America’s attention-loving president Donald Trump achieved a remarkable success (by at least one measure) by making himself a salient issue in Canada’s general election held on Monday. It remains to be seen whether that success extends to other areas.
Not the 51st state – for some time yet
Not the 51st state – for some time yet
03 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, Canada
The First 100 Days: The Method Behind the Madness in Court Challenges
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law, economics of immigration
Below is my column in the New York Post on the first 100 days of the Trump Administration in court. It is too early to handicap many of these lower courts decisions. I have been critical of some of these orders as either premature or unconstitutional. There is a reason for the hyperkinetic pace of […]
The First 100 Days: The Method Behind the Madness in Court Challenges
Twisted Illogic
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to The Hill. Editor: Pres. Trump said that “China probably will eat those tariffs” (“Trump says China ‘probably will eat those tariffs’,” April 29). So the president believes that the tariffs will be ‘eaten’ by China – meaning, he believes the tariffs won’t result in higher prices in America of Chinese goods.…
Twisted Illogic
“This is Not Normal”: Democrats Miss an Obvious Problem with the Arrest of the Wisconsin Judge
28 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, economics of immigration
“This is not normal.” Those words from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are undeniably true after the arrest of Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan. However, the reason it is not normal is far more debatable. Dugan is accused of becoming a lawbreaker in seeking to obstruct an effort to arrest a man wanted by federal authorities. If […]
“This is Not Normal”: Democrats Miss an Obvious Problem with the Arrest of the Wisconsin Judge
Can Trump’s Tariff Offensive Deliver New American Jobs?
28 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
By Lauren Weber of The WSJ. Excerpts:”Most economists and other experts are skeptical that job creation will happen on a large scale because planning and building new factories is an incredibly complex and lengthy process. Businesses will be reluctant to do that unless they’re sure the investment is worth it over the long term. A fairly…
Can Trump’s Tariff Offensive Deliver New American Jobs?
Raskin: Trump Officials Can Be Arrested for “Kidnapping” Undocumented Persons
28 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, economics of immigration
For some on the far left, “The Rachel Maddow Show” is a godsend. Otherwise, you would have to go to the subway to compete against others raving about microchips and oligarchies. Just take Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who went on the show on Friday to explain that Trump officials can now be arrested for “interfering with […]
Raskin: Trump Officials Can Be Arrested for “Kidnapping” Undocumented Persons
Bill Maher’s latest bit: Flirting with fascism
27 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: 2024 presidential election
A lot of people came down on Bill Maher for his report about dining with Trump at the White House and, although Maher took Trump to task several times during that visit for the administration’s policies, he had the temerity to confess being surprised that Trump actually was gracious to him in person and even […]
Bill Maher’s latest bit: Flirting with fascism
Kerry’s Climate Czar Office Abolished
25 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Thomas Catenacci reports at Washington Free Beacon: Trump Admin Axes Biden-Era Climate Office John Kerry Used To Assault Fossil Fuels. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. State Department official says climate office was ‘captured by ideology’ The State Department is formally removing the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the […]
Kerry’s Climate Czar Office Abolished
Long-Run Effects of Trade Wars
24 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, econometerics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA, unemployment Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs, unintended consequences
This short note shows that accounting for capital adjustment is critical when analyzing the long-run effects of trade wars on real wages and consumption. The reason is that trade wars increase the relative price between investment goods and labor by taxing imported investment goods and their inputs. This price shift depresses capital demand, shrinks the […]
Long-Run Effects of Trade Wars
My debate with Dani Rodrik about tariffs and free trade
22 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, labour economics, politics - USA, unemployment Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tariffs
This occurred in Knoxville, you can watch it here. Lots of fun, and p.s. I am more of a free trader than he is. We did have some disagreements.
My debate with Dani Rodrik about tariffs and free trade
Victor Davis Hanson Should Stick to the Classics
18 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetHere’s a letter to The Daily Signal. Editor: Suppose I submitted to you an essay in which Thucydides is described as a first-century Roman senator who wrote a biography of Charlemagne – would you publish it? Of course not. The ignorance of such an essay would be palpable. But I would never write such a…
Victor Davis Hanson Should Stick to the Classics
“No One is Above the Law”: New York AG Letitia James Accused of Alleged Mortgage Fraud
17 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, Internet
Below is my column in the New York Post on the criminal referral of a mortgage fraud case against New York Attorney General Letitia James. After her scorched-earth campaign against Trump, the irony of the allegations is stunning. If James were to move from prosecutor to perp, her own words may come back to haunt […]
“No One is Above the Law”: New York AG Letitia James Accused of Alleged Mortgage Fraud
Federal Judge Halts Trump Administration’s Deportation of Half a Million Biden “Parolees”
16 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA, population economics Tags: 2024 presidential election, economics of immigration
The intense struggle between the Trump Administration and federal judges continued this week with another court ordering a halt to a nationwide program. In Massachusetts, District Judge Indira Talwani is preventing President Donald Trump from canceling a Biden program granting parole and the right to work to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV). […]
Federal Judge Halts Trump Administration’s Deportation of Half a Million Biden “Parolees”
Bill Maher visits the White House and has dinner with Trump
14 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: 2024 presidential election
Not long ago Bill Maher went to the White House to schmooze and dine with, yes, Donald Trump. Trump signed a list of bad names that he called Maher over the years, showed him the small room off the Oval Office which Clinton and Monica Lewinsky made famous, and even gave Maher a MAGA hat. […]
Bill Maher visits the White House and has dinner with Trump
Some Links
14 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, free trade, tarrifs
TweetBob Graboyes masterfully exposes many of the fallacies that fuel Trump’s destructive trade ‘policy.’ Three slices: In 2016, Donald Trump promised, “We’re gonna win so much that you may get tired of winning.” His advisors must have reached that point, as evidenced by the bizarre, incoherent “Liberation Day” tariff policy they helped craft. Trump supporters have…
Some Links
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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