Richard W. Rahn

Offsetting the misery of the U.S. government’s spending disaster

The persistent myth is that government spending increases economic growth when, in fact, it slows growth beyond a certain point.

January 18, 2021

‘You are not allowed to read this’

Do you have freedom of speech if you have no means of distributing your ideas to large numbers of others?

January 11, 2021

Gauging the return of inflation in a post-pandemic America

Will inflation in the U.S. return in a big way? Inflation is a rise in the average price level, caused by an increase in the supply and/or velocity of money.

January 4, 2021

When will the COVID-19 pandemic be over?

The pandemic will be over when the U.S. reaches herd immunity. Herd immunity is the level of individual immunity where the spread of the disease from person to person becomes unlikely, and results in the whole community becoming protected, even those who are not immune.

December 28, 2020

2020 has been horrible, but it could have been worse

Approximately one-tenth of 1% of the population of the U.S. has died as a result of the COVID-19 virus -- which is a great tragedy -- but by historical standards it is barely measurable.

December 21, 2020

How America’s ‘useful idiots’ allow China to ignore environmental and human rights reform

Two decades ago, most economists -- including me -- believed that as a country became richer it would likely become more democratic and more protective of basic human rights and liberty.

December 14, 2020

Remembering the remarkable Walter E. Williams

Four decades ago, I had an extraordinary piece of good luck -- I became friends with the great Walter E. Williams, who passed away last week at age 84.

December 7, 2020

High taxes on the rich never produce promised revenue

Elon Musk has just passed Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to become the second-richest man after Jeff Bezos -- all of whom are worth more than $100 billion.

November 30, 2020

Let the COVID-19 vaccine wars begin

Scientists have done what was thought to be impossible and that is to produce COVID-19 vaccines in a matter of months. But now the real battles begin.

November 23, 2020

Calls for shutdowns to stop COVID-19 are unwarranted and foolish

Some of presumptive President-elect Joe Biden's advisers have advocated a new and even more extreme shutdown of the country to allegedly stop the COVID-19 virus.

November 16, 2020

Why polling is not rocket science

If you were pro-Trump and had been told for the last several years by the mainstream media that Trump supporters are stupid, racist, bigoted, homophobes, etc. when poll-takers asked for your opinion, are you going to tell them the truth?

November 9, 2020

Some good news: Fake news outlets will continue to lose audiences after election

When this commentary is published, we will not yet know who won the presidential race. Rather than add to the stress, here is some good news to make your life a bit happier.

November 2, 2020

Incompetence and ignorance run rampant through news organizations

We all have our biases, but there is difference between serving as a "flack" (aka PR agent) for a political campaign, organization, or a cause and holding oneself out as an objective truth seeking "journalist."

October 26, 2020

Which candidate do the Chinese and Russians want to win the U.S. presidential election?

President Trump has caused the Chinese immense difficulty. He was the first American president to call them out for their unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual property and military expansionism.

October 19, 2020

Biden presidency bad for media business and America

Most of the mainstream media, by being so far in the tank for Joe Biden, have now put themselves in the position that if he is elected and fails, they are going to suffer even lower reputations.

October 12, 2020

Protecting Trump from COVID-19 and other threats

Whose responsibility was it to make sure that the president did not catch the COVID-19 virus?

October 5, 2020

Follow the rioters’ money trail to stop the chaos

A number of major American companies and rich individuals have funded Black Lives Matter and groups affiliated with them. Some of this money has almost certainly been laundered to fund the violent activities of some of the rioters.

September 28, 2020

Senators must stop anti-Trump foolishness and confirm Judy Shelton’s Fed nomination

I have known Mrs. Shelton since the 1980s, and know the quality of her work, her knowledge, courage and temperament. She is exactly what the Fed needs at this time.

September 21, 2020

Worldwide economic freedom threatened by rise of socialism in U.S.

The good news is that through 2018 the world had slowly become more economically free. The bad news is that the enemies of freedom are making a comeback.

September 14, 2020

What do we really know about COVID-19?

Bad data cause bad conclusions which cause bad decisions. The medical, political and media classes have much to be embarrassed about when it comes to their statements about COVID-19.

September 7, 2020