Author: Brian Garst

Brian Garst is the Director of Government Affairs for the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. He also blogs at BrianGarst.com.

Why Krugtron the Invincible is Wrong About the Minimum Wage

Posted on by Brian Garst

The great Krugtron the Invincible argues the minimum wage can be increased without much consequence. He says there’s “hardly any cost to raising it,” and that “we can raise these wages without losing lots of jobs.” Notice the weasel language. We can raise it without losing “lots” of jobs, but regardless of what he subjectively […]

 

Another Industry In the Obama Administration’s Sites

Posted on by Brian Garst

The private sector is under assault from the Obama administration. We’ve seen it most famously with the war on coal, but as this post from Center for Freedom & Prosperity President Andrew Quinlan demonstrates, we can add for-profit higher education to the list. And once again, it is unelected regulators usurping legislative powers in order […]

 

Detroit Still Not Serious About Getting Its House in Order

Posted on by Brian Garst

Detroit’s bankruptcy was created by decades of fiscal irresponsibility. Politicians ruined the economy with high taxes to finance their lavish spending and depleted the tax base. Given this track record, you would think the city would take a more responsible stance during its bankruptcy process. As CF&P President Andrew Quinlan highlighted in a: recent op-ed for […]

 

Election Means More Cronyism, Attacks on Coal

Posted on by Brian Garst

Following President Obama’s reelection, coal stocks took a hit in anticipation of an acceleration in his war on coal. Lining up against coal as well is the natural gas industry, which has cozied up to both the administration and environmental groups in an effort to knee-cap its energy competition: Public outrage at cronyism and corporate […]

 

Why Obama is Wrong to Brag About the Auto Bailout

Posted on by Brian Garst

In last night’s debate, President Obama once again bragged about pouring:  taxpayer dollars into GM and Chrysler, while chastising Mitt Romney for wanting to “let Detroit go bankrupt.” Presuming that Detroit in this context refers to the auto companies that received a bailout, this charge makes no sense. They did go bankrupt. The problem, as […]

 

Are Republicans Dumb Enough to Support a Carbon Tax?

Posted on by Brian Garst

When it comes to taxes, Republicans really do play the stupid party to the Democrats’ evil. If Democrats propose raising taxes, Republicans trip over themselves to offer to sharp contrast by offering to raise taxes a bit less. CF&P President Andrew Quinlan highlighted the latest example of this strategic brilliance in Forbes: [I]t’s not just […]

 

There’s Room for Defense Cuts

Posted on by Brian Garst

Pending sequestration cuts are hanging in the air over DC, with politicians squirming under the prospect of actually putting a limit of any kind on spending. There’s a particular debate raging over the propriety of the spending cuts set to hit defense and what they’ll means for military readiness, with some Republicans — typically the […]

 

History Reveals Obama’s Radical Second Term Agenda

Posted on by Brian Garst

During his convention speech accepting renomination, President Obama didn’t offer much in the way of policy specifics. Charles Krauthammer described it as “one of the emptiest speeches [he] had ever heard,” and then in a devastating critique observed: “At least Romney had a five point plan. What we heard from Obama was a vision. And […]

 

The Other Problem of Dependence

Posted on by Brian Garst

A lot has been said about the growing dependence of American citizens on the federal government, including in this great CF&P Economics 101 video narrated by Emily O’Neill. But there’s another kind of growing dependence about which we need to be concerned, and that’s the degree to which states are being made dependent on the […]

 

America Needs More Emily’s and Fewer Julia’s

Posted on by Brian Garst

In the fight for America’s future there are more battles than just those taking place in Washington DC over government policy. Those are important, but equally as important are the twin battles taking place in American culture. So while Washington fights over whether to expand or shrink government, a culture war is being waged to […]

 

Obama Wants Government in Charge of Internet Privacy

Posted on by Brian Garst

The Obama administration recently announced an effort to regulate internet privacy. The plan, labeled a “consumer privacy bill of rights” and ostensibly voluntary, seeks to put federal bureaucrats in charge of enforcing the privacy standards of internet companies such as Google and Facebook. Using his go-to rhetoric when looking to expand government powers, the President […]

 

NLRB Drops Boeing Complaint, Damage Done

Posted on by Brian Garst

The National Labor Relations Board, which once targeted a dead CEO for union infractions, has dropped its frivolous challenge against Boeing’s plan to open a plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. All’s well that ends well, right? Unfortunately, no. Despite the withdrawn complaint, the damage has been done. The NLRB only dropped its case […]

 

Can One Want to Follow Even An Imperfect Constitution?

