Why Take Responsibility When You Can Blame Somebody Else?
The year’s highlights in buck passing feature petulant politicians, brazen bureaucrats, careless cops, loony lawyers, and junky journalists.
Economics
'The Principles Should Endure': Sen. Pat Toomey on Fusionism, Tariffs, and What's To Blame for FTX's Collapse
After two terms in the Senate as a champion for free markets and limited government, Pennsylvania's Republican senator is heading into retirement.
How To Empower Millions of Independent Workers
Deregulation can help the millions of people who prefer flexible, independent jobs.
The Failure To Enact Marijuana Banking and Crack Sentencing Reforms Is a Window on Congressional Dysfunction
Although both bills have broad bipartisan support, they never got a vote in the Senate and were excluded from the omnibus spending bill.
Congress Can Reduce the Deficit by $7.7 Trillion in 10 Years
The Congressional Budget Office projects that future deficits will explode. But there's a way out.
$70 Million for Salmon, $3 Million for Bee-Friendly Highways, and More Absurdities in the Omnibus Spending Bill
Plus: An attempt to criminalize porn, D.C. hopes making tourism more expensive will boost tourism, and more…
Why Does Funding Government Take $1.7 Trillion and 4,000 Pages?
Plus: Title 42 order termination is on hold, the FTC vs. Meta, and more...
The Annual, Depressing 'Do Your Job Week' in Congress
Plus: The editors extend the discussion on the lack of immigration reform in this week’s bill.
Big Dairy Wants Congress To Restore Huge Tariffs on Imported Baby Formula
Unless Congress takes action, those tariffs will return on January 1. And the baby formula shortage hasn't yet passed.
Biden's Loan Forgiveness Plan Ultimately Means Higher Costs for Higher Ed
If political pressure to forgive debt can work once, why wouldn't it work again every five or 10 years?
Chuck Schumer Scrambles To Save the Marijuana Banking Bill He Blocked Last Year
The Senate majority leader is suddenly keen to pass legislation that he portrayed as a threat to broader reform.
November's $249 Billion Federal Budget Deficit Set a Record. Now, Congress Is Preparing To Spend Even More.
The government spent $501 billion in November but collected just $252 billion in revenue, meaning that about 50 cents of every dollar spent were borrowed.
Elizabeth Warren's Crypto Bill Targets Financial Freedom, Not Fraud
Senator Warren wants to extend the financial surveillance state cooked up by drug warriors and anti-terrorism fearmongers to cryptocurrencies.
California's Ban on Gas-Powered Cars Could Wreak Havoc on Its Energy Grid
If all Californians bought E.V.s tomorrow, it would be a nightmare.
Subsidies To Help Workers Would Hurt Poor People
Some people would benefit. Others would lose money or be rendered unemployable.
New Zealand Bans Cigarette Sales to Anyone Born After 2008. Forever.
The country's strategy ignores the failures of prohibition.
Why In the World Is the FTC Trying to Block Microsoft From Buying Call of Duty?
Antitrust regulators don't seem to understand how the video game industry works.
Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley: More People Means More Wealth
The Superabundance authors make a compelling case that the world is getting richer for everyone.
Thanos Was Wrong: More People Means More Wealth
Superabundance explains why a world of 8 billion people is infinitely richer than one with 1 billion.
The Supreme Court Will Hear a Second Challenge Over Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan
As the Court agrees to take up yet another case against the Education Department's loan forgiveness plan, Biden's goal of forgiving billions in student loans seems increasingly doomed.
The Government Hasn't Learned a Thing From the Baby Formula Shortage
With the FORMULA Act soon to expire, the U.S. baby formula market is about to return to the conditions that left it so vulnerable to a shortage in the first place.
Inflation Cools to 7.1 Percent, but Still Has a Long Way To Fall
Food prices were up 0.5 percent during November, even as energy prices fell by about 1.6 percent.
FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried Used Customer Assets to Fund Political Donations, Says SEC
Plus: moral panic about department stores, the obvious cause of homelessness, and more...
Governments Scramble To Manage, Regulate, and Throttle Crypto
Most dangerously of all, they're starting to make their own central bank digital currencies.
The FTC Has No Business Trying To Stop Video Game Company Mergers
It’s one of the most competitive industries in the world, and there’s no good reason to stop Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard.
'Secure Jobs Act' Would Cost New Yorkers Secure Jobs
Plus: Destigmatizing sex work, free markets and grocery store mergers, and more...
America Needs 'Low-Skilled' Workers
Yes, America benefits from immigrants who can write code. But we also need ones who can swing hammers.
Congress' Lame-Duck Legislators Want To Spend Money Like We're Still in a Pandemic
It's especially outrageous when considering the billions of dollars in fraud that took place thanks to COVID-19 relief programs.
Germany Is Planning To Reform Its Immigration Policies. The U.S. Should, Too.
With high job vacancies and a low birth rate, Germany is turning to the world to fill the holes in its economy.
Drug Shortages? Ham-Handed Pandemic Interventions Deserve Much of the Blame
You can’t turn lives and economies off and on without inflicting lingering harm.
Semiconductor Manufacturers Don't Need More Subsidies. They Need Less Government.
Fixing federal permitting rules and easing immigration policies would help companies like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which are interested in building more plants in America.
Andrew Koppelman Responds to Critics of His Book on Libertarianism [Updated]
The response is part of the Balkinization blog symposium on his book " Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed," in which I was among the participants.
The Inflation Shield?
The Producer Price Index shows that grocery stores appear to be shielding consumers from inflation, not hiking prices to gouge Americans.
Review: Try and Fail To Build a Virtual City in Sim Nimby
Eventually the player realizes nothing is getting built and quits.
The Labor Market Is Broken
Employment is an ultimatum game, where playing along might get workers less than employers, but refusing to play gets everyone zero.
A Lame-Duck Congress Should Reject the Extended Child Tax Credit
The policy has some bipartisan support, despite the fact that it has mostly been a failure since its inception.
Biden's Spending Spree Is Unprecedented
Instead of redirecting course, Biden is continuing Trump’s spending legacy.
Sam Bankman-Fried: Trust Is Everything
Ironically, the FTX meltdown is the best illustration yet of why the world needs bitcoin.
Mystified by Mastodon? We're Here To Help.
Mastodon might not be the future of decentralized social media, but it can’t hurt to check it out as Twitter implodes.
Hayek Was a True Liberal
A new biography tells the story of the economist’s early life and career.
Be Thankful for Low-Skilled Workers
These are the people who showed up when the economy was shut down by the government, working in jobs labeled "essential."
The Best Ever Libertarian Gift Guide
Until next year's, because capitalism is always making things better.
The Horseracing Case, Part 3: How Carter Coal Is Misunderstood
Despite a recent Fifth Circuit case, Carter v. Carter Coal Co. (1936) doesn't limit private delegations.
The Pilgrims Dreamed of Socialism. Then Socialism Almost Killed Them.
Private property was the solution to their failed experiment. But people keep repeating the Pilgrims' mistakes.
A Possible Railroad Strike During the Holiday Season Would Risk $2 Billion Per Day
Four of the 12 unions representing workers on America's freight rail lines have voted to reject a new contract.
The Horseracing Case, Part 2: Private Delegation Before and After Schechter Poultry
The Supreme Court has never held that private delegations have any special unfavorable treatment under the Article I Nondelegation Doctrine: quite the opposite!
