Category: Economics

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Take Your Business Elsewhere: Why the Federal Corporate Income Tax is Destroying our Economy

The national debt of the United States now exceeds $16 trillion. Current estimates suggest that the present year’s deficit will amount to approximately $1.1 trillion, a negligible improvement upon 2011’s $1.3 trillion deficit. The present unemployment rate is one of the highest of the past sixty years, with approximately eight percent of Americans unable to find work. Unless significant changes are made in both federal income and expenditure, the economic livelihood of future generations is bleak.

Searching high and low for a remedy to our nation’s economic woes, many politicians and businessmen have set their sights on the federal corporate income tax. Hoping to simultaneously create jobs and stimulate our economy, individuals from across party lines, including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, have suggested that we lessen the federal taxation of corporate profits. A small group, though, including individuals such as Gary Johnson and Ron Paul, are of the
… Read the rest
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Student Loans: Trading Your Life for a Degree

            Many of today’s high school students are led to believe that, should they wish to be competitive in the job market, a bachelor’s degree, and often a post-graduate degree to boot, is necessary. Flocking to universities across the nation, America’s youth are betting against their uncertain futures and burying themselves under mountains of debt. Too often, these students find themselves overwhelmed after they have graduated and the bill collectors come knocking.

            In 2010, students borrowed approximately $100 billion to fund their educations. In 2010, graduates who had relied upon student loans to fund their educations emerged from their respective universities with an average of $24,000 in student loan debt. By September of 2010, according to the Department of Education, over 320,000 of the 3.6 million individuals with student loans who had entered their repayment period from October 1, 2008, to September 30, … Read the rest

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What’s Mine is Yours: Takings After Kelo

“The sacred rights of property are to be guarded at every point. I call them sacred, because, if they are unprotected, all other rights become worthless or visionary.” Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, 1852.


Security in ones’ property has been a fundamental tenant of our society since its inception.  The Fifth Amendment enumerates this vital right and has served as a refuge against the government unjustly interfering with individual property rights for centuries. But, as judicial interpretation develops over time, a startling trend has emerged that could profoundly shape the future of the taking of private lands by the government. The landmark case of Kelo v. City of New London marked a radical shift in what could be construed as a legitimate taking based on a state’s police power. (1) This ruling has resulted in many states drafting new legislation in an attempt to temper the controversial ruling. (2) … Read the rest

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Quantitative Easing May Create Foreign Unease

While I cringe to find myself on the same side of the fence as Sarah Palin, she and Republican politicians in Washington D.C. may be right to fear Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve’s new effort of quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve’s proposed plan is to buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds by June 2011. Their aim is to lower long-term interest rates and to keep the dollar cheap, thereby stimulating the U.S. economy by encouraging the sale of goods overseas. While Palin may not understand why she objects the plan, I do: it has the potential to antagonize U.S. trade partners and stiffen foreign trade.

Dissenting Conservatives are concerned with the long-term effects of the move, which could cause a domino effect of runaway inflation and frustrate U.S. trade partners. Bill Gross, the manager of the largest mutual fund in the world, Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO), … Read the rest

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The Failure of the Green Movement

One of the primary problems with land conservation and use aside from the issue of sustainability, is that we as humans have established a culture that is prone to abusing the land we live on. We have tried to heal the environment using the new “Green” movement which is designed to have individuals change their behaviors and then as a result, the collective actions of our society will be environmentally beneficial.[1] However, this method has not produced the effects it was designed for.[2] Individual actions have not changed much and neither has public perception to the problem at hand.[3] This is reflected in the way our economy functions, the way we consume goods and dispose of them, and the expectations placed upon us by the government that we have elected.[4]

In fact in the course of property law, one of the most important aspects is that of exclusion in that … Read the rest

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Excluding the Endowment Effect?

I. Introduction

                The Coase Theorem has no doubt left an indelible mark on Law and Economics. The theorem proposes that, absent transaction costs, property will be allocated efficiently regardless of initial entitlement.[1] Widespread acceptance of this assertion has given rise to much legal analysis aimed at reducing transaction costs in order to lubricate bargaining and achieve efficient allocation of property rights. On the whole this is not a bad thing – transaction costs are a major obstacle to efficient bargaining and should be reduced. However, recent studies which indicate the existence of the endowment effect have lead many scholars to re-examine their initial assumptions regarding the importance initial entitlement.[2]

II. Background

                A. The Coase Theorem

                The main premise of the Coase Theorem is that, absent transaction costs, property rights will be efficiently allocated regardless of initial entitlement.[3] This conclusion leads to two further assertions … Read the rest