Canada Ranks (Well) Ahead of U.S. in Economic Freedom

Canada - right direction, America - wrong direction.  Via Canada's National Post, here's the key paragraph;

“The key driver of our success versus the U.S.’s success is really size of government,” said Fred McMahon, the Fraser Institute’s vice-president of international policy research. “That’s where Canada, since 1995 has gone up significantly [in ranking] and where the United States has gone down even more significantly.”

That says it all.  Obama is not listening, but are Americans?  We'll know (almost) soon enough. 

Broken window fallacy destroyed in seconds

Broken windows make bad economies

The broken window fallacy is simply the mistaken belief that damage to some asset is ultimately good for the economy because the effort to replace that asset will generate business.  The example of a broken window needing to be replaced means a factory somewhere has to make a window and the damage will therefore generate more business activity. The fallacy is that the $100 spent to fix the window doesn't get spent elsewhere - it just shifts the economic activity from one area to another.  For a more detailed description and example, check out here or here.

But today, along comes this piece of awesomeness from Peter Foster of Canada's National Post.  He blasts Keynesianism, which falls into the broken window fallacy trap, back to the Middle Ages where it belongs.  He attacks the broken window fallacy with the reconstruction of Japan after the recent disasters there as the backdrop.  I'd encourage you to read the whole piece here, but to whet your appetite, here's two excellent excerpts: