Slash Military Spending: “Defense” Budgets are Bigger than Ever Before
2024-12-05
It should go without saying that asking generals and other Pentagon bureaucrats about defense spending is like asking your barber if you need a haircut. They are hardly disinterested observers. So, it’s not surprising at all that the usual pentagon uniformed technocrats, after failing their audit for the seventh time in a row, remain unrepentant. Last month, after failing to provide documentation showing the Pentagon actually knows what it does with its money, the DoD engaged in the song and dance we have come to expect. For example, the Pentagon’s CFO Michael McCord announced that in spite of its abysmal performance in its audit, the Department “has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges.” “I think we’re making progress,” he added.That’s swell, but
The Imaginary “Boom” in the Small-Business Economy
2024-10-04
For more than four years now, the Biden Administration has been insisting that the state of small business in America is better than it has ever been. This claim, however, is based on a single government statistic: the business applications metric published by the Census Bureau, which is a record of applications for an employer identification number (EIN).The Administration has repeatedly and enthusiastically promoted the surge in these new applications. According to a press release from the Small Business Administration in January, business applications prove the US is in the midst of the “Biden-Harris small business boom” with “historic” numbers of new business applications. Wow, that all sounds very impressive. The economy must be, as Jerome Powell puts it, “in great shape.” If we look