If you are middle class and lately feel like you're not getting ahead, you're not wrong. The economic facts bear this out. The middle class household is taking home about the same in inflation-adjusted dollars after taxes today compared to their income in 1971....
What accounts for the preoccupation with income and wealth inequality? We hear about it every day. Isn't our absolute living standard what matters and whether it is improving or deteriorating? I'll bet that's what regular people care about. However, the professional...
In February of this year, I forecast that the Federal Reserve, despite all the bluster about "higher rates for longer," would eventually blink. Now, following last Wednesday’s FOMC announcement, that prediction has come true. The Committee, in a not-at-all-shocking...
I don't know if anyone has actually said, "We are all social engineers now," but someone might as well have. (The variation "We are all Keynesians now" was declared a long time ago, even by Milton Friedman, although see this.) When I say "all," of course, I don't mean...
Former President Donald Trump could return to power in 2025. We can expect a second Trump administration to give us more of the same: economic nationalism. This is concerning because economic nationalism degrades our economy, impoverishes our citizens, and promotes...
I’m a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). For those unaware, this is the most dominant mixed martial arts (MMA) organization in the world. They put on fantastic pay-per-views at least once a month where fighters put every part of their being out there to...
Imagine two candidates for president, and ask yourself who is more likely to win. Candidate A observes that people are facing generally rising prices. Their total at the supermarket checkout is higher than last year. Filling up the car at the gas station takes a...
[P]eople started to believe that the bourgeoisie and its economic activities of trade and innovation were virtuous, or at least tolerable. In every successful lurch into modern riches from Holland in 1650 to the United States in 1900 to China in 2000, one sees a...
