After Viktor Orbán's Defeat in Hungary, the 'New Right' Needs a New Foreign Despot To Admire
Hungary is Europe's basket case, a nation that saw little economic progress under Orbán—as well as diminishing freedoms.
Economics
America's Debt Problem Is a Health Care Problem
And the government's "solution" is making it worse.
Biden Killed the Spirit Airlines Merger. Now Trump Wants Taxpayers To Save the Company.
A merger with JetBlue could have saved the company. Instead, taxpayers will now be forced to pick up the bill.
Trump's Illegal Tariffs Are Finally Being Refunded. Will You Get Any of the Money?
The burden of Trump's illegal tariffs was spread across the American economy. The refunds likely won't cover all those costs.
Marijuana Rescheduled
Plus: skyway socialism, reconsider the lobster, D.C.'s urban growth, and more...
Globalization Made Howard Lutnick a Billionaire. Now He's Railing Against It as Trump's Commerce Chief.
Globalization helped make everyone else much richer, too.
No, FDR Did Not Pull America Out of the Great Depression
"The New Deal made investment in America a risky project," says economist Donald J. Boudreaux, author of The Triumph of Economic Freedom.
Tariffs Are Driving Up Your Homeowners Insurance Premiums
When it costs more to build a house, it also costs more to rebuild one.
Neither War nor Peace With Iran
The Trump administration is stuck in a standoff that is unstable and damaging to the entire world.
The Trump Administration Is Worried About High Fertilizer Prices. Its Top Trade Official Lobbied for Them.
Before joining the Trump administration last year, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer lobbied for tariffs that limited fertilizer imports and drove up prices for American farmers.
Pittsburgh Thinks the NFL Draft Is Worth $19 Million of Taxpayer Money. Here's What Past Draft Data Say.
Plus: NFL draft rookies get screwed by the players union, and governments are charging a ton to get to the World Cup
Trump's Pro-Union Labor Secretary Out
Plus: Scandal at the Department of Labor, the real reasons people use psychedelics, more problems with Trump's triumphal arch, and more...
Report: High Taxes and Burdensome Regulations Are Killing California
California politicians’ policy choices are making the state unaffordable and unattractive.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements in Spain and Italy
I will be giving multiple talks in these two countries in late April and May.
The Bipartisan War on Cheap Food
Republicans and Democrats preach about food affordability. Yet their policies continue to make it worse.
Elon Musk's Mistaken Call for a 'Universal High Income'
AI will not create a jobless dystopia. Paying people a lot of money not to work would.
Jury Finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster To Be Monopolists Over $1.72 Concert Ticket Price Increase
Punishing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for their success won't substantially lower primary ticket prices and will do nothing to address scalping.
Trump Ended Free Trade for Mexican Tomatoes. Prices Are Up 23 Percent in the Last Year.
America gets 90 percent of its fresh tomatoes from Mexico, and those imports were tariff-free until last year.
California Progressives Want 'Big Oil' To Fix an Insurance Crisis Created by the State's Price Controls
Instead of confronting the problems with the state's heavily regulated insurance market, lawmakers are looking for a scapegoat.
'The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share' and 4 Other Tax Myths That Won't Die
The United States has the most progressive income-tax system in the developed world.
'Blue Power' and the Rise of Police Union Politics
Stuart Schrader's new book details how police unions became a dominant force in U.S. politics.
Trump Administration Presents Update on its Tariff Refund Plan
The plan is not completely terrible. But many importers may still have difficulty getting the refund money owed to them.
60% of Americans Agree Taxes Are Too High. Here Are 4 Other Reasons To Hate the Tax System.
A noncomprehensive list
Workers' Comp Claim for "Exacerbation of Severe Mental Illness Due to Exposure of a Racially Insensitive Wooden Item"
"[S]he was told that a Mammy doll which depicts slavery was in the garage of the building where they worked.... [W]hen she saw the doll she was overcome with emotions because it was so humiliating.... [S]he could not control her emotions and could not think clearly."
Is Trump Investigating the NFL Because He Failed To Buy a Team So Many Times?
Plus: the insanity of investigating the NFL on antitrust grounds, and should golf be harder?
