Gerrymandering is a slithering political serpent haunting today’s politics. Its twisted specter, when overlaid on a map, is asserted as proof that our representative democracy is failing. However, the image of the beast is not a definitive sign of a failure; rather, it serves as an indictment of the concept of representative democracy—a true contradiction in terms.

In a recent New York Times column, David French in one of his usual anti-Trump screeds, created a hagiographic picture of the presidency of George W. Bush, comparing him to Donald Trump’s current term of office. Wrote French:

Wall Street cheered Fed Chair Jay Powell’s annual Jackson Hole speech on Friday with a stock market rally that erased the losses seen earlier in the week. Wall Street interpreted his speech as signaling that the Fed will shift to a more “dovish” stance and likely cut rates at their September 17 meeting.

Did that really happen? Did Powell really cave in to Trump’s incessant demands for more money printing?

Let’s see what this economic central planner actually said.

The bid-ask spread in the housing market persists. Over the last several years, home sellers have become accustomed to double-digit percentage price increases annually, going under contract within a week, and—very often—fielding competing offers above list price.

One morning, earlier this month, Trump was watching the Fox Business show Mornings with Maria when the show’s host, Maria Bartiromo, mentioned some “concerns” Republican China hawks had had about possible connections between Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and the Chinese military. Five minutes later, the president sent out a post demanding that Tan step down “immediately.”

Money and the Rule of Law: Generality and Predictability in Monetary Institutions
edited by Peter J. Boettke, Alexander W. Salter, and Daniel J. Smith
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021; 193 pp.

Peter C. Earle (pete.earle@aier.org) is Research Faculty member at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Angers in Angers, France.

The Emergence of Arthur Laffer: The Foundations of Supply-Side Economics in Chicago and Washington, 1966–1976
Brian Domitrovic
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021; 193 pp.

Greg Kaza (kaza@arkansaspolicyfoundation.org) is executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation.

Cronyism: Liberty Versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849
Patrick Newman
Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, 2021; 362 pp.

Thomas J. DiLorenzo (tdilorenzo@mises.com) is a senior fellow with the Mises Institute.