David Strom

David Strom

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The Fiscal Crisis is Scarier Than the Financial Crisis

By David Strom (Oct 24, 2008)

Have you been worried about the financial crisis the past few months? Well if the chaos in the credit markets has had you spooked, the looming fiscal disaster should have you... more

You Can't Spread the Wealth Around

By David Strom (Oct 16, 2008)

By now everybody has heard of Joe the plumber. It was Joe that Barack Obama told that it was government’s job to “spread the wealth around”—Joe’s wealth—in order to build the... more

Was the Economy Too Stable?

By David Strom (Oct 09, 2008)

Believe it or not, one of the most striking facts about the U.S. economy over the past 25 years has been the relative stability it has enjoyed—until all hell broke loose the... more

Confidence Game

By David Strom (Oct 01, 2008)

Are we facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? If so, why? The simple answer is “probably.” And we are facing that crisis in no small measure due to... more

Wading Into a Health Care Swamp

By David Strom (Sep 12, 2008)

It’s as predictable as the sun setting in the West: it’s an election year and reforming how we deliver health care is on the political agenda. Advocates on the left... more

Robin Hood Economics

By David Strom (Sep 04, 2008)

You have to give him credit; the Obama tax plan has a lot of appeal to the average voter. The sales pitch, repeatedly endlessly, is that under Obama 95% of Americans would... more

Is the Free Market Perfect?

By David Strom (Aug 22, 2008)

There has been a lot of loose talk in liberal circles that the current housing crunch, inflation, and spike in energy prices somehow prove that the free market is fatally... more

Idiot Economics

By David Strom (Aug 11, 2008)

It has become popular for politicians to advocate going after oil companies for their seemingly outsized profits. Otherwise rational people turn red-faced with anger when... more

Revealed: Conservatives Have Escape Plan for When They Destroy the Earth

By David Strom (Jul 30, 2008)

Well, the secret is out. Conservatives' willingness to destroy Mother Earth in pursuit of financial gain now makes sense. The missing fact that helps explain the... more

Do Conservatives Hate Their Children?

By David Strom (Jul 23, 2008)

If you listen to the Man-Made-Global-Warming proponents, conservatives must be a pretty callous lot. In fact, they must hate their own children. After all, according... more

An Unpopular Truth

By David Strom (Jul 15, 2008)

It’s been a while since I really angered a good chunk of my readers, so I guess it’s time. In this spirit today I am rising up in defense of commodities speculators; more... more

What Liberals Dream Of

By David Strom (Jul 07, 2008)

Conservatives are in a funk—one that threatens to turn into a full-blown retreat from the battlefield of ideas. Everywhere I turn I encounter conservatives ready to give... more

Miniature Golf is the New Constitutional Right

By David Strom (Jun 16, 2008)

The Bush Administration has discovered what liberals have known all along: the Constitution is a mighty comprehensive document, giving the federal government powers over the... more

When You Fill Up the Tank Thank Congress for High Gas Prices

By David Strom (May 30, 2008)

Americans have been treated to a lot of whining by our elected officials about the high cost of oil and gas these days, but as usual the fingers are being pointed by rather... more

If Hypocrisy Were an Energy Source We Could Drill in Congress

By David Strom (Apr 03, 2008)

As Congress rakes oil executives over the coals over their profits, I detect the very faint sound of millions of the world's smallest violins playing. After all, who... more

Truly Scary

By David Strom (Mar 28, 2008)

Americans are justly worried about the long-term economic effects of the current mortgage crisis and the credit crunch that has resulted from it. Politicians are scrambling... more

None of Your Business!

By David Strom (Mar 13, 2008)

It’s long past time for the nanny state crowd to sit down and shut up. We’ve been hearing from them for years about the added health care costs of smoking and... more

The Hidden Cost of 'Good' Ideas

By David Strom (Mar 10, 2008)

What happens when politicians and pundits succumb to the notion that it is all right to micromanage our daily lives? Well, for one thing, Daylight Savings Time. I bring... more

The Planning Fallacy

By David Strom (Mar 06, 2008)

Imagine this scenario: an economist examines consumers’ automobile purchases and comes to the conclusion that the market is completely out of whack. By any rational measure... more

Finding Meaning in Politics

By David Strom (Feb 29, 2008)

Hillary Clinton may have caused a stir in the early 90’s by embracing Michael Lerner’s “Politics of Meaning,” but it is the Barack Obama campaign that has been carrying the... more

Why Are Americans Giving Up Their Freedom?

By David Strom (Feb 19, 2008)

Are Americans tiring of individual liberty? It sure seems so. How else can you explain the proliferation of laws that regulate the most mundane aspects of our lives, and... more

Stimulating Conversations

By David Strom (Jan 23, 2008)

  Few economists seriously believe that an economic stimulus package (at least those being discussed in Washington and on the campaign trail) would have much positive... more

The Politics of Economics

By David Strom (Jan 15, 2008)

William Ross Wallace famously declared in a poem extolling the virtues of motherhood that "the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." The point is... more