We’ve gotten a number of queries regarding the corporeal status of Osama Bin Laden, given that Michael Ledeen, in Who’s An Iraqi?, reported that OBL croaked in December, yet he came out with an audiotape in January.

Here’s the deal.

The eurozone debt crisis is deepening and threatens to re-erupt on a larger scale when the liquidity cycle turns, a leading panel of economists warned in a clash of views with German officials in Berlin.

"Debts above 130% of GDP for Italy and 170% for Greece are a recipe for disaster once we go into the next downturn," said Professor Charles Wyplosz, from Geneva University.

"Today's politicians believe the crisis is over and don't want to hear any more about it, but they have not tackled the core issues of fiscal union and public debt," he said, speaking at Euromoney's annual Germany conference.

Ludger Schuknecht, director-general of the German finance ministry, insisted that the debt-stricken states of the eurozone are well on the way to recovery, ending their EU-IMF rescue programs successfully one by one. There is no need for any major shift in policy. "The strategy has been right. We need to bring down debt and this is now consensus," he said.

This optimism is sharply at odds with the view of almost every foreign-based economist attending the event. Charles Dallara, former head of the International Institute for Finance and chief negotiator for global banks in Greece's debt-restructuring, said little has been done to put the eurozone on a viable footing, even if sovereign bond yields in southern Europe have fallen to record lows.

[Note from JW:  Dr. Rahn here presents an economic discussion of immigration - after all, he is an economist.  It is not a discussion of the national security threat of immigration, specifically that of illegal immigration from Mexico. A lively discussion of Dr. Rahn's arguments is expected on the TTP Forum!]

How many new immigrants should the United States allow each year? How many guest workers? These are not easy questions, which is why there is as much fierce debate within the two parties as between them.

The two main reasons given for restricting current immigration are the myths that immigrants take away American jobs and that immigrants are more likely to go on welfare, thus putting an additional burden on the taxpayers.

Rather than taking away American jobs, good economists understand that immigrants who work create wealth in America, which in turn creates more and higher paying jobs for everyone.

To explain the economics of this adequately would take more space than this entire commentary, but the truth of the assertion can be seen in the fact that high-wage countries with many immigrants such as Switzerland, Australia and Canada tend to have much higher labor force participation rates and lower unemployment rates than low-wage countries.

The world’s wealthiest exiles are the Iranians – folks who fled Iran after Jimmy Carter betrayed the Shah and let him be overthrown by Ayatollah Khomeini. The Cubans who fled after Castro took over Cuba and amassed fortunes in Miami are financial pikers compared to the Iranians.

Cumulatively they are worth billions. There are thousands of millionaires among them. And they are the stupidest millionaires on the planet. Because of their stupidity, they now face the extinction of their country.

There is considerable evidence that drinking one glass of red wine per day for most middle-aged men has more health benefits than costs. There is also considerable evidence that drinking three or more glasses of wine per day causes more health problems than benefits.

Even so, the owner of your favorite winery might encourage you to drink at least three glasses a day, perhaps with the following argument: "If you and my other customers drink three times as much, it will enable me to hire more workers, thus increasing employment."

What the winery owner conveniently ignores is the damage the additional drinking causes to both your health and your pocketbook, and the fact that if you spend less on wine, you probably will be spending more on other goods and services, thus increasing employment in those areas.

Many of the economic arguments I hear from the political class -- including members of Congress and President Obama -- are equally fallacious. It is tiresome to hear the president (as he did again last week during his news conference) and others say, time and time again that if we just tax and spend a bit more, our problems will diminish.