Politics and Government

At Forbes.com, Ralph Benko reveals the untold story of how Aaron Swartz, Darrel Issa, and Ron Wyden saved the internet.

Monetary Reform

From The NY Post, Gregory Bresiger and John Aidan Byrne discuss the centenary of the Fed and the Brady Centennial Monetary Commission.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, says, “In this global economy, a central bank is absolutely essential. But on this 100th anniversary of the Fed, and given the financial crisis we’ve just come through, this is the opportune time to both evaluate the Fed’s performance over the last 100 years and to bring together some of the best minds on identifying what the Fed’s role is going forward in making recommendations to Congress.”

Brady introduced The Centennial Monetary Commission Act, “so we can have a thoughtful, constructive discussion on what role [the Fed] should be going forward.
[We are not calling for abolition of the Federal Reserve], we are calling for reforms [at the Fed] that maintain its independence.”

From Forbes.com, John Tamny writes ABC’s Monday Night Football offers an essential lesson in economics.

In TGSN, Ralph Benko reiterates Los Alamos National Laboratory’s description of gold; Kathleen Packard details Brazil’s breakdown.

Tax

At Forbes.com, Capitol Flows writes to raise the capital gains tax rate is to not raise capital gains taxes.

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore praises Lawrence Lindsey’s book “The Growth Experiment Revisited”.