1% for    ... MORE

Tim Worstall: Capitalism Will Help The Absolutely Poor

The rising tide that lifts all ships.  There’s a tendency for people to think that this greed for filthy lucre that capitalism harnesses so well won’t in fact help those who are absolutely poor. Because those absolutely poor, defined as living on less than $1.90 a day, don’t have much money. So, how and or why would anyone exploit them in order to   ... MORE

Between Eye Surgeries In Haiti, Rand Paul Talks Politics

by Steve Peoples and Chery Dieu Nalio.   Mathieux Saint Fleur has been virtually blind for two decades. In less than 24 hours, he will see again. As the 75-year-old Haitian patient lies on an operating table, a U.S. eye surgeon turned politician reassures him in broken Creole that the surgery is almost over. “People need to be encouraged it’s       ... MORE

U.S. Losing Living Standard As Economic Freedom Erodes

Land of the heavily taxed, home of the highly regulated. With the United States sinking on several major indices of economic freedom as it celebrates its Independence Day, free-market advocates have reason to ask, “What ever happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?” A review of several credibly researched global indices  ... MORE

Cuban Communism: Its Days Are Numbered

by Barry Farber.  It was already doomed. Over 99 percent of 3-year-olds believe the glass screen on a television set is to keep the people from falling out. And that’s smarter than what their parents are saying to each other and hearing from the media about Cuba, Obama the Castro brothers and this over-hyped, totally misunderstood, non-    ... MORE

Dan Mitchell: America's Ever-Expanding Regulation Swamp

An economy tangled in red tape.      Maybe I’m biased because I mostly work on fiscal policy, but it certainly seems feasible to come up with rough estimates for the damage caused by onerous taxes and excessive spending. On a personal level, for instance, we have a decent idea of how much the government takes from us and we know  ... MORE

EPA's Next Target In Climate Change Fight: Cooking Stoves

by John Solomon.     The war on humans. The Obama administration's war on climate change may soon be moving inside the kitchen. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy is set to unveil Tuesday six federal grants to universities to fund research on clean cooking-stove technology. The announcement will put the EPA's  ... MORE

China To Pass US As World’s Leading Economy This Year

The Obama legacy.     The US is on the brink of losing its status as the world’s largest economy, and is likely to slip behind China this year, sooner than widely anticipated, according to the world’s leading statistical agencies. The US has been the global leader since overtaking the UK in 1872. Most economists previously thought China     ... MORE