Budget Deficit Hit $1.8 Trillion After Huge Increase in Borrowing Costs
Spending increased by 10 percent last year, while tax revenue increased by 11 percent. Interest payments on the debt shot up by 34 percent.
Economics
Trump's Destructive Tariff Proposals Will Make Us All Poorer
The candidate’s protectionism offsets some otherwise positive tax ideas.
I Did Business With China, and America Won
Everyone benefited when I manufactured my invention in China, but Americans benefited more.
How Milton Friedman Can Help Us Get Through Hurricane Milton
To give storm victims the best chance at recovery, let local knowledge and markets guide decisions.
Trump's Deportation Plan Would Cost Nearly $1 Trillion
And it would wreck the economy.
New USDA Organic Rules Put Wine Importers in a Bind
Government incompetence strikes again, turning the wine industry upside down with red tape and confusion.
Federal 'Buy American' Rules Cost Over $100,000 Per Job Created
Eliminate the domestic content requirements of the Buy American Act, don't expand them.
Automate the Ports
The dockworkers' strike is over, but America's ports will be some of the least efficient in the world whether they are open or closed.
Contra J.D. Vance and Tim Walz, Housing Should Be a 'Commodity'
Housing is unaffordable because regulations have prevented its commodification.
J.D. Vance Is Wrong About Toasters—and Global Manufacturing
Trump's protectionist running mate comes out against “cheap, knockoff toasters” and common sense.
J.D. Vance Actually Does Understand How Costs Get Passed Along the Supply Chain
Vance says higher energy prices make building houses more costly. What, then, do tariffs on steel and lumber do?
The Cruises Will Be Spared
Plus: Israeli troops cross into Lebanon, prayer illiteracy on full display, veeps joust, and more...
Washington Worsened Hurricane Helene's Destruction
How the National Flood Insurance Program subsidizes living in high-risk flood zones.
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can Mark Cuban Make Prescriptions Affordable Again?
Special interests and government prevent the free market from working the way it should in the healthcare industry, making many Americans poorer and sicker.
How Much Would an American-Made Toaster Actually Cost?
A lot more than Oren Cass and J.D. Vance want you to think, and Americans wouldn't like the tradeoffs necessary.
Justice Department Says a Small Mississippi Town Ran a Dickensian Debtor's Prison
Federal investigators say police in Lexington, Mississippi, used illegal searches, excessive force, and kept residents in jail when they couldn't pay off old fines.
Don't Expect a Return to the Trump Economy
If the former president wins the 2024 race, the circumstances he would inherit are far more challenging, and several of his policy ideas are destructive.
Rand Paul's Plans To Balance the Budget Are a Useful Illustration of Congress' Addiction To Borrowing
The budget could be balanced by cutting just six pennies from every dollar the government spends. It used to require even less.
Robert Reich Is Wrong About Billionaires—and Almost Everything Else
His ideas would leave us poorer and less free.
Jeremy Horpedahl: Are Millennials and Gen Z Actually Worse Off Than Their Parents?
Economist Jeremy Horpedahl breaks down the economic outlook for Millennials and Gen Z and assesses how the 2024 presidential candidates' policies stack up against reality.
Trump Dodged My Question About the Federal Debt
Reason's Nick Gillespie asked former President Donald Trump about how he plans to bring down the national debt.
What's More Popular Than Taylor Swift? Capitalism.
Other things less popular with American voters than capitalism: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, J.D. Vance, and socialism.
Kamala Harris Is Not an Ideas Candidate
Columnists keep trying to find a coherent philosophy behind Harris' confused and contradictory policy agenda.
Are the Two Parties Any Different?
Two former Republican staffers, David Stockman and Stephen Moore, debate the state of the party.
California Lawmakers Think They Can Outsmart AI
Politicians are always trying to control what they can't understand.
Drug Deaths Are Finally Declining. Nobody Really Knows Why.
One thing seems clear: Drug warriors do not deserve credit for the turnaround, although they deserve blame for the previous explosion in fatal overdoses.
No, Trump-Style Tariffs Do Not Grow the Economy
The America of the past grew in spite of tariffs, not because of them.
How Much Will the Major Presidential Candidates Steal From You?
Neither Harris nor Trump has a plan to address national debt, but they dramatically differ on taxation.
10 Years and $3 Billion for a New Mail Truck?
Oshkosh Defense’s USPS van is thousands of dollars more expensive than the industry standard.
Urban Living Would Be Better if Big City Governments Were Less Incompetent
Unions and other special interests seem to get what they want before many urban residents get basic services.
Trump and Biden Agree: Just Call Debt 'Wealth' Instead!
Both party leaders are selling the idea of a sovereign wealth fund, but it’s more political fantasy than fiscal fix.
Trump and Harris Both Favor Tax Hikes That Would Hurt Ordinary Americans
The costs of steep tariffs and a higher corporate income tax extend far beyond the advertised targets.
The Best of Reason: How Inflation Breaks Our Brains
From salt riots to toilet paper runs, history shows that rising prices make consumers—and voters—grumpy and irrational.
Kamala Harris Pledges To Soak the Rich—But Her Policies Have Showered Them In Cash
Corporate subsidies and regressive tax breaks show who really benefits from Harris' agenda.
How Inflation Breaks Our Brains
From salt riots to toilet paper runs, history shows that rising prices make consumers—and voters—grumpy and irrational.
Harris' Candidacy Puts a Spotlight on California's Failed Policies
From overspending to the state's overly powerful unions, California keeps sticking to the taxpayer.
Bob Murphy: How Bad Is the National Debt?
Economist Bob Murphy explains the technical details of government debt and why Modern Monetary Theory is so dangerously wrong.
Don't Blame Coca-Cola and Pepsi for America's Israel Policy
American firms are not responsible for how the taxes they pay are spent.
Season 2, Episode 1 Free Markets
Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Can Mark Cuban Make Prescriptions Affordable Again?
Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs project brings a bit of free market flair to the health care industry, but the lack of meaningful price signals is only part of the problem.
When Leftists Were Free Traders
In Pax Economica, historian Marc-William Palen chronicles the left-wing history of free trade.
The Government's Permitting Regime Is Choking the Economy
Housing costs, job availability, energy prices, and technological advancement all hinge on a web of red tape that is leaving Americans poorer and less free.
Leave U.S. Steel Alone
Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and J.D. Vance agree that U.S. Steel needs to be controlled from Washington. They are all wrong.
Trump Repeats an 'Urban Legend' by Invoking 'Fentanyl Laced Marijuana'
At least he draws the right conclusion from this imaginary hazard, acknowledging the dangers created by prohibition.
The Teamsters' Alliance With the 'New Right' Was Never Going To Work
Autonomous vehicle developer Waymo is at the center of a fight between labor unions and venture capital that's dividing the populist right.
Gavin Newsom's 'Price Gouging' Shtick Is Running on Empty
Gas prices in California are exceptionally high because of the state's high taxes and anti-oil regulations, not because gas station owners there are greedier.
Hair-Braiding Business Denied Permission To Operate Over Fears of Competition
Since when do government officials get to decide that a market is “oversaturated”?
