Much of the declinist view of the U.S. (championed by the populist left and right) centers around the cost to individuals and communities that lose out as a result of economic change. I am broadly sympathetic to those costs and yet we cannot avoid the necessary other side of the coin that this is a […]

Yesterday we heard the announcement of a dramatic pullback from Mr. Trump’s trade war with China, and markets had a major rally. Predictably, some fans of the “master negotiator” cheered the market’s reaction, even while saying they didn’t care about Wall Street when markets first corrected. China was told not to retaliate, or they’d regret […]

Some of Mr. Trump’s more ardent supporters say that because he won the election, and in the campaign regularly brought up his intent to have more tariffs, this gives him a mandate for his trade war. As I’ve said repeatedly, his mandate–such as it was–was to 1) stop the open borders, 2) get prices down, […]

Admitted, this is very rough ballpark with a little help from our AI friends, but let’s assume Mr. Trump does an amazing deal with all countries and gets all imports now taxed at 10%, which he says is the minimum tariff rate. Given we imported about $4T in 2024, let’s assume we’ll now get $400B. […]

After the first 100 days of the Trump Administration, numerous reviews highlighted both the good and the bad. Most of the good focused on the complete stoppage of the porous border that Mr. Biden created. Most of the harshest hit at his misguided trade war, with some (rightly so!) focusing on his abominable siding with […]

So that means we need to actively be developing more young people to think entrepreneurially. So this post is a shameless plug for Cedarville University’s Entrepreneurship Camp on 3-6 June. If you know of a high school student that might benefit from an intensive entrepreneurial boot camp type environment, please share this info with them. […]

In a previous post I suggested Mr. Trump’s retreat on his tariff proposals (the 90 day pause) made the score Adam Smith 2, and Donald Trump 0. Bereans know that we have repeatedly condemned Mr. Trump’s rhetoric on trade as completely wrong, and to the extent he actually tried to do it, he would Make […]

Bruce Springsteen’s depressing lyrics to one of his best songs (My Hometown) seems to capture the mood of the declinist right portion of the MAGA movement: Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows, And vacant storesSeems like there ain’t nobody, Wants to come down here no moreThey’re closing down the textile millAcross the railroad tracks, Foreman says, […]