Economist John Cochrane Is Still Worried About the Debt
The U.S. national debt held by the public is currently almost $22 trillion, surpassing the country's annual GDP for the first time since World War II.
Economics
Louis Menand: 'Freedom Was the Slogan of the Times'
Why postwar culture from Jack Kerouac to Andy Warhol to James Baldwin to Susan Sontag to Yoko Ono battled boundaries hemming them in.
AOC Says Amazon Abuses Market Power, Ignores Fact That Customers Shop at Amazon Because They Want To
After returning from space yesterday, Jeff Bezos thanked Amazon customers who made his fortune possible.
Senators Aim To Curtail Presidential Power Over War, Arms Sales, Emergency Declarations
Plus: The FBI had at least a dozen informants helping put together the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor, price controls fail again, and more.
California Lawmakers Unanimously Approve the State's First Basic Income Program
The idea of attaching fewer strings to government assistance is gaining currency.
Does Bitcoin Have the Potential to Become a Generally Accepted Medium of Exchange?
Financial consultant John Vallis vs. George Mason University economist Lawrence H. White
Good Economic Policy Is About More Than Inflation
Monetary policy can't work optimally until we free up the economy in other important ways.
Can Bitcoin Become the World's Money? A Soho Forum Debate
Financial consultant John Vallis vs. George Mason University economist Lawrence H. White
More Tariffs Won't End Pollution or Solve Global Warming. They'll Just Make Stuff More Expensive.
Taxing Americans to punish other countries for having lax environmental rules would be a logistical and bureaucratic nightmare. Democrats are trying to do it anyway.
Magical Thinking Abounds in New Budget Deal Discourse
Plus: The growing trust gap, pandemic-low unemployment numbers, and more...
Post Apocalypse
Neither rain nor sleet nor snow will stop the U.S. Postal Service. But a pandemic on top of a political fiasco? That's a first-class problem.
Biden's New Death Tax Hits the Middle Class While Excluding Certain Wealthy Investors
The American Families Plan hits individuals with identical net worths very differently.
Joe Biden's Executive Order on 'Promoting Competition' Covers Everything From Farmers Markets to Net Neutrality
Plus: Treating social media platforms as common carriers, Norway criminalizes sneaky influencer editing, and more...
The U.S. Has Strayed Far From Its Founding Ideals
Governments at the state, local, and federal levels can obstruct our pursuit of happiness and at times even jeopardize our safety.
Jeff Bezos Is Obsessed With You (If You're an Amazon Customer)
Amazon's CEO stepped down this week after 27 years of extreme customer focus.
You Can Now Read the Secret Trump Administration Report That Claimed Your Toyota Is a National Security Threat
The never-released Trump administration report is a reminder that "national security" is usually a bogus reason to impose tariffs
How Big Business Uses Big Government To Kill Competition
Corporations can afford robots. Their competitors often cannot.
Is El Salvador's Embrace of Bitcoin Good, Bad, or Both?
Officially adopting the currency is great news, but mandating acceptance is a problem.
To Stop Climate Change Americans Must Cut Energy Use by 90 Percent, Live in 640 Square Feet, and Fly Only Once Every 3 Years, Says Study
Researchers admit there are absolutely no current examples of low-energy societies providing a decent living standard for their citizens.
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: Black Liquor Fuel, Billboard Bans, Gender Pay Gap (Vol. 4)
Good intentions, bad results.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Shows That Republicans Love Big Government Just as Much as Democrats
We don't have a gridlock problem. We have a spending problem.
The Bill Will Come Due on Biden's Trillions
Biden's infrastructure package is really a jackpot for public unions and big business.
Broadway Hit Hamilton Could Get Up to $50 Million Federal Bailout
It must be nice to have Washington's pile of taxpayer cash on your side.
Supreme Court Won't Hear Case Challenging Massachusetts' Income Tax on Telecommuters Who Don't Live or Work in Massachusetts
The Court left increasingly urgent questions about taxing remote workers up in the air.
The Stealthy Economic Radicalism of Biden's Boring Presidency
Even the president's most entrenched political opposition cannot seem to find much to engage or enrage.
California, New York Have the Most To Gain From Ending Bonus Unemployment Benefits. They Probably Won't.
States that already had lower unemployment rates in May are more likely to have announced plans for ending the bonus unemployment payments.
Major Anti-Tech Antitrust Package in Congress Moves Forward
Taken together, these six measures would have a major impact on the way we shop, chat, and otherwise go about our business online.
Erik Voorhees: Governments Can't Stop Bitcoin 'Despite All Their Guns and Weapons'
The ShapeShift founder and early pioneer in the space talks about why bitcoin poses an existential threat to fiat money.
More Than 500,000 Possibly Fraudulent Unemployment Claims Have Been Filed in Maryland Since May 1
Unemployment is falling but fraudulent jobless claims are still skyrocketing in some places.
Justin Amash on How To End the Civil War in the Libertarian Party
The only L.P. member to ever hold national office says the party needs to stop being gratuitously shocking and start making the principled case for limited government.
The Global Middle Class Has Tripled in Size Since 2000
And the global upper-middle class doubled.
Democrats Are Considering a $6 Trillion Infrastructure Plan That Has Little to Do With Infrastructure
For many elected Democrats, infrastructure is much more than roads, bridges, dams, and waterways.
Vijay Boyapati: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
The former Google engineer talks about inflation, the Austrian school of economics, and how bitcoin is revolutionizing banking.
What People Get Wrong About Capitalism
"We went from agricultural poverty to a country characterized by middle-class prosperity."
Tim Wu, Biden's New Tech Guru, Is Deeply Wrong About What Makes the Internet Great
In many professional arenas, Wu's swings and misses would have consequences. In Wu's case, it landed him an advisory role in the Biden administration.
Is Inflation Back for Good?
Prices are up all over the economy. Here are scenarios about what might happen next.
How an Equal Pay Law in Colorado Is Backfiring
Major companies tell Colorado workers they need not apply.
How Bitcoin Could Replace the U.S. Dollar
Former Google engineer Vijay Boyapati talks inflation, the Austrian school of economics, and his new book on bitcoin.
Joe Biden and the E.U. Move To Lift Trump's Food Tariffs
Trade news worth celebrating with a fine French wine.
Unions Working Hard To Defeat Newsom Recall Effort
Newsom's subservience to the unions is the best reason to recall him.
The G7 Agrees To Create a Global Tax Cartel
It will be no better for taxpayers than oil cartels are for consumers.
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis Is All In on Bitcoin
The Wyoming Republican says cryptocurrency will spur renewable energy, protect privacy, and possibly save the dollar.
Harvard Housing Researchers Confirm That Supply and Demand Are Real
Plus: Hong Kong police raid a pro-democracy newspaper, Fed officials change their tune on inflation, and more...
Sen. Cynthia Lummis: Why I'm All In on Bitcoin
The Wyoming Republican believes bitcoin provides a serious alternative store of value, will spur renewable energy, and just might save the dollar.
The PRO Act Empowers Union Bosses, Not Workers
If workers were as eager to join unions as President Joe Biden seems to think, they wouldn't need a more powerful NLRB to encourage that outcome.
People Love To Criticize Capitalism. Here's Why They're Wrong.
In capitalist societies, the poor get richer.
Study Finds Biden's American Jobs Plan Would Result in Fewer American Jobs
It’s a jobs plan that isn’t about jobs, and an infrastructure plan that isn’t about infrastructure.
