Socialized medicine allows a nation to exclude a U.S. product from its market if the U.S. firm does not make generous enough price concessions. Accordingly, what has developed is a system within which U.S. firms make large profits on new drugs in the U.S. market, but very low profits on sales everywhere else. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
Taxes can set the level of activity around which the economy fluctuates, but they have very little effect on the fluctuations themselves. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
One of my favorite indicators of the near-term trend for the economy is auto sales, since folks tend to buy a car when they are feeling optimistic about their financial circumstances. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
If someone builds a fortune, it belongs to him, not the government. An entitled government undermines liberty. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
There is no tax policy that better describes how out of touch America’s liberals are with the rest of the country than the estate tax. According to the Left, government seizure of a large share of the wealth of an American taxpayer is a moral imperative that serves social justice. Most Americans disagree, big time. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
Liberalized trade – in broadly multilateral, regional, or bilateral agreements – is a key ingredient in the recipe for prosperity… An absolute prerequisite for long-term economic growth is full participation in the global economy and trading system. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
If the U.S. doubled its total immigration and prioritized bringing in new workers, it could add more than half a percentage point a year to expected GDP growth. Kevin Hassett Read Quote
For an American, as mad you may be about whatever the EPA or the IRS does, just imagine if you only had a one twenty-eighth vote over what it does. You were in this place with this big bureaucracy that sets rules, and you only have a small vote. You’d feel like you’ve given up your sovereignty, wouldn’t you? Kevin Hassett Read Quote
Lunchroom economic conversations are inevitably graced with at least one statement from an old-timer along the lines of, ‘In my day, we walked 10 miles in the snow just to get to the recession.’ In fact, the nature of recessions hasn’t changed much over the years. Kevin Hassett Read Quote