While some Republicans may have had misguided motivations, a few disrupted McCarthy's campaign in order to enact fiscal restraint. Their colleagues were fine with business as usual.
But partisans are having the wrong debate.
If lawmakers keep spending like they are, and if the Fed backs down from taming inflation, then the government may create a perfect storm.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that future deficits will explode. But there's a way out.
Some people would benefit. Others would lose money or be rendered unemployable.
It's especially outrageous when considering the billions of dollars in fraud that took place thanks to COVID-19 relief programs.
The policy has some bipartisan support, despite the fact that it has mostly been a failure since its inception.
These are the people who showed up when the economy was shut down by the government, working in jobs labeled "essential."
Until next year's, because capitalism is always making things better.
The biggest beneficiaries of economic growth are poor people. But the deepest case for economic growth is a moral one.
With government meddling, many farmers end up doing less with more, and people end up paying more for less.
If the midterms favor Republicans, their top priority needs to be the fight against inflation—whether or not they feel like they created the problem.
The idea that the Fed has the knowledge necessary to control the economy with perfectly calibrated policies was always an illusion.
The free market allows people to cooperate, fix errors, and adapt to changing circumstances.
From immigration to drug reform, there is plenty of potential for productive compromise.
His administration has expanded deficits by $400 billion more than expected, even before we count recent spending.
Businesses are all in favor of competition, tax cuts, and deregulation only until they aren't—meaning only until subsidies might benefit them.
Democrats pander to immigrants but do little to liberalize the system. Meanwhile, Republicans' hostility to immigrants has increased.
This fiscal irresponsibility throws gasoline on the country's already raging inflation fire.
Government should not penalize investment, thwart competition, discourage innovation and work, or obstruct production.
From student debt cancellation to green subsidies, the White House is giving handouts paid for by hardworking lower-wage Americans.
From cronyist subsidies to an unfair tax code, there are several key fixes Congress could make to better serve the public.
Why should we believe that this boondoggle will produce better results than hundreds of other corporate welfare programs?
Many conservatives no longer appear to care much for fiscal conservatism.
More airline workers and more flights—not bailouts and restrictions on mergers—is the better policy.
If you believe that moving most of our chip production onshore is good for national security, you should labor for regulatory reforms rather than subsidies.
Government often proves to be biased against large, successful companies that legislators don't understand well but customers love.
Just as you don't attract bees with vinegar, you don't attract corporations by promising to tax them heavily.
Here's hoping we don't wind up with more of the spending and favoritism that's become so common.
Bureaucrats say they want to save lives. But they're moving to block a tool that is proven to help smokers quit entirely.
The inconvenient truth behind all the COVID-19 relief fraud and waste is that these government programs never should have been designed as they were.
Interest rates and servicing costs could push us into worrisome territory sooner than we think.
Despite a few encouraging analyses, the numbers just don't add up.
The president's argument is amazing for its tone-deafness, inconsistent thinking, and sheer economic ignorance.
It incentivizes high-noise, low-cost signaling rather than actual cultural changes.
There is seldom any meaningful accountability for government incompetence.
Several studies have found that the vast majority of costs incurred by increased corporate taxes are passed along to workers in the form of lower wages.
Protectionist policies stymie trade and make Americans poorer.
The state has 1,288 independent special districts. But we aren't hearing significant GOP complaints about anyone's but Disney's.
French President Emmanuel Macron is authoritarian-light. Candidate Marine Le Pen is worse.
Wealth isn't held the way many believe it is.
Certain politicians would do well to learn that inflation is not caused by corporate "greed."
Some want to solve the problem with subsidies for gas, housing, child care, and more. That only risks greater stagnation.
Once again, Washington is giving us every reason to believe it's selling favors to cronies even if it means everyone else loses.
Congress continues to allocate funds to produce weapons that the Pentagon itself says it doesn't need.
We must face the reality that the debt does matter.
From the CDC to the FDA, there are too many missteps to list.
We were told it would be "transitory." But inflation continued to rise.
