Shrink the State. End the Fed. Balance the budget. Make a profit. Leave an inheritance.
Gary North
Written by Gary North on June 25, 2016
This will amaze you. It amazed me, and I have watched this kind of thing for 40 years. The gravy train is thick for some of the participants. All good things must come to an end. The Great Default will end it. But in the meantime. . . .
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on February 27, 2016
I begin with what I regard as the fundamental fact of modern economic life: the present value of the unfunded liabilities of the United States government. The economist who has been most vocal about this is Prof. Lawrence Kotlikoff of Boston University. He releases an estimate every year. His estimate is this: somewhere in the […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on November 21, 2015
The secular world today is religiously committed to pragmatism. If something “works,” meaning survives for over a decade, then it is considered valid until it subsequently fails. The trouble is, some policies take over a century to fail. Witness the collapse of the public education system in England and the United States. Witness the collapse […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on September 5, 2015
David Stockman has written the finest piece of financial journalism of our generation: The Great Deformation: The Corruption of American Capitalism. It shows how we got into the mess we are in. Blame the government. Then blame us. It is our government. We must not parrot Flip Wilson’s Geraldine: “The devil made me do it!” […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on April 25, 2015
Federal tax receipts are approaching 17.5% of GDP. Whenever the percentage gets this high, a recession follows. That’s the bad news. What’s the good news? The percentage rarely gets above this, and when it does, there is a recession. Receipts fall. This means that the federal government cannot get above 20%. It can borrow to […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on March 12, 2015
Americans still think the federal government can and should solve problems. This is their default mode. At the same time, they do not think Washington is competent. This is what is sometimes called cognitive dissonance. Lack of trust is across the boards: in the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Here are the latest findings. […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on February 20, 2015
In a speech at the Mises Institute, Ron Paul discussed operational secession. State governments are not enforcing federal rules and regulations. This is a quiet movement. There are no fireworks. But it is happening. The speech was picked up by Buzzfeed. Then Matt Drudge ran it as his lead story: left-hand side. When the federal […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on January 14, 2015
Here is the total number of Americans receiving food stamps. Here is he percentage of Americans receiving food stamps. If this is recovery, what will the next recession bring? Do you believe any of this is going to change, other than in the Great Default? Farm state voters love it. The Department of Agriculture loves […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on January 13, 2015
The most influential poem in history is Bernard Mandeville’s “The Grumbling Hive; or Knaves Turned Honest” (1705). It challenged Western moral philosophy, Christian theology, and common sense. It changed the thinking of Western social theorists. Through Adam Smith, it changed the economic world. Yet it was not a good poem. This gives me hope. You […]
Continue reading →Written by Gary North on January 8, 2015
If you have no financial reserves, you will have to go into debt if even a minor emergency hits you. This is the condition of most Americans. They do not save. They are present-oriented. They live from paycheck to paycheck. They hope that nothing unexpected happens. Credit card companies wait on the sidelines, knowing that […]
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