Scott Lincicome This article appeared in The Dispatch on March 26, 2025, a portion of which is excerpted below. When it became clear in late 2023 that Javier Milei would become the next president of Argentina, the response from many economists and analysts was borderline apoplectic. They warned that the profane self-described libertarian—who looks more like a still-touring ’80s rockabilly ...
Romina Boccia and Dominik Lett The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has encountered repeated legal setbacks as a result of its efforts to shrink the federal workforce, cut costs, and reshape the executive branch. Part of the challenge that the administration faces is a constitutional one—Congress, not the executive or judicial branches, is vested with the power of the purse. ...
Jeffrey Miron On February 1, 2025, the White House announced a series of aggressive tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China (since adjusted in numerous ways). One ostensible justification for the tariffs is to combat fentanyl smuggling. According to the statement, Customs and Border Protection seized more than 21,000 pounds of fentanyl at American borders last year, a drug that contributes to over ...
Walter Olson On March 25, President Donald Trump published an executive order purporting to overhaul the nation’s election system. Among its contents: requiring voters who use the federal registration form to furnish documentary proof of citizenship, preparing the way for decertifying commonly used voting equipment, and nullifying state laws that accept as valid some military and other mailed ballots that ...
Tad DeHaven American farmers are again facing significant losses from President Donald Trump’s quaint obsession with tariffs. Once again, American taxpayers may be forced to pay for the damage. In a social media post earlier this month, President Trump told “the Great Farmers of the United States” to “Have fun!” when the administration imposes more tariffs on April 2. The ...
Alex Nowrasteh and Krit Chanwong Ezra Klein recently interviewed David Shor, a data scientist at the Democratic consulting firm Blue Rose Research. Shor made two important immigrant-related points. First, the foreign-born share of the population in a county was highly correlated with a shift toward Trump. Second, Trump likely won the immigrant vote. Naturalized immigrants went from favoring Biden in ...
Colin Grabow Since 2016, American liquified natural gas (LNG) has been exported to at least 40 countries. One place it hasn’t been sent, however, is Puerto Rico. Shipping the fuel in bulk from the US mainland to the Caribbean island has been rendered impossible due to the Jones Act, the 1920 law that restricts domestic waterborne transportation to vessels that ...
Romina Boccia and Ivane Nachkebia The Republican section of the 2025 Joint Economic Committee (JEC) report presents a crucial analysis of America’s fiscal trajectory—at a time when Congress is contemplating making the budget situation even worse. The report evaluates President Joe Biden’s 2025 Economic Report and offers an alternative vision for fiscal policy, focused on reining in spending rather than ...
Walter Olson The Trump administration’s assault on lawyers that represent its perceived adversaries has so far targeted by decree three major firms and quickly taken down one of them, the venerable Paul, Weiss. (Earlier posts in this series here, here, and here.) With a presidential memorandum published March 22, it has now abruptly expanded to a more general scheme of ...
Norbert Michel and Jai Kedia There has scarcely been a week since President Donald Trump took office when tariffs have not been debated in the domestic and international media. In a recent addition to this debate, Fox Business aired a segment calling the Fed’s recent decision to keep its rate target steady a sign that Wall Street and all the president’s ...