YET MORE ECONOMICS

Federalism fights taxes:"Ronald Reagan said people vote with their feet. They choose to live where there is more freedom. This was most striking when he pointed to those fleeing communism in Cuba and the old Soviet Union. But Reagan also pointed to taxpayers moving from state to state for more economic freedom. And he was right. There has been significant migration to states without an income tax, for example. But have you ever heard of a whole town wanting to move? Welcome to Killington, Vermont."

Unfair distribution "Last week a woman ranted at me about the unequal and unfair distribution of wealth in this country. Her attitude is widely held. There are several errors in logic contained in this lament... In a way we are lucky to have lived through the century that saw such monumental foolishness exposed for what it is. Too bad some slow witted folks still don't get it."

Lord Bauer was right: "It is tempting to think that aid can be targeted to countries with good policies and have a positive impact. However, once we recognize that all aid is political, since it is government-to-government assistance, we should not be surprised that it has either no effect on development or a negative effect. Moreover, the World Bank continues to give substantial aid to countries with poor policies."

Globalization and free trade "Freedom of trade is really a very simple concept. Each individual should be at liberty to buy from and sell to whomever he wishes on mutually agreed-upon terms. Whether the partners to this trade live next door to each other or are separated by thousands of miles should make absolutely no difference to the logic of the idea."

Ignoring the fear-mongering about outsourcing: "From the way some people talk in this political season, you'd think all the good jobs are being shipped to India, leaving nothing for Americans to do but flip hamburgers and shine shoes. Don't expect to hear sensible talk about economics in an election year. It doesn't fit into sound bites."

Last week, Senate Democrats successfully filibustered the nation's most important anti-poverty measure -- welfare reform. It is thus Democrats who are effectively opposed to lifting people out of poverty and, in the process, make insulting assumptions about minorities, particularly minority women. The success of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act is now so well-established that its liberal doubters are increasingly pathetic flat-earthers. Welfare rolls nationwide have fallen by roughly 60 percent since the mid-1990s.

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