Federal Reserve: Without Tariffs, Inflation Would Have Dropped to Pre-Pandemic Levels During 2025
New study finds that tariffs were responsible for the "entirety of the excess inflation in the core goods category."
Photo: Ring Calls Off the Search Party
Following a backlash to its Super Bowl commercial, Ring owner Amazon announced that it was canceling a planned partnership with Flock Safety.
Wisconsin Reined in Public Sector Unions. Now Those Reforms Are in Jeopardy.
Act 10 saved taxpayers billions and helped government run more efficiently. Fifteen years later, a questionable legal challenge may doom it.
Thoughts on Today's Oral Argument in the Section 122 Tariff Cases
The outcome is unclear. But the judges seemed skeptical of the Trump Administration's claims that Section 122 grants them sweeping tariff powers.
In New Tariff Cases, Trump Asserts 'Unreviewable' Power To Invent a Balance-of-Payments Deficit
The Court of International Trade is weighing the legality of the import taxes that the president wants to impose under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
Ninth Circuit Dismisses Kids Climate Case Against Discounting in Cost-Benefit Analysis
The kids climate cases continue to have standing problems in federal court.
The White House Ballroom's Imported Steel Shows How Tariffs Encourage Cronyism
Any time government has greater control over commerce, there is an increased incentive to buy off officials or lobby for special treatment.
Why Is It So Damn Hard To Find Sympathetic Student Loan 'Victims'?
Less than half of the Class of 2024 took out college loans averaging $30,000—a manageable amount that buys over $1 million in extra lifetime earnings.
What if Social Security Was Capped at $100,000 Annually?
One weird trick could extend Social Security's solvency while reducing payments to the wealthiest households. But it doesn't go far enough.
Trump's New Budget—Which Proposes $1.5 Trillion for Defense—Is Unserious. You Should Still Take It Seriously.
It would be easy to wave it away and move on. But that's how the U.S. got in such a dire fiscal situation.
'They're Going To Go Elsewhere': Steve Forbes on Why Taxing the Rich Backfires
"For the first time since California came into the union," the publisher and businessman says, "they're having out-migration."
Sam Altman's (Not So) New Deal for Superintelligent AI
The plan’s deregulatory planks merit praise. Its calls for central planning and redistribution do not.
Our Amicus Brief in the Section 122 Tariff Case
I submitted the brief on behalf of the Cato Institute and myself.
Viktor Orban's Hungary Exemplifies the Perils of Nationalism
As a new analysis by Johan Norberg shows, the regime many MAGA Republicans see as a model to emulate has repressed civil liberties, undermined the free market, destroyed the rule of law, and made Hungary the poorest nation in the European Union.
Why Does Trump Want the Biggest Defense Budget Ever?
Plus: Trump’s budget ignores the deficit, NASA’s Artemis program faces delays and rising costs, and a listener asks about libertarian alternatives to Medicare for All.
Trump's College Sports Executive Order Adds Chaos to an Already Wild Legal War
Plus: Fox and Sinclair go crying to the FCC over sports streaming, and the Masters ticket lottery makes it too hard to get in
Ro Khanna: Congress Has Surrendered on War
The California congressman discusses the Iran war, unchecked executive power, California’s wealth tax debate, and the search for a shared American identity.
The Labor Department Just Freed Contractors—Again. Congress Still Needs To Act.
The government's new rule reverses a Biden-era anti-contracting directive and returns to a more contractor-friendly posture. But will this tug of war ever end?
Trump's Call for a $1.5 Trillion Military Budget Is Irresponsible, Wasteful, and Unrealistic
The proposal is "an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars and would make Americans less, not more, safe." Thankfully, Congress is unlikely to adopt it.
Bye-Bye, Bondi
Plus: pro-tech media sells to big tech, Trump's new tariffs, jobs numbers, and more...
The World Bank Used To Champion Markets. Now It's Surrendering to State-Led Industrialization.
The reversal wasn't because the economics changed. It is because their biggest shareholders turned toward industrial policy.
Infographic: Who Really Pays for Tariffs? These Scholars Tracked a Bottle of Wine To Find Out.
Consider it a boozy, tariff-themed version of "I, Pencil."
