Mathias1

Mathias Kühlcke is a third-year bachelors economics student at Ghent University in Belgium.

Spain’s Blackout Shows the Regime Can’t Be Bothered with Affordable, Reliable Power

There’s a lot of conflicting information about the immediate cause of the recent mega-blackouts in Spain and Portugal. The governments in those countries claim the causes are “still unclear” after the largest blackouts in history. Given the rather spotty record of truth-telling by national governments, I suspect the causes of the blackouts are clear to those who are in a position to know. 

Higher Education’s Problems Began With the Federal Government’s 1965 Industrial Policy

United States higher education is in the midst of major financial and cultural upheaval. Campus protests erupted in Spring 2024 over Israel’s response to Hamas’s 2023 incursion into Israel. Earlier, Congress grilled presidents of Ivy League universities about antisemitism on their campuses, forcing some presidents to resign. President Trump has threatened loss of federal research grants if institutions do not properly handle such campus disruptions.

The Empire Strikes Back

News this week that Elon Musk will soon be departing his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is a grim reminder of what happens when you challenge big spending DC. Unfortunately, the lesson once again is that when you challenge the empire, the empire eventually strikes back.

President Trump rode into office with the help of Elon Musk’s ambitious plan to cut two trillion dollars in spending and slash useless and bloated government bureaucracies. Opinion polls demonstrated the huge popularity of the “Department.” Americans were excited when DOGE came to DC.