Lawmakers should consider a user-fee system designed to charge drivers by the mile.
We're often told European countries are better off thanks to big-government policies. So why is the U.S. beating France in many important ways?
The Copenhagen Consensus has long championed a cost-benefit approach for addressing the world's most critical environmental problems.
In the last 50 years, when the budget process has been in place, Congress has managed only four times to pass a budget on time.
Years ago, when interest rates were low, calls for the federal government to exercise fiscal restraint were dismissed. That was unwise.
Over the last several years, they have worked nonstop to ease the tax burden of their high-income constituents.
Higher rates lead to more debt, and more debt begets higher rates, and on and on. Get the picture?
Especially because the once-dismissed possibility of rising rates is now a reality.
Those sounding the loudest alarms about possible shutdowns are largely silent when Congress ignores its own budgetary rules. All that seems to matter is that government is metaphorically funded.
The best reforms would correct the real problems of overcriminalization and overincarceration, as well as removing all artificial barriers to building more homes.
The big spending has fueled higher inflation, resulted in larger-than-projected deficits, and contributed to a record level of debt.
This progress has been widely shared, to the great benefit of the people at the bottom of the distribution.
Rather than posing a national security threat, the growth of China's E.V. industry is an opportunity for global innovation.
The country's current struggles show the problems of the Beijing way—and make the case for freedom.
Legislators abuse the emergency label to push through spending that would otherwise violate budget constraints.
The guidelines would ignore decades of academic findings about how firm concentration can have a positive impact on consumers' welfare.
The lack of oversight and the general absence of a long-term vision is creating inefficiency, waste, and red ink as far as the eye can see.
Since Congress designed and implemented the last budget process in 1974, only on four occasions have all of the appropriations bills for discretionary spending been passed on time.
It's a short-sighted approach that distracts us from the more important question.
New legislation would intervene in the credit card market to help businesses like Target and Walmart, who don't like the fees they have to pay to accept credit card payments.
It's a familiar program. And it will result in higher prices, slower growth, and fewer jobs.
Many politicians offer a simplified view of the world—one in which government interventions are all benefits and no costs. That couldn't be further from the truth.
At a minimum, the national debt should be smaller than the size of the economy. A committed president just might be able to deliver.
The legislation—which was introduced in response to the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio—pushes pet projects and would worsen the status quo.
Projections of huge savings are making the rounds. Nothing could be further from the truth.
You're 2,200 times more likely to die when traveling by car as opposed to by airplane.
The U.S. tax system is extremely progressive, even compared to European countries—whose governments rely on taxing the middle class.
The ideology champions the same tired policies that big government types predictably propose whenever they see something they don't like.
The longer we wait to address our debt, the more painful it will be.
Delayed payments will increase, and companies will respond by raising interest rates—or denying low-income applicants outright.
In 2019, discretionary spending was $1.338 trillion—or some $320 billion less than what Republicans want that side of the budget to be.
The main driver behind the reduction is inflation—inflation that politicians created with their irresponsible spending.
A responsible political class would significantly reform the organization. Instead, they will likely continue to give it more power.
In 10 years, the programs' funds will be insolvent. Over the next 30 years, they will run a $116 trillion shortfall.
Excessive government interference in the market hurts consumers and thwarts policy goals. It also gets in the way of the government itself.
It would result in shortages, decreases in productivity, and higher production costs affecting millions of American workers and nearly every consumer.
The higher taxes on small businesses and entrepreneurs could slow growth. Less opportunity means more tribalism and division.
Big corporations and entire industries constantly use their connections in Congress to get favors, no matter which party is in power.
Politicians say they want to subsidize various industries, but they sabotage themselves by weighing the policies down with rules that have nothing to do with the plans.
Politicians' go-to fixes like child tax credits and federal paid leave are known for creating disincentives to work without much impact on fertility.
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor.
Legislators will increasingly argue over how to spend a diminishing discretionary budget while overall spending simultaneously explodes.
If you look closely, you'll find a lot of contradictions.
In 1950, there were more than 16 workers for every beneficiary. In 2035, that ratio will be only 2.3 workers per retiree.
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are still the chief drivers of our future debt. But Republicans aren't touching them.
While some Republicans may have had misguided motivations, a few disrupted McCarthy's campaign in order to enact fiscal restraint. Their colleagues were fine with business as usual.
But partisans are having the wrong debate.
If lawmakers keep spending like they are, and if the Fed backs down from taming inflation, then the government may create a perfect storm.
Celebrate your independence with a subscription to Reason magazine, your most trusted source of honest, insightful news and analysis.
