Politics often places people into oversimplified groups based on singular traits, attributes, or beliefs. People are rarely this one dimensional, so why is it so pervasive? It's useful for politicians to separate people into different groups to consolidate power. A...
Featured Articles
Rate Cuts Are Coming, Ready or Not
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Feb 5, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles
According to the Fed’s “preferred” inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index (PCE)—you know, the one that excepts those extraneous things you never buy, things like food and gas—well, according to recent PCE readings the Fed has been doing a...
TGIF: Autocracy — Boo! Democracy — Hiss!
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 2, 2024 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Here's why democracy is a dubious idea. Government decisions are high stakes. It decides matters of war and peace, prosperity and poverty, freedom or oppression. Yet we let incompetent people steer the ship of state. Most voters are ignorant and process what little...
Public vs Private Performance Standards
by Owen Ashworth | Feb 1, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles
There is an interesting paradigm in political culture where we seem to hold differing standards for private versus public entities. If you were to ask your average person walking down the street whether we should bail out a random, private company that is not...
Man Entrapped by FBI in Dubious Plot to Build ‘X-Ray Gun’ is Now in Supermax Prison
by Ken Silva | Feb 1, 2024 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles
The plot would be comical if not for its disturbing outcome: A man entrapped by FBI undercover agents and informants in a dubious plan to build a so-called X-ray gun is now housed in one of the most notorious prisons in the world. The inmate, Glendon Crawford, a...
Richard Sakwa Explains How We Ended Up In A New Cold War
by Ted Snider | Jan 31, 2024 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
The war in Ukraine is a complicated tangle of three wars in one. It is a civil war between Ukraine’s European leaning west and its Russian leaning east. It is a war between Ukraine and Russia. And it is a war between Russia and NATO. Ben Abelow’s book, How the West...
New Merger Guidelines Could Make 2024 a Difficult Year for Business and Biden
by Norman Singleton | Jan 31, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles
A common way politicians and government officials bury bad or controversial news is to release it at a time when it is guaranteed to receive limited attention, such as 4:45 p.m. on a Friday or right before a holiday. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the...
Debacles at Home and Abroad Propel ‘Defend the Guard’
by Jim Bovard | Jan 30, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
The National Guard is back in the headlines thanks to a showdown at the Texas border and Joe Biden’s latest foreign policy debacle. The Biden administration has refused to enforce federal law to limit undocumented immigrants (many of whom “lost” their documents just...