• Why ObamaCare Will Be More Expensive Than They’re Telling Us
• Why ObamaCare Will Be More Expensive Than They’re Telling Us
• So Hillary Was Jetlagged ? But What About Being Ready For That 3:00am Phone Call ?
• So Hillary Was Jetlagged ? But What About Being Ready For That 3:00am Phone Call ?
• Six Reasons To Get Rid Of The Capital Gains Tax

• Coming Next Week At Reason TV: Honoring Ayn Rand And Her Ideas
• Coming Next Week At Reason TV: Honoring Ayn Rand And Her Ideas
• If You’re Looking For Snow In Malibu….
• If You’re Looking For Snow In Malibu….
• The Intellectual Influence Of Ayn Rand

• Did Sarah Palin Poison The Tea (Party) ?
• Did Sarah Palin Poison The Tea (Party) ?
• Anti-Freedom “Freedom Party” Makes Big Gains In Dutch Elections
• Bob Barr:The Vanguard Of Libertarian Relevance
• Bob Barr:The Vanguard Of Libertarian Relevance

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Part Four:

Part Five:

Part Six:

You can also watch the original Free to Choose television series, and it’s 1990 sequel, for free over the Internet at ideachannel.tv.

• John Stossel Explains Why Free Trade Is Good
• Rose Friedman, RIP
• Rose Friedman, RIP
• If You’re Reading This, Another Show Will Be Cancelled
• If You’re Reading This, Another Show Will Be Cancelled

• Ron Paul: The Real Reason The Fed Is Afraid Of An Audit
• Ron Paul: The Real Reason The Fed Is Afraid Of An Audit
• Hearing To Be Held On Ron Paul’s Audit The Fed Bill
• Hearing To Be Held On Ron Paul’s Audit The Fed Bill
• Ron Paul’s Audit The Fed Bill, H.R. 1207, To Get Committee Hearing Friday

• A Broken Hero, Part II
• A Broken Hero, Part II
• A Vote For President That Really Matters
• A Vote For President That Really Matters
• Yes, There Is A Choice

• Monday Meme: What Was Your First Amazon Order ?
• Happy Birthday Amazon
• Happy Birthday Amazon
• An Amazon-Borders Merger ?
• An Amazon-Borders Merger ?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

H/T: Jason Pye

• Defending Rand Paul
• Hillary Clinton Says She Intends To Remain Secretary Of State
• Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli Talks About ObamaCare Lawsuits
• Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli Talks About ObamaCare Lawsuits
• So This Is How Liberty Dies, To Thunderous Applause

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., who is usually opposed to government intervention in the economy, has introduced legislation to permanently extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit and to make the credit available to people whose homes have been destroyed by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

“It is hard to think of a more beneficial or compassionate expansion of the first-time homebuyer tax credit than to make the credit available to those whose homes have been destroyed or damaged by natural disasters,” Paul says.

“In addition, the changes to the casualty loss provision will help more taxpayers affected by natural disasters,” he says. “Providing tax relief to first-time homebuyers and to those affected by natural disasters should be one of Congress’ top priorities.”

The legislation also makes a number of changes to existing tax credits in order to enhance their usefulness to victims of natural disasters, according to a news release from Paul’s office.

Specifically, this bill makes casualty loss deductions available to taxpayers who don’t itemize, and makes it available to them for five years after the disaster.

If passed, the proposed legislation would also help people who have lost their jobs because of a natural disaster by making unemployment payments provided under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act tax-free.

As someone who has a better understanding of economics than most other Members of Congress, Paul should know better than this. The fact that it’s a tax credit isn’t relevant, what is relevant is that the HTC involves government manipulation of the market that, in it’s first version, cost the government about $ 43,000 per house sold and, in it’s second, did little to actually create new economic activity.

This isn’t the first time Ron Paul has proposed a tax credit like this. Back in 2008 he proposed a tax credit of up to $ 2,000 for Americans who trade in older cars for more fuel efficient cars. As I said about that credit at the time:

As Adam Smith taught us long ago, and as the Austrian economists that Paul admires have also said, increased demand inevitably leads to increases in price, and when that increased demand is created not by market forces, but by government subsidies — whether in the form of outright cash payments or tax credits like the ones Paul proposes — they essentially create an artificial increase in demand that distorts the market.

The net result of the tax credit plan that Paul proposes, assuming that it would even work, would be to artifically increase the price of the very fuel efficient cars that his plan claims to make more affordable.

For a guy who talked a lot about free markets and getting the government out of the economy while he ran for President, this proposal is certainly surprising and entirely inconsistent.

And the same thing is true of this new plan of Paul’s. It’s not a free market if you’re giving tax subsidies to people for engaging in certain preferred forms of economic activity. Check your premises Congressman Paul.

H/T: Virginia Virtucon

• Ron Paul’s Bad Idea
• Ron Paul’s Bad Idea
• The Homebuyer Tax Credit: Another Government Boondoggle
• Huckster Or Hucktard ?
• Huckster Or Hucktard ?

Employers added 431,000 nonfarm jobs nationwide in May, the biggest increase in a single month since the recession, the Labor Department said Friday. But the bulk of the growth was in government jobs, driven by hiring for the Census, and private-sector job growth was weak.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent nationwide, from 9.9 percent in April, the department said.

The figures for May represented the fifth consecutive month that payrolls have risen, but fell below analysts’ expectations that 540,000 jobs would be added to the economy.

The shortfall was immediately reflected in futures trading in the Wall Street stock indexes, with the Dow Jones industrial average expected to open almost 2 percent lower.

Altogether, 411,000 of the jobs added were for Census workers whose positions will disappear after the summer.

The net gain in government jobs was 390,000, while the private sector added only 41,000.

In other words, 95% of the jobs created in may were government jobs that will no longer exist as of mid-July. But for that census hiring, the unemployment rate would not have gone down at all and we would have had an anemic jobs report.

This is six months after we were told that the worst is behind us.

President Obama, however, thinks this report was good news:

President Barack Obama said on Friday the gain of 431,000 jobs in May is a sign the U.S. economy is getting stronger, although there will still be ups and downs going forward.

“This report is a sign that our economy is getting stronger by the day,” Obama said in remarks to about about 50 workers at a large truck garage in Maryland.

“A lot of businesses that were hit hard during this downturn, they are starting to hire again. Workers who were laid off are starting to get their jobs back,” he said.

Really Mr. President ?

Outside the census, hiring slowed significantly from the prior months. The dominant services sector, saw payrolls increase 37,000 after surging 156,000 in April. The goods producing sector created only 4,000 new jobs following 62,000 jobs in April. This was as construction employment fell 35,000 after gaining 14,000 in April.

Recruitment for the population count saw government employment rising 390,000, overshadowing the drag from jobs cuts in cash-strapped states and localities.

I don’t see any growth.

So far, this is a very phony recovery.

• 231,000 Private Sector Jobs Added In April
• March Unemployment Rate Steady At 9.7%, 162,000 Jobs Added
• March Unemployment Rate Steady At 9.7%, 162,000 Jobs Added
• Economists Say That Stimulus Bill Had No Impact On Economic Recovery
• Unemployment Rate Dips Slightly To 9.4%