We are in the fourth day of Joe Biden’s ex-presidency, and the motorcade taking him back to his mansion in Delaware shrinks in our rearview mirrors. It can’t disappear quickly enough.

A key reason that developing countries have often been unable to catch up to their developed counterparts is because of their refusal to accept the free market. In many parts of the world, free markets are considered unnecessary for economic growth. Governments of developing countries attempt to thrust their country into prosperity through various statist measures, but their efforts are doomed because they do not understand economics.

EU policymakers have created new regulation for the aviation sector. ReFuelEU Aviation mandates the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and bans fuel tankering—a common practice globally. It is another climate-related initiative that will hamper native industry, increase prices, and reduce choice for consumers.

The US government is aghast that there is a new grouping of nations that seeks to form an alternative to the US trade bloc and trade settlement system that uses the dollar. These nations have been driven to this extreme, time-consuming, and difficult project by clueless US leaders who have imposed sanctions on Russian assets (literally stealing them) and have denied Russia and other nations from using the SWIFT messaging system for trade settlement.

On Monday, in their final hours in office, former President Biden’s team chose to issue a blanket pardon to a number of close political allies and family members. Among that group was former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci.

Donald Trump yesterday issued a new executive order declaring that so-called “birthright citizenship” does not apply to the children of foreign nationals residing illegally within the United States. The order reads, in part:

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were tasked by President-elect Donald Trump to lead an effort to find and cut federal spending. One budgetary item impacting all 50 states are federal dollars transferred to state budgets to spend implementing parts of federal entitlement programs Medicare and Medicaid, disperse federal law enforcement grants to state and local law enforcement agencies for training, equipment, apply Environmental Protection Agency project grants, implement discounted and free public school lunch programs, etc.

[Editor’s note: At 6:56 PM, EST, Donald Trump announced that he pardoned Ulbricht. Trump described the federal prosecutors and law enforcement behind the Ulbricht conviction as “scum” and “lunatics.” Trump also described Ulbricht’s excessive sentence as “ridiculous.”]  

Keynes held that the economy can suffer extended periods of high unemployment because of deficient aggregate spending. A contraction in spending results in businesses having excess inventories and reduced revenues. Businesses respond by cutting back and decreasing their demand for labor. Due to “sticky wages,” this results in a large decrease in employment and incomes for workers. The problem comes full circle and self-aggravating because workers as a whole must restrict their spending due to their reduced incomes.

The support to Kyiv turned into a problem for partner countries: large-scale fires broke out in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and other countries that provided Ukrainian rescuers with firefighting equipment. By sending Ukraine special equipment to combat emergencies and eliminate their consequences, Western leaders ignored the safety of their populations.