Can the private sector really replace all government functions?
"Donald Trump can be a tyrant!" So my neighbors declare. I reside in Manhattan. Really feel for me. Sure, Trump says wild issues, like riffing about "terminating" elements of the U.S. Structure. However I do not assume he means it. As Joe Rogan said to President-elect Donald Trump when candidate Trump got here on his present, "You say lots of wild shit!" In any case, podcaster Michael Malice, in my…
Javier Milei slashes Argentina’s inflation in just one year
Argentina's annual inflation price fell to 117.8 p.c in 2024, marking a big drop of 93.6 factors in comparison with the document 211.4 p.c inflation price of 2023. The sharp decline alerts a big turnaround for Argentina's financial system underneath President Javier Milei. In December 2024, inflation stood at 2.7 p.c, Argentina's Nationwide Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) claimed in a brand new report. Whereas barely larger than the…
Trump’s inauguration won’t change the fact that people dislike high gas prices
After a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith instructed reporters that she doesn't anticipate Canadian items to realize any particular exemptions from the tariffs Trump plans to levy quickly after taking workplace. Smith had pitched Trump on exempting Alberta's crude oil exports from the 25 % across-the-board tariffs that the incoming president has threatened to impose, the Edmonton Journal reported. Alas, Trump appears unmoved. "I have…
California’s insurance fixes came too late for wildfire-prone areas
On the finish of final yr, California issued emergency new insurance coverage laws giving insurers extra freedom to boost premiums whereas additionally requiring them to increase protection to wildfire-prone areas of the state. The hope was that this compromise of upper premiums and extra protection would set proper the disaster of insurers fleeing the state and leaving owners with no personal choices for financially defending their houses from the following…
When New Jersey hiked minimum wages, fast food prices rose
As New Jersey ratcheted up its minimal wage on three events between 2019 and 2021, fast-food eating places within the state responded by climbing menu costs to compensate. In neighboring Pennsylvania, the place minimal wage hikes weren't mandated, these worth will increase didn't happen. That is the notable (if maybe unsurprising) discovering reported in a paper revealed this week. Kerry Papps, an economist on the College of Bradford, and Michael R. Pressure,…
Can Janet Yellen’s debt time bomb be fixed by the new Trump administration?
Janet Yellen will get low marks from most monetary consultants for her time period as Treasury Secretary. The Treasury Secretary's major position is managing U.S. debt issuance, figuring out the combo of mortgage phrases and debt buildings to reduce curiosity prices. Throughout the pandemic, rates of interest had been very low—beneath 1 % in most cases—and as a substitute of locking in these low charges for 10 or 30 years,…
Athletes find new way to avoid taxes
It felt groundbreaking when Shohei Ohtani did it with the Los Angeles Dodgers over a 12 months in the past. By the point Frank Vatrano did it with the Anaheim Geese earlier this month, it was an authorized California development. Athletes, like everybody else, do not like paying taxes. California has a prime marginal revenue tax charge of 13.3 percent, plus there's the highest federal charge of 37 p.c, so…
Tyler Cowen: Why Do We Refuse To Learn From History?
Why are we forgetting historical past's classes? We're advised at school that we research historical past in order to not repeat its errors. However what if these classes aren't sticking? Immediately's visitor repeatedly invokes what he calls The Great Forgetting. The placing factor about this collective amnesia is that it does not apply solely to distant, historic historical past, however onerous classes discovered just a few a long time in…
Thank Jimmy Carter for cheap airfare
Social media is replete with memes displaying pictures from the glory days of airline journey, the place well-dressed vacationers—suppose scenes from the TV present "Mad Men"—reclined in cozy seats, drank wine, and ate cooked meals. It is an enormous disconnect from our fashionable airline experiences, that are punctuated by surly crowds, automated techniques, and lengthy TSA strains. The purpose of the social-media pictures: Have a look at how good issues…
Regulations are driving up ride-sharing prices in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., was as soon as one of the most ride-sharing-friendly cities in America. These days, town fines Empower—a peer-to-peer various to Uber and Lyft—tens of 1000's of {dollars} per day for refusing to register with the Division of For-Rent Automobiles (DFHV) as a non-public for-hire automobile firm. The D.C. Council ought to think about the advantages of market competitors and reevaluate whether or not penalizing market entrants really serves…
