The U.S. Export-Import Bank Is a Cesspool of Crony Capitalism. Biden Wants To Expand It.

Export-Import Bank Veronique de Rugy | 1.21.2022 6:30 AM For years now, the U.S. Export-Import Bank—an under-the-radar agency that provides...

Ex-Im is Wasteful Enough Abroad -- We Don't Need it at Home

For years now, the U.S. Export-Import Bank -- an under-the-radar agency that provides subsidized loans to foreign firms willing to buy American...

How 'We' Obscure the Truth About Policy

"The most dangerous pronoun discourse has nothing to do with gender identity. It's the undefined 'we' in public policy debates that's the problem."...

'We' Didn't Increase the Debt. Politicians, Congress, and Bureaucrats Did.

Politics Veronique de Rugy | 1.13.2022 5:15 PM "The most dangerous pronoun discourse has nothing to do with gender identity. It's the undefined...

How "We" Obscure the Truth About Policy

"The most dangerous pronoun discourse has nothing to do with gender identity. It's the undefined 'we' in public policy debates that's the problem."...

A Resolution for the Biden Administration

The new year often feels like an opportunity to correct past mistakes -- for example, improving one's diet or quitting smoking. This explains why 25%...

Americans Aren't Buying Biden's Agenda

Politics Veronique de Rugy | 1.6.2022 5:30 PM The new year often feels like an opportunity to correct past mistakes—for example, improving...

A Resolution for the Biden Administration

The new year often feels like an opportunity to correct past mistakes -- for example, improving one's diet or quitting smoking. This explains why 25%...

A Call To Fight Rising Authoritarianism, in 2022 and Beyond

At the eve of a new year, it's traditional to make a resolution or two. I have no such list for myself or others, but I do have a wish. For 2022 and...

In 2022, Pay Attention to Right-wing Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism Veronique de Rugy | 12.30.2021 3:46 PM At the eve of a new year, it's traditional to make a resolution or two. I have no such...

A Call To Fight Rising Authoritarianism, in 2022 and Beyond

At the eve of a new year, it's traditional to make a resolution or two. I have no such list for myself or others, but I do have a wish. For 2022 and...

Three Books for Liberty-Loving Readers in 2022

This time of year, dear readers, is when us writers curate lists. Some are about the best movies, top kitchen appliances, or favorite new songs of...

Three Books for Liberty-Loving Readers in 2022

This time of year, dear readers, is when us writers curate lists. Some are about the best movies, top kitchen appliances or favorite new songs of...

Three Books for Liberty-Loving Readers in 2022

This time of year, dear readers, is when us writers curate lists. Some are about the best movies, top kitchen appliances or favorite new songs of...

If We Don't Get Inflation Under Control, It Could Unleash Some Dramatic Consequences

Inflation Veronique de Rugy | 12.16.2021 3:02 PM Inflation has reached its highest level in decades. While we're not yet in a situation like we...

Inflating the Costs of Government's Fiscal Irresponsibility

Inflation has reached its highest level in decades. While we're not yet in a situation like we had in the 1970s -- and we can hope that the Federal...

The "Build Back Better" Bill Will Spend a Lot of Money To Make Our Problems Worse

Government Spending Veronique de Rugy | 12.9.2021 12:45 PM Should we ignore the costs of the "Build Back Better" bill and simply focus on the...

Government Isn't Required to Build Back Better

Should we ignore the costs of the "Build Back Better" bill and simply focus on the benefits? Wouldn't that be nice? Unfortunately, the most...

Thinking Through the Trade-Offs of Federally Mandated Paid Leave

The nonsensical coverage of the debate over paid leave continues. Apparently, opposing a federal paid-leave program is the equivalent of being...

Giving is an American Tradition; For That, I Am Thankful

Thanksgiving is a time for reflecting on all those things for which we are grateful. It seems particularly important now at the end of the second year...

Pouring Fuel on the Spending Fire

President Joe Biden has united the American people -- in disapproving of his performance, with 70% of Americans disliking the direction the economy is...

Haste Still Makes Waste, Even for Pundits

"The quality of the punditry is abysmal." That's the title of an excellent letter recently shared with me and submitted to the editor of the...

The World's Richest Countries Want To Create a Competition-Crushing Global Tax Cartel

Here Comes the Hypocritical Global Minimum Tax

There is a certain irony to a group of rich countries pushing for policies that will disadvantage poorer countries. Yet this is exactly what the...

