Very sad news: Murray Weidenbaum has died.
The greatest obstacle to faster job creation is the continued unwillingness of the Obama administration to even recognize the possibility that its interventions might actually deter small-business creation and more hiring. It asserts that new banking regulations have made consumer access to loans easier and cheaper, that healthcare reforms will create jobs and save businesses money, that higher marginal tax rates don’t discourage work and investment, and that minimum-wage hikes don’t eliminate jobs.
So long as the White House continues to wear such ideological blinders, full employment will be elusive. However meritorious banking, healthcare, transportation and workplace reforms might be, we have to consider their unintended and largely negative consequences for job and business creation. To restore full employment in less than 15 years, we need more supply-side incentives, not more fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Here’s my GMU Econ colleague Alex Tabarrok on the F.D.A.
Here’s Tim Sandefur on the Hobby Lobby case.
George Will is right that Paul Ryan spoke much truth about poverty in America.
