Social insurance programs are compatible with a basic safety net. But what we have now is a slow-motion generational fleecing.
The strange new alliance between democratic socialists and nationalist populists isn't a sign of political healing. It's a sign that people have lost their grip on basic economics.
Panicked about holiday shopping? Reason staffers and contributors are here to save the day.
When voters believe they're living through an economic apocalypse, they're willing to embrace the very policies that would create one.
Most countries emerged from a shared language, lineage, or ancient heritage. The United States built a state first and then had to discover what it meant to be a nation.
Real industrial policy has been tried—in many countries, by governments of every ideology. It fails every time for the same reason.
Neither side, however, has a good plan to bring down prices.
Over the last decade, roughly one in every 10 dollars of budget authority has worn an emergency tag.
Democrats defend every entitlement and dream up new benefits. Republicans demand more defense spending and still more tax cuts.
Socialism is government control of the means of production. When the government becomes your largest shareholder, that's a strong first step.
The evidence is clear that we are paying more, U.S. firms have lower margins, and exports are collapsing in flagship industries.
Four ideas that are better than extending Obamacare subsidies and a government shutdown.
This time, Democrats turned the most basic government housekeeping into hostage drama.
Markets thrive on predictable rules, but when the president takes equity stakes or pressures firms at will, investment and risk-taking give way to hesitation.
The expenditures are often costly privileges for special interests that mask the true size of government and fail to deliver the promised bang for the buck.
Some policymakers now say the federal government's stake in Intel should be a "down payment" on a U.S. sovereign wealth fund. The idea is terrible.
The president's clear attempt to interfere in the Federal Reserve is not a one-off crisis.
They are among the worst taxes imaginable—narrow, arbitrary, unstable, and regressive.
A report affirms that greenhouse gases are warming the planet, but it also found no convincing evidence that U.S. hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or droughts have become more frequent or intense in recent decades.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CBO, and the Fed are far from perfect. But the U.S. needs a statistical system that is modern, agile, and protected from political interference.
It's time to ask what level of spending Americans truly want with the money we actually have.
The executive branch wants to use the Federal Reserve as a tool to accommodate the government's frenzy of reckless borrowing.
Green energy is promising. But subsidies distort the tax code, misallocate capital, and favor companies already in the game.
In a bill packed with spending, one provision offers real gains for health care choice and savings.
This is what Washington calls compromise: The House proposes $1, the Senate proposes $2, and somehow, the government ends up spending $3.
Other countries have taken meaningful steps to address similar challenges. The U.S. has done nothing.
A Biden-era rule mandates two-person freight crews. But the government admits it lacks evidence that is necessary—and is instead relying on "common sense."
The budget legislation is full of other expensive provisions that will add trillions to our sky-high national debt.
A new comprehensive review finds the negative effects of trade with China have been significantly exaggerated.
If the Trump administration fails to implement real reform, Main Street taxpayers could once again be conscripted into subsidizing lucrative Wall Street deals.
The lesson from the Moody's credit downgrade is that the U.S. cannot borrow its way to prosperity.
The administration shows no coherent commitment to free market principles and is in fact actively undermining them.
We don't need more of the same. We need evidence of a serious turnaround.
If anything, they sabotage the very forces—dynamism, adaptability, innovation—that create the economic opportunities struggling workers need.
Far from delivering industrial renewal, Trump's tariffs have already led to layoffs at manufacturing plants.
The government currently collects revenue in an arbitrary and distortionary manner, with loopholes that benefit special groups.
Lower-income families who spend the largest shares of their income on goods—and who have been badly hurt from the recent inflation—will likely suffer the most.
Our manufacturing output, even adjusted for inflation, is near all-time highs.
More education dollars are funding more bureaucrats, who, by and large, are not improving student outcomes.
Since Congress began requiring annual audits in 2018, the Department of Defense has never passed.
Entitlements are a much bigger expense, but that doesn't mean the waste doesn't matter.
If the Department of Government Efficiency goes about this the wrong way, we could be left with both a presidency on steroids and no meaningful reduction in government.
At the current rate of inflation, the dollar will lose 33 cents of purchasing power within a decade.
It tries to offset as much as $4.8 trillion—mostly for tax cut extensions—with only $1.5 trillion in supposed spending reductions.
The agency—an unelected regulator with a blank check—has spent much of its short life making things harder for the consumers it set out to protect.
Even if the Department of Government Efficiency eliminates all improper payments and fraud, we'll still be facing a debt explosion—which requires structural reform.
"Personnel is policy" has shaped past administrations. Kevin Hassett, who has been tapped to lead the National Economic Council, will have a hand in tax reform, debt reduction, and more.
The stark disconnect not only runs the risk of choking off much of the global commerce the president claims to welcome but threatens to stick U.S. consumers and businesses with higher costs.
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