IMF Proposes to Sabotage China’s Economy

Daniel J. Mitchell / Townhall Finance Columnist

 

For the people of China, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news, as illustrated by the chart, is that economic freedom has increased dramatically since 1980. This liberalization has lifted hundreds of millions from abject poverty.

The bad news is that China still has a long way to go if it wants to become a rich, market-oriented nation. Notwithstanding big gains since 1980, it still ranks in the lower-third of nations for economic freedom.

Yes, there’s been impressive growth, but it started from a very low level. As a result, per-capita economic output is still just a fraction of American levels.

So let’s examine what’s needed to boost Chinese prosperity.

If you look at the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World, there are five major policy categories. As you can see from this table, China’s weakest category is “size of government.” I’ve circled the most relevant data point.

The bottom line is that China could – and should – boost its overall ranking by improving its size-of-government score. And that means reducing the burden of government spending and lowering tax rates.

With this in mind, I was very interested to see that the International Monetary Fund just published a study entitled, “China: How Can Revenue Reforms Contribute to Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.”

Did this mean the IMF was recommending pro-growth tax reform? After reading the following sentence, I was hopeful

Muslim cleric: Jews “malignant tumor” that “can only be treated by eradication”
By Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

This is not what the world considers hate speech. What the world considers hate speech is opposing this. “Egyptian Cleric Saad Abu Aziz: Jews Are a Malignant Tumor That Must Be Eradicated,” MEMRI, April 24, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller): In an April 24 Friday sermon, which he posted on the Internet, Egyptian cleric Saad […]

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The Islamic State Demands $23 Million for Christian Hostages

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

Remember the millions of Christians when Obama’s tongue starts flapping about how the Islamic State is not Islamic and this has nothing to do with religion.

The world’s silence is a war crime.

The world’s sanction of Islamic supremacism is a war crime.

The world’s manhunt for “islamophobes” is a war crime”.

The world’s denial of human rights crimes of sharia and jihad is savage.

The world’s denail of the Armenian genocide is a war crimes. Is it any wonder Muslims think they can get away with it again?

“ISIS Demands $23 Million for Assyrian Hostages, Vigil Held in Australia,” v (thanks to Religion of Peace);

Assyrian Church of the East Bishop Mellis of...

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 2nd, on RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on CPR Worldwide Media from 11am to 1pm EST, Craig and Diane will discuss all things Baltimore, the decision to indict along with its ramifications, the' bros' and 'sistas' behaving badly, and other important issues of the day. Our guest will be noted talk show host, author, and journalist KEVIN FOBBS.

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Six Years and Four Months After Obama Said He Would Put America Back to Work, the Economy Has Stopped Working

Donald Lambro / Townhall Columnist

 

WASHINGTON - The Obama economy virtually stopped growing in the first three months of 2015 in another bleak sign of its persistent weakness over the last six years.

The Commerce Department's report that the economic growth rate barely rose by a minuscule 0.2 percent in the first quarter was much worse than the 1 percent rise most forecasters expected.

Economic writers struggled to come up with the right words to describe the economy's sluggishness, including "slowed to a crawl" or "slowed nearly to a halt."

How about was barely breathing?

"The U.S. economy stumbled badly," Scott Anderson, senior vice president and chief economist at the Bank of the West in San Francisco told the New York Times.

Weak growth in the last three months of 2014, which slowed to a lackluster 2.2 percent rate, "turned into virtually no growth in the first quarter of 2015," he said.

The economy's uneven, subpar performance has been the hallmark of Barack Obama's presidency, though he still insists it is much improved under his policies.

But for the entirety of 2014, the economy grew at a 2.4 percent rate, well below quarterly growth levels of 5 to 8.5 percent in the 1980s.

Brace Yourself for More Baltimores

Scott Rasmussen / Townhall Columnist

 

The sad scenes playing out in Baltimore are made sadder by the fact that more such incidents are likely over the coming years.

That's because the problems in Baltimore did not begin with the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Tensions have been building for a very long time. Other cities from coast to coast have similar tensions ready to boil over.

Some tensions are common to all cities -- pockets of economic devastation, laws that are enforced more strictly in some parts of town than others, bad apples among the police, thugs in the community and more.

Some are specific to each city. In Baltimore, the tensions became apparent more than a decade ago when the city inadvertently assumed a prominent role in the Stop Snitchin' movement. Before that, in 2002, a Baltimore woman and her entire family were murdered after alerting police to illegal activities in her neighborhood.

The good news is that there are people on all sides in this tough situation who want to heal their cities. The bad news is that most people -- and certainly most media coverage -- are focused on who to blame. In the blame game, people from different walks of life see what they want to see.

Some see oppressive and racist police. Others see criminal thugs looking to destroy and steal.

Online jihadis call for jihad murders of cartoonists in US, Australia
By Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

Foreign Policy follows a generally dhimmi line, but the clueless Obama-era FBI reads it to gather its “intelligence,” so it is worth looking into occasionally. Here is a piece on ongoing attempts to intimidate the West into silence by calling for the murder of those who violate Islam’s blasphemy laws. It is precisely to show […]

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