What type of tax reform do you want? Simplification of the existing progressive income tax system? A flat tax? A sales tax? A value-added tax? Tax professionals, economists, elected officials and others heatedly debate the pros and cons of each. However, it is unlikely that real tax reform will occur until the financial crisis gets so bad that most people will agree to radical change. Most tax reform discussions and debates lead with the premise that any new tax system has to raise roughly as much revenue as the present system. But...why should that be? Evidence indicates that total government spending is at least twice as high as it should be to maximize job creation, economic growth and the general welfare. Given that, here's how we can fund government spending without individual and corporate income taxes.

Odds are high you've heard about Edward Snowden, who told a British newspaper the National Security Agency is spying on American citizens. But have heard of Thomas Drake, William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, or Edward Loomis? They also worked for the NSA, also believe the collection of electronic data on Americans doesn't protect us from terrorists, and violates the law. If you haven't, its probably because they did what Edward Snowden's critics say he should have done.   They expressed their concerns through proper channels.  And what happened to them likely prompted Mr. Snowden to blow his whistle differently.

Is obeying the law optional?  President Barack Hussein Obama seems to think it is -- at least insofar as it applies to him. The administration announced quietly last week that it plans to delay enforcement of the employer provision in Obamacare, even though the Constitution says the president "shall take Care that the laws be faithfully executed." (Article II, Section 3). In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled a law passed by Congress to permit the president to veto individual items in spending bills was unconstitutional because, "There is no provision in the Constitution that authorizes the president to enact, to amend, or to repeal statutes." (Clinton v. City of New York). This was no oversight.  The Founding Fathers knew well that King James II of England was deposed in large part because he refused to enforce laws passed by Parliament he didn't like.  They wrote Article II, Section 3 to keep such an abuse from happening here.  But it has.  Will Mr. Obama suffer the same fate as King James II?

Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman "profiled" black teenager Trayvon Martin, "stalked" him, and started the fight that led to his death, prosecutors asserted. But the testimony of nearly every witness for the prosecution bolstered Mr. Zimmerman's claim he acted in self defense, said attorney Andrew Branca, author of "The Law of Self Defense." The prosecution's case was so weak that Judge Debra Nelson should have granted the defense motion for a directed verdict of acquittal, said Mr. Branca, who is covering the trial for the blog Legal Insurrection. If George Zimmerman had Hispanicized his first name (as Geraldo Rivera did) and adopted his maternal last name, it's doubtful he'd have been arrested, much less put on trial for murder, said historian Victor Davis Hanson.  What a racist train wreck of a trial.

Stall speed is the airspeed at which an aircraft stops producing lift. Unless immediate corrective action is taken, such as reducing the wing's angle of attack or the weight of the aircraft, the results are not likely to be good. An economy can hit "stall speed" when it becomes burdened with too much dead-weight loss. The eurozone economies have hit stall speed, with France, Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as most of the smaller economies, having negative growth. In addition, the United Kingdom and Japan are barely above stall speed with an annual growth rate of less than 1 percent. The United States, Canada, Russia and Brazil are in the danger zone, all with annual rates of less than 2 percent growth. The basic questions are: Why has growth stalled, and what needs to be done to revive it? Good economists know the following: