This morning over at National Review they made a comment that trade deals take years and we shouldn’t even want one sooner, but I disagree. The reason NAFTA took years is to negotiate carve outs–and free trade doesn’t need carve outs. Instead of 1500 pages, it could have likely been done in a couple of […]
Archives
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Marc Clauson–A True Original
07 Apr 2025
In the recent movie Mickey 17, the central conceit is that Mickey is an expendable. To flee his troubles on Earth, he joins a multi-year mission to another planet. To get accepted, he agrees to take on the most dangerous jobs, which are mostly suicide missions. Once Mickey “dies,” they just print another copy of […]
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Dr. Marc Clauson: A Tribute
05 Apr 2025
One of our own Bereans, Dr. Marc Clauson, entered the presence of God this week. Memories have been flooding my mind and acting as a balm to my heart as we enter the grief of losing a good man. In a culture where it is hard to find good men, Dr. Clauson’s life is a […]
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War Years Estimated U.S. Military Deaths American Revolutionary War 1775–1783 ~25,000 War of 1812 1812–1815 ~15,000 American Civil War (Union & Confederate) 1861–1865 ~620,000–750,000 World War I 1917–1918 ~116,516 World War II 1941–1945 ~405,399 Korean War 1950–1953 ~36,516 Vietnam War 1955–1975 ~58,220 Wars in Afghanistan & Iraq 2001–2021 ~6,892 It’s an easy argument. Those that […]
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Economic Challenges Await Mr. Trump
10 Jan 2025
First up, as reported by Yahoo yesterday, and covered in the WSJ today is that long term interest rates continue to rise, with the 20 year U.S. Treasury over 5%, and the U.S. ten year going from 3.62% in the trough in September to 4.76% today. In Trumpian lingo, this is a HUUUUGE move up […]
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A Modest Defense of Yachts
07 Sep 2024
Far too often, against the advice of my better angels, I stumble over to the Reddit forums and engage in my daily ritual of scrolling, squinting, and savoring all the wonders from the front page of the Internet. Reddit is at once a marvelous creation—bringing together multitudes of diverse communities over shared topics—and simultaneously the […]
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Spending Time with Giants
22 Aug 2024
Readers of BATG will of course recognize the name Milton Friedman and may also be familiar with the name John Bogle as well. Friedman (1912-2006) was an American economist who spent most of his academic career at the University of Chicago. He was a strong proponent of monetarism and was awarded the Nobel Prize in […]
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Issue 1: The Nation’s Eyes Turn to Ohio
07 Aug 2023
Issue 1 will provide a foggy but fascinating window into culture war politics. The initiative, which will be voted on tomorrow by Ohio’s electorate, is technically about the process for amending the state constitution. Practically, Issue 1 is another front in our ever present social conflict. Let’s address both dimensions–the mechanics and the politics–in order. […]
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Debt Deal Done
02 Jun 2023
Watching the debt deal play out was not particularly good theater, as each step on the way was perfectly predictable. There was almost never a chance of actual default, and with divided government we were always going to end up with some lukewarm agreement that satisfied almost nobody. But that is the democratic process. Nevertheless, […]
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ChiCom’s show who is the ultimate boss of TikTok
04 May 2023
One of my favorite external groups is the Acton Institute, which explores the intersection of faith and free markets. The faith part is broadly ecumenical, and intentionally international, so it has an interesting set of fellow travelers. I like (and occasionally publish) in their Journal of Markets and Morality. Each summer they host Acton University, […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach