Volume 3, Issue 7

Martin Feldstein's recent article on U.S. capital income taxes perpetuates the myth that capital gains are taxed at 15 percent: yet once the AMT, child tax credits and state taxes are taken into account, the top effective rate is at least 35.8 percent.

Despite current high gasoline prices, what we need now is to increase gas taxes.

Bradford Delong and Konstantin Magin remind us that a decade ago, many thought the stock market overvalued, and yet on balance the last decade has been good for investors who bought and held. What does this tell us?

Joseph E. Stiglitz presents his plan for getting the United States and the Developing World to address global warming, and argues that by failing to address this problem, the United States is implicitly subsidizing energy usage and engaging in unfair trade practices.

Bruno Frey argues that terrorism has been fought in the wrong way. Instead of focusing on deterrence and preemptive strikes, we should: (1) Reduce vulnerability by decentralizing society; (2) Strengthen positive incentives to leave the terrorist camp; and (3) Divert media attention from terrorist groups.

Edward Glaeser and Dwight Jaffee argue that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are actively pursuing great risk at taxpayer expense and private profit: the cure is a tax on their $1.5 trillion in borrowing that could yield as much as $6 billion a year.