Category Archives: Uncategorized

Our flawed measures of inflation understate wealth and improvements in consumer well-being. By Phil Gramm and John F. Early Aug. 21, 2019 6:59 pm ET What’s the best way to measure economic well-being in a country as large and diverse as America? One crucial tool is price indexes, which allow us to take...

The central bank has less control over market interest rates today than at any time in its history. By Phil Gramm and Thomas R. Saving June 17, 2019 7:17 pm ET When the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting concluded last month, reporters focused on the federal-funds rate, announcing that it would be held...

Usual measures of inflation don’t count the benefits of better products and more consumer choice. By Phil Gramm and John Early May 17, 2019 4:49 pm ET Perhaps the most common indictment of America’s legendary prosperity is wage stagnation. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory...

Elizabeth Warren and others seek corporate ‘reforms’ that resemble medieval royal charters. By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon April 15, 2019 6:19 pm ET The 18th-century Enlightenment liberated mind, soul and property, empowering people to think their own thoughts, worship their own gods, and benefit from the fruits of their own labor and...

The surge in private investment has brought big returns for households as well as the government. By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon March 4, 2019 6:07 pm ET For a midterm report card on the economy under President Trump, take a look at two recent government reports. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that...

By paying banks not to lend, the central bank diminished its ability to control interest rates. By Phil Gramm and Thomas R. Saving Jan. 1, 2019 3:26 pm ET As the Trump economic revival doubled economic-growth rates over the last two years, interest rates, which had fallen in the final two years of...

As rates rise, paying back government borrowing will consume the credit needed to sustain growth. By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon Dec. 10, 2018 6:54 pm ET The same driving forces have propelled every strong American economic recovery since World War II: a sustained rise in business investment and increases in new-home building....

Federal programs have reduced material poverty at the cost of promoting idleness and dependency. By Phil Gramm and John F. Early Oct. 10, 2018 6:37 pm ET ‘The War on Poverty is not a struggle simply to support people,” declared President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. “It is an effort to allow them...

Taxes and transfers in the U.S. put its income distribution in line with its large developed peers. By Phil Gramm and John F. Early Aug. 9, 2018 6:51 pm ET America is the world’s most prosperous large country, but critics often attempt to tarnish that title by claiming income is distributed less equally...

Reforms intended to give a voice to small shareholders have instead let social activists hijack proxy votes. By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon July 18, 2018 6:28 pm ET Even in democratic governments constrained by constitutional limits, the interests of the governed and the governors don’t align well. Government is inefficient by its...