As an academic economist who regularly reads newspapers and other media, the amount of economic ignorance promoted by professional journalists is astounding to me. Perhaps we should not be surprised, given that most of the economists quoted in the media are economic illiterates like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz.
As of early March, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reports savings exceeding $100 billion, attributed to the:
Combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.
I have four children, so I think often about what I ought to be doing to make a world a better place before I shuffle off this mortal coil. When engaging in these sorts of speculations it quickly becomes clear that we are only fundamentally in control of ourselves, and ourselves alone. We cannot force other people to do what we want them to do. As the ancient Christian martyrs showed, not even the threat of death can force others to believe or do that which they do not wish to do.
The European political and financial elite knows that the war in Ukraine is lost but wants to use it as an opportunity to reach strategic independence from the United States. As the future chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz said right after his electoral win on Feb 23: “It will be an absolute priority for me to strengthen Europe as soon as possible so much that it gradually really achieves independence from the United States.”
Trump’s assault on USAID is more than an exposure of its alignment with far left narratives. It raises the question: How far will he go in dealing with its perceived waste and abuse?
Recent research highlights a concerning trend: 84 percent of Americans are afraid to exercise their freedom of speech, according to a New York Times Opinion/Siena College Poll. While this statistic alone is alarming, it only scratches the surface of a broader issue—the gradual erosion of personal liberties.
Tip O’Neil, a legendary House Speaker and friend of Ronald Reagan said, “All politics is local.” Heading west from Milwaukee, you will see fields of corn and cows. The cows are cogs in a huge international market. Wisconsin is a major milk and cheese producer. Bessie the cow and her Wisconsin friends produce 25 percent of all US cheese.
The heated exchange that broke out between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Oval Office last Friday has captured the world’s attention. One reason is simply that it’s rare to see genuine face-to-face arguments between world leaders happen out in front of the cameras. But, adding to that, it was striking to watch Vance and Trump issue a sharp rebuke to a leader that virtually all government officials in the West have treated like an unassailable saint.