Paid-Leave Lobbying Efforts by Meghan Markle

From Politico : Democrats are the ones behind the party-line social spending bill that could include paid leave. But none other than Meghan Markle...

Daylight Savings: The Most Polarizing Debate of Our Time?

For a taste of how violent this debate can get, I give you Cato’s Scott Lincicome writing for The Dispatch: In the coming days, tens of millions of...

Biden's Nominee for Comptroller Wants To Put an 'End to Banking as We Know It'

The Democrats’ Hunt for Money

I was going to do a roundup of everything we know about the terrible policy proposal to tax unrealized capital gains. However, the news is changing so...

Anti-Vaping Scare Tactics and Cigarette Sales

According to the Post : New government data shows that sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products increased last year for the first time in...

Be Wary of Socialism's Slippery Slope

For years, progressives mocked anyone who warned that the Democratic Party's move leftward would produce government officials who might push actual...

Savings and Incentives

Yesterday, the New York Times had a piece that included this paragraph about why inflation should be cooling down soon: They point to calculations by...

You Can't Fight Campus Illiberalism With More Illiberalism

Fighting Illiberalism in Higher Education

I consider my children to be extraordinarily lucky to be born and live in the United States. When I moved here from France in 1999, I believed that,...

Biden Says He Is Fixing Supply Chains, But His Regulatory Actions Say Otherwise

Last Wednesday, the White House convened industry leaders — from the Teamsters and AFL-CIO labor unions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other...

Americans’ Taste for Big Government Sours

Over at the Washington Post Catherine Rampell highlights a problem that Democrats shouldn’t ignore on their aggressive path to pass a...

Trump's Tariffs Didn't Work. Biden's Won't Work Either.

Begging Permission to Buy and Sell Freely

The United States is known as the land of the free, but it has become a place where the government decides whom we are allowed to buy from and sell...

Joe Manchin Isn't the Fiscal Conservative We Need, but He's the Best We've Got

For Some Politicians, Enough Spending Will Never Be Enough

Back in 2005, I wrote that when it comes to spending, "Congressional Republicans Make French Socialists Look Like Ronald Reagan." Looking back now,...

If Democrats Truly Wanted To Level the Playing Field, They'd End Crony Corporate Handouts

Cronyism's Critics Continue to Miss the Point

How to best ensure substantial long-run economic growth should be a question on everyone's mind. Its benefits can't be overstated, and it's undeniable...

The Cost of the Biden Plan: A New Estimate

In a new study published by the Club for Growth Foundation, Dan Mitchell and Robert O’Quinn assess the macro-economic effects of President’s...

Blame Both Parties if the Federal Government Shuts Down in December

Debt Veronique de Rugy | 9.23.2021 1:05 PM The battle over the federal debt ceiling that's currently being fought by government officials and...

Who's Really at Fault if the Government Defaults?

The battle over the federal debt ceiling that's currently being fought by government officials and legislators is yet another example of the political...

Taxing the Rich Isn't Enough to Pay for Democrats' Welfare State. They'll Need To Soak the Middle Class Too.

Government Spending Veronique de Rugy | 9.16.2021 1:04 PM Democrats are ready to raise taxes. They want more revenue, in part to fund an...

Spending Gluttony Is Washington's Deadly Sin

Democrats are ready to raise taxes. They want more revenue, in part to fund an out-of-this-world amount of new spending. Some simply want to soak the...

Bad Reporting from the Wall Street Journal on the Ex-Im Bank

Last week, I commented elsewhere that NPR had a sloppy piece of reporting on Hurricane Ida and climate. This week, it’s the Wall Street...

When We Reject Immigrants, We Reject Trillions of Dollars in Wealth

Immigration Veronique de Rugy | 9.9.2021 2:13 PM Exactly 10 years ago, economist Michael Clemens published a paper in the prestigious Journal of...

Belated Happy Labor Day: Union Guy Gets a Seat on Ex-Im Board

I just realized that President Biden tapped Owen Herrnstadt to serve on the board of directors at the Export-Import Bank. Herrnstadt is chief of staff...

Immigration and the Trillion-Dollar Lottery

Exactly 10 years ago, economist Michael Clemens published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Economic Perspectives called "Economics and...