Posted on by Brian Garst

Politico reporter Reid Epstein is vexed by Republican presidential candidates who promote constitutional fidelity, but yet also call for amending the document: To hear the Republican presidential candidates tell it, the U.S. Constitution is the guiding light of democracy, a bedrock document so perfect and precise that it shouldn’t be challenged, interpreted or besmirched by […]

 

Now is Not the Time to Be More Like Europe

Posted on by Brian Garst

The ongoing crack-up of Europe, and the pending collapse of the Eurozone, is an ugly thing to behold. But their failure can be our gain, if we just learn from their mistakes. A new video by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity provides 5 lessons from the European fiscal implosion that US policymakers should take […]

 

How’s That Constitutional Rule Working Out?

Posted on by Brian Garst

When the new Congress took office, they instituted a rule requiring newly introduced legislation to cite Constitutional authority. So what has been the result? Not surprisingly, a significant number fail to properly identify specific Constitutional authority for legislative action. Research by the Republican Study Committee found that: 3 bills cite only the Preamble to the […]

 

We Don’t Need an Investor-in-Chief

Posted on by Brian Garst

How was anything ever invented before government started “investing” in new technologies? One wonders these things, given the seriousness with which Keynesians seem to believe that if they don’t choose the economic winners and then throw large sums of money at them – other people’s money, of course – then there will be no innovation […]

 

Obama Blames Everyone Else on Oil Prices

Posted on by Brian Garst

Despite public demand for increasing domestic oil production, the current White House has sent a clear signal that the U.S. will not be increasing production into the future, despite growing demand. While simply one of many factors impacting the global price of oil, it is a factor. But rather than acknowledge that the price of […]

 

Obama’s Department of Injustice Targets Popular Republican Governor

Posted on by Brian Garst

Eric Holder’s DoJ is not interested in prosecuting the Black Panthers, but they are pulling out the stops to take out a rising star in the Republican Party – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. The legal harassment is ostensibly to enforce “voting laws,” but political motivations are evident. From The Washington Examiner: Attorney General Eric Holder’s […]

 

British Manbeast Sues NHS for not Surgically Removing the Burgers from His Hands

Posted on by Brian Garst

The culture of entitlement is an ugly thing (in more ways than one). Paul Mason has stuffed himself full of food for years, eating ten times the calorie intake of a healthy person. While it sounds like NHS has been its typical slow, bureaucratic self in scheduling his surgery, there’s no excuse for his lawsuit […]

 

Be Weary of Politicians With a Sudden Change of Heart

Posted on by Brian Garst

I was quite disappointed in 2006 when Republicans slipped the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into the unrelated SAFE Port Act (yet that isn’t stopping them from hypocritically attacking others for possibly using the same method to undo it), thus passing the liberty-reducing legislation without significant notice at the time. Government has no business reaching […]

 

Class-Warfare Propaganda Will Be Ramping Up Again

Posted on by Brian Garst

With a major tax fight looming around the corner, we can expect the usual class-warfare rhetoric from the White House and the punditsphere. Phrases like “for the rich” will be bandied about without second thought, while many question whether these so-called rich deserve to be “given” tax cuts. This is the argument made by Austan […]

 

John Stewart’s Speech Served Conservative Ends

Posted on by Brian Garst

It’s easy to be critical of the attendees at the recent Stewart/Colbert non-political but political non-rally rally, and for good reason. As a group, they are hard to take seriously.:  Egged on by Stewart’s Daily Show, they routinely confuse conviction for extremism, and the possession of neither information nor principles with moderation.:  Most of them […]

 

You Have the Right to Choose Who You Live With in a Free Society

Posted on by Brian Garst

We’re not allowed to discuss it in polite company, but the dirty secret of anti-discrimination law is that it violates free choice, as well as the very civil rights it is ostensibly designed to protect. Take the case of a Michigan woman who advertised for a roommate with whom she would be compatible.:  Specifically, she […]

 

Understanding Obama’s Fear of the Creator

Posted on by Brian Garst

For the third time, Obama has elected to redact “endowed by their Creator” from a recitation of the text of the Declaration of Independence.:  No longer a possible fluke, this omission is now a clear pattern. What does it mean? The reason Obama refuses to say that rights are endowed by our Creator does not […]

 

Free Labor For Me, But Not For Thee

Posted on by Brian Garst

Government bureaucrats think it is their business to prevent individuals from entering voluntary contracts with companies or organizations if the level of compensation does not meet some arbitrary threshold. Congress has used minimum wage laws to prevent certain arrangements, while the Department of Justice has a set of rules detailing when unpaid internships are considered […]

 

Report Sheds Light on Incestuous Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

Posted on by Brian Garst

Illinois, like many states, is broke. Its credit is even worse than that of California and its highly publicized financial quagmire.:  In such a fiscal environment, taxpayers are rightfully demanding that governments tighten up and are increasingly zealous about ensuring that money is spent productively. One way in which they may be surprised to find […]