David Hartman

Latest by David Hartman in Chronicles

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  April 2009

  Regulation for Financial Sanity

  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) just reported that U.S. banks lost money at a $100 billion annualized rate during the fourth quarter of 2008. Sounds grim, but it only describes the visible part of the iceberg our financial Titanic has hit.

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• American Proscenium

  March 2009

  The Perfect Storm

  The best-seller The Perfect Storm tells a true story of a ship caught in a vortex created by a continental low-pressure system, a tropical hurricane, and an arctic cold front off the shores of Newfoundland.

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  October 2008

  The Revelations of the Obama Plan: Change We Can’t Afford

  The Democratic nominee for president has finally offered the details of his campaign theme—that he will radically change America if elected—by posting on his website “The Blueprint for Change: Barack Obama’s Plan for America.”

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• News

  April 2008

  Anatomy of a Meltdown: The Subprime Crisis

  At the close of 2007, the bloated inventories and declining prices of residential housing confirmed that the real-estate bubble had burst. This was triggered by losses on collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), which are based on pools of “subprime” mortgage collateral.

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• News

  November 2007

  Reflections on Immigration Reform

  The most significant event of President George W. Bush’s second term (thus far) has been the defeat of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S.1348).

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• View

  November 2006

  The Economic Realities of U.S. Immigration

  Mass immigration is changing the fundamental character of America—our culture, institutions, standards, and objectives. Until recently, our society was the envy of the world, so why are these changes even necessary?

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  October 2006

  The Price of Globalism

  It is paradoxical that, having led the Western world to triumph over fascism and then communism, the United States is now the vanguard of yet another world socialist order.

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• View

  August 2006

  Marx’s and Engels’ Illegitimate Offspring

  If someone is overheard referring to the system of U.S. public finance as “socialist,” most Americans within earshot will write him off as a conservative crank who is being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

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• American Proscenium

  January 2006

  A Step in the Right Direction

  On November 1, 2005, the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform issued its final report and received a chilly response from the proponents of tax reform (too much tax, and too little reform).

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• Public Plunder

  January 2006

  Cracks in the Crystal Ball

  As the 21st century began, Americans appeared to have every reason to consider themselves the most fortunate citizens in the world.

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• Public Plunder

  October 2005

  Dubious Dubya Budgets

  As the federal Fiscal Year 2005 approaches completion and the 2006 budget takes shape, the lack of fiscal discipline of the George W. Bush presidency continues to enlarge upon the “politics of joy,” which have characterized the Republican Party since the end of World War II.

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• News

  July 2005

  Essentials for a Lasting Peace in the Middle East

  No solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is possible unless we clearly define the obstacles that can and must be surmounted.

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• Public Plunder

  February 2005

  Diagnosing the Diminishing Dollar

  Holding a green piece of paper decorated with patriotic symbols as a proxy for economic value is an act of faith. To do so with the currency of your own country is a necessary act of faith, since daily life requires it in order to make economic transactions.

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• American Proscenium

  February 2005

  The Bush Economic Agenda

  Energized by his election as if it were a landslide, President George W. Bush proposes to spend his “political capital” on an ambitious economic agenda headed by reform of Social Security and the U.S. Tax Code.

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• News

  December 2004

  Taxation for Economic Survival

  The severity of the ongoing decline of U.S. manufacturing has placed our prosperity and national security in jeopardy. A principal cause of this crisis is the federal tax code, which currently imposes multiple layers of progressive taxation on U.S. goods.

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• News

  November 2004

  What Manufacturing Crisis?

  The recent U.S. recession, if judged by its effect on total employment, was the shortest and mildest of the post-World War II period. In the six months from the peak of July 1998 to the low of January 1999, employment declined by only 1.43 million workers, and, by May 2004, 7.5 million additional workers were employed.

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• Vital Signs

  August 2004

  Grading Greenspan

  President Bush’s recent announcement that he will renominate Alan Greenspan for a fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board elicited mostly favorable reactions from a wide range of economic and political pundits.

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• News

  May 2004

  Europe’s Population Implosion

  Over the course of the last millennium, the populations of Europe (including Russia) and its Western offshoots (including the United States) grew explosively.

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• View

  April 2004

  Revolting Taxation

  On April 15, U.S. taxpayers will pay the last installment on their duty to government for 2003. The bill for federal, state, and local government totaled a staggering $3.3 trillion, of which one out of every seven dollars was in the form of “buy now, pay later” deficits, principally the federal one.

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• Vital Signs

  May 2003

  The End of Income Taxes

  The tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush take significant steps toward the reform of a federal tax code that retards growth of the capital stock, productivity, and incomes of all Americans.

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