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September 15, 2011
A full day analysis of the Supreme Court's 2010 and 2011 terms.
Special: 10 copies for $10
"The Curious Case of Lloyd Chapman"
by Tad DeHaven
"This Week in Government Failure"
by Tad DeHaven
"Why Congressional Budget Office Estimates and Policy Options Are Taken Much Too Seriously"
by Alan Reynolds
Say It Isn't So: Fed Considering QE3?
Recent reports indicate that some Federal Reserve officials believe that a third round of quantitative easing could help jump-start the economy, despite the failure of QE 1 and 2 to reduce unemployment or spur growth. Comments Cato scholar James A. Dorn, "The unemployment/slow growth quandary is due to structural problems and to policy uncertainty, not to the lack of monetary stimulus." Adds Alan Reynolds, "Quantitative easing turned out to be an anti-stimulus which stimulated nothing but the cost of living and the cost of production. Good riddance."
- "The Fed vs. the Recovery," by Alan Reynolds
- "The Federal Reserve's Flawed Approach To Monetary Policy," by James A. Dorn
- "Has the Fed Been a Failure?," by George A. Selgin, William D. Lastrapes and Lawrence H. White
The Legacy of the Petraeus Doctrine
Gen. David Petraeus, the former US commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, on Wednesday formally retired from the armed forces in preparation for taking over as the new director of the CIA. Cato scholar Christopher Preble reflects on his legacy: "Petraeus perfected the art of fighting unnecessary wars. ...I worry that our brave men and women in uniform, following the doctrine that Petraeus drafted and promulgated, will fight more wars, in more places, but with precious little to show for it."
- "The Impact of Gen. David Petraeus," by Christopher Preble
Hurricane Irene as Economic Stimulus
No matter how many times economists debunk the broken window fallacy, not a natural disaster goes by that journalists don't try to cheer us up by saying "at least it will stimulate economic growth." But as Cato scholar David Boaz notes, those journalists should know better: "[D]estruction is destructive. When property is destroyed, people have less wealth. The money they had been saving for a new business or a new computer or a college education, now they have to spend it on rebuilding what they had. That is not 'a bump in economic activity.'"
- "Hurricane Irene as Economic Stimulus," by David Boaz
- "Irene Wasn't All That," by Patrick J. Michaels
- "Get Real: Hurricane Irene Should Be Renamed 'Hurricane Hype'," by Patrick J. Michaels
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