Category Archives: Public Finance

Article One, Section 8 of the US Constitution. 

Posted on August 27, 2025 by Joe Benning

“The Congress shall have Power …To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures…”. It seems pretty clear to me that Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution (quoted … Continue reading →

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The State of Play

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Joe Benning

Question: What are the serious challenges the United States currently faces? Hint: The answer does not include specifying pronouns. The answers should be more than obvious. (1) America faces perhaps the most important foreign policy challenges it has ever faced. … Continue reading →

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Progressive Good Crime

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Joe Benning

Coinciding with the Biden Administration’s push for higher taxes on wealthy individuals and a greatly expanded IRS, ProPublica published documents that purport to show private tax information of several high profile billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and … Continue reading →

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Will the Real Bernie Sanders Please Stand Up?

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Joe Benning

Now that Bernie Sanders (I. Rolling Stone) is well on his way to getting the Democratic nomination for President it is worth reflecting on what Senator Sanders really stands for. It sure isn’t freedom and opportunity for all. If you … Continue reading →

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A Giveaway to the Rich they Say

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Joe Benning

The reaction of progressives to the passage of the recent tax bill tells you all you need to know about what progressivism is really all about. The tax bill is, they repeat endlessly “a giveaway to the rich and to … Continue reading →

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The Tax Reform That Isn’t

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Joe Benning

It is now tax reform season, which means that politicians are poised to unleash even more nonsense on the public than is customary. So perhaps it makes sense to frame some of the underlying issues that are involved. First and … Continue reading →

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The Trump Tax Plan

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Joe Benning

As promised, the Trump Administration released the outline of its tax plan. Predictably and amusingly enough, it was greeted by cries of horror and anguish by Progressives. It would appear that the Trump plan would allow American taxpayers to keep … Continue reading →

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Where’s that $100 Trillion?

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Joe Benning

That’s right. Trillion.   There is a reason, actually lots of them, why Washington is consumed with the latest Trumpian Tweet to the effect that Team Obama spied on Trump’s Presidential campaign. For one thing, if the charge is true, … Continue reading →

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The Bidding War Begins

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Joe Benning

We are now at that point in the Presidential race where the two major combatants begin to offer payoffs to interest groups in order to buy their votes come November. But instead of payoffs, the candidates refer to “investments”. This … Continue reading →

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The Candidates are Starting to Talk Econ

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Joe Benning

We are rapidly approaching what is one of the most predictably awful exercises in a presidential campaign. The candidates are about to present their economic “plans”. We can expect the candidates to recite the usual pieties about tackling the deficit, … Continue reading →

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