Even before our nationwide COVID-19 panic attack, we were heading for yet another trillion dollar deficit. Before the dust settled, 30 million Americans had filed for unemployment, those fortunate enough to have jobs were figuring out how to work from home, and nearly everyone was left wondering whom to trust given the ever-shifting medical advice … Continue reading (Un) Happy Deficit Day, America
Category: Washington
President Trump announced yesterday that he would suspend several foreign worker programs for the remainder of the year. These visas include the J-1, L-1, H-1B, and H-2B. The president claims that the suspensions are necessary to protect jobs for Americans, but the fact is that these programs create jobs for Americans, and eliminating them will undermine job … Continue reading Foreign Worker Programs That Trump’s Order Targets Create Jobs for Americans
At the Guardian David Ferguson criticizes calls by Cato’s Chris Edwards and others to privatize the U.S. Postal Service. The headline of the article tugs at the heartstrings: The US Postal Service lifted my family out of poverty. We can’t let it die And Ferguson writes: The postal service hired my grandfather when he returned from fighting in … Continue reading Open the Postal Service to Competition
California and other state and local governments have filed suit to stop the Trump administration’s SAFE (Safer Affordable Fuel Efficiency) rule. That rule replaced the outgoing Obama administration’s rule requiring five percent annual increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy, reaching 54 mpg by 2025, with 1.5 percent annual increases, reaching 40 mpg in 2026. California … Continue reading Fuel Efficiency Rules Lead to Deadlier Car Accidents
Some Republicans have called repealing or rolling back “qualified immunity,” the legal doctrine that shields police officers from liability, a “poison pill” that can’t be included in any criminal justice reform package. But other leaders in Congress disagree—and Sen. Mike Braun is the latest to back qualified immunity reform. The Indiana Republican just introduced the … Continue reading Republican Senator Introduces Bill to Roll Back Police Liability Shield
For more than a year, Europe has pressured the U.S. into a global pact to increase taxes on big tech firms. The U.S. just pulled out of those negotiations. This was the right decision, but made for the wrong reasons. A new proposal, led by European members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, … Continue reading Should International Bureaucrats Control US Tax Policy?
Here’s a question for public policy: If you could cut the COVID-19 death rate in half, would you do it? Policymakers could do that, if they act accordingly by greatly increasing testing of both residents and staff at nursing homes and other extended care facilities, the hottest of hot spots for coronavirus deaths. By now, … Continue reading Focusing Public Policy on Nursing Homes Could Cut COVID-19 Deaths by Half
As The Independent reports: Happiness among Americans has fallen to the lowest level in nearly five decades during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll. The Covid Response Tracking Study, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), found that morale was at the lowest point it has ever been since tracking emotional health … Continue reading University of Chicago Study: American Hope and Happiness at Abysmal Lows
U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced S. 3922, the Coronavirus Regulatory Repeal Act, to require Congress to justify restoring regulations that were either modified or waived in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would keep such regulations modified or waived unless Congress passes a law restoring them. “Even the most ardent supporters of the heavy regulatory … Continue reading Rand Paul Introduces Coronavirus Regulatory Repeal Act
Should high-tax states such as California and New York get a bailout? Morally Hazardous Bailouts I explained last month why that would be a mistake, in large part because bailouts would reward states for irresponsible fiscal policy (similar to my argument that countries like Austria and the Netherlands shouldn’t be bullied into providing bailouts for … Continue reading Everything You Need to Know about Blue State Fiscal Problems in One Chart
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